Shopping Day

But first…There is so much to say about each day that just scratches the surface of our experiences. One thing I didn’t mention in last night’s post was about the power. I guess a transformer was damaged nearby and the Liberian Electric Company (LEC) isn’t reliable on repair work. In fact, LEC only comes on towards evening…on some days. Our first night here LEC was on all night and each day it has gotten a little less. Last night was completely without LEC. Fortunately Emmanuel has solar power, but even the stored power will not last through a night, especially since we ran the tv and had everyone inside to watch the shows mentioned in last night’s post. After the solar runs out then they have a gas generator they fire up. This is what was used last night so we could at least have a fan blowing on us through the night.

On top of that, the cell network was very slow last night preventing me from uploading my post until this morning. I’m typing this portion just before 6:00 pm here to get a start on it. We have church about to begin where I’ll share the work of Country Bible Church with their congregation. I’ll finish up later on our shopping day.

…Shopping day

I was awake early enough to watch Philip make pancakes for us. He is learning the culinary field and is anxious to fix things that we like. I shared with him how my dad’s Swedish pancake recipe is what I cook at home and it is similar to his with a couple special ingredients that I shared. He will try that another time.

Our plan for the day was to head out to purchase a TV for the orphanage. They don’t have any way to watch anything except for the few people who may have a computer. We know this isn’t a necessity, but it will be nice for them to enjoy a show once in a while. Our travel took us to downtown Monrovia. The traffic was crazy as Emmanuel pushed the car into and through all the tight areas. We arrived to the street where electronics are sold and there was no open parking, but, if you appear you are there to buy they will move barricades and allow you a spot to park. We got the attention of the store owners and they opened up for us to park. Once we got inside everyone was trying to point out everything until they sort out the talk and direct all the attention towards the item you’re interested in. Mother Wintee took the lead on the TV and countered with $30 less than the asking price. After a few rounds of that’s too low, they agreed to her request, seeming to know there were other sales coming. They would be right. Because of the generous gifts from people at Country Bible Church these purchases were made. A TV, a sewing machine (for Women of Purpose), a printer for Emmanuel’s office, an electric teapot water heater, a DVD player, HDMI cable, an inverter to allow clean power to the TV and a few other small things to go along with these items. Here’s a picture of Jenny waiting for everything to be packed up after the dickering was finished.

We came home after a stop at another supermarket (Liberian Walmart). Today was really hot and this was Emmanuel’s way of allowing us to cool down in a store with air conditioning. His car doesn’t have air conditioning. He purchased an ice cream bar for us. Ice cream twice is quite a treat. We ate this while we walked around. As we were looking at some spices, the power went out throughout the store. All we could do was laugh. The power returned in 30-60 seconds, but I was thinking about all the refrigerated items and how fast they could spoil. It was a good stop to cool down before we headed home.

Once arriving back home we enjoyed a meal of cassava soup and chicken over rice and some fresh mangoes.

Both Jenny and I were able to rest a short bit after eating and visiting with a family member and friend that we know from past visits. Her name is Princess. There are a lot of women that have this name. Here’s a picture of her we took later in the evening.

After our short rest we planned to go to church at 6:00 pm. About 10 minutes before it was to start Emmanuel asked if I could share about the ministries at Country Bible Church. I was able to share an historical timeline of our church to the current ministries that are part of our church. It was an enjoyable evening where LCMI church prayed for our church. Makes the world feel much smaller.

After church we set up and watched a couple more episodes of The Chosen. Overall it was an enjoyable day. I believe tomorrow we will visit the school, but things can change quickly.

As we head to bed we have a fan on with the gas generator running outside. They tell us that they will switch over to solar around midnight and maybe we can turn the A/C on. it is now just after 11:00 as I finish today’s blog. We’ll see how the night goes. It was the hottest day so far. Jenny checked her weather app and it said the temp was 85, but feels like 105. I agree.