All three segments of our flight from Huntsville to Accra were good. We had ten pieces of luggage that were checked and 5 carry-ons; we are always proud when they all make it to Accra otherwise we have to wait an extra day for the pieces that are left behind to catch up with us. If the plane is too heavy they will send bags on a later flight. We arrived on the 15thand stayed in Accra an extra day because we had some business to attend to and do some shopping. Some items we need just can’t be purchased here in the North. Red, our part-time driver, was waiting for us at Tamale Airport when we arrived. I was surprised the Harmattan (dust cloud from off the Sahara Desert) was as thick in Accra as it was in Tamale; visibility was approximately 1 mile.
Plans were to visit the congregation at Borido that first Sunday we were back; that was the 19th. I was glad that we made the trip. There were 3 young men and 1 young lady who wanted to be baptized and the only water deep enough to baptize is at the river which is about 10 miles from Borido. The people that needed to be baptized and a bunch of the church members loaded up in the back of the pickup and we headed for the river. They sang all the way to the river and back; such a happy day!
Timothy received a call Sunday afternoon asking us to come to the village of Nalongni to preach the burial of one of the church members who had died earlier in the day. The family had told Timothy the burial would take place first thing on Monday morning but nothing happened until 1:30 pm. I was happy to see that several of the brothers and sisters from the neighboring congregations had come to help support the funeral. After the burial was over we found out that someone else in the village had died and they were in the process of doing that burial. Timothy and I walked over and greeted the family and gave them some sympathy money before leaving the village.
As we were passing through the village of Jegrido on our way back to Yendi we stopped by Timothy’s brother Daniel’s house to say hello to his brother. Daniel recently had hernia surgery but he said he was doing well. After talking with Daniel about some of the issues the congregation was having we decided to visit the congregation the following Sunday, the 26th of February, to encourage the brethren. The issues they were having were with their young people; when they went off to school they visited with denominational people and when they came home they brought denominational baggage with them. I encouraged the young people to study their Bibles so they could answer their friends and colleagues questions. A good portion of my lesson was centered on the authority of the Bible.
Twenty-seven men attended this month’s classes. The men reported ten people were baptized and five people were restored. The lesson for the class was “The responsibility of the woman in the House” .
Nana Bekum, one of the evangelists, wasn’t able to come because of civil unrest and fighting in his area. It is a chieftaincy problem. Some of the people do not like the local man that has been chosen to be enskinned (made a chief). Five of the houses of the church members were burned in the village of Sako. We sent each house a monetary gift to help with expenses. Nana said that the peace keeping force had arrived and that the situation was calming down.
Kandie and I are excited that four members of our family are planning to join us for 2 weeks in March. Our son Jordan and his wife Lindsay, granddaughter Faith, our daughter Charity, are coming to help us with the work. Please keep them in your prayers. Several VBS’s are planned while they are here.
Please keep our great niece, Audrey, in your prayers as well as her grandmother and our sister-in-law, Shelly Reynolds. Prayer can definitely make a difference! Audrey is making improvements and is in the process of being moved to a children’s rehab hospital.
Thanks go out to all of you who support the work in various ways. May God bless you for your efforts. The brothers and sisters on this side of the pond also send their greetings to you!
In His service,
Stephen & Kandie Taylor
