Our time in Yekepa seems so short. With only two days to connect again with the children we find ourselves wanting to spend more time with all of them.

We started out the day with devotions again and again we enjoyed the unique sound of the drums and singing.

After devotion time we had breakfast and made our plans for the day. We would begin by visiting the Randall Godfrey School right next door to the orphanage. They have grades K-9 available next door. We visited all of the grades and spoke with each class. It was a lot of fun meeting all of the students again.

When we finished it seemed like in no time they were telling us lunch was ready. I skipped this and Mike and Jenny ate lightly as we were not too far removed from breakfast. They do take good care of us.

After lunch we again went to the clinic to visit with Moses and Caroline. They work so well together.

The afternoon allowed me the chance to visit some of the children that were around from the first visit. I spent a good deal of time with Comfort as she shared some of her story with me. She is trying to get more schooling and she hopes to go into nursing. The path is difficult, but I encouraged her to work hard towards this. Most paths are difficult so encouragement helps, encouragement and of course prayer.

I’m really tired now as I stayed up to visit the kids. I’ll write more tomorrow.

We will leave after devotion time tomorrow morning and head towards Saclapea.

Today began with something that I had not heard for a couple of years. I woke to hearing the beat of a distinct kind of drum and high pitch voices singing. It took a few seconds until I realized where I was and I hopped out of bed and woke Jenny up saying ‘devotion time has started’. We are at the Betty Jonah Orphanage in Camp Four, Nimba County, Liberia. This familiar sound is the children of the orphanage singing along with one of the children playing the drum. What a sweet, unique and precious sound this is in the predawn light without electricity to light their way, just the song in their hearts coming out in a form of worship that for those that hear it will say it is almost angelic. Jenny and I make our way into the room filled with the children singing, while sitting on the floor or a few in the available chairs along the edge of the room. I see Emmanuel sitting in one of the chairs and of course Mother Betty sitting and singing along with the children. This is the normal routine for the children of Mother Betty Jonah Orphanage. The day starts with singing and today was a time of sharing things people are thankful for. We felt privileged to be mentioned as part of the thanks for the visitors who came to invade their little world of worship and life. We, of course, were asked to share what we are thankful for. This is all followed by a prayer to begin the day.

Before I was asked to pray for the day I notice the nurse, Moses, from the CBC clinic come into the room, sit on a small chair and wipe his face as if to remove all the signs of sleep on his face. It is a time of beginning for this small compound in Camp Four Unification Camp. A time similar to the day before and the day after with praise to the Creator that gives us each day. This truly is a day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Now, after I wax poetic about my response to starting the day, I’ll tell you how the day went.

After devotions, we went back to our rooms and got ready to come out for breakfast. We were served doughnuts, oatmeal and fresh pineapple. Great start so far.

We sat under the iconic bush at the orphanage that is known in the area. This bush continues to show beauty among the hard times.

We watched as children emerge from their appropriate dorms dressed in their school uniforms and head next door in the compound to the Randall Godfrey school.

We then decided to head over to the CBC clinic to visit with Nurse Moses and assistant Caroline. We met a young lady who they just finished seeing and prayed for her. We then sat down and visited with them for awhile until we had them check mine and Mike’s blood pressure.

We then got the tour, showing Mike around as Jenny and I have been through this before. We recognize some needs in the clinic from lab supplies (consumables such as blood strips, slides, etc. ), more medication to a reliable phone with data available to Moses where he can use it as a hotspot for the computer to use to look up any help needed to diagnose issues that come up. Moses shares his 2019 year end report that I will present to the church and Mike shares the medical supplies that he and Kim picked out for Mike to take over. Moses and Caroline are great to talk with and completely open to answering all of our questions.

We leave from there to have lunch and we rest for an hour or so and then we head to ABC (African Bible College) to meet with the president of the college for a great discussion. There are 4 students at ABC that came from Camp Four and 3 come from the orphanage. What a great representation of the orphanage and testament to the teaching that begins each day during devotion time.

We took some time to walk around the campus with many faculty willing to stop and visit. They all mentioned that if we know of any teachers that would like to come and teach at the school to pass on the word that they can use more teachers. So, if you have your masters in anything (that is a prerequisite) and you would like to teach young Liberian men and women from a Christian perspective, you can have a spot on the faculty at this fine institution.

We returned back to the orphanage on clean up and have another fine meal followed by some more time enjoying the breeze and the coolness of the evening (I mean this as a relative coolness).

We then had evening devotion time followed by a partial viewing of Father Anthony Jonah’s funeral service from video taken of this ceremony in 2017. This is Mamma Betty’s husband who did much work for the furtherance of the Gospel.

We came to bed after this where we enjoyed the generator running again which allowed our fan to run. This was nice until the fan quit so Jenny and I figured they decided to shut down the generator for the remainder of the night. I was wrong. I did not finish my blog so when I woke up (a little hot) I thought about finishing. I looked for my phone and I noticed the light from my charger in the wall socket. I may be tired, (it is now 2:52 a.m.) but I knew this meant power was coming to the socket. I slid down the bed with my phone as my light to the socket and there it was, the fan’s plug had fallen out enough to break the connection. Well, Jenny woke up at the same time and as I started the fan up again I told her. All I got for an answer was ‘Are you serious?’, before she contentedly slipped back to sleep. I will do the same, enjoying the breeze from the fan. I’m sure I will wake up to the sound of drums and singing again soon.

It’s been a long day as it began like a normal Sunday over here. We woke up, had our breakfast and then made sure we were packed for our trip to Yekepa. We plan on today as the travel day, stay for Monday and Tuesday and leave Wednesday for Saclapea from the orphanage. We will stay one night in Saclapea with Emmanuel’s Uncle Dennis, a Pastor in Saclapea.

We had a great day at Sunday school and the service that followed. It was the last time I will preach in Liberia on this trip. Time to start planning the next trip and my next sermons. I really enjoyed serving in this manner.

After church we had a lunch of palm butter soup over rice with cucumbers and pineapple. It was very good. We got on the road by around 2:15 p.m. local time. We had a few stops on the way, but far shorter than I’ve experienced before since we left late and Wintee was worried with us traveling the last part of the trip with the roads the worst, in the dark.

We arrived around 9:00 p.m. local time. We were able to visit with the children a little, but with it being dark and late it is harder. They fed us when we arrived as they always do and we are so thankful. We will see them tomorrow as we look forward to looking around again. Mamma Betty received us with hugs all around. It is so nice to see her again. While I was talking with her and she was asking about my family I realized that the last time I ‘saw’ my father alive was on Facebook messenger video while I was here at the orphanage. Mamma Betty reminded me that she spoke with them and saw them at my last visit. That was a special moment for me, remembering speaking to Dad and Mom and showing them around the orphanage. I am so thankful for this memory as this place will always remind me of that video call.

We have the generator on tonight giving us a fan, but we feel bad as they need to watch for thieves as they would love to steal the generator again. It was stolen from here two times previous. We agree that we can go without the fans so they can secure the generator better, but they offered to have it run overnight at least for this night. We are grateful for their care.

I don’t have pictures this time as the cell coverage seems a little less and I want to make sure I can post at least the update. I’ll send pictures later.

Thanks for reading along and praying for our travels. We’ll see what adventures come tomorrow.

Today started out with pancakes and pineapple for breakfast. It was really good. We then got ready for Abraham to come by and drive us to get some things we wanted to pick up before we head home. He took us into Monrovia to the Waterfront Market.

We found what we were looking for and we even met a few nice men that helped us to pick things out. We had Justin and Jackson willing to go find what we wanted as we waited for them to take it to us. They did a great job.

We returned back from town in time to eat some lunch. it was then time to head back out to see the girls kickball game and the boys football (soccer) game. LCMI played Rapture Missionary Baptist. The girls ended in a tie and the LCMI boys won 3-2 in the soccer game. It was a lot of fun watching them play.

As they headed home we were able to get a picture of the bus that both girls and boys teams rode in. Of course most of the boys were on top or riding the back bumper. It was quite a sight.

We came home, had a little supper and I needed to go work on my message for tomorrow. I’m still not done so I’ll be up early to finish.

We leave for Yekepa directly after the morning service. It will be fun to head cross country.

Birthdays over here are a big deal. I remember when Bobbi was over here for her birthday and the care the Liberian people show when you celebrate your birthday is special. Jenny’s was no different in their care of here. She was given two cards, the first from the Jonah family with everyone signing it and she was to read this before 8:00 a.m. and another from the LCMI school to read before 9:00 a.m. Just before 8:00, having gotten all ready and reading the first card she came out to the living room with a chorus of the family singing Happy Birthday to You. Wintee had made this cake and decorated it after we went to bed last night.

The candles on the cake were even fireworks as everyone cheered when they went off.

It was very sweet. Of course there was another special song planned as a group of children from the school came down and sang to her again around 9:00. They really want to celebrate with someone when it is their birthday.

After all the fun and singing Emmanuel wanted to take all of us to Liberia Baptist Seminary. One of his sons, Cyrus, is applying there and they needed to pick up his registration papers. He will take an entrance exam and pray for the funds to be able to go. Cyrus along with another boy Chirlon from the church want to attend there.

When we arrived we met the new president of LBS and he gave us a tour of their campus. It is not a big college now. It was bigger before their civil war, but everything was bigger or better before the war devastated so much. They are still trying to build everything back up. The college has from 120-150 students now with the need for 200 to break even with their expenses. Here are a couple pictures of their campus.

These are the girls dorms. The school is on break until March so the students are gone now. It was good to meet the president and speak to him about the challenges of running a school when the students are all having a hard time with the funds.

The cost for students to attend and stay in the dorms is about $600.00 / semester and the food plan with the cafeteria on campus is about another $200.00 / semester for a grand total of $1,600.00 per year. For most in Liberia they can only pray for a scholarship of sorts or a sponsor. So, if anyone is interested in learning more about how to help, just let me know. If you’re interested in being a teacher for a couple weeks in the semester, again let me know. They work with short term missions to teach like this a little.

They are located right on the ocean. It is a beautiful campus.

After our visit to the campus Emmanuel wanted to treat Jenny to a special meal at an oceanside restaurant.

It was a beautiful setting and we had a good meal also. Although, our meals at the Jonah home have been great all along.

We came home afterward and rested until prayer meeting. Mike found out that Emmanuel will plug you in if you show any willingness to help as he was able to do the lesson time for prayer meeting. After prayer meeting we had a light supper and of course more cake.

It was a fun day.

Of course Jenny had time for Esther and her sister in the morning.

I suspect they will be back tomorrow morning as well.

It’s almost bittersweet that our revival services are finished. It was such a great week where we got the chance to know the church very well. As Pastor Titus said when he spoke, revival services are for the faithful of the church to be recharged and revived. Our prayer is that God does this in LCMI and the members in turn share this renewal with others. It will be nice to have an evening off again. We’ll see if our schedule stays open.

Our day started early as Mike and I were up before 7:00 with Mike making his French press coffee shortly after we got up. Its nice that he shares as I enjoy it also. Before breakfast was ready I walked over to where Wintee was working by the kitchen area and I found her frying pancakes. They were just like the Swedish pancakes my father used to make. Needless to say I really enjoyed them and so did Jenny and Mike.

We waited around a little bit as we were going to ELWA when Emmanuel and Wintee were ready. This waiting gave us time to play with a neighbor girl, Esther, who comes to see us, at least the last two days, in the morning after breakfast.

Jenny always seems to have something to play with for them.

We left for ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) which is where the hospital that Wintee was treated for her broken leg is located. I had the opportunity to drive there and back with Mike, Emmanuel, Wintee and Jenny riding along.

We dropped Emmanuel and Wintee off so they could go have her leg X-rayed to see how the progress is going. (The doctor said it was looking good, but she will need to walk with at least a cane for a year). She’s a very patient lady and I’m sure she’d love you to pray for her.

We drove Mike around ELWA showing him the guest houses we’ve stayed in on previous trips. We even stopped by the beach and went for a walk along the beach. I know Bobbi will remember the good times here with Micah and Luke.

It was very relaxing walking along the beach even if we weren’t able to go swimming.

We went back to the hospital to find Emmanuel and we took a walk in the garden area. It was sobering, remembering the reason this new hospital was built, which was for the Ebola outbreak from 2014-2016.

Liberia has been through many difficult times with the civil wars and then Ebola which was a devastating time.

We found Emmanuel and Wintee and we headed back to the house. It would soon be time for our last revival service.

The service went well and we really enjoyed the meal along with everyone else enjoying also.

We are now headed to bed and we’re a little tired so I’ll end now.

Mike had a big day with the last day of the men’s conference and he was the speaker at our revival service tonight as well.

Our morning was relaxing as we all sat outside early to drink coffee and watch the morning begin. A little neighbor girl came over to sit in Jenny’s lap while we sat outside. She didn’t mind that at all.

Once our morning finished and it was time to set up for the men’s conference I carried chairs to the church with a couple of other ladies and Jenny set them up for us. They have to do this every time they have a service since the church isn’t secure enough to leave the plastic chairs. They remove all the speakers, fans, chairs, etc to the annex building next door to Emmanuel’s home that has a steel door and a lock.

The men’s conference went well as we sang, Mike spoke and we broke into groups to discuss some questions to make each of us think of how we can be better Godly men.

As you may notice the men attending seem to have matching shirts. We were able to purchase shirts here in Liberia after the Monday conference and they were delivered on Wednesday. Pretty good service. They all say ‘A Godly Dad’ on the front and back. Here is a group picture at the end of the conference.

Mike and I were the only two without a shirt. Perhaps that will help you to find us in the picture. 🤓

The evening revival service started about 30-45 minutes after the men’s conference ended. It was a busy afternoon. We had a great time there with Mike, Jenny and I singing ‘In Christ Alone’ as a special. We are singing again tomorrow and our last day song will be ‘I’ll Fly Away’ which should be well received as this is a song I first sang with the Jonah family on our first visit in 2012.

Mike spoke tonight and that went well also. He enjoyed sharing with LCMI as he is really connecting with all the people here.

We came home to another snack before heading to bed. Tomorrow should be a little lighter with the men’s conference finished and only the final revival service scheduled. Women of Purpose will be making the meal for our ‘hand to mouth fellowship’ as they call it here. They are already busy working on things starting tonight. I even had a chance to try my hand at it before heading to bed. I can say the women here must have strong shoulders to do this for any length of time.

We are looking forward to the fun and fellowship tomorrow night.

Yes, Mike’s luggage arrived. We woke up this morning, settled on what we would do in the morning and we decided to stay home while Emmanuel left to go to a meeting and he would check at Brussels airlines. He was able to pick up the luggage at their Monrovia office. Mike was not informed at all so it was good that Emmanuel stopped by.

While he was gone Mike, Jenny and I went to see LCMI school as Mike had not been there yet. It was good to visit all of the classes again. It was very hot today and when we made the decision to go for a walk around the community I kept close watch over Mike and Jenny. I say that because I tend to wander and get far away, but we made it back to Emmanuel’s house and I was the one complaining. It was so humid that our shirts were just soaked and that was at 10:30 a.m. We were in for a long hot day. Here is a picture of what caused us to stop when we had Jenny along.

The two kids in the back were scared of us until they saw that Jenny had a sucker for them. She plans ahead when it comes to the kids. There are so many kids in the community.

Of course every baby needs to be held too.

I had my chance to hold a baby tonight. Actually we all did. Mike was missing his grandson, Anthony, so he held this little guy too to get his baby fix.

The remainder of our morning was spent cooling off on the covered porch and stay out of the sun. We had a good chance to visit with each other as this was really the first time we had alone with Mike and some time to talk. Emmanuel returned just after noon and Mike gladly went to change into fresh clothes for the men’s conference that would start again at 1:00.

The men’s conference went well and didn’t complete until 4:00 with the revival meeting to start one hour later. We also needed to practice a song as Mike, Jenny and I would sing again tonight. We had Matthias and Phillip join us to sing ‘All in All’ which is the song we taught to VBS 8 years ago. Tomorrow night I think we’ll sing ‘In Christ Alone’. We are saving ‘I’ll Fly Away’ for Thursday night when we’ll also be having the meal sponsored by CBC. It’s been a really busy, but good week. Tonight Emmanuel spoke on Ephesians 4:1-6, unity in the body of Christ. It was good to hear him again. Tomorrow Mike will be speaking on chapter 5. He’s really enjoying the men’s conference and he is ready for tomorrow night as well.

Tomorrow morning I don’t think we have anything planned again so we should have a chance to rest and visit. Once 1:00 p.m. comes we are busy til 8:00.

I am amazed at how resilient the people of Liberia are. They live in a manner that I’m ashamed to say most of us would complain a lot. I’m not saying they don’t have bad times or bad days, but to see the people of Liberia welcome us and encourage us in their situations shows a strength of character. They deal with the heat, the humidity, the challenges of daily life and they come to church and praise God for His blessings. I’m so grateful that God makes things possible for us to be over here and visit our friends.

We will be having a change of schedule as you follow along. We will not leave for Yekepa until Sunday after the morning service. With the passing of Deacon Delt Cooper in December Emmanuel doesn’t have a regular leader to preach in his absence. Oh, by the way, I’ll be up again this Sunday. I’m grateful that we can allow Emmanuel a short break and that I’m given the opportunity to speak to my Liberian brothers and sisters again.

One nice thing with the change of schedule is that we will celebrate Jenny’s birthday here in Monrovia on Friday. That will be fun. We may also attend a soccer game with LCMI playing another church on Saturday. I can’t imagine running around that much in the heat. It’ll be fun to be a spectator.

A couple more pictures showing the poise of a typical Liberian women. This is common to see with loads we guessed up to 50 lbs. They move so gracefully without fear of whatever they are carrying falling off.

And another picture of a girl separating palm nuts for sale at the market.

I’ll be back in touch tomorrow night.

It was good to wake up this morning to Mike bring here. He was up and ready to go when I got up. After his morning coffee and a breakfast we headed out to get Mike a SIM card for his phone. It was easier to get one for him because we were able to go to a main office. We then headed to the supermarket to buy some supplies, the main one being water as we are always drinking some since we lose so much from sweating. (It’s not like that back home I’m guessing)

We now had what we needed and we could get ready for the men’s conference that Mike is heading up. One thing missing is that his baggage from the airline hasn’t arrived yet. Mike said in Brussels the weather was bad, so the crew would not switch the baggage from the one plane to the next. Wait a minute, they won’t transfer bags, but they will take off in that weather. Yep! That’s what happened. Anyway Mike is going to have to wait until they get his luggage here before he can hand out his booklets that he made for the conference. He went full steam ahead anyway with a testimony of his life and at least 50 men in attendance. It was great to hear a room full of men singing together today. Even if the booklets don’t arrive we will make do. I believe Mike really enjoyed the time. Emmanuel was a great help to him.

After the conference we ate a meal and got ready for the revival service. This was really a good night. Pastor Titus spoke on Ephesians 3:14-19. It was a great message on Paul’s prayer to know God better. It was so good to see him and Mercy at church tonight. We are praying he can come back on Thursday early so we can visit and we plan to have an abbreviated service time to enjoy a fellowship meal thanks to CBC. The Women of Purpose will prepare the meal. Tomorrow Emmanuel, Mike and I will meet in the morning to review the teaching for the conference, especially if the baggage doesn’t arrive on time.

After church tonight we had a great time with Abraham, his fiancé, Favor, and Abraham’s brother, Isaac. What a great family they are. We enjoyed talking so much that we didn’t head to bed until 10:30 or so.

We look forward to a repeat of busyness tomorrow without the trip out. Here’s a couple pictures from today.

I’ll type more tomorrow. I’m a little tired tonight.

Today was definitely a busy day as we had our normal Sunday services at LCMI as well as the start of the revival services tonight. I was privileged to speak at both the morning and evening services. The day started with the normal flurry of activity with people working around the home to get things ready for the day. I got this good picture of Jehoshaphat and Blessing working on dishes before church.

This is one of the many chores that need to be done, just like back home.

After church we had to say goodbye to Sharon, so Jenny and I had our picture taken with her (Moses was photobombing here). She is headed back to school where she will live near the campus. We will miss her.

That is probably one of the hardest things to get used to is the moving around of people. They may stay for a day or two a week and then somewhere else or move away for a month at a time. A lot is just the practicality of life. It is easier to live where you have to travel less as most Liberians depend on either motorbike taxis or car taxis to get around. Especially with the gas being less available they limit their travel. I do want to correct a previous post about the gas prices. Their gas price is 675, but that is LD which means with an exchange rate of 196 that means in USD it is only $3.44 per gallon. If you wonder why there can be confusion of understanding, come on over and you’ll see. Although we speak the same base language the colloqua or mix of English and local slang can make it seem as if there is a complete different language. I’m getting better at understanding and I have one young man willing to teach me colloqua if I will move over here. I’ll have to work that one out with the family first.

Tonight’s service went well and it was so nice to be able to speak again. We pray for the church and the continued revival services this week. Tomorrow night Pastor Titus Namen is scheduled to speak. He is another one of CBC’s missionaries. We look forward to seeing him and Mercy. Emmanuel will be the speaker on Tuesday and our very own Mike McMahon from CBC on Wednesday. Mike, by the way is now traveling to Emmanuel’s house with Emmanuel. They should be here within the hour.

I look forward to working alongside Mike the next two weeks.

I forgot to tell you that Jenny helped make fried plantains tonight. She really only put them in the oil and take them out. The women want to teach her how to cook Liberian style. She enjoyed herself. They’ll work on a harder dish next time.

Tomorrow we will fill you in on Mike’s first full day over here. I’m sure Mike will fit in right away.