After a pretty good night’s sleep and breakfast I made sure the conference room we’d reserved was ready for the ILP participants and classes. The room is bigger than we need, but it has very good a/c (which sometimes tends to freeze out some of the Ghanaians), and a projector and screen, all of which we needed.

Including Mr. Horchak and me we had 19 present for the classes. These included all the ILP participants from both the Elmina area and Takoradi. Takoradi is a major port town located about 40 miles on down the coast to the west.

The first class was a video presentation by Mr. Franks on teaching as you have been taught. For leaders and speakers in the Church, this is an important concept to insure doctrinal integrity in all our congregations around the world.

After a short break Mr. Horchak presented one on Christian priorities. Obviously another very important concept for leaders in the Church to understand and practice. Both were well-received.

After some further discussion, I helped cover some food and transportation expenses for everyone and they each began to make their way home. But since the hotel only rents the room by the day, and it was early afternoon, I decided to stay and work there. The a/c was good and the internet signal was solid. I had some work I needed to get done, and it just made sense to stay there!

Toward the end of the afternoon I received the very sad news that one of our elders back home, Mr. Jack Willoughby, died very unexpectedly at home this morning. I talked with him the day before I left because he wasn’t feeling well. He was going to go to the VA hospital to get checked out if he didn’t get better (which he did after I left), but felt he probably just contracted a bug of some sort. This is always a difficult time for the family involved, and I’m saddened to be so far away with no way to get back home until the middle of next week. Our prayers are with the family for comfort and encouragement during this difficult time.

I met Mr. Horchak in the hotel restaurant for dinner. We’d decided on an earlier dinner because we were both tired and wanted to get back to our rooms and go on to bed. So we arrived at 4:30.

A couple of nights ago they’d told us they had no beef, so we asked if they had any now. We were assured they did, and since the pan fried beef looked good, we both ordered one. It took about 35 minutes for the waiter to come back and inform us they didn’t have that kind of beef, only “shredded beef.” So we opted for that instead. And a full hour after that we finally received our food. The “shredded beef” turned out to be big chunks of gristly meat. But that is not unusual. One often finds the amount of calories burned trying to chew the food may outstrip the number of calories the food itself provides!

Tomorrow we will go out to see the national land in the morning, and then meet with the pastors in the afternoon, having dinner with them in the evening. The national land was purchased several years ago, and they are slowly working to build it up. When finished it will provide a permanent place for the Feast and youth camps, and other occasions as needed. It will also become a source of income for the Church because facilities like this are rented out readily to colleges and other groups looking to host a larger event. It is hoped will give some financial stability to the Church here for years to come. The building is going slowly but steadily, as they are able to raise funds. And the work is largely volunteer labor from within the congregations.