Day 18

We are winding down in our trip with less responsibilities and more time to simply build our friendships. This is a good time in our trip. Today was a good day to enjoy all the people that have made our stay enjoyable.

We are really enjoying our morning breakfast with each other. We have time to reflect on the past day and look forward to what is happening today. Today is also a holiday here in Liberia. It is Armed Forces Day, honoring all who served and sacrificed in the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL). Schools are closed and the markets are closed somewhat. A reminder that everyone here sells something, and that continues regardless of holidays.

After visiting over breakfast and taking our time getting going, Leo and I went for a walk while Renee decided to go through everything in her suitcase and to plan for packing to leave on Saturday. I’ll do this Saturday afternoon 🤓.

While on our walk we ran into a gentleman busy working. What we saw him doing affected me on my first trip here as Leo understood once he saw this himself. When you think your life is difficult, or your job is too hard, look at this picture.

We were humbled by his work ethic as he continued to smash rocks after we left. This will stay in our minds long after we leave.

We walked for awhile further, saw the end of a local football (soccer) game that ended in a 2-2 draw and walked back to Emmanuel’s home. By now the heat of the day was upon us. That didn’t mean nothing would be done. The questions were being asked, when would Leo make the blondie that Emmanuel spoke so highly about. It was decided that after a lunch of palm butter with chicken, kissmeat (spiny snails) and fried beef skin, that Leo would show how this was made. By the way, I couldn’t talk Leo or Renee into trying the kissmeat. I tried one, just to say I did. Renee gave some of the beef skin a try.

After lunch Leo planned to begin the blondie, with Philip, Meko and Princess watching to see how this was made. They were interested in what he was doing in the hopes that some day they could make it themselves. I’ll include the following pictures to tell the story of Leo’s work.

I almost forgot, I was asked to fill in and lead the Wednesday Bible study this afternoon. Luckily I could use my sermon at Pastor Titus’s church as talking points tonight. Since it was a holiday there were only 7 of us at the service.

Tomorrow is beach day. We invited Philip, Meko and Princess along. They have been so graciously serving us during our stay we want them to come along as we enjoy the cool water. By the way, none of them can swim so they won’t be going in too deep. Emmanuel won’t be going in at all. He says he doesn’t like the water. We’ll be sure to get some pictures of our trek. We may shop for our Friday party that I’ll tell you more about in the future.

As I finish (10:15 PM), there is a house yard a couple of houses down having some type of church healing service. They keep it going pretty long. This is the third night. I pray not too many people don’t attend because they aren’t following the Bible with any of their activities. It is Liberian style to play music very loud and talk close to the mic, making everything sound muffled. They do that well though. Music stopped after I finished writing the above paragraph. Looks like sleep will be easier.