Today I was awake early so I got ready and enjoyed the morning before breakfast. The same familiar sounds greeted me as I said hello to anyone I made eye contact with. I recognize that because of my color (or lack there of) I will get a second or third look even if they know me in the community. I don’t mind as I am able to strike up a conversation or at least exchange greetings. The funny ones are when the children are afraid. The older children will always laugh at the fear of the younger ones and even try to force them to come and see me. I never want to scare the children so I’ll keep my distance if they start to cry. Of course the little people brigade got over that and I’m their grandpa now. I had the chance to see them later on in the day. Breakfast was served so I came in to this nice warm plate.

After breakfast we did something we don’t do too often. We left early for Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary (LBTS). We were all ready to go so we left and ended up being 30 minutes early for the chapel service. This was a privilege to be invited to speak there and I enjoyed the experience.

We did have to adhere to the mask mandate for schools…kind of. Of course I didn’t have to wear a mask as I spoke which was a plus to being the speaker. As I was speaking I was looking at at least half of the students with their masks under their chin. They were at least wearing a mask though. They were very gracious to me and we were able to take pictures with Dr. Massaquoi and his wife Layahn after chapel.

After chapel we headed back to Emmanuel’s home to have a late lunch with a stop on the way back to pick up a few things at the wood carving shop. We also made a stop at Emmanuel’s uncle’s home in Monrovia. He just returned from India where he had treatment and surgery for a cancerous tumor in his neck. We were able to visit and pray with him. He was looking good considering what he went through. I saw pictures of the tumor that I wish I hadn’t. I did not ask for a copy of those pictures. When we got back to the house Princess Kau had GB ready for us. Emmanuel and I shared the GB and shortly after we headed out to Kakata to visit a sick pastor of the LCMI Kakata church. Before we left I had time to play with the kids.

We headed out with the intent of visiting Pastor Abel Smith, but by the time we arrived in Kakata (30 miles inland from Monrovia) Abel’s family decided to take him to Ganta to the hospital. From the sounds of it he has an ulcer, but we will wait to get a report from them. They should be arriving in Ganta real soon. Getting a diagnosis and treatment is always a challenge here.

We stopped by Abraham Youndo’s house to drop off his wife, Favor, who rode with us to Kakata. Oh yea, we made a stop to buy charcoal on our way back as it is $200 LD cheaper inland where they make the charcoal. It did pack the car a little as we bought 4 bags.

We’ll arrive home soon and have a late supper I’m sure. One final stop for rice and water. They have their own Walmart’s open to pick up things they need.

Another great day.

Woke up to another beautiful day here in Monrovia, Liberia. I enjoyed a breakfast and went outside afterward to visit with Elizabeth who came to do my wash. I know that sounds so bad when I say that, but I’m very grateful that one, I can get my laundry done and two, I can offer someone a job where ability to make money is always sought after here. Elizabeth was more than willing to come as we have become friends over the years. I met her in 2016 when Erik and Amanda traveled over with me and we were later joined by Bobbi, Micah and Luke. I have been learning a little more of her story each time I visit. I was so happy that Jenny could meet her last year and as expected, Jenny and her hit it off as well. Elizabeth has had a difficult life, but her attitude and love for God are amazing. I am inspired by what she’s come through and I hope to help her in some of her goals here.

After visiting with her for awhile I had to head out to get my covid test before my flight on Thursday. Emmanuel took me to the testing site and it was over half an hour away. When we arrived I remembered I forgot my passport. The stress feeling of travel was on me already. I have not worried about a mask or any change in what I know about Liberian lifestyle while I’m here. The children wearing them to school is the only reminder I’ve had and that in itself is funny since I’ve visited 2-3 other schools in my travels and Monrovia is the only place I’ve seen them and not even all over here. I’ll never understand that I guess. Anyway, it turns out I have a picture of my passport and one of my plane ticket on my phone and that was all I needed. It didn’t take long to fill in the required form, but the wait for the test was a lot longer.

The test itself was anticlimactic as once I was in with the nurse and they double checked my case number and slammed a q-tip up my nose she just said, ‘You’re done. You can go.’ It felt funny just walking out to find Emmanuel waiting outside for me. It was organized, but I guess I was just impatient. From there we went to a wood carving guy that Emmanuel knows. Paul is the guys name and he went from carving things himself when we met him in 2012, to having his own roadside shop with carvers busy working for him. I counted 3 other carvers and one guy to run the shop. He’s quite an entrepreneur.

With the covid test and the carving shop we didn’t get back till after 3:30. When we got back Elizabeth was busy raking the yard around the church. She keeps busy all the time.

We had a late lunch of pumpkin soup over rice and it was very good. After lunch I varied my time from chasing the little people brigade as Grace and her two sidekicks, Praise and Praises showed up to play. They all call me grandpa. I gotta say I love it! When it was time for Elizabeth to go I walked with her to the motorbike junction and then came back and watched the pick up soccer game underway. They do love their soccer.

This evening it was nice to have a long talk with Jenny. I also was able to speak to Papa Mike when Emmanuel passed his phone to me earlier in the day. It was nice catching up with Mike since he knows what is going on here.

Tomorrow I speak at the seminary for chapel as my last official duty here in Liberia. I did work on that some today as well. I am already dreading the good byes.

Another great morning this morning. I woke up and read through and updated my message for today. I then took my shower and got dressed for church. I came out of my room and it appeared everyone was a little slower getting ready this morning. The challenges of getting ready in Liberia from still needing water for the home to getting your Sunday clothes ready and maybe needing to iron your clothes with the coal iron, things just take longer. I feel very privileged to have my needs met as they go out of their way over here to make sure I’m watched over and anything I need is taken care of.

From my morning relaxing here on to Sunday school where we discussed Simon Peter. It was a good discussion of how God used him even with his shortcomings.

From SS we moved directly to the worship service. Today was special for me for two reasons. One, I was able to preach again and two, I was able to sing with the LCMI choir. I want to give a special thank you to our music team back home and especially Erik for preparing a recording of a song I hoped to teach the choir here at LCMI. Even though I was in Yekepa I left a copy of our practice time at CBC on a phone with Wonder, the choir director, and asked if she could teach a new song to the choir. When I returned late Friday night I didn’t want to ask if they had a chance to work on the song. It wasn’t until Saturday as Blessing was doing her wash next to my favorite spot to sit and she started to sing the song I brought over. I was excited and said, ‘Yay, you guys learned the song!’. Blessing just smiled and shook her head yes. As she started to sing the song again I joined her and pretty soon Abraham Youndo came out of the house singing and we all sang the song through. I knew there was a choir practice on Saturday night and I found out I was able to sing with them. The practice went great and I looked forward to today to sing with them. They have such strong and great sounding voices, so I was intimidated to sing with them. As we went through the service with the choir singing just before the sermon I felt nerves and excitement as I would be able to sing and preach. What a great opportunity.

One other thing that I was able to share, with Jenny at least, is I was away from her for her birthday so the congregation sang Happy Birthday for Jenny as I recorded it and later sent it to her. She was here last year for her birthday and they wished she could be here again so they wanted to wish her a Happy Birthday in song at least. From singing I went right up to speak on Daniel in the lion’s den. I pray that the teaching encourages people here.

After church and lunch we rested a little as we visited in the living room and I even recorded Wonder and Matthias singing a few songs. Then we headed out to visit. This time it was Wintee’s sister, Anti and her husband, Samuel. I’ve met Anti many times, but today was my first time meeting her husband. We had a great time of visiting there and before long it was time to leave and Anti, Samuel and Kristie, Anti’s daughter who I met on past trips, headed out. I had no idea where we were going as Abraham drove us around. Before long we pulled up to Princess’s house. Princess, who now goes by the name Success, was one of Jenny’s favorite funny people who could always make Jenny laugh. It was there I FaceTimed Jenny to wish her a happy birthday and it turned into everyone there singing to her. It was then Jenny got a special singing of happy birthday by Success (Princess). It was great because Jenny got to remember what she always liked about her.

Shortly after my call to Jenny Emmanuel got a call from one of the kids at his house and found out Titus and Mercy were at his house waiting to see me before I leave later this week. We hurried back and had some tea and cake with them. It was great to see them again before I leave.

After Titus and Mercy left I was able to meet the parents of two of the little people brigade. Praise and Praises parents.

Tuti told a great story about the twins when they were sick one time and she ended up giving 2 doses of medicine to one of the twins thinking she was giving one to each. She couldn’t imagine why one twin slept so good and all night. At least it didn’t hurt the one who had the double dose.

To end the night I went outside to find a game of Uno going on. That is always a must, taking some Uno cards, as they love to play the game. I always tease them that they cheat, but maybe that’s just because when I play I never win.

Tomorrow I have to start to plan for my return trip already. I need to go to get my Covid test 72 hours before leaving. Another $75 to be able to travel again. I still plan on enjoying my remaining time here. I’ll keep sharing.

Today was a cooler day for Monrovia and that was a welcome break. I woke up early and laid in bed listening to thunder outside and I thought what a good day to just relax a little. I listened to a podcast for an hour or so and then just drifted off back to sleep, waking up at 8:30. What a great start to the day. Getting up I went outside to work on my sermon some more as the sounds of a morning in Liberia surrounded me. I’m becoming accustomed to these sounds as if they are part of the pattern of my life. Each morning I hear the creak of the hand pump, the sweeping sound of the yard broom, the whine of a motorbike as it passes on the road and of course the pesky roosters that continually remind us the day has begun. These are peaceful sounds that will always be in my mind while I’m here and I’ll recall with fondness once I get back home. There is also the happy greetings from friends, neighbors and even those I’ve never seen before. They’ll greet me with a ‘Mornie-O’. At least that is the phonetic sound I hear. They will add the ‘O’ to the end words and also cut off the end of these words ending up with ‘mornie-O’ sound.

After my failed movie night on the big screen at the orphanage, I used today to also make sure I planned better so we didn’t end up with the movie night on the tiny screen again. I connected the computer to my phone hotspot and downloaded the Amazon prime app and went to my account and started to download the ‘Ten Commandments’ movie. That took about 30 minutes to download, but at least it would be on Emmanuel’s laptop. After discussing we decided to download a different movie for tonight since the 3 hour and 40 minute movie would be too long starting later at night. We decided on the movie ‘I Can Only Imagine’ about the song. Emmanuel has seen it, but I kind of pushed for this. I asked everyone else around and nobody had even heard the song so I wondered if I chose a good one or not. As it turned out it they loved it.

Here is the message I sent to Jenny right after we finished. ‘Just finished watching I Can Only Imagine. I had tears in my eyes and goosebumps as they all clapped and cheered after he sang. It was a beautiful moment.’ They loved the story and the song brought up great discussions later.

Overall it was a great day and I’ve just got a little bit of final prep to do in the morning. I want to review it and button it up better. I don’t have as many pictures today since we just stayed around home. I’ll let you know how our worship day goes tomorrow.

I need to catch you up on my ‘adventures’ here in Liberia again. First a recap of yesterday which in itself was a very busy day.

Day 1-Catch-up.

We woke up in the morning with early devotions with the kids singing and Emmanuel leading the time teaching about prayer. During these devotion times everyone is still a little sleepy and most of the kids come in with their pajamas on to get dressed for school after. We finished and everyone headed out to their schedule with mine being a breakfast I was thinking I wouldn’t enjoy once I saw it. It was boiled yams and plantains with onions and sardines cooked and used as a topping over them. I believe I’ve had something similar before with eddoes (potatoes). It must be a normal breakfast over here. Anyway, I’m not a big fan of fish and sardines seem like they rate up there in being ‘fishy’. As I’ve always said I will eat any meal given to me and be grateful for it. I took my yams and plantains and cut them up and then I sparingly took some onions and sardines to put over them. I tasted it with a little hesitancy, but I was surprised at the way the onions overtook the fish flavor. I love onions and I continued to eat, adding more of this mixture of fried goodness until all of my yams and plantains were gone. I think anything fried in butter and onions ends up tasting good. That was my breakfast…yesterday.

After eating I came out to read and I had someone come to visit me that made me think of Cody back home. His name is Mr. Boo. Boo is around 13 years old and likes to visit everyone, even going to the market where he prays for the people selling there. His talking is more of yelling incoherent words (which is why he reminds me of Cody) Everyone knows Mr. Boo in the area.

Then a little girl from the orphanage came up and was looking sad. I asked her what was the matter. I tried really hard to understand, but I had to take her to Wintee to find out what happened. She told Wintee and she was at school (they wear uniforms at all schools and take it seriously) and she got sent home because she didn’t have socks. The socks should match the shirt and she only had her slipper sandals on. I asked if there was anywhere we could go and pick up socks for her so she could go back to school. I was told at the market and I said I’d go with her and take care of it. Well, Mr. Boo wasn’t going to be left behind so off we went to Camp Four and the marketplace. As we were walking Theresa grabbed my hand which was so sweet (she’s around 5 years old) and it reminded me of my grandkids. Well, Mr. Boo noticed and he wasn’t going to be left out so he grabbed my hand too. We continued to the marketplace and found someone who sold the light blue docks that match her uniform. The girl selling was a good salesperson as she said ‘She can’t go to school in those slippers. Try these shoes on and before you know it I had purchased socks and shoes for Theresa. Take a look at the picture and you’ll agree it was a good idea.

After getting Theresa back to school I had a visit from the Roff family (A family formerly from CBC-Jay & Jennifer went on the first mission trip to Liberia in 2012 and also love the people here so they are living over here with the family). Jennifer had stopped by the day before and said Jay and the kids would stop by. Jay, Ethan, Abbey, Brie and Kate came to the orphanage on two motorbikes with Jay driving one and Ethan driving the other. We talked for awhile and then planned to get together again.

In the afternoon we went into Yekepa to visit a Women of Purpose group at Emmanuel’s sister-in-law’s house. Amelia has just started a chapter in Yekepa and I even bought a cake from the newly trained bakers. It was good.

The plan for the evening was to show a movie and have some popcorn for the kids. That was the plan…but…this too is my not planning well. As we were out we bought popcorn, butter, oil and salt. Before I left home I purchased and downloaded the movie ‘Ten Commandments’ with Charlton Heston as Moses. This was a movie I remember watching when I was growing up. I thought the kids would like to see the Bible story come to life, even if it was a little old fashioned Hollywood. We bought fuel for the generator, fashioned an extension cord from a piece of romex and got the projector working and mirroring my phone. One problem, even when you purchase a movie and download it, Amazon prime licenses it in a way that it won’t play on a projector. If I had read up a little more I would have found this out, but nope, I just ran with how I did it so, if you remember this movie…3 hours and 40 minutes long…about 12-15 people watched my little phone for the whole movie. I was surprised, but they don’t see movies very often so they all stuck it out. Well, most of them. 3 or 4 of the youngest fell asleep in the middle of the movie. I was irritated at the situation, but lesson learned. I think we’ll try to show it in church here in Monrovia tomorrow. If you download to a laptop (I’ll download to Emmanuel’s laptop tomorrow) you can project it, just not from a phone or iPad. That’s crazy to me. I invited Jay, Jennifer and the kids to come too. The Roffs enjoyed it too and they send their greetings to all at CBC that remember them. Ethan specifically said to tell the Buckley boys hi from him.

The movie finished real late so that is why my last night’s blog was so short.

Day-2-travel day.

Woke up this morning for devotions again and made plans with Jay Roff the night before to have him pick me up on his motorbike so I could go see his home. He is staying in a guest house of another church in the area. After devotions Jay showed up, I climbed on the back of his bike and we took the 3-4 mile ride from the orphanage to his Liberian home. Here are a couple of

pictures of their home and family.

After visiting for a couple of hours over a cup of coffee Jay took me back to the orphanage to say my good byes. I was able to sing for and pray for Mother Betty before we left. She is, as they say here, trying, little by little. We did have her smile and laughing at me, but she still cannot speak after the stroke. I’ve had my picture with her each time so here is 2021 version. The first one is where she is laughing at me and then the look at the camera.

Saying goodbye is always difficult. I handed out all of the letters, coloring books and crayons along with Brenda’s care package for the girls. They loved all of them. The letters are planned to be opened later as all the kids weren’t there. I’m sure they’ll be surprised by the gift donated to them and left in the envelopes. Any money is so appreciated over here.

We finally got underway, but travel in Liberia always has other stops. The main stop was in Ganta to see the Women of Purpose class and speak to them and encourage them to continue to learn the skill they signed up for. Women are oppressed in Liberia and this helps give some usable training along with the Gospel presentation. Here is the group from today (just a couple of the training classes in Ganta).

After leaving Ganta we headed for Monrovia. One problem, the car started to make a noise at higher speeds. It sounded like a tire so in Palala, Emmanuel pulled over to a gentleman who had some tires hanging outside. He asked them to look over the tires to see if they could notice a problem. The left front tire had a bulge in it so it was time for a new used tire. The only tool with power was the compressor so I found it interesting when they worked on getting the old tire off the rim.

After a couple more short stops, one for fuel and the other to see a couple of people, one being a pastor of the LCMI Gbarnga (pronounced Bonga with a guttural B at the beginning.) we finally arrived at home for a quick shower and of course a meal which consisted of palm butter soup over rice.

This was a great couple days. I may even sleep in a little tomorrow morning since it is almost midnight now.

I’ll write about our day tomorrow. Late night. Check back in the morning.

Things are going very well.

What a different experience being in Yekepa over being in Monrovia. First of all, last night was the first night I did not use a fan willingly while I slept. Of course LEC sometimes made that choice for us in Monrovia. The weather is so much more mild here. I did not sleep as well, but that was due more to the new location and knowing I wanted to wake up for morning devotional time with the kids in the orphanage and not wanting to oversleep since they meet at 6:00 a.m. I did not have any problem waking up and that makes me more tired this evening.

Once we had morning devotions Mother Wintee made us oatmeal for breakfast. They are taking such good care of me. I made one mistake today. I forgot to take my malaria med this morning so tonight just before my shower I took it…without having supper. I should know better as one time in 2018 I took my meds without breakfast and ended up throwing up. Well, I knew we were eating supper after my shower so I thought I’d have time. As I write this, after eating a light supper, I am still nursing an upset stomach for the first time on my trip. I pray the light supper settles it down. I’ll be fine, either way, just uncomfortable for awhile. I won’t be able to upload any pictures tonight since the cell coverage is quite spotty. I’m hoping to at least post this.

Back to the day…our first stop after breakfast was the Randall Godfrey School to visit each class. In every classroom I was warmly greeted with many remembering me from last year. Most of the orphans here at Betty Jonah Orphanage attend there. I recognized many of the children, but as happens each visit many have moved on and a few are added. When I first thought of the orphanage in 2012 I thought the children being here signified their parents had died and they were orphaned. Most of the children here are a result of parents not being able to feed and support their kids. That’s why many move on as they reunite with family members later on. Many of the children under Emmanuel’s care in Monrovia and also Titus’s care are similar situations where they step up and take care of these children when the parents aren’t able. Some are extended family and some are through contacts they have with families in need. That is how the connection works at the orphanage as well. One thing I’ve learned is that Emmanuel, I think, has a challenge from someone to see if he can stump me as in each classroom we visited he would tell the students that Dr. Robin (yes I’m still an honorary Liberian Dr., at least according to Emmanuel) will tell you this or that. One class I might be asked to tell about my family or my country or my job and in one class he even had me sing I’ll Fly Away for the kids. I have to admit I kept up with all his requests so far, but he gets challenging. We visited a lady after the school visit that just lost her husband and Emmanuel told her I was there to pray for her and my mind went blank when I was praying so I couldn’t say her name. God knows who I was praying for at that time. Her name is Ma Dahn if you think of her pray for her as the funeral is on Saturday. I am humbled by the appreciation of the people for our visit and I am also humbled when I think how I lack visiting skills back home. I say that now with the intent to let CBC know that I hope to continue to grow in this area. When I do visit you may not want to steer the conversation to Liberia unless you have time as I tend to want to share every story of every experience. I’m working on that too…not being overbearing. I have a lot to work on. 🤓

Also regarding the song, I’ll Fly Away, the video that Jenny took of the CBC congregation singing this on my last Sunday back home is a hit. I have showed that video most to others as they love to see Country Bible Church singing to them. One thing I’ll hear most every time I show the video to a small group is, ‘I see Papa Mike!’ They are so excited to see someone they know at the church. We may not always appreciate how our presence affects others. Papa Mike, you are loved. Almost as much as Mother Jenny, but you’ll have to work harder to pass her up. Jenny’s compassion for others doesn’t go unnoticed and they always ask about her. One girl here at the orphanage, Eunice, came out to talk to me and it was to ask about Mother Jenny. I am starting to get a complex. That’s it, Jenny will just have to come back with me next time. I even had one girl here ask me about my brother, Kelvin (that’s how they hear my pronunciation). She said I talked about him last year so she wanted to know how he was doing. A smart bunch of kids here.

After the school visit and the visit to the grieving widow, Ma Dahn, we came back to the orphanage to get the stuff for the clinic. (I just realized the clinic visit was still before noon and this blog is getting long). Well, I gathered everything I brought for the clinic and we headed over to see Moses and Caroline. Thanks for everyone’s generosity to allow blood pressure cuff, thermometers, glucose tester and strips and the many other supplies that I carried along to be presented to the clinic. They were very gracious and wanted to try the glucose or sugar test on Emmanuel. He declined to let them saying he had eaten breakfast already and the reading would be higher when the truth is he hates needles. We laughed at that and Moses tested Caroline’s blood and it worked well. They then graciously presented me, as the ambassador from CBC, with a robe and a hat that matches which they said signifies a chief or royalty. I don’t know about that, but I did enjoy teasing Emmanuel who always states that he is the ‘Chairman for life’ over everything. I reminded him that a chief is above a chairman. He didn’t agree so that debate will be ongoing. We had a great visit with Moses and Caroline. Of course I have pictures of all these things, but with the limited cell coverage you’ll have to see the pictures when I return.

We ran a couple of errands and came back to have lunch. Oh, I need to back up a little here. Moses, the head nurse at the clinic, is engaged to be married and he told us that his fiancé, Love (yes her given name), was bringing us some GB so we could swallow. I’ve mentioned GB before, but in Nimba County that is the dish the county is known for. Of course we could not or would not refuse. I was interested in meeting Moses’s ‘Love’ anyway. Before Love came with the GB we sat down to…eat lunch. Emmanuel informed me that it is normal to eat rice first and then swallow GB. So, that is what we did. We had our lunch and then Love arrived and we all swallowed some GB. As we were eating our second lunch I asked Love how she met Moses. I found out that she first met Moses as a patient to the clinic. We all laughed at how God brought them together. Wintee was teasing her about this too and we had a great visit. By the way she makes good GB and I just told Moses as he walked by before heading to bed to thank her for that when he sees her.

After eating such a heavy lunch we felt like sleeping a little, but we all found something to do. The kids started walking back from school so I got to visit with many of them as they went about their afternoon. One girl, Eunice, who asked me about Mother Jenny, was carrying a large can of sweetened condensed milk. I asked her what she was going to do with that. Now I like sweetened condensed milk. That is a favorite ingredient for bars back home. I was curious what she was going to do. She said she was making some milk candy. She said they put it in a pot over the fire and it thickens and turns color where they then form them into cookie shaped and they cool to form a hard candy. It sounded good, but what wouldn’t with that much sweet to it. I wasn’t sure, however, when I was speaking with Helena and she was cleaning some ginger, scraping the outer skin from the ginger. I asked what it was for and she told me it was for the milk candy. I kept saying, ‘Ginger, you put ginger in there?’ And making a face. She just laughed and said it’s good. I told her I really wanted a piece when they were finished. It wasn’t too long later that I walked upon them and the finished product was cooling in a container with many cookie shaped pieces all set for sale. They sell them for $10 LD each (about 6 cents) to the kids at school. Most everyone sells something to earn some money. Money is difficult to come by so they are all entrepreneurs. I was surprised, as I’m not a huge fan of ginger, that with the toasted milk flavor they were pretty good.

I was also surprised by a visitor here that many know from back at CBC. Jennifer Roff stopped by to see me once she heard I was in town. Her and Jay and 4 of their kids live up here in Yekepa now. She works at a local clinic herself and was on the way home and stopped by to see me. We had a good time catching up and I plan to see their family tomorrow sometime. That will be nice.

This evening at the Wednesday church service I was able to present to the Redeemer Baptist Church about our desire to set up a board of sorts to help in the ministry outreach of the clinic. It was a very good meeting with plans to move forward with email being a primary contact for the board. I was especially excited to have 3 of Betty Jonah Orphanage’s own, Justin, Milton and Alvin all interested in being part of the board. They are all 3 seniors at ABC University and will be graduating in December. Milton already is a Pastor of New Yekepa Baptist church, Justin is an older senior hoping to become a Pastor and Alvin is graduating in education with Emmanuel hoping to groom him as a future principal of the Randall Godfrey School. They all seemed to understand the ministry outreach CBC is striving for and I love the youth being willing to serve as they have a heart for spreading the Gospel. I plan to write up a more formal report for back home after we set things up. I will try to have a discussion with these guys before I leave, but if not I like the fact that they want to communicate via email. Phone calls with Liberian dialect are difficult as they struggle with my American dialect. I believe we will be much more effective if most of our communication is done this way. We also had Pastor Ezekiel of Redeemer Baptist interested as he understood the need for the local church to be involved. The 3 younger guys are also part of the leadership at Redeemer. The fact is the community knows them and their churches. We also discussed follow up with the patients to try and get them into a good church nearest them. If they are members of another church we still want to follow up to make sure they understand the clinic is a ministry and all care about their souls as much as their bodies. I’m excited for this direction. Pray along as we set things up to see how God can use them as people who live in the same community as the patients.

All in all it was a good day. By the way, my stomach is feeling better as this took almost 2 hours to write tonight. God bless.

Today was a travel day so I woke up in the morning and planned what I needed to take along. Since I have one suitcase almost exclusively for the clinic thanks to the generosity of so many back at Country Bible Church. I also passed on the eyeglasses sent from Jeremy and Faith. It’s interesting how prescriptions are filled for glasses over here. I laugh to myself as I write that since I am told most people don’t ever see an optometrist and if they have trouble seeing they try on glasses that help them to see. If one helps they will keep those glasses and their eyes adjust to the prescription. I’m sure there are doctors over here, but the vast population will do what I described due to lack of means. The eyes are less important than feeding themselves every day.

I get sidetracked easily. I was packing and I ended up taking two suitcases and my backpack while Emmanuel and Wintee took a bag slightly larger than a Walmart bag for both of them I believe. That doesn’t mean that we had room in the car. They had so much stuff for the orphanage that Wintee, who allowed me to sit up front, was packed in with everything else. She had things all around her. The original plan was to have Abraham come along as a driver, but those plans changed when the car filled up so much.

We got on the road just before 11:00 a.m. which was really good timing. You never know where you might stop on the way. One stop I’ve always been able to plan on is in Ganta to fuel up at the Total station. Anyone who’s been on this trip will remember that stop. I was also able to connect with an old friend, Abraham Gardour, who lives now in Ganta. It was good to see him again.

In Ganta we went to a store where Emmanuel and Wintee know the owners well. We bought some things there and ended up having some topigee or bitterball soup over rice. It was good. Emmanuel told me if it was truly topigee there would be more peppers in it. I’ve been warned that the peppers in topigee can give some stomach issues so I was glad it was milder than normal. Ganta is the end of the paved roads for the most part and you travel by ‘dusty’ roads as they say. We got as far as Sannequellie, which is about 1/2 way to the orphanage from Ganta, when police waved us off the road. We knew the Liberian President was traveling to Yekepa today as well and we were directed to clear the main road for his passing. It turns out that his plans were to stay in Sannequellie after his visit to Yekepa, but they were clearing the roads. It is a good thing that Wintee’s mom and dad live in Sannequellie so we took the back ‘roads’ to their home and stayed there until we could head out. Once we were able to get on the road we stopped by a school we visited last year to see Wintee’s brother and sister-in-law. While there I decided to go see a group of kids that were staring at me. As I walked over to them it was like a chain reaction that one ran and then soon 6 children were running away from the big ‘white man’. Some of the other, older kids were laughing so hard at them. One brave girl, still younger, maybe 7-8, came up to me and shook my hand so most of the group that ran came back to shake my hand. I love to interact with the kids. I ended up showing them pictures on my phone from home of snow and my family to break the ice. I then encouraged them to ask me questions about America. One question that I got was do I know George Konah? Evidently he traveled to America and lives there now. The concept of how large America is doesn’t set in when their lives are so community connected.

After leaving this group we heard President George Weah had passed our location so we were free to go. We arrived about 40 minutes later. Now as I sit outside typing this on my phone it is very cool outside. The stars are brilliant in the sky. God’s universe is so amazing. The coolness is so different from Monrovia. I’ll take the break from the heat. I’ll see what tomorrow brings in the morning.

Today I had no plans. Let me say that again…Today I had no plans. At breakfast time we did discuss future plans which include leaving for Yekepa tomorrow and reviewing what our travel schedule looks like. I’ll fill you in on those plans as they take place because I know that in Liberia we will have a change of plans. After breakfast Emmanuel had some errands to run, Wintee was at the school so I decided it would be a good day to visit Elizabeth and her family. Elizabeth is a good friend that I met in 2016 while she worked at Emmanuel’s home and she helped take care of us during our stay with helping Princess with the food and cleaning. I met her again in 2018 and in 2020 both Jenny and Papa Mike got to know her as well, also at Emmanuel’s home. She is now working at getting her own place built as she has some land and she wanted me to see this. She is renting a room at this time from a lady, but this is short term. Anyway, now that I made these plans how could I carry them out? Emmanuel was leaving with the car so I told him I would take a motorbike to the junction where I would meet Patience, Elizabeth’s daughter, and she would direct me to their home. Emmanuel likes to know that I am taken care of, but he reluctantly agreed. I like the different experiences so I looked forward to the day. Emmanuel called a motorbike driver he knows (always watching out for me) and we made the arrangements. At least plans were made. Emmanuel wanted the driver to take me there, wait while I visited, and return me back home. The first part worked out well.

The driver took me to the junction, about 4-5 miles at best guess, and Patience found me somehow in the crowd of people. 🤓 She hopped on the bike with me and the driver and it was only a quarter mile or so off the main road from there. I came up to where Elizabeth and her daughters are now living. I felt bad for the driver so I told him he could leave and return in a couple of hours to pick me back up. I paid him and he said something about calling him. I never did see him again. We visited for awhile and then Elizabeth asked if I’d like to see her land where she’d like to build a home. I agreed and we walked this time, back to the junction where I originally met Patience. By the way, a junction is where the motorbike taxis congregate and people know they can hire a bike at the junctions. These junctions are all over and they each have their different names. It’s kind of like the L in Chicago where you can get off at whatever station you want. These are all organically named as the name just came about, usually by some identifiable location. One in particular is called Parker Paint junction appropriately named after Parker Paint had a store there…back in the 90’s. The civil war ended the business, but the junction lives on. The junction we went to is called the Mount Barkley junction named after a past president. When we got there it was interesting seeing Elizabeth looking over the choice of motorbike taxis around. She chose the oldest driver for her and I to ride with and Patience got on another bike. We headed down the road a couple of miles and we came to a familiar place to me. I was just there on Saturday. When we stopped I was all excited to tell Elizabeth that Titus and Mercy lived just back there off the main road. Well we walked to there land just past where we would go to Titus’s house and walked a quarter mile or so further to her land. She had recently brushed or cleared the lot as things grow so fast here in Liberia. She needs to keep trying to do something on the land or people could try and sell the land again causing confusion for all people. They would say they have land for sale, convince someone to pay for it and leave. The new ‘owners’ will start to build and then the old owner may show up arguing that it is their land. The police get called and since there is not good title searches or always good transfer deeds there can be fights. A lot of the time it’s the strongest that wins out regardless of who is the proper owner. I really pray she can get something built soon. I’ll try to work on this with her.

After being at their land for a little while we walked back with the intent that I would show them where Titus and Mercy live. We walked up into Titus’s yard and the kids saw me and came running out and gave me a hug. Most of them I just met 2 days earlier, but it made me feel good. Titus’s mom looked up and was surprised as well. Mercy came from the house just as surprised. Titus was at school as I expected. We had a bag of water and visited for 30 minutes or so before telling Mercy we needed to go.

We walked back to the main road where there was a sort of mini junction with about 5-10 bikes waiting across the road. Patience just called out ‘bike’ and two drivers drove across to us. We rode back to Mount Barkley junction and walked back to where they live. Elizabeth’s other daughter, Mercy, got home from school and ran up and gave me a hug. I hadn’t seen her since 2016. It was great to visit with them again. We even FaceTimed Jenny so she could visit with Elizabeth a little.

Now it was past time for the 2 hours for the original motorbike driver to arrive. I really didn’t expect him back. We visited some more and eventually I called Emmanuel and he said he’d just send Abraham to pick me up. That worked out well. we had a great visit. Elizabeth was getting ready to make Fufu that she sells around the community. That is one of her means of supporting herself. It’s a difficult life, but most people don’t complain so much. I am humbled when I consider how spoiled I am. That’s a common feeling over here.

I came back to Emmanuel’s home to check out the new water tank. It was delivered and installed today while I was gone. Emmanuel knew I was interested in seeing them lift it so he took these videos that he shared with me.

When I got back I took a video of my own. The little people brigade came out tonight and started to play with me. I would roar and chase them into the kitchen. One time I hid in the garage area and they went looking for me. The other kids thought it was funny too.

I have such fun with them. I’ll miss them for the few days we’ll be gone. Tomorrow brings the new travel adventure. Up to Yekepa and the Mother Betty Jonah Orphanage as well as the CBC Medical Clinic.

It is hard to believe how fast this time is going. I’ve been here over a week and I’ve been through two Sunday services where I was privileged to speak. This morning was a gloomy morning with heavy humidity in the air. I was hoping for enough rain to break the humidity. I hope for that every day I guess. That is one thing that always takes some time to get used to. The heat and humidity are always there. Well, the rain didn’t come, but it did get sunny again after church and it was another nice day. Here’s a picture before church and you can see a couple of ladies sweeping and getting things set up for the service. They are two of the ushers.

The service went well and I took a video of the choir singing a song. It is too long to upload, but I love their powerful voices. I can show this to you when I return home. I do have a few pictures of people you may know (if you’ve been here before). I was especially impressed with Blessing and how much she’s changed since the first time I came. She was 3 years old then. These people are all so special as I get to know them better with each trip.

I had a great surprise after church when the girls put the food out to eat. Right there on the table was an American pizza. Mother Wintee wanted to have this made for me and they did a great job. The pizza sauce and cheese fit in real well with the veg-all and hotdogs used. It was like a deep dish Chicago style pizza. I really enjoyed that. Of course it was served with potato greens over rice.

After our pizza dinner we headed out to a wedding where on the way I joined the zoom meeting back home to listen to Papa Mike as he lead the Discipleship Hour at Country Bible Church. I was able to listen all the way through the start of prayer time. It was great hearing them discussing Psalm 35. We were bouncing around in the truck so anyone else on zoom may have noticed us bouncing around. We lost the connection and we arrived shortly after at the wedding. I have a program for the wedding stating the start time to be 3:30. We arrived sometime after 4:00, took some time to get a picture with the groom, go inside the church and get seated up front on stage (Emmanuel’s connections) and we still waited for the wedding to start. This too is Liberia.

The wedding was on the campus of Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary. It was really pretty and high energy at times.

We stayed to eat and now we are headed home. It has been a long day. I also had some time to speak with Jenny while the wedding pictures were being taken. It was nice to speak with her. She got to see the wedding party and the campus she and Mike visited last year.

Tomorrow should be a rest day. I’m not sure when we’ll be heading to Yekepa, but we can decide that tomorrow. Tonight I’m looking forward to a cup of Ovaltine before bed. I’m getting used to that.

Thanks for following along on my trip.