We just received a text from our son-in-law, Marcus, saying they just arrived at JFK Airport. The time is 2:22pm (EDT) . We are happy that they have made it so far so good.
This morning after our worship service we had our friend Bismark to drive us to the village of Aburi. This is the village where the wood cravers sell their wares. A lot of the vendors were not open but we were able to get more carvings to give as gifts for our friends and family back home. While we were driving, Bismark told us that he went to a family meeting early this morning. His aunt had died and her body is stored in the local morgue. The family is trying to figure out how they are going to pay for the funeral. It’s the family’s responsibility to house the visitors and pay for everything. He said the minimum money for a funeral is 50,000 GH Cedis (equals $3,226 USD). That is a lot of money when the average minimum wage is $2 a day for the majority of Ghanaians. He agrees the funerals are killing the finances of the families here. He said it is not unheard of for the wealthy to spend 500,000 GH Cedis (equals $32,258 USD) on a funeral.
We waited until mid afternoon to eat our lunch-supper. East Indian food was our selection for the meal. A taxi took us to the OSU section of Accra where the restaurant is located. Of course we ate our fill. It is a one meal day for us. While at the restaurant Isaac, the auto air-conditioner mechanic, called to say he had finished installing the new a/c compressor for the van and that Red, our driver, could pick it up tomorrow morning. After we finished eating we found a MTN Mobile Money vendor on the street and sent Isaac the remainder of the compressor bill along with some extra money for him and his workers for doing the job. It was the least we could do for them to show us such kindness.
Bismark is scheduled to come pick us up at 6am in the morning. We want to be at the airport when the boys arrive. We will transfer from the international terminal via taxi to the domestic terminal where we are scheduled to fly back to Tamale shortly after noon.
That rounds out our Sunday so we will bid you farewell for today. May God bless!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
