The seminar is history! Steve said that the last count he heard was that 417 people were registered and that 35 congregations were represented. The cooks prepared 2634 meals; that is just the number of meals that the registered people and those that came early ate. When there is extra food it does not go to waste; they feed the village children. This morning we had to buy 5 additional pounds of sugar for the hot chocolate. We were happy that we did not have to buy more food because the price of the food almost tripled since the last seminar.
We lost count of how many trips we made back and forth to Kulkpeni this week. While I was driving the truck this afternoon it started sputtering and jerking. I could not remember the last time we put diesel in it; the gas meter has not worked on that truck for years and years. I said a little prayer and headed to the filling station as fast as my coughing sputtering truck would go. I had no more problems after I put in the diesel.
Divine was only able to attend the first day of the seminar because his wife Gladys is expecting a baby and she is in the hospital. Divine said that her due date was yesterday but as of this afternoon she has not had the baby. We called him a little while ago to see how things were going; he said that he is running up and down hunting for the medicine they need to give her. Yes, you heard right! Most of the time the hospital does not have any medicine; they do not even have IV needles or the bags of fluid. The patient has to provide everything themselves. The doctor writes out a prescription of what is needed and a family member goes around town looking for what has been requested. The Yendi hospital also does not have running water or flush toilets for the patients. No one goes to the hospital by themselves; they have to take someone with them to take care of their personal needs. The hospital usually only gives one meal a day but at times they do not provide any meals so the caregiver has to try to find the money to buy food for the patient.
We have moved from “seminar mode” to “go home mode”. As soon as we finished putting all the stuff we used at the seminar away we started closing up the house. We will leave for Accra tomorrow morning.
Thank you for keeping us and the seminar in your prayers.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
