The month of October brings change to the Yendi area; the rains become infrequent as the sun begins to grow hotter. The farmers are diligently harvesting their corn, yams, and soybeans. With the waters receding in some of the low lying areas it makes travel to and from the villages that are cut off by water easier. Soon we will be able to visit these churches and the church leaders will be able to come to the monthly class without using a canoe to cross the flood areas.
At the October church leader/evangelist class Timothy continued to discuss how the Church is organized. My class time consisted of 45 minutes of answering questions before Sister Rita brought lunch for the men. Kandie arrived in the pickup while the men were eating their lunch. When we called the class back to order after lunch I told the men we would be going to the mission compound. I explained that since we wouldn’t get to have the seminar again this year we wanted to give the men a bicycle to use to help them with the work. At the compound Kandie had already placed a number on each bicycle and we had each man choose a number. The number he chose was the bicycle he received. Everyone was very happy to get a new used bicycle. Each bicycle cost approximately $75 USD. This amount also includes the transportation to get the bicycles home. Before everyone started to leave the compound the brothers had Timothy Niligrini thank us on their behalf for the gift.
The church leaders who attended the class totaled 25. They reported that 16 people were baptized into Christ this month and 3 were restored back to the fold.
This month we visited the congregations at Borido on the 3rd, Bagjon on the 10th, Kpamang on the 17th, Simniboma on the 24th, and Nyangpala on the 31st. We delivered a communion table with a tablecloth to each of the congregations. As we were traveling back from Bagjon we stopped and talked with some of the leaders of the congregation at Nakpa. They have been working hard to get their new building completed. We presented them with matching funds of 2,000 Ghana Cedis (equal to $345 USD) to help them with their work. They were extremely happy with the gift.
Like many places in the world today the price of fuel in Ghana has skyrocketed. Currently the price of diesel fuel is costing $4.31 per gallon. Not only does this greatly increase the cost of travel it also trickles down to the shipping of food stuffs. Food prices are increasing daily which makes it very difficult for people who are already poor.
We were saddened to get the news that Joseph Nlabichee, the church leader of the Sakpei congregation , lost his daughter to what we think was malaria. It is nigh to impossible to get the medical professionals to give a diagnosis. What compounded this death is that Joseph and his wife lost a little boy a few years back to malaria. Please keep this family in your prayers.
Covid 19 update: The only news that we have officially received is a down grading of the Covid 19 alert the US State Department sends out to those of us in Ghana who are enrolled in the STEP program. Businesses are still requiring their people to wear masks and we continue to give out masks and encourage brethren to be cautious.
We thank you for your interest in the work we are endeavoring to do here in the Yendi area. Please keep the work in your prayers as we thank God for your continued efforts to help us preach the Word.
May God bless!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
