Two days rolled into one post

It is Tuesday afternoon and I now have reliable cell coverage which allows me to post regularly. It took two days to accomplish, but a lot goes on behind the scenes. Yesterday afternoon Emmanuel took me out to convert some donated phones to the local cell service SIM cards. That in itself was interesting. We went to Red Light to the ‘Orange’ store which is Liberia’s Cellcom. We didn’t even go inside the building, but Emmanuel found someone he trusted outside the building. Samuel then joined us in our car and Emmanuel drove to a quieter spot in the parking lot of a gas station. Samuel began to do everything he needed to decide the phones and install the Cellcom SIM cards in each phone. After a little negotiation we settled on $65 to unlock all 5 phones so now I have phones that can be gifts for others with the first going to Emmanuel. I have the international plan on my phone that works great in certain areas, but I found out that Emmanuel’s home is not one of those areas.

Anyway, this took quite a long time as we sat in the car waiting. We eventually went back to Emmanuel’s home to eat while Samuel kept working on it. After eating we drove back, paid him and left for home again. What I didn’t get was a data card that would allow me to hotspot one of the new Liberian phones to my personal phone. I did walk to get a scratch card when we got back home. Unfortunately the scratch card wasn’t for data and for local calls only. I’m learning more each time I visit.

In the evening we celebrated Cyrus’s birthday. He is one of Emmanuel’s sons. He is now 24 years old and enrolled at Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary majoring in education. He is also teaching at LCMI on his off days from his school. I’ve seen him grow into a very nice man from a young teen.

Today we made plans to go and pick up a ‘data pack’ for my phone…after. After a good night’s sleep I had a great breakfast with the notice that we were waiting for a phone call to go to LCMI school to visit. We got the call and walked down to the school. Yesterday there was word that came down from the ministry of education that all persons at schools including the students need to wear a mask so we complied. If the school doesn’t comply they can be shut down if the ministry chooses. In spite of the masks I had a great time. The kids were so great and they asked me many questions. One question I heard a lot, from those that met Jenny last year, was ‘how’s Mother Jenny?’. I guess I should expect that as Jenny connected well with all the kids. Here are a few pictures from our visit.

There are around 200 students at LCMI school. I am so thankful to be able to visit them. Papa Mike was able to donate 2 computers for a computer lab planned soon. They are already adding in to the school to make room for the lab.

The students go through 9th grade now with plans to expand to 12th grade. They recently hired a principal for LCMI to ease some of the work on Emmanuel. His name is Jonathan Dennis and Emmanuel is happy with how things are working out for them. Here is ‘Assistant Chairman Dennis outside the school.

After the school visit we headed out with Mother Wintee, Princess, Meko, Emmanuel and the myself. The ladies had plans to go shopping in the market downtown and I was surprised to have Emmanuel take me out for a nice lunch.

After eating we waited for the ladies to call and say they were ready to go. That’s my idea of shopping.

Once we picked them up in a VERY BUSY marketplace we headed back and finally stopped by an ‘Orange’ store and I purchased the data pack I wanted. As I type Emmanuel is driving us back to his home. All in all it was a good day. Tomorrow I would lol be leading the Bible study at the evening service. Our plans are still to visit Titus and Mercy on Saturday. Our tentative plans are to go to Yekepa, the orphanage and clinic next week.