Guest Author: Faith Holladay
This morning we awoke to no electricity. But thanks to the rain it was nice and cool. The high was 91 degrees and the heat index was 102 degrees. The Child Center was slow and steady; the mothers do not like to travel in the rain. We saw about fifty babies. We gave out clothes, and the mothers were very thankful. One of the clothing items we gave out were pillow case dresses. I soon realized that the mothers do not know how to tie a bow, so to make it easier I pre-tied the bows for them. One mother that had gotten a pillowcase dress thought it was a skirt. Zorash asked why she was not wearing the dress, the mother said it was a skirt and the baby would have to grow into it. Zorash then showed her how to tie it and she was very thankful and excited. After we closed the Child Center we left for the market.
How do I describe the Yendi market? We were so close together that you could hardly breathe, and what little you did breathe in was very unpleasant. Anything you could imagine was in the market. A cow’s head, rotting tomatoes, and juju. At the juju stall you could buy anything from anteater feet to squares of leopard skin. People were very kind and let us get lots of pictures. Thanks to all the rain we were dodging mud holes left and right. We got a good video of Goosie(Kandie) trying to cross the main road, in which she about got hit multiple times. It was like watching a game of Frogger. Jordan stopped along the way to buy soccer balls for the church youth groups. Once we finally got back to the car, we realized that Gander(Steve) had left one of our shopping baskets at a stall. Gander ran back through the market to get it, thank goodness it was still there because it had my cell phone in it.
We dropped Zorash off at her house, with a 30 minute break for lunch. Then back out the door for the 3rd day of VBS. We stopped by and picked up Timothy, Abigail, and Zorash. This would be our last day of VBS at Jagrido. The kids were very well behaved, and as a special treat they got multicolored bracelets. Even the adults got them. At the last minute some boys came in from the farm carrying their hoes and snake clearing sticks. They were very excited to have made it to class. Jordan shortened his class again today so the adults could color. The total number of kids was 75 with 25 adults. As our parting gift Jordan gave them a soccer ball. It was like Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years all rolled into one. Those boys will be playing all night!
After VBS we had another 30 minute break. We ate dinner and then rode back out and picked up Timothy for evening church. We went to Yawondo. The entire village showed up including the chief. Uncle Jordan presented a good lesson about why as Christians we are strange. The biting termites were swarming him. They were climbing up his pant legs. He was trying to discreetly knock them off. At one point he had at least 30-40 on his table.
Then the questions began. There were lots of them, mostly about polygamy and circumcision. They asked in multiple circumstances if polygamy was ok. The chief even asked a question about it. I am sure he has multiple wives. They also wanted to know if you could ask God to kill your enemy and if God did wouldn’t that make God a sinner. Gander told them that God was not listening to that prayer and that God would not do that.
After church the chief let Gander know their well pump was broken. He said it would take about 400 Cedis to fix it. So Gander gave this as a gift and everyone clapped. They were so excited. At the end Gander introduced us as his visitors. Gander let everyone know that I was not for marrying and I was already promised. The boys moaned with disappointment and the Chief said I could have 2 husbands and he could be the second. (When we were talking about polygamy Goosie had joked that she wants 2 husbands.)
Jordan is like Santa Clause. He enjoys giving out soccer balls! As we were getting in the van he brought out the ball and gave it to the youth. Just when we thought they couldn’t get any happier they did. You would have thought they had been given a million dollars.
Everywhere we go Jordan waves. He will get both his hands going at the same time like he is in a parade. He was disappointed when the sun went down and he couldn’t wave anymore. Ha!
We will be leaving for Mole in the morning at 4:30. I am excited to see and walk with the elephants.
In His service,
Jordan and Lindsay Taylor
Charity and Faith Holladay
Steve and Kandie Taylor
