Arrived back in Green Bay
Our travels from Monrovia began more than 24 hours ago. The travel was good, but we’re tired and anxious to return home for a good night’s sleep.
The trip was such a blessing to both of us and we’re so glad that God allowed this trip to take place.
God bless.
Leaving friends is difficult.
Today was a restful day, but one of the most difficult as we had to say goodbye to everyone. After last night’s farewell from the family and church it would have been easier to catch an early morning flight (if it would be available) than to wait around all day to leave Emmanuel’s at 5:00 p.m. Since we had the day it was good to spend it with so many that we feel so close to. Philip once again surprised us with a good, but different breakfast this morning. It was potato salad and fried chicken. As different as it sounds for breakfast, I can tell you it was delicious. During breakfast we checked in to our flights, arranged our seats where we think we’ll like them and felt ready to go…except the luggage.
After breakfast it was time to get into the room to separate everything into all our suitcases and to even the weight out. With much of the extras taken out and given away throughout our trip we had no problem keeping the weight on the bags under the allowed. We even took our two carry on bags and filled them with items and placed them in two of our larger bags. Two less carry on items to take on board. Only our backpacks will be with us. that is so much easier.
After packing began the waiting. They left the solar power on for us during the day to allow us the chance to remain cool as we waited. (LEC hasn’t been on for the past two days.) I would occasionally leave the room and walk around, visiting with whoever was in the area. Before we knew it, Princess Kau would have our last Liberian meal prepared. Cassava leaves soup over rice with a plate of fresh cucumbers and pineapple. We finished it all and it was delicious. We’ll miss all the fresh produce.
Our plans to leave at 5:00 was coming closer as both Jenny and I had the chance to doze off after eating. Emmanuel left in the morning to take Daniel out for a birthday breakfast. He tries to do this for everyone in his household on their birthday. He invited us, but we knew Philip had his breakfast for us planned so we graciously bowed out. It was a good thing too, as he didn’t get back until after 2:00 p.m. We would not have liked the pressure of finishing up packing in a smaller window of time. Jenny and I planned to take a shower just before leaving due to the heat. The difference now is the pipe to the water tower was plugged so we had our old style bucket showers we were used to in past visits. The guy working on the plumbing problem yesterday did not show up today. They seem to adapt quickly in Liberia when conditions change.
I made one last walk around Emmanuel’s ‘compound’ to record and show everyone what it is like now compared to past visits. I then walked down to the new church building and LCMI school to record this again. As I was walking back Grace came running to meet me. She is so sweet.
After the walk Jenny was done showering so I enjoyed cooling down with a bucket shower. We closed up all our bags and the boys came upstairs to carry our bags to the car. It was a quiet car ride with just me, Jenny and Emmanuel being able to fit in the car. Emmanuel was on to his next thing trying to take care of lady visitors arriving from Guinea for a Women of Purpose training. Evidently they arrived and did not have money to pay the taxi driver so Emmanuel was on the phone to many people to make sure the taxi drivers were taken care of and the ladies would have a chance to rest. The ladies from Guinea were invited and sponsored by Emmanuel and Wintee. Their hope is they can expand the Women of Purpose into Guinea. The program is very well received all over Liberia with growth expected moving forward. I’m not sure how many women traveled, but I can imagine some talking with a mix of English, Liberian English, French (Guinea’s official language) and whatever tribal dialects they have mixed in.
We arrived and the drop off went fast and well as we got right up to the bag check-in and left with just our backpacks. Going through security was just as fast and now we wait for boarding in an hour or so. What a great trip this has been. There are so many more experiences captured by our photos and videos and we look forward to sharing these experiences with others.
Next stop, Brussels and then on to Chicago and finally Green Bay, where James will pick us up around 7:30 p.m. tomorrow (12:30 a.m. Liberia time).
Thanks for following along on our trip.
Visit with Pastor Titus Namen.
Woke up early this morning (5:00 a.m.) remembering I forgot yesterday’s blog so I wrote it out then. Now I’m getting a start on it around 8:20 p.m. we just finished some breakfast for supper. That’s always fun. Had Farina and muffins. Very good again.
After getting up this morning we had Philip surprise us with another meal. This time we had a salad, some scrambled eggs and plantains as well as watermelon. It was again great.
We had another stop by to visit and then we needed to get going for our visit to Pastor Titus’s home. We decided to take a KeKeh and both Jenny and I loved it. Here we are as we got ready to leave.
We arrived at Titus’s and Jenny got called into the kitchen to help with the GB. She got a good lesson on making fufu and GB. We especially had some fun with both Titus and Mercy’s kids as well as the neighbor children. Of course Jenny was handing out treats to the little ones. The food was great. We thank Titus and Mercy for their hospitality in hosting us for lunch.
After we ate, Mercy joined us as we walked with Elizabeth and her family to see her land. Elizabeth is a dear friend that we’ve known for 8 years now. Titus needed to get ready for his afternoon OT prophet’s class.
When we returned to Titus’s home we had pictures and then headed out to catch our KeKeh.
Turns out we really loved the ride back as well and the driver took us all the way to Emmanuel’s home. His name is Daniel.
We got back and there was food prepared, but we waited awhile to eat since we weren’t hungry yet. The afternoon was resting as the sun was extremely hot today and saps your strength.
I was interrupted in writing the blog because we were surprised by a program from Emmanuel’s family and a few church members. They really made it a fun evening. All in all our last full day was very special.
We will go to sleep for our last night here and tomorrow will be long and sad as we prepare to leave. We are so grateful for the deepened friendships and new ones.
Relaxing Sunday
Waking up on our last Sunday morning with no expectations of serving in any way was nice. Philip, who is studying culinary, has been great in making our breakfast many mornings and he told us that he wanted to give us French toast today. He made a great presentation to us these past two days as you can see here.
Coming up with these western breakfasts in Liberia is quite a feat and we were so appreciative. Both days were delicious.
After breakfast we headed to Sunday school in our new African garb given to us by Emmanuel and Wintee.
We enjoyed good teaching on prayer from Jonathan Denis, the LCMI school principal and elder. Dr. David Nelson was to present the sermon today, but being a visitor I was asked to sit up front with him. Once I was up front Jonathan Denis pointed to the bulletin to his appointed task in the service and said, ‘You will do this today.’ I guess my day wasn’t completely free. We had a great worship day and we took plenty of pictures with others since this was our last Sunday. We came back to a good lunch and fresh fruit.
The afternoon was relaxing as we didn’t have any concrete plans. There were many who stopped by to greet us or say goodbye since they would not see us again. I did allow myself to be frustrated by technology as I tried to send Papa Mike a ‘ministry update’ to share back home. This short video was too large to send as I tried iMessage and Messenger. I did split the video up into two and tried that. I did a speed test on the WiFi and found the upload speed was 0.09 Mbps so I couldn’t expect much. I left my phone near the WiFi transmitter and went downstairs to visit. Evidently one of the videos went thru on one of these platforms because Mike informed me later that he was able to share during the fellowship meal after church. I guess the technology went okay, even though I get easily frustrated with that here. I had to turn on the power (solar) to get the WiFi on so I could send and this all took over an hour of trying. Jenny didn’t mind as she went to our room and turned the air on (since there was power) and rested. I shut the power down when I finished. I’m sure Jenny liked that while she was resting.
My afternoon was fun as I grilled plantains and made popcorn. Well, Princess put me to work doing these things, and we had fun visiting with many coming around.
The evening came as we had our snack of fried plantain chips, popcorn, muffins and fresh fruit and we talked until dark. They waited to turn the power on to not use up the solar, that is needed for fans and air conditioning overnight. This was turned off after I finished sending the video to Mike. We had hoped that LEC would come on, but it did not.
Around 7:00 p.m. we heard someone trying to start the generator. It seemed like a lot of work and then the engine roared to life. Even the children outside cheered when it started. All the lights came on and we were informed we could show an episode of Chosen that we discussed earlier. We were able to watch two episodes, finishing up at 10 p.m. During the videos, David checked on his flight (he was leaving on Monday) and found out that his first leg was delayed and this would cause him to miss his connecting in Accra Ghana. He quickly rescheduled to an early morning flight and plans needed to be made to transport him to the airport at 4:00 a.m. This was arranged and David packed up all his things and sat down to watch the end of the show before we all went to bed.
I was too tired to write this when going to bed so I woke up at 5:00 to write it. I wanted to send this out while the solar was still on and the WiFi was up. Just as I typed the previous paragraph the solar ran out. I’ll post this message when we have power again. This too is Liberia.
Kid’s day
As I write this it is at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Liberia time. We now have a WiFi connection that Emmanuel has for his guests and up to now we did not need it. For some reason our phones all stopped working. (Mine, Jenny’s and David’s). This is a WiFi hotspot that they recharge with data from scratch cards. I don’t know how fast you go thru data, but we’ll help out with the costs.
Today may not have been the most busy day we’ve had, but it was sure the most intense ministry. Anytime you do things for children you have the potential of finding out exactly how many children are in the area.
Jenny experienced this again when planning, along with Herrietta and Winston, two people from LCMI church, to do the kid’s club and sponsor a meal along with the lesson. Here are a couple of pictures from the beginning of the session followed by one of the last ones when we tried to get all the kids outside. We weren’t too successful.
The training went well and we learned to try and stop more from coming once it starts. At one point we had over 250 children in the church and more coming. These children all know memory verses and they recited John 3:16 and Romans 3:23 without any problems. That is one thing they do well here in Liberia, teach scripture memorization.
When it came time for the meal we had to try and contain the push from the children. It was in the heat and I would say Jenny and the team lost a whole lot of water during this time of wrangling the children and getting as many to eat as possible. We planned for 200 kids and Jenny gave out around 440 necklaces from Mom’s group back in Wallace. There were more children coming asking for necklaces after she ran out. You’ll have to ask Jenny about her day next time you talk to her.
After we finished at around 3:30, we were all hit, tired and thirsty. Here is just part of the team that did do well.
Tomorrow is church day and David Nelson from Tampa will be preaching so I have the day off from speaking. Jenny and I look forward to being participants and hearing. It will be good for a down day.
Our plans are to visit Titus and Mercy on Monday. I want to take a “kekeh”. This is a three wheeled motorbike with seating for two as a taxi. We’ll see if we take that or not.
Travel back to Monrovia
We have arrived in Monrovia, back at Emmanuel’s home. Something happened with the cell network and all 3 of us Americans lost our ability to communicate with data. Emmanuel has a WiFi that we just got set up, but I am unsure of how much data is available.
As I write this Jenny is about to start the kid’s club program and we will feed the kids. it is now Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
This is s very short update to say everything is well and we hope to have more information after the kid’s club.
Everything in one day.
Today was our only full day at the orphanage so we had to make the most of it. I am just going to list the things we did in a chronological order, beginning at 6:00 a.m. The cell network is slow so I’ll not post pictures again. I’ll expand on our day at a later time.
6:00 a.m. beginning of the day.
Devotions with the Betty Jonah Orphanage children.
Breakfast with Moses, Love and Caleb Robin
Chapel service at ABC University
Walk around ABC campus
Stop at staff member’s house for coffee. Kenneth and Kristie Williams
Stopped by to see Emmanuel’s sister in law at Women of Purpose building.
Stop off at gravesite of Pa Anthony and Mama Betty Jonah and Josephine.
Stop at Randall Godfrey School to great the kids during recess.
Stop at clinic to meet with Moses and Philip about their work.
Back to Moses & Love’s for cassava greens & chicken over rice.
Left to go back to Women of Purpose for training meeting.
Sidetrack to Emmanuel’s childhood home.
Went to Guinea border (at least to no man’s land).
Drove around upper Yekepa learning history.
Back to Women of Purpose meeting.
Met with new class of trainees and spoke to them.
Back to the orphanage to color and read with the children.
Enjoyed an unexpected rainstorm that cooled things down a little while.
After 3 hours with the children we headed back to Moses & Loves house. Mikey from the orphanage followed. I took him back and night devotions were starting.
Had devotions with the children.
Stayed after devotions to answer questions about all previous travelers from CBC. What are they doing now.
Showed grandchildren pictures and a few videos.
Came back to Moses’ home at 9:00 p.m.
Showering before bed.
Hoping sleep follows soon.
Dorm devotions at 6:00 a.m.
Travel to begin at 9:30 a.m. back to Monrovia…we’ll see if that time holds.
Goodnight all.
Yekepa
Well we finally arrived in Yekepa at the Betty Jonah Orphanage. After getting up early at the guesthouse we were ready to head over to the church for the half day of the conference we’d be at. We had some rice bread and coffee for breakfast. We planned to stay at the conference until lunch and then leave for Yekepa.
We did just that, but as travel in Liberia tends to do, it took longer than what the map app suggested. According to the app we should arrive in 2 hours and fifteen minutes. It was closer to 5 hours this time, but we met people along the way and we had a great trip.
The children at the orphanage greeted us do warmly and we had a quick supper at The clinic nurse, Moses, home. His wife Love made a great meal. After the meal we had devotions with the kids and we handed out their letters and took pictures of each child to share with the return letter they will write.
The cell network is not as good up here so I’ll not attempt any pictures and I hope this short post can make it.
Gbarnga conference day.
Today we woke up in our guesthouse that had two fans on us overnight. They kept us cool enough to sleep most of the night. We got up just after 6:00 a.m. to get ready to go to a Pastor’s conference that we didn’t have any responsibility at. It would be an easier day…I thought. As we headed down to our car, around 7:30 Emmanuel leaned over to me to say, ‘We’re going to have a service tonight around 5:00 p.m. at the LCMI Gbarnga church and I told them you would speak’. So I wouldn’t have the day free after all.
The Pastor’s conference, put on by our new friend David of CCI, was at another local church here in Gbarnga. Jenny and I were to tag along during their training that would run from 8:00 a.m. thru 4:00 p.m.
We arrived at the church and they gave us some coffee and cornbread for breakfast. We all found a seat and the conference began.
A young lady sat down next to Jenny with her young son and I knew I’d be asking to hold the little guy before too long. He fussed a little bit and I asked the mom if I could carry him for her. She was very gracious to let me carry him. I had him until the lunch break. We walked around, he slept and he kept me busy. Jenny paid more attention to the conference than I did.
At lunch they gave us a great meal with a fresh platter that was so good. Of course we had rice with soup, but this was the highlight to me.
Jenny and I discussed it that we’d ask for a ride back to the guesthouse so I could prepare my message to the church and Jenny felt a little rough in her stomach. Emmanuel gave us a ride and told me he’d be back to get me for the evening church service.
It was a relaxing afternoon and I was able to look through my files and find a relative message that just needed some tweaking. I went to work and had it completed an hour later. Emmanuel showed up at 4:30 and I was ready to go. He looked at me and said ‘We’re not going now.’ I asked if we are going at all, and he just laughs and tells me we’re just leaving later, around 5:30. so, we headed over to the church and I shared what God had for them from my notes. We finished and prayed for Country Bible Church and headed back to the guesthouse.
Jenny and David stayed behind. David had lead the conference all day and Jenny wanted to give her stomach a rest…and the power came on so she now had a fan to help cool her.
When I returned we had a good supper and enjoyed the somewhat cooler air as we ate outside. Now we are in our room with both fans blowing. It is 9:35 and still 79 degrees, and the weather app says it feels like 88. I concur.
Tomorrow we will attend the morning session of the conference and then leave for Yekepa after lunch. More tomorrow night. Not sure how good the cell coverage is in Yekepa, but I’ll try anyway.
Travel day #1
Today we woke up in Monrovia and we will now sleep in Gbarnga at a guesthouse.
After a breakfast of farina and cinnamon rolls, we took time to visit with our new friend from Minnesota, Cheryl. I mentioned her in yesterday’s post as well. We shared many stories of travel, and family and we enjoyed getting to know her. We also were visited by our friend, Abraham Youndo who stopped by. It was great to reconnect with him as well. We left home just before 2:00 in the afternoon.
We left with a new friend, David from a ministry called CCI (Cultural Crossroads, International).
Of course the car was packed as they are in Liberia with little room for passengers. It really wasn’t too bad. Jenny and I had the edges of the TV box bumping our heads as we drove. On the paved roads it’s not a problem since it doesn’t bounce around, but when we turned off to go to LCMI Gbarnga church things got interesting. Both Jenny and I slammed our heads against the TV box and laughed saying we needed to duck until we arrived.
When arriving at the church we were greeted with many members dancing and singing. They had arranged a service at church to welcome us. Us 3 visitors have the distinction of being the first white people to visit their church. This was applauded loudly as we were introduced. We all said a few words and they presented us gifts. We then got a group photo and they showed us their future plans for the church. What a loving congregation.
David is here for a Pastor’s conference he will be heading up. I believe Emmanuel is part of this as well and this is why we’re here. Schedules got a little overlapping with us and David so Emmanuel is doing his best to accommodate. We will be here until Wednesday and head to the orphanage at that time. We have 2 fans in our room and we believe we’ll have power all night so that’s what we are hoping for.
Sunday busyness
Sundays are always busy when you’re on a mission trip. You have the privilege of experiencing how other cultures worship. Today, I was privileged to speak in LCMI church again and we also had our other missionary, Pastor Titus Namen and Mother Mercy come to the service as well.
Since I was speaking I got up a little bit early to finalize my sermon and make sure I prayed over the content as you never want to misrepresent God’s word when you speak. Jenny and I got ready, had some delicious scrambled eggs and fried plantains with onions. We then went down for Sunday School which starts at 9:30. We made it just in time at 9:28 or so. We walked in and there was one other person there waiting, Pastor Emmanuel’s brother Reuben. Other people started coming in and we began around 9:45. It was a great discussion on the vines and the branches from John 15.
Church began right after Sunday School and I again sat up front while Jenny sat by Reuben. The music was a good mixture of old hymns, the African choruses they so often sing as well as choir specials that are truly African excitement, if I may say. We had a good service, my message was well received and God was glorified. The service concluded with communion. This is my first time experiencing communion in Liberia, I believe. It was so neat to share with this Liberian church the same way we do at Country Bible Church.
Immediately following the service we walked over to what is now known as the ‘Fred Haberland Training Shop’. This is connected to Emmanuel’s property and faces the road for selling to the public. This will be a training center for Women of Purpose, skills training. Many women have been helped to learn a trade to help take care of the family along with Godly teaching as overlaid in all their training. It was an emotional tribute that was shared where Jenny and I both shed tears as we remembered Fred’s love for the people of Liberia and we remember our love for Fred. We recorded the dedication for Renee so she can see the legacy of Fred passed on to Liberia.
After the dedication we headed inside to eat where we met another lady from Minnesota visiting Liberia for a ministry called Palm Branches. We had a good visit with Cheryl and we wish her well in her time here.
Tomorrow morning we are headed to Gbarnga sometime to spend a couple of nights on our way to the Betty Jonah Orphanage in Yekepa. Travel days are fun, but they can be interesting since you never know what will happen. We will be staying at a hotel in Gbarnga for two nights. We requested a ‘fan room’ over an air conditioned room. Partly for the $50 cheaper and partly because the chances of regular power and the air conditioning working aren’t worth the risk of the extra money. We’ll see how that works out.
God’s Chosen Generation
Today Jenny and I had a very easy day. In fact we didn’t leave our upstair’s room area until the afternoon. After breakfast of farina (cream of wheat) and muffins we visited for a little while and then we decided to work some. I needed to prepare more for my sermon and Jenny wanted to review her lesson for the children some more. We both sat in the conference room and went to work. We were frequently distracted by the children coming up to see if Mother Jenny would give them a piece of candy or a balloon. When they either had what they asked for or realized they wouldn’t get another we told them to leave us be as we had some things to do. That kept them out for a little time, but they inevitably came back. I blame Jenny for such a soft heart for the kids. Of course neither of us were too bothered. They are a joy to have around. There is one girl, Destin, and one boy, Thaddeus, that always seem to be in the lead for these things. They also fight like brother and sister and truth be told, I don’t know who the parents are, but Mother Wintee makes sure they are cared for as her own.
Back to work now. Jenny and I were able to put together some good work time and get to the point we could take a break when our daughter, Jessica called from Thailand. We had a good visit with her as we had our pumpkin soup over rice for lunch. It is more like cooked and spiced squash and is very good.
After lunch Jenny had time for a short nap while I continued to work. We had a short walk later on while we showed our son Jonathan around the area on FaceTime. We hope to catch the other kids another time.
After our walk Jenny had a meeting to go over the upcoming kid’s club she has planned for next Saturday. Jenny, Herrietta and Winston are planning the time as well as a meal of beans and rice for all.
Once the meeting was concluded we headed over to Princess Monmia’s home where she has a weekly Bible class for her neighborhood children. She calls her class, ‘The Chosen Generation’. She’s been doing this for almost three years now with a couple young people who noticed her doing this that also volunteered to help. Now they have a regular group of kids growing up knowing their Bible and learning in their own community. They had 42+\- students attending today. I was able to share a little with them and had them recite John 3:16 with me. They all knew it in the version I memorized as a kid…the King James Version. It was good to say it with them and encourage them too. They were very attentive.
Jenny then got up to speak and she did a shortened version of the wordless book to explain the necklaces that the kids at Mom’s group back home made. She shared and then we handed out the necklaces to all the kids. We even ran short for what Jenny took along, so we’ll send 7 necklaces back for Princess Monmia to hand out.
Herrietta, Jenny’s good friend from LCMI church came along as did Mother Wintee and they participated also. The kids presented us with some fans to help us in the heat. They are so thoughtful.
We handed out the necklaces and a piece of gum and finished the service with prayer. Here are a couple of pictures.
When we returned to Emmanuel’s we had a type of a chicken pot pie turnover. It was very good. We spent some time visiting and then headed to bed.
School Day
Today Jenny and I were privileged to visit the Friday chapel service at LCMI school. It is just a short walk from Emmanuel’s home to the school and Jonathan Denis, the principal, asked us to arrive at 10:00 a.m. When we walked down we could see the children lining the entrance as they sang a welcome song to us when we walked in. They then went to their seats for the chapel to begin.
LCMI is a K-9 school with hopes of expanding through 12th grade in the future. After everyone was quiet one of the older students led the service, introducing each group of students for their presentation. We heard singing and Bible verses quoted from memory from many classes. One of the teachers then presented the challenge from the parable of the 99 sheep and the one that was lost. They then had me speak about Mother Jenny and I on why we travel to Liberia and about our family as well as how Country Bible Church continues to pray for them as teachers and students. The students then asked us questions about America and our lives there as well as what we like the most about Liberia. That one was easy. We love the people the most.
After I spoke a few people gave thanks to Country Bible Church for their support from the Christmas offerings and they asked us to join them in praying for ongoing support of the teachers. There are 15 staff that care for around 92 students. This amount fluctuates as we found out later in the day. One of the students, Blessing Warlo, is in 9th grade and will move on after this year. He seems to be one of the smartest children in his grade, but he has trouble paying much tuition. They try to enforce tuitions, but many parents struggle to feed their families, let alone paying for a Christian school. There are public schools, but many can’t afford transportation costs for the children so they look to local small schools to help or they want the Christian education offered. Many parents pay what they can.
Back to Blessing Warlo, the 9th grade boy. His parents live in the interior as subsistence living. Blessing skipped September and October so he could work with his parents and earn some money for school and living expenses. As I said he’s very smart, even representing the school for scholastic honors. He came in November and will still be graduating from 9th grade with his class. He lives with a friend in a room and I’m not even sure how they provide for themselves. That’s tough for an adult, but to do this as a ninth grader, around 14 or so makes it even more difficult. He seems as if he has a dedication to succeed. I pray he will find a means to complete his high school in the following years. He is just one of the successes of LCMI school. It was so good to see them in action.
If anyone is interested in helping to support the teachers, please reach out to me. I can let you know ways to help. Helping a teacher or a student direct it to the same goals.
Here are a couple of pictures of us with the students and staff.
Beach day
Today we were able to visit a place both Jenny and I stayed on previous visits. This is a guest house in Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA). It is a missionary complex of sorts. Samaritan’s Purse and SIM mission board are located there.
It also has the hospital that was built to battle the Ebola epidemic back in 2014. If anyone is interested in a documentary on the Ebola crisis, I highly recommend watching this movie. It is put out by Samaritan’s Purse. Here’s the trailer.
Upon arriving at the guest house we were able to visit with Becky, the wife of the couple that oversee the African Bible College located inland in Liberia. They have other universities in other parts of Africa as well. She allowed us to use one of the rooms to change so we could go swimming. For those of you from Country Bible Church who traveled to Liberia in 2012 you will recognize the building as well as the beaches around. It was special to return there where memories of my first visit to Liberia came flooding back.
Here are a few of the pictures from today.
When we returned we found out that LEC was back online. You don’t take the power for granted when you can’t rely on it. It was good to have a meal of cooked okra soup over rice with mango and watermelon for desert. After the meal Jenny and I stayed in our room for a while enjoying the air conditioning. Now, as I type this, I am listening to the choir practice across the yard. Such a peaceful sound.
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.
Community walk(s)
We are really settling in to Liberian life. We got up this morning to a breakfast of oatmeal and bread with peanut butter. And of course our Nestles coffee mix.
I should say, we are in the 2nd floor of Emmanuel’s guest house and we eat on the upper porch for each meal. As we were finishing up breakfast I noticed a lady walking towards Emmanuel’s home. That’s never surprising since people come and go all day. This woman came right to the house and was ushered upstairs to greet us. I did not recognize her, but she remembered me. She reminded me that during my last visit I stopped in to see her along with Emmanuel. She told us that when we visited she was not feeling well at all and she was grateful for the visit. We prayed with her and Emmanuel followed up and she now attends regularly. Now, in May, she will be recognized as the ‘Mother of the Year’ for their church. Her name is Saturday.
After she left we met with Emmanuel to go over a schedule of sorts. We plan on remaining in Monrovia until next Monday when we’ll travel to Yekepa. That can change, but that’s the plan for now. When we finished up the schedule we asked Mother Wintee to join us where we shared gifts from the congregation and planned to hand out some of the letters (to Emmanuel’s crew). They are very appreciative of the gifts they received. We decided that tonight we would hand out their families’ letters and then watch a couple episodes of The Chosen with them.
The rest of the morning into afternoon was very quiet with the children gone to school. Incidentally, we plan to visit LCMI school tomorrow. Since it was quiet I decided to go for a walk in the community. As I walked I drew attention, but most people nearby to Emmanuel know he has white visitors from the states, so most gave me a wave or the head nod as I walked along the street. About halfway around the block I noticed one of the young men from Emmanuel’s home, Philip, sitting outside a shop. I called out to him and walked over. He was going to get a haircut from the ‘best barber in the world’ as Philip described him. I decided I needed to stay and watch. I have the before and after pictures below. During the haircut I filled in the time with local kids (whose parents can’t afford to send them to school) showing them pictures of snow, my family and finally elephants we saw in Thailand last year. They watched movies of the elephants and next thing I knew the haircut was over and Philip was ready to go. The barber did a great job.
Another satisfied customer.
Philip and I headed back as I got a text from Emmanuel saying lunch was ready. We came home and I met back up with Jenny where we ate beans and rice and fresh pineapple.
Jenny and I both rested a little in the afternoon until we decided to go for a walk. Walks can take you places you don’t plan for and they can get delayed easily. Most Liberian people are very friendly so the walk turns into a visit whenever we stop to say hello to anyone. Today was no different. We stopped many times to share names and shake hands or to meet more of the family. I have to say when the littlest kids see us sometimes they’re afraid of us. Most of the little kids never get to see a white man or woman up close.
Here are a few pictures of some of the families we met.
We even got to hold some babies and you can see by the one Jenny is holding she isn’t sure about it.
We continued our walk and met one more family. The guy didn’t want us to leave without a picture. He called all the kids over to be in a picture.
We ended the evening, handing out letters with instructions to write return letters. We got pictures of the ones writing the return letter to those that wrote. We hope to gather all before we leave. After this we watched the first two episodes of season one of ‘The Chisen’ and had snacks to hand out. Everyone had a lot of fun. We will try more episodes in the evenings as time permits. Here’s a picture of the crew as we finished for the night.
Ice cream day.
When you think of Liberian food, the first thought is not of ice cream. Well, today proved that idea wrong.
Jenny and I got up to a good breakfast of egg, pepper and onion omelet on bread with peanut butter as well for the bread. After eating we had a good visit with Emmanuel as he decided to take us out to the store because Jenny wanted to pick up some treats for the kids. We left the house and we faced the busyness of the roads as we traveled to ‘The Exclusive Superstore’. This is their equivalent to our Walmart.
After the visit to the Liberian Walmart, we stopped in for a visit to Mother Wintee’s sister, Anti. She’s been struggling with a foot and leg problem for 6 months. The doctors think it was something from some insect that may have stung her. It caused her leg to swell up and it made it very difficult to walk. She still has trouble putting weight on that foot, but it’s a little better.
Next door there was some furniture being built so I decided to walk over and see the crew. They used all hand tools and many hands to help. I told them about my work back in the states, that we work with wood also and they were happy to let me get a picture with them.
After our furniture visit we headed out in the heat of the day and the busiest roads (at least it seemed the busiest time).
We ended up at the ‘Nice Cream’ shop for a special treat from Emmanuel.
I had mango and Oreo, while Jenny got strawberry and chocolate. Emmanuel picked some up for Mother Wintee. Smart man.
We stopped again for some rice and headed home. Groceries were unloaded and we ate some palm butter over rice.
My afternoon ended up being on the phone for over 2 hours with Verizon getting my international plan straightened out. It’s working good now so I’m happy.
Tonight we may start to watch an episode of ‘The Chosen’ that we downloaded on Jenny’s phone and we can stream to their TV. That would require another long story to explain.
Jenny and Mother Wintee just finished mixing koolaid for them to sell tomorrow. They are now doing dishes from the fresh muffins that were baked to sell.
The little girl, Destin, couldn’t sit still for the picture as she was busy playing around. Couldn’t be because of the bubblegum sucker Jenny gave her.
Church day.
We are at the end of a long and enjoyable day. The day begins much like any Sunday with waking up and getting ready to attend church. We came out to some coffee and plantains fried with onions for a light breakfast. We then headed over to Sunday school. Seeing that I would be speaking today I was wearing a suit coat and tie. That can prove to be very warm in this climate. After sitting through teaching by Deacon Johnson I was asked to move to the front to sit as the guest speaker. It is humbling to think Liberians would care to hear me speak, but truth be told they want to hear the Bible preached and I just happened to be the conduit today. The service begins with an old hymn, ‘Send the Light’, and there are many church announcements and such during this time. The highlight to me is seeing the Liberian people get excited and dance to the praise and worship team with electric piano, drums and gourd shakers. The intensity of the singing and worship is different from our home church, but I am aware it is a cultural difference as this is how all the churches worship. Just before I was to preach the choir sang a song. I love to hear the Liberian young adults as they sing so well and powerful. They sang a song called ‘Grateful’ that I’ve not heard before, but it highlighted their voices as they sang it out. It was so good to hear them.
Just before I was going to get up to preach, Jenny caught my attention and mouthed the words to take off my suit jacket. She informed me I was very red in the face and she thought I may pass out. So, when I stood up to speak I told the congregation it is about to get serious and I need to remove my jacket. Of course they laughed and it was cooler. By the time I finished I was drenched in sweat. It rolled down my face into my eyes and I was dabbing it off with my shirt. A lady usher noticed it so she turned a fan directly on me to who I mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to her as that helped immensely.
After church was a time of reconnecting with many friends and meeting new ones. By the time we got back to our room to change I was soaked in sweat. It felt real good to get a fresh shirt on and shorts. Lunch was ready and we served up some potato greens over rice. Just as I was going to sit down, in walk Pastor Titus and Mother Mercy, missionaries that Country Bible Church support. We invited them to eat with us and we sat and ate and visited for the next couple hours. What a great visit it was. Emmanuel Jonah joined us for the visit. I am always pleased when Titus and Emmanuel connect. With both of them being missionaries, I am encouraged with their common goal of preaching the Gospel.
The later afternoon brought about more visiting as well as Jenny having a meeting with a few people from LCMI church to plan an upcoming ’Kid’s Club’. That will be coming up in the next week or so. Jenny plans on teaching from the wordless book and they decided to feed the kids that come with rice and beans. We look forward to this and we love the cooperation with the other LCMI members who simply want to share the Bible with the kids in the community.
We had one visitor, Anastasia Paye, who had requested a stethoscope that was graciously donated by Renee Haberland.
Later on in the evening, as Jenny was in her meeting, I left with Emmanuel and Wintee to visit a lady in a clinic that has health struggles. She attends an LCMI church and Emmanuel wanted us to stop in and encourage her and pray with her.
We arrived back home to have a snack of fried plantains and popcorn. I do love popcorn, so it was a great snack.
It has been a tiring day, but very enjoyable.
Rest day
What do you do after traveling all day the previous day?
I figured I would have a good night’s sleep and wake up ready to go, ready to begin meeting people. I underestimated my ability to recover as I would in my younger years. I woke up, checked the clock and it was 7:45. Time to get up. I didn’t mention yet that something happened that never before happened in my stays at Emmanuel’s home. I woke up cold! The Liberian Electric Company (LEC) kept current to the house all night and our air conditioner had me cold this morning.
I tried to get up without waking Jenny, but she was also ready to get up. It would be a great start to the day.
I took a shower, and for those who remember the past showers at Emmanuel’s home with a barrel of water and a dipper to pour over your head, this was a nice shower that I can compare to the showers we took in Thailand. Picture the sink sprayer with a long hose and you get the picture. I finished and we headed outside our room to see what was happening.
A breakfast was left for us under a towel. There were freshly baked muffins and coffee to start our day. We went out on the 2nd floor porch and had our muffins as we greeted people who saw us come outside.
After finishing breakfast we headed downstairs to see what was happening and decide what we would do. We spoke with Mother Wintee, Emmanuel’s wife, and found out she was the baker of the muffins and she was taking some more out of the pans to put for sale in their Women of Purpose storefront just outside their building. Wintee then began to decorate a cake for a graduation party later in the day, for a lady in the church who has a child graduating.
Leaving Wintee to her work we decided to walk down to see the new church building under construction. It is only 1/8 of a mile away so we walked down and all the way Jenny would find another person to speak to. We got to the church building and a bunch of kids wanted to see who we were and another round of ‘What’s your name?’ began. Jenny believes she will remember all of the names tomorrow. Truthfully, we both forgot most of them by the time we walked back. One girl, Favor, was the leader and introduced everyone to us. She is 11 years old and very well spoken.
When we got back to the house I was feeling a little queasy and I mentioned I might want to lie down. Wintee told us that Emmanuel said, ‘Tell them to only worry about rest today.’ We took his advice and laid down again. I slept another 3 hours and it was then I felt more normal.
I got up and worked on my sermon for the next day. I had studied enough, but I’m a rambling talker if I don’t write things down in an orderly fashion. When I completed this and Jenny was awake again we ate and went out for another walk. As we walked past one house having a party of sorts, some ladies came running out to the road to greet us. It was ladies from the church and the house was hosting the graduation party mentioned earlier. They knew both Jenny and I from previous visits so we talked a little and left them to return to the party. We came back and visited to late in the evening. It was a great day to rest and relax. Tomorrow is church and I am privileged to deliver the sermon to the LCMI church in Monrovia.
Arrival.
Our travel day went well as we arrived at Emmanuel Jonah’s home at quarter after 10 pm local Liberia time. We were greeted with a chorus of cheers with some of their children banging pot lids with spoons. They have welcome signs posted to me and Jenny and I’m sure we’ll see more people tomorrow morning.
We had a great meal and the best gift we could receive after a 31 hour, door to door trip…a bed with air conditioning in the room. Emmanuel and Wintee’s guest house has come a ways since our first trip, but this too is still Liberia. We will see exactly what that may mean during the next few weeks.
Cell service in their home is not as reliable so I may have to wait until morning to find a spot to post this.
Arrival.
Our travel day went well as we arrived at Emmanuel Jonah’s home at quarter after 10 pm local Liberia time. We were greeted with a chorus of cheers with some of their children banging pot lids with spoons. They have welcome signs posted to me and Jenny and I’m sure we’ll see more people tomorrow morning.
We had a great meal and the best gift we could receive after a 31 hour, door to door trip…a bed with air conditioning in the room. Emmanuel and Wintee’s guest house has come a ways since our first trip, but this too is still Liberia. We will see exactly what that may mean during the next few weeks.
Cell service in their home is not as reliable so I may have to wait until morning to find a spot to post this.
Another beginning.
Today begins our trip to Liberia. My wife, Jenny and I are making this trip alone this time, although it doesn’t feel as if this is our trip alone. From the many people participating in the writing of letters that we carry as greeting from our home church, Country Bible Church, to our children communicating through our group texts, to my brother and sister in law carrying us to the airport, to finally the many who will lift us up in prayer as we see what lies ahead.
Why do we travel to a country in West Africa? The answer is almost too simple. Sometimes God puts relationships in your life that ‘direct your paths’! If you look to the beginning of my blogging, started in 2012, you will see how the relationships grew. Now, as Jenny and I prepare to board, we do so with the excitement and expectation of seeing great friends and experiencing new adventures.
Join us as we document our experiences and share with everyone who graciously joins with us in prayer around the world.
Reflections
Well, it is the morning of my first day back home after a nights sleep. My mind understands that it is just after 8:00 a.m. as I begin this blog post, but my body remembers the time I was used to. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. after the travel day and I feel very awake yet. I’m guessing I’ll start the fatigue in early afternoon here. That’s part of the adjustments whether leaving or returning. Sometimes it’s a short adjustment and other times it takes a few days. We’ll see what this return brings.
Now to reflect on my trip…
My waking up reminds me that we live in very different circumstances here in the states which doesn’t make it better or worse, just that it is very different. I love the fact that I could visit Liberia and be part of their lives, if even temporarily. This gift from God helps me to appreciate the grace that He gives us…me, every day. I am reminded of the apostle Paul when he states in Philippians that,
Philippians 4:11-13 ESV
[11] Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. [12] I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. [13] I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
In God allowing me to visit Liberia, recognizing the extremes Paul is speaking of I can’t say I experienced these differences as Paul did, but I can witness and discern that God loves His children the same regardless of how we judge that love due to circumstances. What Paul was saying is we aren’t to judge God’s love for us based on these circumstances, but based on the whole of the Bible’s message. Again Paul in the book of Philippians…
Philippians 3:8 ESV
[8] Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
I guess what I am saying in my feeble attempt to put meaning to my trip and thoughts about the trip down in words is that I am blessed to experience God active and at work in Liberia and I am blessed to experience God active and at work in the USA as well. God isn’t differentiating his blessing like we would view this, but according to His grace in our lives. Our circumstances will never dictate the amount of love we feel from God. We do that in our minds, God does not. We rationalize that God somehow loves us in the states more because of our blessing in the physical realm. If that were true then our joy would only be dependent on our situation in our human bodies. We sanitize God’s love for us to fit into our life experiences.
If that were true, real joy in Christ would never be realized anywhere that hardship or pain exists. Liberia, being one of the poorest countries in the world, would never know real joy in Christ…Tell that to the congregation that thrives on ‘Praise and Worship’ time in the giving of offerings. Tell that to the many Liberian voices raising their voices to sing to ‘Yahweh’ each worship service. Or tell that to the parents that hear their children reciting the Bible verses like these kids…
The saying that Pastor Fred Haberland once told me is realized more and more as you keep your eyes open to God. ‘Never be surprised by God, but always be amazed by Him.’
This trip to Liberia helped me to see that I cannot change circumstances in people’s lives, but I can remind them to see God’s amazing work in their country and in their lives.
My prayer is that God will continually remind me of this and use me in whatever way He chooses. To God be the glory, great things He hath done…and continues to do!! First CBC missionaries and then memories of the people.
Back in the USA
Well, the first two flights are over for me and they went very well. I ended up having an empty seat next to me both times and on the long flight from Brussels to Washington DC I even got to sit in business class. Not sure how that worked out, but I’m thankful for a more comfortable seating.
It is starting to hit me that I will no longer wake up to the familiar sounds around Emmanuel’s home, but will face the familiar routines of being back home. I’m very grateful and look forward to seeing Jenny, but I will miss the communal pattern of life I found myself in over there. There may be a lack of the ‘comforts’ while in Liberia that we all are accustomed to in the states, but there is a special connection to people that I will miss from Princess Kou (corrected spelling) to all the people coming to the hand pump for water.
I still have 2 more flights to go, but it is good to be back in the states.
Liberia Mission Trip 