Family visits

After an early breakfast, Stephen and I set off with his nephew to spend the morning visiting members of his family in and around Kumasi.  We had booked a taxi for the day so set off after a check of the condition of the vehicle, tyres in particular, as we didn't want any unintentional stops.

 

Stephen, his sister, aunt,
daughter, me
at his family home

We travelled about an hour to visit the village where Stephen grew up, calling in on his sister, two of his aunts, an uncle and a cousin.  We were also joined by his daughter for a while.  Lots of catching up to be done in a short space of time, as we had a further drive of about two hours for a second meeting about the Amankwatia project.

 

 

 

 

Offinso

Pounding Fufu
(a staple food)

Thankfully we successfully negotiated the traffic without too much bother and arrived in Offinso in good time for a meeting with the Superintendent Minister there, who also has oversight of the church at Amankwatia.  We had a productive meeting with him and also met some of the other members of circuit staff as they were meeting locally.  I am pleased to report that the key items to start the project are therefore in place.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support for this.

 

 

 

 

Operation Christmas Child/Samaritan's Purse

Samaritan's Purse parcels
(from the US)

A nice surprise was to arrive at the Superintendent's house and see a collection of boxes from Operation Christmas Child.  Many people from the Methodist churches in the Reading & Silchester Circuit (and lots of others worldwide) help with this annually, in order to provide gifts to disadvantaged families around the world; the circuit office next to Wesley Methodist Church in Reading has acted as a collection point for these parcels over the past few years.

And so to Amankwatia

Tomorrow we will be travelling to Amankwatia itself and will be leading worship between us in the Methodist Church.  It will be good to meet the community and so have the opportunity to have them in mind over the next few months as the work proceeds to improve their communal facilities.  I hope and pray that this will be the beginning of an on-going relationship between the two churches.