November begins the dry season in our area. Villages are already starting to burn the bushy areas around their houses and some of the fields. The burning makes it difficult to breath and seems to add to the heat. Our temperatures are starting to rise with many days reaching the 110+ degree mark and the heat index climbing to 130+ degrees.
The pandemic has brought a lot of challenges to the work. Although Ghana’s official numbers of those who have contracted the virus are going down many people around us including church members are having signs and symptoms that could be from the virus. We are doing our best to try to distance ourselves from the virus by sanitizing, wearing masks and restricting our movements as much as is possible. Getting a rapid test for the virus means traveling 60 miles on a public transport at the patient’s expense. This doesn’t include the cost of the rapid test. Most people cannot afford either of these expenses. Really, do you want the sick to ride public transport and spread the virus even further? When someone is diagnosed with the virus that person is usually ostracized among the villagers and is blamed for anyone else who gets sick.
During the month we traveled to the villages of Niliyuundo, Nyangbaln, and Mempeasam for worship service. We had planned to visit the church at Nakpa but because of sickness of some of the church members along with Timothy’s (Niligrini) illness we stayed in Yendi. Timothy had many of the symptoms of the virus so we thought a 90 minute drive together might be putting us in unnecessary danger. The church at Mempeasam was happy with the financial help they received. Their windows and door were termite ridden; we were able to give them the money to replace the wooden ones with metal. Thanks to your generous donations we were able to help Mempeasam with their building repairs as we were able to help the congregations of Jomani and Frigmando last month with metal doors and windows.
The monthly class was held on the 27th at Kulkpeni. There were 33 church leaders present. Thanks to the women at Bethel more class materials were distributed to the evangelists and church leaders for them to use for children’s classes in their villages. One of the class materials consisted of a flannel board. We purchased ¼ inch plywood cut in 18”X24” rectangles that Kandie covered with the flannel that was sent from the states. The men enjoyed it. Also during the class I presented each of the men with two bike tires and two tubes to help with their work. We left Ghana in such haste in March that I wasn’t able to give the men tires and tubes during the first quarter of the year. I knew they needed the tires and tubes so I gave them two this time. The men were happy with their gift.
We were saddened this month to hear about the death of Brother James, a church leader from the small congregation at Kulkpanga. It is quite sad because James came out of denominationalism and asked us to bring the Church to his Dagomba village. James leaves a widow with young children. The family asked the church to do the burial so at 9pm one night Timothy called and asked for my help. It was a 2 hour drive into the bush to do the burial. I was very concerned about the virus and the mass group of people that would assemble for the burial. I distributed face masks to the people at the burial site. Since James was a Dagomba, most of his family are Muslim; it was important to go so they would know the church was concerned about James.
The Church at Nyangpala requested help to purchase a used building. The congregation just didn’t have enough money to purchase it for $375 USD. The price of the building is much less than the actual cost if they were to try to build from scratch. We promised to help them buy the building. Two church brothers came on the 30th to collect the money. They said they had half the money for the building. We told them to save their money and use it to remodel the building. We thank all of you that make it possible for us to help the congregations.
Thank you for your prayers and the support you give to the work. During these trying times we can see the need for our reliance on the Lord God for help. Please continue to remember the work in your prayers; we pray for you as well. May God bless!
In His service,
Stephen & Kandie Taylor
