The month of April is a transitional weather month for northern Ghana. The area starts getting the early rain which prepares the ground so the farmers can start raising yam mounds. These early rains filled our reservoir so we do not have to be so careful with our water usage. The early rains also produce straight line winds. These storms came through our area and areas north of us. Many of the houses in the village of Tombu sustained roof damage from one of these storms. Tombu is a small village; there is a small congregation of the Church in Tombu. Five church members’ homes were damaged. Thanks to your generous donations for “Whatever Comes Up” we were able to immediately provide the much needed funds for the families to replace their roofs. This is the time of the year the congregations try to finish their building projects. Next month everybody’s minds will turn to farming. This month we matched building funds with the congregations at Salinkuku, Mepeasam, Frigmado, Jakpumba, Nakpa, Tombu, Kulkpeni and Bungbali. Most of these congregations are putting up cement block buildings. Some of the blocks are made with sand and cement and others are made with local gravel and cement. It takes more time and money to make the block and haul the sand but the buildings are stronger. Right now a bag of cement costs 85 Ghana Cedis (equals $7 US dollars). To an American it doesn’t sound very expensive but the minimum wage in Ghana is $2 /day so it is expensive. The masons hand mix 1 bag of cement with sand or gravel to make 30-32 blocks. We are also providing the churches with the metal doors and windows because the wooden doors and frames have a very short lifespan because the termites are terrible. A metal door with the frame presently costs 700 Ghana Cedis (equals $60 USD) and the metal window and frame costs 250 Ghana Cedis (equals $21 USD). The church benches that we give as gifts to the congregations are now 150 Ghana Cedis (equal to $12 USD). I know that doesn’t sound like much to you or I but when I was paying 50 Cedis per bench a couple of years ago that is extremely expensive for the local people to buy. The end of the month was hectic for us. The masons started working on the building at Kulkpeni that will be used to house visitors during the seminar. That means we have to make at least two trips a day out to the Kulkpeni worksite; (A.M.) to take water and give chop (food) money for the workers and (P.M.) to pay the masons and workers for their day’s labor and to get supplies for the next day. On the last Thursday of the month we asked the evangelists and church leaders to come to the mission house to sign the Churches paperwork. We saw 56 men on Thursday and Friday. The monthly class was also on Friday. We were happy that 32 men attended the class this month. The class environment was a little different because the masons were on the property working on the new building; the extra activity did not hinder the class. The church leaders reported that 20 people became Christians and 4 brethren were restored to the Church during the month of April. Timothy and I continued the review lesson in the series on Men’s and Women’s Responsibilities. This review has generated lots of discussion and questions; I think that is because the men have been teaching the lessons in their home congregations and they are bringing the questions that were posed to them while they were teaching. You always learn more from being a teacher than being a student. The masons finished the block walls on the building at Kulkpeni; the roof is on; the masons will come back and start plastering next week. We are enjoying the lull in the work! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and thank you so much for your involvement in the work here. In His service,Stephen & Kandie Taylor
Email us directly : taylorsinghana@gmail.com Website: www.ghanamissionfund.org
DONATIONS CAN BE MADE OUT TO GHANA MISSION, C/O WEST HOBBS STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST, P.O. BOX 506, ATHENS, ALABAMA 35612THIS WORK IS OVERSEEN BY THE ELDERSHIP OF WEST HOBBS STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST, 1602 WEST HOBBS STREET, ATHENS, ALABAMA 35611WEBSITE: WWW.WESTHOBBSSTREETCHURCHOFCHRIST.ORG
