Our flight from the U.S. to Accra on the 9th-10thwas uneventful which is a blessing. As soon as we deplaned the passengers were channeled to the area where the lab personnel took a rapid Covid 19 test. A negative test was required before we could leave the airport. All ten pieces of luggage arrived but it took some time for them to bring down the largest pieces. What a relief that it all arrived at the same time we did! After we cleared customs and received the negative Covid test results we met our driver and headed to the forex bureau to change dollars into Cedis. We also purchase groceries to have at the hotel during our three day business stay in Accra. We flew to Tamale where we were picked up by our friend/driver Red at the airport.
On Sunday morning the 14th we worshiped at Kulkpeni. Kandie made sure we had plenty of face masks with us so everyone received one as they entered the building. Instead of preaching the men asked me to teach the Bible class and talk about “marriage”. Wow! You wouldn’t believe the questions and discussions that topic generated. The class went on for nearly an hour. I was beginning to feel uneasy because it went over so long; the audience didn’t seem to mind since they were so engrossed in the study.
Several of the church leaders at Kulkpeni requested we inspect the rooms we use for the seminar. The doors and windows had terrible termite damage and needed to be replaced. We decided to replace the wooden fixtures with metal ones. We have contracted the doors and windows to be made.
On Sunday the 21st we visited the congregation at Kpande in the Nanumba District. On the way we pass through the village of Nakpa. A family in the states had provided funds to help this congregation put a roof on their new church building. We stopped to present the funds to the congregation. They were very pleased with the gift.
We left the main road at Nakpa and traveled on a bush road to Kpande. The congregation wanted to show us their new mud ball church building. I preached a lesson entitled “The House God Built” using their new building as a springboard. The men requested financial help to purchase windows for the building. Thanks to our wonderful supporters we were able to help them.
On March 28th we traveled to the village of Nyankpala. They too had built a mud ball structure and they wanted us to see it. Upon our arrival the men requested that I preach a lesson to increase the members’ faith.
The monthly class was held on the 26th with 22 men in attendance. The first part of the class was spent greeting the men and extending the greetings from their friends in the states. I also took the time to encourage the men to guard against the Corona virus and explain that it is real and that it is in Ghana! I took enough face masks to give one to each student to help reinforce the Ghana guidelines of wearing a face mask. The students were given flip charts of the accounts of Adam and Eve and Noah to be used in children’s classes. I taught the lessons the way I would teach a child’s class using the charts and paraphernalia provided. One of the men said the adults would also like to see charts. I told him by all means feel free to use them with the adults too. The men who attended the class reported that three people were baptized into Christ and three were restored.
I am sad to announce that one of the evangelists passed away this month; Emmanuel Mbanaya. This man had not been able to work for several years due to dementia. Emmanuel remarried a younger woman after his first wife died so he leaves some small children as well as adult children and many grandchildren. Timothy Niligrini accompanied Kandie and me to Emmanuel’s village to express our sympathy to the wife and family and present a monetary gift to the wife and family.
We wish to thank everyone for their prayers and support that made it possible for us to return to Ghana after this bout with the pandemic. We certainly appreciate all that you do for us. May God bless!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
