February 24th
Almost home.
As I sit in Chicago waiting for my last flight to leave in less than an hour I reflect on how much I enjoyed my trip to Liberia. Yes, there are always times when you travel that things don’t go exactly ‘right’, at least how we want things to go. One of those things happened as I arrived in Chicago. While in Brussels I swapped out the SIM card in my phone from the Liberian carrier to my original SIM card. At least I thought it was my original card. Upon arriving in Chicago I could not get cell coverage and after investigating I found out that the SIM card I have is from someone with a Colorado phone number. Apparently when having my card swapped while in Liberia they gave me the wrong card back. I’ll have to straighten this out next week and get a replacement card. You never can tell when something will come up.
I sincerely miss all of the friends that I have in Liberia and I look forward to seeing how God is able to use the teaching and the resources I was able to leave for them.
Right now I am looking forward to seeing Jenny and falling asleep in my own bed.
I am reminded of what Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz said, ‘There’s no place like home’.
Thanks to all for your prayers and please continue to pray for Liberia Pastor’s Emmanuel, Titus and Moses as they live out the Gospel on the ground there in the beautiful country of Liberia.
February 23rd travel day.
Travel time.
Well the last day arrived. Looking back, it’s been a long time, but it feels as if I just arrived. Much like any time away.
Today the only thing on my agenda was to speak at the inauguration of officers at Cyrus’s high school. Of course I just learned about this yesterday so in the morning I needed to prepare for what I would say. I did this and Daniel and I headed out to the Maggie Lamkins Institute. We walked to the junction to get a motorbike taxi. It cost $40 LD to ride us the 1-2 miles to the school. That is around 31 cents USD for both of us. I was told I should be there by 11:00 because the posted time was 10:00 so Cyrus already accounted for ‘Liberia time’. We really didn’t want to be late so we arrived around 10:15. After standing around for 45 minutes or so they told us to head over to the church next door where the service would be held. We did this and we were seated in an area that appeared to be for the choir at the church. It was there the real waiting began. I have learned to be flexible in Liberia, but today I found myself complaining and I really shouldn’t have. The program finally started around 12:45 or so. Their speakers weren’t working so it was rather amusing the switching out of speakers and around 5-8 Liberians working on the sound board. I laugh cause I know from experience when technology doesn’t work it is rather frustrating.
Once it did start between the muffled sounds of a bad sound system, the Liberian accent and my hearing being bad it was an effort in futility to understand anything. Luckily Daniel was there to tell me when I would speak and what was going on. Due to the long delay I already decided to cut my sermon/speech short. I have to say this was the least connected to an audience that I felt in my whole time here. I pray that I encouraged the new officers to lead well.
I thought we would leave after I spoke, but I found out I was to swear the officers in. I was frantically searching the Internet for ‘oath of office’ which I found with the USA presidential oath. A few change of words and I was all set. After I administered the oath Daniel and I left. It was well after 2:00 p.m. at this time. The only reason I cared was that on my last day I selfishly wanted to spend the time with people I knew and not with a crowd that I hadn’t met before and couldn’t understand what was going on. Daniel had to head somewhere else so I got a motorbike taxi back to Emmanuel’s. I had planned on heading to Red Light in the early afternoon, but I wouldn’t have time to do that anymore. That is ok as I know that it’s a crazy marketplace and I’ve seen it before.
I spent the remainder of the afternoon visiting with so many friends and after packing, showering and eating I was ready to head out to the airport. We left around 5:40 and arrived just before 7:00 p.m. Check in went smooth and I am waiting now for my flight to leave in 1-1/2 hours from now at 9:30 local time or 3:30 back home. I am scheduled to arrive in Brussels at 5:05 a.m. local or 10:00 p.m. Friday back home. I leave from there at 11:05 local and 4:05 a.m. back home with arrival in Chicago scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and finally to arrive in Green Bay at 6:23 p.m. that is if all connections and times are met.
Thanks for your prayers as I travel.
Here are some of the friends I said goodbye to.
Cyrus 
Matthias
Winston 
Christie, Chris and Maria
Blessing 
Goat
February 22nd
Last full day.
Today I felt the reality of the end of my trip. It seemed like all my discussions ended up going to ‘What time do you leave, Dad Robin?’. As much as people told me they will miss me I feel it will be me missing them. After all, they only have me to miss and I have so many more of them to miss.
Emmanuel and Wintee left to see some people and run some errands. I was left at their home alone, well not alone. People were coming and going all day greeting me and even coming to help in small ways that mean a lot to me. Elizabeth and Korto did my laundry, the old fashioned way on a wash board and wringing them out by hand and then hanging to dry. That is the type of service all of the people have given me.
When I first arrived I offered Emmanuel some money to help with food and he responded with ‘you took care of me on my visit, let us take care of you on your visit’. For those that have been here, you know what that means. For those that haven’t been here, consider a teacher’s pay for example being $100.00…..a month, and the people of Liberia want to bless me. I say this to not make much of Emmanuel’s declining money for my food, but to say as a result I’ve been able to bless so many more of the people connected to LCMI ministries through gifts to other Pastors and various needs that came up during my stay.
I hope that can put into perspective how appreciative the Liberian people are of our prayers and support and how much the support practically means to the ministry of the Gospel. As Pastor Titus told me, ‘It’s difficult to think beyond the day when your stomach is empty’. That is what the ministry here faces in many ways. Poverty is the norm and trying to share the Gospel seems humanly impossible under these conditions, but God continues to use many churches here in ways we as Americans would be surprised. People love the Lord, praise the Lord and live for the Lord. In many ways I’ve been convicted of my dependence on my job, my finances or my savings when God can take these away at any time. If that were to happen, would my faith be as strong as what I observe over here in the churches? I ask myself that and I can honestly say that it would be a struggle to ‘Trust God, Even When Life Hurts’, (the book I shared with the leadership here). I pray I would, but not having to face it I especially pray for the faith to trust like that.
As I continued to greet people on and off throughout the day I was fed a good meal of GB by Princess for lunch. After lunch I decided to take a walk around the community. I walked quite a ways through some new areas with calls of ‘white man’ and the wave that followed. I even got scolded by an older lady (probably younger than me, but older in wisdom than me) saying ‘you need to cover your head in the sun’. I promised her I was heading home to stay in the shade. I did come back to Emmanuel’s and sat in the shade.
The afternoon wore on and I awaited the older kids to get home.
I forgot to mention that in the morning there was one more episode with the goat. The kids had taken the goat out of the building and tied it outside by the kitchen. This goat had proven it’s desire to avoid the inevitable and it once again acted on this desire. Emmanuel walked over by the kitchen (their kitchens are primarily an outside porch since they cook with charcoal or wood) and when he got to where the goat was tied I could hear in his voice that something was wrong. He started calling some of the kids not in school to come over because the goat had again escaped. Emmanuel told me this had happened one other time and they never found the goat. Luckily this time, even though he escaped, he stopped in the lush grass and other food behind the house not too far away. Clarence caught him and this time he spent his remaining hours in the building.
Well, the kids came home from school and they all knew their jobs so the boys set out to do theirs. Blessing, Emmanuel’s daughter, came running up to me and said ‘Dad Robin, come on and take pictures of the goat’. I wasn’t sure I wanted to, but I went to the back of the home and let’s just say the normalcy of the scene to them was quite interesting. It made me think of how my parents may have been used to living while they were young and that using your livestock as your food and taking care of things yourself were just part of it. I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say we did indeed have some fresh goat later on.
Before we had our supper we had many LCMI members stopping by and I soon found out they were coming to wish me a send off with gifts for me and Jenny and some from Women of Purpose for Jenny, Bobbi and Renee. The thoughtfulness and prayers they offered were another way they cared for me. They had some popcorn and a drink for all. That would have been the night, but with Emmanuel you can never know what other plans he may have. Immediately following the members thanking and praying for me Emmanuel informed me we were going to a revival service. This was just before 8:00 p.m. I was in my shorts, but I was wearing the new shirt they had given me so Emmanuel said to just put on some slacks and let’s go. I changed and we headed out. We arrived to a typical Liberian church with music coming through the doors and dancing as we walked in. They seated us towards the front and I soon found out Emmanuel was the guest speaker and they were continuing the singing until he arrived. They introduced him then and he gave a great message on the great commission from Matthew 28.
Of course he had to have me come up after he finished so I could share a few words. For any of you who ever thought of coming to Liberia, don’t let that worry you. It took me coming 4 times for Emmanuel to feel comfortable with putting me on the spot. He won’t do that to you if you want to come. I promise!
Afterwards we greeted many people with one member of that church saying ‘If that man can travel from the states to Liberia to share the Gospel I want to be willing to go where God can use me’. He is interested in doing a church plant near the Guinea border up in a village near Yekepa. Emmanuel shared about the church in New Yekepa so he wants more info to follow up on as he and his wife are willing to go.
We are now about to go to bed. This will be my last night in Liberia. I leave tomorrow evening at 9:30 p.m. which is 3:30 back home.
I don’t have the day off tomorrow though, I am a stand in speaker at Cyrus’s (Emmanuel’s son) school for their inauguration of officers. Cyrus is the new secretary so this is my last time to publicly share the Gospel in Liberia (this time). There have been so many more opportunities than I could ever plan.
I will let you all know how things went tomorrow night when I wait to board the plane.
February 21st
Travel day.
After going to bed late with the plan to leave early this morning I woke up around 6:30 for family devotions with Pastor Dennis and family. Afterwards I waited for the rest to get up. When I went to bed I heard them still going over the Women of Purpose information. I have no idea when they finished.
We finally said our goodbyes and hit the road around 10:00 a.m. Beside the goat in the back of the van we had 2 other people that wanted a ride so Emmanuel agreed to this. One man, Peter, was traveling back to school in Kakata and the other, Pastor Joe, the soap maker, traveled all the way back to Emmanuel’s house. With a couple of stops along the way and with each bad bump in the road causing the goat to scream out we actually made good time. I was reminded of the screaming goat videos on YouTube every time the goat reminded me he was in the back. I was happy it wasn’t a pig as they would smell much worse. This goat didn’t even make the van stink.
We came home, had a quick meal and headed over to prayer meeting at church. At the end of the service I was able to sing ‘I’ll Fly Away’ with the Jonah family. We sang that song in 2012 as we welcomed the rest of the CBC team to Monrovia. It was fun to sing this again with them.
Now it is dark and even though all we did was travel I am quite tired.
As for the goat, tomorrow will be a celebration meal with fresh meat on the table. I guess I’ll be trying a new meat since I’ve never eaten goat before.
February 20th
Today, for an unplanned day, was busy. I woke up in the morning to have devotions with Pastor Dennis and family. After this we had pancakes for breakfast with tea to drink. (Real tea this time).
We then headed over to the women’s center for the impromptu meeting called out on the radio the night before. We arrived for our 9:00 a.m. meeting with the leaders of Women of Purpose, Saclepea branch. This meeting went from a devotional time to business of how to conduct their training for each division. One of the teachers, Pastor Joe, is the only male teacher in this branch and he teaches soap making so the women can make their own soap to sell in the market. He knows how to make all different kinds of soap. I thought that was interesting in itself and that a man thinks enough of this program to dedicate time to teaching. Then of course the other women teachers are so involved and hearing from many of the ladies later on are also patient and great teachers.
One thing that struck me early was a lady named Patricia who is a student, but was there for our devotion time. Emmanuel had everyone in our circle say something they are thankful for and some way Women of Purpose helps them. Patricia, during her time to speak, said she was afraid to come for fear because of her lack of education. She cannot read or write (she is probably 30-40 years old) and as she told us that Women of Purpose told her that didn’t matter. They encouraged her to join and assure her they could teach her skills that wouldn’t need reading and writing ability. She said she never had the chance to learn anything before. I could see a woman who felt she had no worth now feeling like she could learn something that would help her and her family. That is the reason Wintee started this originally because she witnessed that same attitude in many women.
After the leader’s meeting we had only to wait 30 minutes for the student meeting that started at 1:30 p.m. promptly. I was able to lead these ladies in a Bible study before they got to their business. After I finished the devotional there were probably 30 women there. As is typical in Liberia people kept coming until there were over 60-70 women present. The radio interview definitely reached who they wanted to reach. It was fun to see all the ladies there from young 20’s to over 50 all wanting to learn some skills. This meeting went till after 3:00. It turned into a long day.
(I feel like this is ‘Where’s Waldo’)
As I type at 8:30 at night Wintee and Estella (financial lady) are going through all the paperwork as once Wintee leaves they are on their own again. The whole purpose is to empower communities to undertake this with guidance from Wintee, but not where she needs to be present.
Tomorrow is our travel day with me and the goat in the backseat. It should be an interesting ride. I just found out Pastor Joe will be traveling along with us. That will be good to get to know him better.
Monday February 19th
What a day today turned out to be. There are more things that I’d like to write about than I have time to write.
First, it was a difficult day because it started with devotions with the children of the orphanage somewhere around 6:00 a.m. I spoke on Psalms 136…God’s love endures forever. I wanted to encourage the children that whatever they face, God is faithful and so is His love.
This was followed by a time of testimony and thanks from Mother Betty, Pastor Moses and Josephine (an 11th grader at the orphanage). When Josephine read the letter for me as the representative of the children I could feel that uncomfortable tightening in my chest about leaving these kids (again) with hopes to return some day. After devotions most of the children wanted to avoid me because they didn’t want to say goodbye. Julie told me last night that she wanted me to leave before she got back from school so she wouldn’t have to see me again. There is a special place in my heart for all of the Liberian children that I’ve been blessed to know.
We left Yekepa around noon to head to Saclepea, about 1-1/2 hours from Ganta. Just before going into Ganta we stopped at the Ganta hospital just at the edge of town. Wintee wanted to visit a young mother who had just delivered a baby on Friday by Caesarean section. We went inside and the first thing I noticed is that the hospital lacked the sterile feeling of hospitals in the states. We made our way to the OB ward and when we arrived there was a bunch of beds with mosquito netting above each bed and at the back of the room was a screen door to let breeze in I guess. I watched as nurses helped mothers with their babies, worked with the babies and cared for Mother Gelleh, the Pastor’s wife who had the c-section. As we stood there the power went off and the thing that surprised me is that I was the only one who was surprised. The nurses kept on working in the dim light from the screen door and the screened windows. Emmanuel mentioned that this can happen frequently and affect things like people on oxygen or worse yet, happen during a surgery. After about 10 minutes the power came on and the only acknowledgment of this happening was one nurse who kind of grunted up at the fans as if to say, ‘It’s about time, stay on this time!’ After the hospital visit We refueled and begin the new road (to me) to Saclepea. It is a rough ‘dusty’ road all the way.
We arrived here around 5:30 p.m. or so. It was so nice to see Angie again. She is a young girl who used to live with Emmanuel, but due to a poor choice she now has a child that she is caring for. She was living in a village, but now is staying with Emmanuel’s Uncle Dennis, Mother Betty’s younger brother. He is a Pastor of a Refuge Baptist Church in Saclepea. They are so gracious to allow us to stay.
Once we arrived of course we needed to eat. We had some chicken soup with rice and a banana for desert. They are giving me the main bedroom. I don’t feel like I should have this, but they enjoy serving me in this way. We have power tonight so I can charge my phone and have a fan running. In Yekepa I didn’t need a fan because it cooled down to a very comfortable temperature at night, but it would get in the 90’s during the day. Here I can tell it’s still really hot at night so the fan will be welcomed however long it stays on.
After we ate we traveled a short distance to the local women’s center constructed by Pastor and his wife. This was the perfect location for a new chapter of Women of Purpose, Saclepea branch. This is the branch they had 90 sign up and had to turn others away. I was informed that similar training for women in baking, tailoring, hair care and other things can cost up to $400 US dollars. This makes it impossible for many ladies to attend and learn. Women of Purpose wants this to be a ministry rather than a business venture so they only charge $4,000 Liberian dollars which equals just over $30 US. They do need to pay for themselves, but the amount just covers the supplies for the class. The purpose is to train skills and teach from the Bible. As they learn to bake one of the things they have to do to support the school is to sell their goods for the school. This also helps them with the business aspect of this skill, teaching them how to keep track of their money so when they are on their own they can replenish their supplies and keep things going. The class here in Saclepea is on Friday and Saturday for 5 months. Many ladies from surrounding villages travel for the training via motorbike. Pastor Dennis says that Saturday especially the area around the building is packed with ladies and motorbikes. What a scene that must be. Unfortunately I won’t be here over a weekend to witness this.
I was just informed that there is warm water for me to take my shower so I’ll finish up later.
As I said the day has already been full of experiences and what just happened again is an example of Liberia. Or better yet, it’s an example of God’s amazing plan. After I finished my shower I came out to sit down and get ready for bed. A discussion was underway with a change in our plans. The Women of Purpose training needs more attention so we are staying another day here in Saclepea with plans to go back to Monrovia on Wednesday now (no problem, what’s next). As the talk continued there was a discussion of the possibility of going on the radio to contact the many ladies of Women of Purpose. It makes sense because so many people listen to the local radio station. This station is about 5 minutes away from Pastor Dennis’s home. The decision was made that we would head over there…..8:45 at night, pay an advertising fee (for lack of a better way to describe it here) in the amount of 300 LD or $2.31 US and go get interviewed by the radio station. We did just that. I am in my shorts, t-shirt and flip flops, I was ready for bed, and next thing I realize I am sitting in a chair next to Wintee and Theresa (Pastor Dennis’s wife) promoting Women of Purpose and letting the radio audience know about a meeting tomorrow. Isn’t that truly amazing. These women are very passionate about this ministry.
Now to back up a little. After supper, when we went to the Women’s center in town we left the ladies and Emmanuel wanted to go check on something. Pastor Dennis, Emmanuel and I headed out to go check this ‘thing’ out. Well, another example of Liberia….I will be sharing my ride home with a goat 🐐, yes this animal. Emmanuel wanted to buy this for a celebratory dinner and when I asked how the goat is getting home Emmanuel just tells me ‘in the back of my van!’ as if I asked a silly question. We walked for quite awhile through a community, found the man with the goat, made the deal and a young man was tasked with leading the goat back to Emmanuel’s van. Shortly after the young man started to lead the fighting goat, however, the rope (or vine that was used as a rope) broke and off runs the goat scurrying between buildings. I believe he knows his fate. A short chase ensues and the goat is caught. He is letting everyone know he’s not happy. The boy then takes the goat by the front and back legs and throws the goat across his shoulders to carry it the rest of the way to the van. At the van they truss the goat up with the vine and lay the goat in the back. He is now resting comfortably in some room waiting for us to leave. That could be an interesting ride.
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'll update more tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
Sunday February 18th
Today, being a Sunday, it was a day I was able to serve 2 different churches. In the morning I traveled with Emmanuel, Titus and Mother Betty to the New Yekepa Church. This is into the hills just past Yekepa itself. It is in a beautiful setting and many of the congregants do not speak English, at least the American English that I would be speaking. To remedy this I Mother Betty translated into Mano, the tribal language from the area. I thought it was to be in Gio, another tribal language, but I was wrong. Either way it was a language I did not know and most likely is a language I’ll never know. Bobbi was able to share her testimony last time we were here with the same circumstances. I only had one sermon worked on so I shared the notes I took on a previous Pastor Buckley sermon from last year. Another great reason to take notes. Along with this I shared my testimony as well. They are very gracious people there and I could tell many of the congregants can speak English now, but there are some of the older ones who still talk in the tribal tongue.
A few of them traveled back to Redeemer Baptist to hear me again, this time with me speaking English. I cannot even tell you the surreal feeling of standing in a building in the middle of the foothills of Liberia speaking to this congregation through the use of an interpreter. God is amazing in the opportunities he places in our lives.
We finished with enough time to travel back the 20-30 minutes drive to Redeemer in order to make it for their 11:00 a.m. worship service. I really enjoy the people that I’ve come to know over the years at this church. They are so welcoming and genuinely happy to see me return. One sad note was one of the Elders, Ezekiel Kopea lost his wife Esther this past October. Jenny really hit it off with her when she visited, so much that Jenny wrote her a letter of greeting that I carried over in 2016. It broke my heart when Ezekiel brought the letter in today to show me that he still keeps it. We never know what an act of kindness or caring for someone means to others. Thank you Jenny for writing that letter 2 years ago. It meant a lot to both Ezekiel and Esther and it still brings Ezekiel pleasure to know that a woman from the states cared enough to write a note to his wife.
After church we came back to Mother Betty’s Home where we had both GB and squash soup for our rice as a meal with fresh pineapple for desert. The other day I purchased 3 good size pineapples for less than $1. They are in season now and I enjoy every time they cut one or 2 up for our meal. I forgot to mention yesterday the nurse, Caroline, heard that I eat GB and FUFU. She wanted to give me a gift so she brought enough FUFU for Emmanuel, Titus and myself to swallow a great breakfast this morning. You’ll have to look that up on YouTube to see how the Liberians eat this. It really is good.
After lunch I had a great time sitting with the children of the orphanage and talking. I know the others that have been here can vividly remember times like that. The kids just enjoy hanging out. Later in the afternoon I took a walk around Camp Four with Mother Wintee, Kathryn (Moses’s wife) and a few of the girls from the orphanage. Wintee and Kathryn wanted to invite many of the local women to the Women of Purpose classes that will be starting in early March. I was an expected eye catcher as I could hear the children in the community yelling ‘white man’ as they came up to shake my hand or wave at me. A couple of the children hid behind others because I looked ‘different’. This made the girls of the orphanage laugh. We had a great time.
We decided to wait to leave her e until tomorrow. We will be meeting someone tomorrow before heading out to Saclapea. We plan on spending the night there visiting Angie and her family. We will travel back to Monrovia on Tuesday sometime. I don’t know if I’ll have any cell coverage so I may not be able to update my blog until Tuesday night. I’ll have to wait and see.
Although my official duties of speaking and teaching are over I look forward to any other relationship building that occurs in this next week in Liberia.
I have a trip to Red Light planned yet. This will be on motorbike taxis. I had to have Jenny send Emmanuel a permission slip telling him Jenny allows me to travel by motorbike. Emmanuel said he promised Jenny he’d take care of me and that the motorbikes aren’t as safe as he wants. Of course I see grade school children and even infants riding these motorbikes so I’ve been giving Emmanuel a hard time over these ‘rules’. We’ve had fun joking about many things.
I may add pictures to this post if I find the cell coverage better sometime. It is 7:30 p.m. now and it is always slow now.
Sunday morning
Looking at the hills around the orphanage draws my gaze upward reminding me of these verses.
Psalm 121:1-2ESV
[1] I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
[2] My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
My prayer this morning is for the Liberian people to see God, the Creator and Helper and all His glory.
Amen
February 17th
Today, being a Saturday, and thankfully because Emmanuel, Titus and I stayed up talking until past 1:00 a.m. our morning devotions were delayed until 6:30 a.m. I did wake up earlier, but nobody was moving in the house so I stayed in bed until the djembe (drum) started signifying they would begin soon.
Speaking of nobody moving in the house I have to tell you about my upstairs neighbors last night. We went to bed late, as I said, and when I laid down I heard someone moving around and I didn’t pay much attention to it until I was trying to sleep. It was at that time the neighbors got real loud. So loud I thought they’d come through the floor above and land on my bed. They seemed to be having a dance or party of some sort. There was one particularly heavy walker that thought it wasn’t rude to stamp on the run across the floor. Only the building is one story and what is above me is just a thin 1/8” pressboard like ceiling tile. The rude neighbor was actually a lizard that had to be alligator size at least in attitude. As I lay there wondering what I would do if he indeed fell through as he was making a particularly fast run across the tiles I finally decided it had to be a track and field event and he was getting a run for the long jump. He ran, jumped and I heard him land on a lower outside roof and I could hear him run away off the metal roof to torment another neighbor for the night. I can only hope that tonight he decides not to visit.
After devotions this morning it was general clean up day for the kids. They did a great job doing the best they could to make a dusty environment seem a little less dusty. While they were cleaning I had the opportunity and privilege to interview Pastor Moses, who is now the Pastor of Redeemer Baptist Church and teaches Bible at the school for grades 4-9. We really enjoyed getting to know each other and I look forward to sharing his story when I return.
Last night at a children’s meeting to go over some orphanage business Emmanuel decided that after the clean up time I would have time for a short presentation of The Bible Overview program. So from 11:00-12:30 I gave a condensed version and we had a great time of study. The remainder of the day was contacting some of my family including talking on Facebook video messenger with my parents in Texas. What a joy it was to see my father greeting Mother Betty here in Liberia and Mother Betty thanking him for my visit. No they couldn’t hear each other real well, but imagine when they were each born to think about speaking to someone via video chat from another continent. I know they were both impressed with the improbability of that in their lives. Later on I took a ride with Mother Betty and Emmanuel to visit Pa Anthony’s grave. It is along the road just past a checkpoint on our way into Yekepa.
When we returned and we were all sitting around I asked Emmanuel and Titus if they wanted to watch the movie ‘Facing Darkness’. Since they hadn’t seen it yet I played it on my phone. It was a small screen, but we all sat on the front porch at the orphanage and watched this film about the Ebola crisis that they both lived through. It was very moving to see how they both were affected by the memories the movie stirred up for them.
Tomorrow we leave for New Yekepa Baptist Church at 8:30ish so I’m going to sleep now. I think I just heard the upstairs neighbor come home. Time to sleep before they start their party or dancing.
Till tomorrow…..
Friday February 16th
Today, after getting up for 5:30 devotions again, this time speaking from my mother’s favorite Psalms 121, later on I visited all of the classes at the Randall Godfrey School. I greeted them all and Emmanuel even had us sing ‘I’ll Fly Away’ to some of the classes. Emmanuel, Titus and I visited all of the classes there.
Now I am sitting at a local high school, Unification Town High School, waiting for an inauguration of high school officers to begin. This is a big deal over here with well over 100 people attending. I am here because Pastor Moses from the orphanage is the invited guest speaker for the program. Of course a visitor like me sits at the front table because after all I am visiting the guest speaker. 😀
While here I met a young lady who reminds me of Jessica. Her name is Natalie and she is from New Orleans, LA. She is with the Peace Corp and she is a teacher at this school. This school is where Julie and Comfort from the orphanage attend high school. Natalie and I sat together at the front table. Natalie sat next to the principal of the school (makes sense as she at least teaches there)
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Right away I noticed the resemblance of personality to my daughter Jessica. In fact when I told her about Jessica’s latest adventure in teaching in Thailand she immediately was interested. Brandon and Jessica, if you read this you may hear from Natalie about wanting to teach in your school. She has another year after this school year in Liberia, but she is planning on looking into Thailand as her next place to teach. She now teaches math and science at Unification Town. You never can tell who you meet and where you meet them. I invited her to Redeemer Baptist Church on Sunday. She said she may come. I hope so.
The program was originally scheduled to start at 10 and run till noon. It finally got underway around 11:15 or so. Emmanuel, Pastor Moses and I left (from the front table) sometime around 12:45. The program didn’t show any signs of finishing. Natalie also slipped out to head to Ganta for a workshop after we left. Having us leave didn’t deter anyone. We went back to the orphanage, had lunch and waited till after 2:00 to go back and pick up some of the kids who were still there. Yep, after 2:00, there was still someone speaking. I’m grateful that we left earlier.
In the afternoon I rested some, read some and talked with some of the kids. Now we are driving in Yekepa and dropped off an ABC student at the college and we are going to pick up Julie who went back to the school for kickball with a visiting school. It just turned dark here. We will most likely go back, eat and visit until bedtime.
Tomorrow I will have my chance to visit with Pastor Moses. I look forward to seeing where his beliefs are, how he can help in the spiritual care of clinic patients and learning more about his life. He gave a great speech on leadership at the graduation. Even though it is a public high school God can be the focus of a speaker’s message.
On Sunday I’ve told you I will be speaking at Redeemer Baptist, but I don’t know if I’ve mentioned I will also be speaking at New Yekepa Baptist Church where Bobbi gave her testimony 2 years ago. She had an interpreter, Mother Betty, who translated her testimony to Gio (a tribal language). I believe I will also have an interpreter so I will need to work on a message (shorter) that I can share with them. What an opportunity to share the Gospel with other tribes and tongues. Pray that I have a message relevant to their culture but faithful to the Gospel.
February 15th
Pictures first if they will upload. Story later.
Julie Cooper. 
Mother Betty 
Women of Purpose training with the girls at BJO. The cookies smell so good.
Outside oven.
Today, being the first day at the orphanage has been very enjoyable. From devotions in the morning which started at 5:30 a.m. I did wake up at 4:30 and hit the snooze a couple of times (seems like home). I finally got up before 5:00 with no activity anywhere. I went outside to sit under the beautiful flowering tree in front of the orphanage. I used my phone as a light and walked outside. It was actually cool feeling, not to be confused with cold, but it was very comfortable with shorts and T-shirt on. The Liberians tell me it is cold. Anyway, since it was quiet and dark yet I read my Bible for a few chapters and prayed. I wasn’t sure of the pattern of the morning so I waited to see. Mamma Betty got up and I could see her flashlight as she headed outside. She then proceeded to hit the metal pole as the children’s alarm clock. Slowly the camp awoke and headed into the sitting room in Mamma Betty’s quarters. Emmanuel and Wintee had one room and I had another in this building. Titus slept in the boys dorm.
We all gathered and began the morning devotions at 5:30 with singing and testimony time. After this was over I was ‘reintroduced’ to the children and I shared a devotion from Hebrews 4:14-16. After the devotional time was over the day began for the children and I thought, well it’s not light out yet, I think I’ll go lay back down. I did for another hour and a half. That felt good.
At 7:30 when I got up I went back outside and visited a little until breakfast was ready. We had spaghetti for breakfast with bread and tea (ovaltine). Afterwards I got my good camera to take some pictures of people and updates around the compound. Mamma Betty wanted to show me the guest house under construction on the backside of their property. It is a duplex with 2 bedrooms in each side. She said they are having it built for guests (like CBC) when they come to visit. Such a pretty backdrop with the mountain behind. I hope to stay in there with others someday.
After this I spent the next few hours speaking with Nurse Moses and Caroline. While I was visiting two children were taken in. The first was a young girl recovering from measles. There has been an outbreak around Camp Four community, but praise God none of the orphanage children have had any issues with this. From what I understand most if not all have had the vaccination for them. The girl who has them is around 2-3 years old. Moses says she is doing much better today. Today was the 2nd day of antibiotics injection for treatment. So sad to see, but I’m grateful for the clinic’s ability to treat them. Moses is a very smart nurse. The lady had tried treatment at another clinic, but she wasn’t improving. I don’t know if the other clinic diagnosed measles or not. The lady came from Yekepa to see Moses since she heard he was good. I prayed with the mother and thanked her for coming. The second patient of the day was a young boy named Michelle. They suspected he has malaria so they did a test and it was positive for it. They gave him an injection to help and meds to take home. The meds were around $5:00 US and she paid for them. After praying for her son I reimbursed her the costs so she wouldn’t have that amount out of her budget. Such a small token, but I know it was appreciated. She is 17 years old with 2 children. Moses was pretty good at telling her she needs to be in church and I found out later that he was telling her that her boyfriend should be there. I guess she comes every week, but her boyfriend never comes. She said he won’t and Moses said to keep trying and pray for him to come as well. She is unable to read and her options are almost nothing in life. Her name is Mercy. Pray for her also.
This afternoon, after meeting with the teachers of Randall Godfrey school a short time and eating some rice and beans with papaya and pineapple I am now sitting here smelling the fresh baked cookies from Women of Purpose. Wintee wants to start a branch up here so she is teaching Amelia how to train others and all of the orphan girls are helping with baking the cookies.
You can see by the oven the sign on the orphanage that tells of the meal sponsorship for the kids. This is a huge praise as the local business, the mine, told Emmanuel they have been watching the work the orphanage does for the children and they wanted to get involved by offering a daily meal project. As Emmanuel told me, ‘They are not Christians, but God is using them to bless the orphanage.’
I look forward to spending more time with the children.
I may write more later.
Arrived at Betty Jonah Orphanage. February 14
Today is travel day. As I type we are in Ganta where we filled the gas tank and I had a cold orange Fanta. Hard to believe that could be so refreshing, but it’s always relative to your situation and believe me the heat and dust from the road made this drink all the better.
The road to Ganta was great with smooth blacktop the whole way. We stopped a couple of places along the way with one being in Gbarnga where I met the Pastor of an LCMI church branch church. Emmanuel and Wintee dropped off a large bag of rice and some other things. He has been Pastor for 8 years. Titus also knows him as they were in Seminary together back in 2005 or so.
Wintee also met a lady in Ganta to give her some supplies. Sharing things like that is a great way to live out Christian love.
Now we are on the road from Ganta-Yekepa. These are the types of roads that most past travelers would remember and prefer to forget. Even typing in the back seat is difficult as the bumps bounce my fingers around so if you notice words out of place you’ll why know.
I’ll write more later once we arrive at the orphanage.
We arrived safely at the orphanage after a stop in Sanniquellie to see Wintee’s mother and drop off a few more things for her. The first person I saw was Joanna from the orphanage. I know that won’t mean much unless you were there previously, but she is a Jonah and stays in Sanniquellie now and helps at their store. She was the oldest child at the orphanage when we went in 2012. She still looks great. I’m not sure about posting pictures while I’m up here, but rest assured I will take many.
When we arrived at the orphanage it was dark and greetings were difficult since I only had one lightbulb on the outside of the main building to see the children. There was one girl who was no doubt someone I knew well. Julie came up and gave me a big hug as she welcomed Dad Robin. I saw quite a few, but I look forward to seeing all of them tomorrow. Speaking of that, I think I mentioned I will be doing morning devotions for them and I was told they all start to wake up and get going at 4:30 a.m. so everything can be completed and they can head to school. Some attend the high school and it is a 3 mike walk in the morning. I guess it’s time to set an alarm again.
I met Pastor Moses and his wife Kathryn. They seem really nice and I look forward to getting to know Pastor Moses better so I can update CBC on his work with the clinic patients. I will also visit nurse Moses and Caroline tomorrow. It could be a busy day so at 9:00 pm I am turning in.
Pray for Mother Betty. She is quite sad with Pa Anthony passing last September. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to lose your spouse. I got to talk to her a little bit. She made sure we were fed and then headed to a revival service at another church in the area. She herself is being recognized for all the work she’s done through the years. This recognition will be on Friday at a church about an hour away.
Saying goodnight from Yekepa, Liberia. All is well here. I am hoping for upload speed that can handle pictures. Well first off I’m just hoping to post the letter.
February 13th
Today was a day that I had absolutely nothing planned. I woke up and went and sat outside to read for awhile. Emmanuel had some errands to run so he planned on leaving for some time. I had rice and sardines for breakfast and decided I’d contact my daughter Jessica. Since she is ahead of me on time that is the only family I could talk to. She was grading papers, but had time to talk with me. I took a walk around the community showing Jessica some of the sights. It was nice to connect with her again.
After that I started feeling antsy so I again walked around the community. I heard someone call out ‘Dad Robin’ and I looked around to see a young boy motioning me over. I really find it nice that the community knows me and feels welcome to talk to me. Anyway I headed over to see what the boy wanted and I saw a lady close by. She walked up and said ‘Hi Dad, do you remember me, I’m Patience’. I did not recognize her when I walked up, but a closer look told me who she was. This was one of the girls that had helped at Emmanuel’s home 2 years ago. She proceeded to tell me that she now had a child and things are difficult. That can be an understatement when you look around. I asked about her child and she grabs my hand and says ‘Come’. She led me to her 2 room home, the front room being around 4’x 8’. This was more of the entry. The back room was larger and I’d guess around the 8’ wide and about that deep. She had a roommate also and her young child, GeorgeLynn. My heart went out to her, but she didn’t complain or ask for anything. I think she sincerely enjoyed seeing me and talking. She asked about the others that came to Liberia last time and I was able to show her pictures of Erik, Amanda and Maddox. She was happy for them.
Here is Patience and her child. 
After that I came back and was able to talk to Heather who had recently woke up with the girls and asked if I could talk. Another walk around the neighborhood because if I sit down the kids will all hover around to see someone in America on FaceTime.
After that I helped Christie (Emmanuel’s niece) do some grades for LCMI school where she is helping out.
Emmanuel came home and we went out to visit a local Pastor, but he wasn’t in so I got to look at their construction site. I was impressed, but OSHA wouldn’t approve if they were here.
Emmanuel was funny because the building is 5 stories high and he doesn’t like heights.
The foreman was more than happy to show me around.
Me and the foreman on top of the building. Emmanuel didn’t want to get too close to the edge.
Now I am sitting on a 2nd floor balcony with traffic noises all around and darkness setting in while Emmanuel is in an Internet Cafe. We will head home, eat supper and possibly watch the move we haven’t had time to see yet.
Tomorrow morning we leave for Yekepa. Pray for safety as we travel. I feel great and I thank all for their prayers.
Beach day continued
I left off with the van ride to the beach. Well, we made it safely after stopping twice to have the engine looked at because it wasn’t running good. During those two times I had to get out since the engine was under my seat. While standing on the road I got a good look at the tires…..not much to look at really. Just steel belts coming through and me wondering if the rocks sticking out of the dirt on the ‘bumpy’ roads would mercilessly get rid of the rest of the tire. Well, regardless of the condition of the van we made it to our destination. I counted heads after we arrived and I came up with 40 this time. I didn’t see anyone arriving by any other vehicles so I guess I have to amend my number. To be fair there were two children around 2 so they didn’t take up too much room.
We had our messages from Rufus Sebo and myself and both prompted some good discussion. Afterwards we ate the meal that was started the night before and prepared earlier in the day. They made sure everyone had plenty to eat. Then there was some game time and finally swimming for the youth group. I offered to be the official bag watcher as there was quite a pile of bags and things from so many people.
We left shortly before 6:00. Emmanuel did make it later so he lessened the burden on the van by cramming 12 or 13 in his minivan. On the way home we stopped by to visit his sister, Hannah, who has a girl she cares for that has typhoid. Her name is Jemimah, but they call her Gramma. We prayed for her there and visited a little. Once we got home I wanted to take a quick shower. You get sandy and sticky feeling when you go to the beach…especially when you share your ride with so many people.
I think tomorrow is the first day I don’t have any responsibilities on MY list. Emmanuel may have another list that I haven’t seen yet.
We plan to head to Yekepa on Wednesday and I believe it will be Emmanuel, Wintee, Titus and myself. That may change, but that’s the plan. I can’t wait to see all the children at the Betty Jonah orphanage when I get there. Our plan is to stay until Sunday after the service at Redeemer Baptist Church. We want to leave then and head to Saclapea, a town about an hour from Ghanta I’m told. We will be able to visit Angie, a girl that used to live with Emmanuel and Wintee. It will be great to see her again. We can also visit where they have the newest Women of Purpose classes being held. They have 90 ladies signed up to take the classes. What a great ministry to teach these ladies means of supporting themselves if need be.
Talk again tomorrow.
Beach day.
Final preparations are being made to leave for the beach. Here Naomi and Sylvia are making mayonnaise sandwiches for the outing. You can see many in the background waiting on our transportation.
Emmanuel and Wintee have to go somewhere else today. The two speakers today are Rufus in the morning and I will speak this afternoon.
Because not many Liberians can swim one of the rules will be no going swimming. They are instructed to only wade in the shallows. I hope to share some pictures from our trip.
Sunday February 11th
Another Sunday in Liberia, almost 8:00 pm as I type this, and I am still about one hour from home. Emmanuel is driving home from a wedding in Kakata that Wintee and two other ladies from the church decorated. I just assumed that we were picking them up and going back home. Oh, how I should learn to expect differently in Liberia. When Emmanuel and I showed up the wedding reception was in full swing. Here I am, an American wedding crasher. Emmanuel and I joined the reception (outside) just sitting to wait for the ladies work to be done. As we sat there waiting Emmanuel and I got a good laugh as well. One of the wedding presents was a live goat. A man comes to the place where the gifts and decorations were in front of the wedding table. One of the decorations was a basket with palm nuts and plantains set at each end of an archway. Anyway, the man who was giving the goat seemed to have a lot to say to people around him so he wasn’t paying attention to the goat. Well this goat may have known he didn’t have too long to live so he just decided he would eat what he could. Yes, he started to eat the plantains out of the basket. There were children around trying to tell him, but he was busy talking and not listening. I hear laughing as Emmanuel is watching this happen. We both broke out in laughter as this goat was intent on eating and the man was intent on talking. They finally did pull the goat away from the decorations, but we really enjoyed that.
I jumped ahead on my day so I’ll go back to the beginning. I woke up with….wait, I need to start this when I went to bed last night. I fell asleep around 10:00 pm or so and I woke up at 11:30 for some reason. I checked my phone since I left Titus a message and I wanted to se if he responded. Well, he did and he informed me he was still planning on me speaking at his church. Pastor Dave had also sent me a message so I informed him that I now had two churches to speak at (this was at 11:30 pm, but it is Liberia so things can change fast). I just told him things would work out one way or another. In the morning we did speak with Titus and he assured me I was to speak at his church and Emmanuel informed the other church that I would not be going there. Titus informed me that he told me he was going to Nimba, but I will blame it on the accent. I can’t say I didn’t listen closely.
Anyway, I got to Titus’s church and had a great day of worship. It was great to reconnect with them. We left around 1:00 to head back to a pickup point where Emmanuel would pick me up. Titus and I took a taxi and I was lucky to get the front seat as at one point Titus was in the back with 4 other people. I made it back to Emmanuel’s to have lunch and then we left for Kakata to pick Wintee and her friends up.
After waiting at the wedding for awhile Emmanuel decided to show me the LCMI church in Kakata rather than wait and watch the goat. We saw the church, and a school that they started to build on faith. The state run school is far from the church and it is difficult for the kids to walk that far so they are starting a school right next to the church. The church started in 2014 +\- . It’s amazing to see the need and how God meets the needs through faithful service. Pray for them as they move forward with this extension of LCMI.
After leaving there we picked up the ladies and now we are almost back to the house. I will really enjoy resting tonight.
Tomorrow will be at ELWA beach for a youth outing where I will be speaking. Pray for God to use my lesson to reach the young people that come.
No pictures tonight since the upload is going slow.
Good night all.
I am loading the pictures this morning. Things upload with less cell use.
February 10th
Today marks 1 week of being here. In many ways it seems like much longer, but not in the sense of any struggle and in other ways it’s hard to believe it’s been a week already. The people here have been so welcoming that I feel as if I belong. I am either referred to as Dr. Robin or Dad Robin. Either one is endearing and appreciated.
Today I was afraid I would oversleep to not leave myself with enough time to get ready to get to the church before the youth program started. I had a little confusion when they told me yesterday at the conclusion of the program it would start at 9:00 a.m. and then at prayer service they announced that it was to begin at 8:00. I asked about that later and they told me 8:30 is the time to arrive and all would begin at 9:00. Well I woke up in plenty of time as the power shuts off at 6:00 a.m. so that means I lose my fan at that time. You can definitely feel the difference when the fan isn’t moving the air. It is easy to be awake after 6. I got up, got ready and headed over by 8:30 or so. Emmanuel came to get me at church to come back and eat breakfast of boiled plantains and fish for a topping. 
It wasn’t too bad. I’m not a fish eater, but when you are hungry it’s amazing how good things taste. Needless to say I, myself, was late. After eating and taking my tea with me I was 5 minutes late and their were only 3 of us there by then so we started anyway. Before long people came in with a couple more books being handed out as we headed into the study of the New Testament. It was great to see the interest and the good questions that came up. I really enjoyed sharing how the Bible, even though it was written over thousands of years, is so reliably accurate and supports itself from one book to another. There is no doubt that God protected His Word for humanity to learn about His plan for redemption.
We finished around noon and I walked across the yard back to Emmanuel’s home and of course the girls had lunch ready for me to eat. It was fried rice with some vegetables cooked with pieces of chicken and fish. It wasn’t a normal ‘soup’ as they call it, but it was more American in that it was separated somewhat. I chose chicken this time. I had the fish for breakfast.
The afternoon was relaxing for me. I was appreciative of this. I visited with 2 leaders of the church for an hour or more and then spoke to a couple of people on the phone.
Tomorrow is still up in the air. Pastor Titus had to go to Nimba, so I am waiting to see if I will still be speaking at his church. In the event that I’m not able to speak at Titus’s church, Emmanuel already has a substitute church for me to speak at. If I do go there I will be speaking in front of a crowd of people where I’ve not met anyone before. For Jenny and Bobbi’s benefit the church is located near where we took the youth to play soccer and kickball with other churches in 2014. It’s not the same church, but near there. I did ask God to use me in whatever way he sees fit. I’ll update you on that tomorrow.
I also was able to avoid the fire ants for quite awhile. I react strongly to them so I try to watch where I’m walking and to keep my feet moving. I did fine until yesterday when the Americans visited. When I greeted them (in my flip flops) of course I stood on a hill of them. They sting pretty bad and then I react. I’m just amazed that it is over 24 hours and my foot is swelling. 
You’ll have to excuse the dirt. I don’t have much choice when I go around in my flip flops. Not sure if I am retaining water in my ankles or I am reacting to the ants. I’ve just taken Benadryl so hopefully it will go away now. I’ll keep an eye on it.
All in all the week has been an enjoyable week of serving and being served. Tomorrow night we plan on watching the movie, Facing Darkness, at Emmanuel’s home. I’m interested to see how they react to a movie about Ebola in their country obviously written from the American’s point of view. For anyone who hasn’t seen this back home it is available on Netflix now. I highly recommend it.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Quick update.
A picture of my supper tonight. I was served Fufu. I couldn’t eat the crayfish, not with the eye looking at me. I saved that for Blessing. You pour the broth from the soup over the Fufu and there is pepper and mustard to mix with the broth. You then use a spoon (GB you use your fingers to dip in the soup) and swallow your supper, without chewing of course. My stomach feels very full right now.
Walking around after supper I noticed the addition to the LCMI Church is about done. There was nothing there when I got here. Things can move fast. It is a counting room for their offerings and some storage. Makes me think of CBC’s desire to add on. I don’t think it will go that fast. 
February 9th
Today was a long day. I woke up this morning thinking that the only thing on my schedule was to teach the teens at 2:00 p.m. +\-. That was indeed on my schedule, but I wasn’t aware that Emmanuel had 5 other people on a mission trip from Alaska and New Mexico stopping by. Some were old friends of Emmanuel, Dave and Trudy Peterson, who have been here many times including living up in Yekepa where Dave helped to rebuild ABC University after the war and Trudy was one of Emmanuel’s professors while he attended ABC. They came back from having already been to Yekepa to have a service at the LCMI school here in Monrovia. They were also here at the dedication ceremony for the school a year ago. Some were first timers to Liberia, but they had experience in Kenya or other countries prior to coming here.
It was great to meet Dave & Trudy, Kemp & Amy and Brian who was here for the first time.
Their meet went till noon with a meal that followed of potato greens. It was nice to visit with other Americans over a lunch while sitting in Liberia. We may never meet in the states, but God saw fit for us to meet here.
By the time they left there was only a little time to get ready for the youth meeting at 2:00. When we started we only had 3 young people, but we started on time. Within 20-30 minutes we had around 20 youth. (I never did count). This class was in the heat of the day. We met in the church which does not have cross breezes going through. After the 2 hours with the intro and following through the Old Testament we were done and I have to say I was done. I was soaking wet from sweat and I had to go change right away just to feel better. I will shower tonight and that may help me sleep.
The good thing was a message from Bobbi Buckley that came through while I was teaching. I was able to be encouraged that she and many others are praying as we go through whatever study or meeting we have going on.
I was also able to speak to Heather and Jenny today. What a treat that was.
When I was finished teaching I thought I had finished for the day, but I should know better. Emmanuel was asked to speak to a young man struggling with drugs over here. He brought him inside and asked me to counsel him however I could. I thought of Mike McMahon and all the experience he has with this. I just prayed with him and tried to encourage him to seek God. I don’t know if he’s a Christian or not. His name is Bill and I ask you to pray that he’ll work at trying to be clean and that God will reach him in his need. He is 17 years old. I gave him one of the Bible Overview booklets and told him to join us tomorrow morning when we go into the New Testament or to stop back by and see me. We had a good visit as he is a very engaging teen. His family has been trying to encourage him and looked to Pastor Jonah to help in any way.
After Bill left I thought I could relax. I sat outside listening to the choir practice next door. Shortly after they finished I was told there was a prayer meeting starting in the church. Over here in Liberia it is come as you are so I headed over in my shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops. The cultural differences in prayer meetings are definite, but I enjoyed be a participant and not the leader.
Tomorrow we start at 9:00 a.m. with the youth and it goes to noon. I have to say that the interaction between the youth and the teaching is so encouraging. Please pray that God is again glorified through the lesson and with the youth.
My plans are still to speak at Pastor Titus’s church on Sunday morning. I am still not sure of the rest of next week. I’m sure it will work out just fine.
Again thanks to all who read and pray. I’ll write again tomorrow.
Thursday evening February 8th
The remainder of the day seemed to have little to write about but yet I feel as if I have been talking all day. I spent a great deal of time discussing my work with Shadrach and Winston. They wanted the know about my life and who is my family and what my work is like. I actually was missing people at work as I talked about how things are done in the states at a truss plant. Of course, because of lack of jobs in Liberia, they wished they would be able to work at the truss plant. We had a great time comparing stories between our two countries.
Emmanuel and Wintee did not return until around 4:00 p.m. so I prepared for my lesson in the next chapters of our book while they were gone also.
Tomorrow we will have the youth program and go through The Bible Overview and continue this on Saturday morning.
The study time went well tonight lasting about 1-1/2 hours and making it through only one chapter. We ended by everyone sharing what they learned and how what they learned could be applied to their life today.
After church it is nice to sit in the cooler evening to visit (my weather app says it dropped to 81 degrees now at 9:11 p.m.).
I had the opportunity to speak to a lady tonight who had no hope in life. It was a difficult talk. Her name is Yassar and she is struggling in so many ways. Her family, (parents, siblings and her husband) were killed during the war and she has had health problems that have prevented her from selling things (the typical way Liberian people support themselves) for a few years. I’m not sure about her children. There are no economic safety nets in Liberia. It is good that she was at our study on God’s sovereignty over people so I ask that you all pray for her as her future is grim, but we serve a great God. I pray that God sustains her while giving her clear direction for the future. She tells me she will see me tomorrow. May the encouragement I could share and the small amount of help (according to James chapter 4) help her to see God at work.
I now sit inside Emmanuel’s house with the children watching a story on the television. We are able to have electricity from the hours of 7:00 p.m. through around 5-6:00 a.m. and the kids take advantage of an opportunity to see a show once in awhile. It is nice to have a fan on during the night too with the power on overnight.
I’m having problems with pictures being uploaded, especially at night here. I’ll try to upload more during the day. It takes about 5 minutes per picture to upload.
Morning activities
Mornings in Liberia
I have the privilege of waking up each morning to the bustle of the morning chores. In addition to sweeping the dirt to remove the previous days garbage from the compound (it does give it a fresh look), you will see children carrying water buckets on their heads to gather the household water
and some do the laundry early to avoid the heat of the day. Here is a picture of Christie doing her laundry.
I saw a gentleman walking around selling brooms specifically made to sweep the dirt. Not really a rake, but sturdier than a regular broom. If there’s a market for something there will be a product for sale. I guess you’d say this is Liberian capitalism. I won’t get into politics, but it is interesting how that concept works in Liberia. They definitely model themselves after the USA.
Earlier I decided to take a walk by myself with my camera. I don’t have access to the SD card with my phone so I cannot share those photos here. Anyway, I walked east of Emmanuel’s home this morning by myself. For Jenny’s benefit this was the direction that Jenny, Tessa and I walked in 2014 past a large church when it started to rain. Emmanuel and Wintee had left early in the morning to go somewhere and it was a nice morning to go for a walk. I was greeted by many as I walked. Some curious as to what this obvious foreigner is doing walking around their community and others greeting me as if I was one of their neighbors. The children liked to get my attention and would like to shake my hand. The handshake is a big thing in Liberian culture so the kids wanted to be able to shake with the white man. I know I am a novelty now and the longer I am around I truly will be just one of the community. I walked a long ways and was getting hot as even in the morning it is around 80 degrees. I came to a turn in the road and I stopped at a roadside market or center where an older man was sitting under the awning of the porch. He had an extra chair there and he invited me to sit and talk with him. Although most Liberians speak English it is mixed with their colloqua that make communication difficult sometimes (most times). Even though the base language is the same the differences are still great. Last night I was told that one way to say you are hungry is that ‘my teeth are sharp’, but I’ll try to represent this phonetically, they say ‘ma tee ar shop’ but you almost don’t hear the ‘p’ sound. I know that’s not easy to hear through writing, but I want to give you a sense of the difficulty in understanding especially when I don’t know the colloquial sayings.
Now back to this older man, Anthony Eke, we talked for a few minutes as I rested and many children came around to either argue with him or stare at me. After 10 minutes or so I left to head back to Emmanuel’s house. About halfway back I met 3 children from around Emmanuel’s house. Princess was worried so she sent the kids to look for me. I do appreciate the care. I teased her about worrying when I returned. I think because Emmanuel and Wintee were gone she felt responsible as she is the main person to keep the home.
When I got back Princess had ‘tea’ and breakfast ready for me. The tea is Ovaltine with powdered milk and sugar. My breakfast consisted of spaghetti with some bread.
After breakfast as I sat down to type this some
members of the church came over to wash all of the sanctuary chairs for church. They keep them stored and locked away to prevent theft. In the dust the chairs get dirty over time. Such a great way of serving that others may not recognize. All churches have faithful people serving behind the scenes and it is good to be reminded that all service to the King is needed.
I just wanted to give a little more cultural update this morning.
I had to go back and add the pictures that didn’t upload. The upload speed here must have prevented them from uploading completely. Take a look back for the ones that were missing.
Wednesday February 7th
Today was a day that I was able to spend with Daniel.
He is a young man that has been a friend since the very first team sent by CBC came in 2012. We visited the school he was teaching in today. He no longer teaches since he is attending University to be a lab technician. He is currently a sophomore there. We have a great relationship and I’m glad to be a friend of his. I gave him my camera to walk around and take some pictures today. I’ll ask him again perhaps if the pictures he took are something I find interesting. He did get a close up of a chicken if that’s any idea of his photography skills. I just read that line to him so I have his permission to share.
Emmanuel and Wintee left this morning and came back around 4:00 p.m. He had invited me to come along and he said I could wait around for them to finish their scheduled meeting. I chose to stay back and I think that was the correct choice. Emmanuel has a habit of being so busy that schedules get changed frequently. It was good for them to have some time not worrying about me.
The ladies in his home fed me and cared for me by doing my laundry today. They are extremely hard workers. Emmanuel in turn helps them as well in any way he can with food or other needs. The cultural differences between the USA and Liberia are many. The care for those who need help is done in a different way than the government helping out. This is not available in Liberia so you see many families helping extended families and friends in exchange for helping around the home.
An update on Blessing is that she is doing great. Thanks for praying. I didn’t know what to expect from typhoid, but the injections she is getting twice a day have been helping greatly.
Tonight we continued our study through Jerry Bridge’s book, ‘Trusting God’. We had a good time of discussion and we will continue this tomorrow night. We made it through chapter 3 tonight. We will attempt to do 4 & 5 tomorrow night.
I will be planning The Bible Overview class with the teens on Friday and Saturday. Sunday I will be at Titus’s church with next week up in the air. I will be meeting with Titus to finalize any other plans for next week. I’ve been invited to speak at two other venues, but at this time I am committed to Titus and his church.
I look forward to seeing the children at Betty Jonah Orphanage soon. I also hope to encourage Mother Betty as she still struggles with the passing of her husband, Father Anthony this past year.
I plan on meeting with Pastor Moses, not to be confused with nurse Moses, to get a better understanding of the spiritual oversight of the CBC Clinic.
I’ll try to get more pictures for you tomorrow. The one below is from yesterday. This is Naomi Johnson. She is one of the trainers for Women of Purpose.
Tuesday February 6th
Today actually seemed more relaxing than yesterday. My preliminary plans were to have The Bible Overview class today, but as things worked out I had only a meeting at 5:00 tonight to work through the ‘Trusting God’ book with the leadership at LCMI. All those who teach or serve were encouraged to come. It reminded me of our Discipleship Hour setting. We put chairs in a circle and my thought was we’d go through this together. Pastor Jonah was called to pick up some people at the airport so he was not planning on being in attendance. I had highlighted certain sections of the first 4-5 chapters with plans to push through that far. For those that watched Pastor Dave go through this book in 12 weeks you can understand why I just got into chapter 2 by cutting through chapter 1 and touching chapter 2 in 1 hour and 45 minutes. It was a great discussion and I especially appreciated the challenges as I encouraged them to look to the Bible for verification. We ended on a great understanding and awe of the sovereignty of God even when life hurts. Many were thinking that all good comes from God, but it was hard to imagine God in the bad things. That is why Trusting God is a great book to work through and not just a glib saying. I look forward to further study on Thursday with the leadership.
Prior to our meeting I started the day with quite a smorgasbord of food.
They are taking great care of me.
For lunch I had GB which is a traditional Liberian dish.
I only ate about half of what they served. Tonight I declined supper and the rest of the cake I bought from Princess and some popcorn they had also made for breakfast.
I also had fun playing with Snapchat with the kids here today. They would get so embarrassed at their faces with dog ears on or looking like an ‘Oma’ (grandma). Watching their reactions was more enjoyable than the pictures themselves.
Here is Daniel being a good sport and not hiding when he saw the picture.
Now maybe you can understand their embarrassment. I have a great friendship with these young men over here. I get teased by them and I tease them right back.
I look forward again to tomorrow and I appreciate all who take time out to pray for God’s leading while I’m here in Liberia.
Pray for Blessing
Emmanuel returned from the clinic with Blessing. She has typhoid fever.
Please pray for her. Here she is sitting with her Mother, Wintee when she returned. 
Liberia Mission Trip 