Last full day.

My morning started before Emmanuel got up this morning. I told Elizabeth I would visit her and go to see her land again and I wanted to say goodbye to Mercy and family as well. I told Emmanuel last night that my plans were to walk to the ‘last turnaround junction’ and get a motorbike taxi and take it to Elizabeth’s home at the ‘Mount Barcley junction’. He just looked at me and asked if I was sure and I told him yes so he said ok. Well, Emmanuel was the only one that I told until it was time go leave. I told George who lives with the ‘boys’ here and then I told the house general, ‘Princess Kau’. I told her and then I left to walk to the junction and get the bike. I found out later that Princess went straight to Emmanuel’s door and told him, ‘Dad Robin just left to get a bike! He’s going to get lost!’ I’m glad she watches out for me and Emmanuel told her that I’d be fine. She didn’t like it, but Emmanuel calmed her down. Elizabeth did receive a phone call from Mother Wintee double checking my arrival. I visited with Elizabeth and her daughter Mercy for a little while and I talked to Elizabeth to find out more about her life. Every Liberian has a story to tell and I want to tell her story so I need as many facts as I can get. After our visit we decided it was time to go see the property again. We walked down to their junction and got a couple motorbikes and headed out. We arrived at the drop off spot and walked in to Titus and Mercy’s house to visit and say goodbye. After this short visit we took some pictures and said our goodbyes as Mercy was leaving to do shopping at Red Light. That is one place that I didn’t even go this year. I don’t miss shopping that much and Red Light shopping is a whole different experience. People everywhere and with me not knowing what I’m doing I would just frustrate people.

We left Mercy and headed out to the property. (Here I’ve been calling it the property, but Elizabeth just calls it the ‘house spot’. ) I was here last time with her daughter, Patience and this time with her daughter, Mercy (2 Mercy’s gets confusing).

I really wanted to introduce Elizabeth to the lady I met when we ate our supper at Titus’s house. She lives in front of Titus and runs a block factory. I want Elizabeth to have all the contacts and connections that she can. I’m hoping to get the ball rolling for her to protect the property (read past blog on what can happen to undeveloped land). We walked from the ‘house spot’ and I went to where Lydia lives. She had a wall around her home and I wasn’t sure if I should just walk in or not. I asked some men outside who were selling scratch cards (for phones) and they said she was home and to just open the steel door and enter. When I say enter, it’s more of going in a compound with many buildings. I pulled the door open and called out to see if Lydia was around. A young girl went to get us chairs to sit in right away and said she’d go get Lydia. The custom here is if anyone shows up at your house you get chairs for them to sit. Lydia came out shortly and we had a great visit. I explained why I wanted her to know Elizabeth and her family and she offered to sell blocks and sand whenever it was needed once building could start. She also knows many other suppliers and that’s why I wanted Elizabeth to meet her. She was encouraging Elizabeth with the story of the faith of a mustard seed from the Bible. She even went inside and got some mustard seeds she got from Israel. If you look closely in the picture you’ll see her bottle of mustard seeds. We left with Lydia and Elizabeth getting along well.

From there we got another motorbike taxi to where Patience lives which was halfway home for Elizabeth. We stopped to see her daughter and granddaughter. I finally got the spelling of her granddaughter’s name. Georglyn George is her full name. The pronunciation with different sounds always confuses me. we visited a little while with her and had a nice cold bag of water before a few more pictures and the walk back.

The walk back to Elizabeth’s was probably a little over a mile. We walked rather than a motorbike for such a short ride. It was hot, but didn’t feel too bad until we arrived at her house and I stopped moving. Then the sweat and heat was felt. Mercy was going to ‘carry me home’ meaning she would ride the motorbike with me back to Emmanuel’s house. The two of us walked back to ‘Mount Barcley junction’ and found a driver and we hopped on. It was cooler as long as we were moving. We got back to the last turn around and walked the remainder of the way to Emmanuel’s house. Needless to say Princess was happy we arrived safely. I had lunch with Emmanuel and when I went outside Mercy was doing some dishes. She then ate some food so I guess she was working for her food. She is 16 and will graduate this year. That’s really early for Liberian girls (or boys). She’d like to go to school to be a doctor. I love to hear that she has plans. If she works like her mom she’ll be fine. She left shortly after eating to catch another motorbike back home. I teased her because she skipped school today to go to the house spot. She assured me she’d be ok at school.

The late afternoon was quiet so I was able to call my mom in Texas on a video call. It was good that my niece, Charissa, was there to repeat what mom could not hear. I showed mom some of the sites around Emmanuel’s home. We had a great visit. After that I actually came to my room to lay down a little while. I had been sitting outside dozing in a chair, but every time someone walked by they would greet me and I’d wake up. I thought I could rest a little without being woken up. I never did sleep. Just caught up on the news on my phone.

Church was good with a discussion on the apostle Paul. They are studying people from the Bible that ‘hold firmly to their faith’. Moses lead the class time. Immediately after church there was an appreciation program. I am honored that they put up with me and touched by all the kind words. I received some gifts and many thanks. I was able to talk some then and give my own thanks to many.

One last thing I did tonight (besides eating some rice) was to have a picture taken with Myay and Blessing. I’ve taken a similar picture each of the six times I’ve been here with these two I believe. They were both very young the first time I came. They are growing up.

Tomorrow will be difficult with final goodbyes. Thanks for following along and it truly has been an adventure. I’ll write more yet on my way home. Oh yeah, I’m all set for the plane ride.