Red was here again this morning working on Paul’s truck. He worked on it most of the day. This afternoon he brought Aboochi, the carpenter/roofer to take a look at it. Now I am not sure what a carpenter has to do with body work on a truck but maybe he had a good idea or two. Red said that he was going to paint the metal 2 inch square spacer that he was putting between the edge of the truck bed and the cab. Red has the ability to spray paint anything he wants to but oops! He used a small brush and oil paint. The truck is in need of a complete paint job; whatever type of paint they used originally faded.
The ladies got the corn and soybeans washed this morning. After they washed the grain they spread it out on tarps to dry. A little while ago Steve and I gathered the grain and brought it in the house. We hope to roast the grain tomorrow but we will have to see if the ladies think that it is dry enough to roast. I personally know that it will dry out while we are roasting it but they do not want to waste the firewood that it will take to cook it longer.
Steve spent several hours this morning in town at the GRA Tax office. When we are in Accra we do not stay at a proper hotel; rather we stay at an apartment/ guest house. They do not have the VAT tax receipts (Value added Tax) so we are responsible for turning in the receipt and paying the tax on our accommodations. It does not take the tax office so long to figure the tax and make out the receipt; but Oh! The lines and wait time at the bank will kill you. Well, actually they didn’t kill me because I did not go; I was too busy cooking lunch to go! Ha! I could find several things that I needed to do rather than go to the tax office and the bank.
We spent the bulk of the afternoon counting money and reworking the employees’ pay packets. The government announced the minimum wage increase for the year in May which put everyone in a different tax bracket. It is good for the workers because they are now paying a little less tax but from January to May we paid according to last year’s tax schedule. We ended up owing the employees a little money back because we are the ones that remove the tax money from their pay packets and turn it in for them. We had to reimburse them for the months of overpayment and adjust our books to the new schedule.
Last night at evening Bible study, Abenada, the wife of the late preacher John Kanbonja, came to us and told us that there was no food in their house and wanted to know if we could help her buy some dried field corn. She said that she had planted corn this year and that the corn was looking good but it would be a while before it was ready to harvest. Steve gave her the money she needed. Thank you to all of you who give us money for “whatever comes up”! She was very grateful for the help.
Thank you for all you do for us and for the people here in Ghana. We really appreciate you!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
