Jenny and I are boarded our last flight to Chicago. So much to tell with our last day and travels. I’ll try to fill in the last day after we get home. We are really tired now and we have to drive home from Chicago later. Pray for a safe trip. We will all have updates at church in hopefully a special meeting showing our pictures and telling our stories from all three of us.

What a great trip this has been. We thank God for His care as we’ve been with our Liberian friends.

Our day started in Saclepea and ends in Monrovia. We woke up to a morning we knew would be the start of a busy day. As we got up at Emmanuel’s uncle, Pastor Dennis Monmia’s home, we had a quick breakfast and got packed up and ready to go, but before we would leave Saclepea we would stop by the Women of Purpose offices and meet with some of the officers and have a time of prayer with them. On our way there we stopped along the road for one of Dennis’s members who has a school.

There are always kids around and where there are kids there’s a need for schools. We didn’t have time to spend with the kids and that was difficult to not go in and see them. They sang us a song and then Jenny prayed for them before we headed over to the Women of Purpose building. We had another short time with them before we headed out. They are doing so well that the different chapters keep on growing. This is a ministry that covets your prayers as they teach woman skills that they can use to help sustain themselves and they teach these with a Biblical training along with the skills. Here’s a picture of the ladies leading the ministry.

We then headed back towards Ganta which would have the better roads. The ride to Ganta was very reminiscent of 2012 trip, but without the mud. There were the same type of bumps and swerving around to miss them.

We stopped for lunch in Ganta and it was nice after the rough road. Then we headed back towards Monrovia with full stomachs and a blacktop road. A couple short stops on the way and then we made it back to Emmanuel’s house in time to rinse off a little in the shower before the thanksgiving service.

The service tonight was so special and we feel as we should be the ones thanking them. Here’s a picture of the gifts they gave us. It was a great time.

They are all busy around here with Abraham’s wedding on Saturday. We wish we could stay for that, but no such luck. Time to say our final goodbyes tomorrow.

This morning came fast after a late night visiting the children of the orphanage. I had so much fun talking and showing pictures of back home with the boys and girls. A few diehards stayed up longer to talk more and we finally went to bed just before 1:00 a.m. This is the reason for the shorter blog last night.

This morning began with devotions at the same time and Jenny and I joined Mike and all the kids to sing and again share testimonies of gratefulness for how God blesses our lives. Of course under it all we knew we were leaving shortly after breakfast and that made it feel somewhat sad as we will miss them so much. Emmanuel and I went over to the school where he had the kids come out for a picture. Look at how many children are being taught at the K-9 school. It is so great to see this.

After this we shared a gift of gratitude for the workers and Mother Betty for allowing us to stay at the orphanage. Mother Betty was very emotional as she said her goodbyes. Ever since Pa Anthony passed on the goodbyes are more difficult and we do have a bond of friendship with her from the past years of visiting. She did call us tonight after church to thank us for the gift and she was back to herself which was great to hear.

We made the trip to Saclepea which consisted of heading back as far as Ganta and then heading south to Saclepea. The road from Ganta to Saclepea reminded me of the roads we faced in 2012, only now they are dry and very dusty. The road to Yekepa is good as far as Ganta then there is a stretch being worked on up to Sannequellie with the final stretch to Yekepa being a decent dirt road. I have seen improvements over the years on their roads.

Today in Ganta after getting a cold drink we headed south. The dusty roads and all the bumps made a short distance take a little over an hour to arrive. We came to a nice lunch followed by some down time to rest. We headed to church around 6:00 p.m. where Refuge Baptist church had a small group meeting for Bible study. It was so nice to worship with them tonight.

We came home to have the ladies make some GB and GB soup. It was very good. We ate out on the front porch as I experienced something new. Pastor Dennis, Emmanuel’s uncle, has power wired to his home with LEC (Liberian Electric Company). That being said this doesn’t mean consistent power. The power was off all afternoon and it just came on as we finished our late supper. Now it’s nice to have a fan to sleep with.

Tomorrow we meet with some Women of Purpose ladies at 8:00 a.m. before heading back to Monrovia for a thanksgiving service at the church.

We are definitely making use of our time in Liberia. We are looking forward to seeing our friends from Monrovia again.

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.