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I have much to write but am
off for a little rest and then to look over the cold water business with
Shadrach. We should also have an
appointment with an attorney tomorrow morning and will meet with a shipping
broker tonight to discuss the container that is coming in.
Yesterday’s experience at Heathrow
was interesting. I went to the
airport 5 hours early due to the terrorist threat and the resulting
delays. When I arrived I got a
luggage buggy (they are free at Heathrow) and loaded my now 2 bags (I had
to put both carry-ons into the main bags due to
the regulations just issued saying only wallets, passports and similar
items could be carried on to the plane in clear plastic bags.
When I made it to the Virgin
Atlantic ticket counter I was told that I couldn’t check in until 8pm. So I purchased 24 hours of internet time
($20 US) and sat down to work. I was
able to get a preliminary report out to the client I mentioned
earlier. I also sent a few emails
and updated the website. Finally I
ordered a cup of “Americanan” coffee for $3 US
and waited for 8pm. Big
mistake. I went down to check in at
7:30 and there was a huge line. It
was after 9pm before I got through the line. Then we got in another line for security,
then another one for something else.
When I finally got through the line, the TV monitor was flashing
“closing” beside my flight. I ran
(really ran) all the way to the gate where they said it would be a few
minutes late leaving. Too bad they
didn’t tell the monitor that. I was
halfway to Lagos
before I stopped coughing. The
flight left 45 minutes late at 10:45pm.
Again a night flight and seated alone did not allow a conversation
to bring Christ into the picture. I
did try to ease into a conversation about the Bible during the 1.5 hour
wait in line. But the guy only
wanted to talk about roasting terrorists over an open fire while the
other’s watched and waited for their turn.
I did manage to quote the scripture about delayed justice being
ineffective. He seemed to agree with
that since he wanted to immediately begin the oven roasting.
The night flight to Lagos was only 6
hours and went quickly. Although I
wasn’t able to sleep (perhaps sleeping 11.5 hours the previous day had
something to do with it?).
Arriving into Lagos, Nigeria
at 5 am this morning was pretty straight forward. Since I was the only “transiting”
passenger I received “special” treatment.
An officer took my passport, told me to get my luggage, offered to
pay the $1 charge for the baggage cart (I found a left over British pound
(sp?) which worked) and then walked me over to the Bellview
ticket counter, made sure customs cleared me (they didn’t look at anything)
and, after I got my boarding pass, walked me to the gate area. Good service.
The 727-200 we flew to Accra, Ghana
and then Monrovia
was only 1/3 full on the 1st leg. When we started to board a guy was
standing there with a handheld metal detector. He wanded
everyone with it beeping like crazy the whole time but he only checked one
guy who had a cell phone and something else in his pocket. I was wearing a sport coat and carrying a
carry-on bag in each hand when he wanded me. He never checked either bag. Go figure.
One thing I have noticed is
that many people in Africa can’t find
their seats on an airplane and will deliberately sit in a different seat if
they like it better then their own.
This can be quite frustrating to watch and even more so when it’s
your seat. I’m writing this in seat
12C when my ticket says 12F.
We’re descending into Accra now. I only hope they don’t make me deplane
and go through customs again.
Good news, I didn’t have to
deplane. I watched the luggage being
unloaded to make sure the two big purple bags didn’t come off (they didn’t). By the way, in Lagos I pulled my 2 carry-ons out of the checked luggage. Everything looks okay. I’ll know more tonight.
We’re supposed to have a 40
minute wait on the ground in Accra. They’ve left the air on so that’s
good. Plus this is not the hot time
of year. It was only in the 70’s
when we landed in Nigeria
@ 5am.
I’m thinking of forming some
type of “time share” arrangement with container shipments. A group of ministries could “purchase” a
year’s worth of space (say 6 ministries at 1/6 each) but they could sell
their space on a particular shipment, trade it with another member or we
could promote the non-member sale of space with the money received being
split between the members. Needs
some further thought but it could work.
I’m also thinking of ways to
recoup the cost of running the generator to make ice. The fuel is going to be high. Will we be able to make enough profit from
the ice to pay for the fuel and other expenses? Since we’re using the 40kw generator for
power we should have 25kw excess after the ice business. What can we sell the excess electricity
for? Should we locate this unit
somewhere else so we can share power for fuel with another business? If so, where? Can we combine with someone else? Can we get into business importing
refrigerated containers and, after shipping goods in them, sell them to
others?
I feel unprepared for the
meetings and organization efforts that are coming. If God uses weak vessels then I’m perfect
for the job.
Just before we left Accra a contingent of
Chinese people got on (maybe 10-15).
It reminds me that the Chinese want the natural resources that Liberia has
to offer. Another group set to take
from a people without really caring for them at all.
We’re off a few minutes late
for Monrovia,
but off in pretty good time. We had
a chocolate pastry and drink on the flight from Lagos
to Accra. On the flight from Accra
to Monrovia
we had a small submarine sandwich with a drink. These flights are only an hour long each
and it’s not quite 9:30am here so it seems a little early for lunch.
I think it’s about 4:30am
back home but I stay a little confused.
The $7 watch I purchased at Wal-Mart before leaving home only shows
one time zone.
I have been listing my job as
“missionary” on the various customs forms I have been filling out. Perhaps that isn’t correct. But I’m not sure what would be so I’ll
stick with that for now. Coming
through Nigeria
it dawned on me that predominantly Muslim countries might not appreciate
that title. They had a place in the
open in the Lagos airport where Muslims were
praying towards Mecca
(I guess that was the correct direction?
I wonder if it’s marked on the floor or if they carry a compass?).
We need to send over as many
pastor reference libraries as possible.
So many of the pastors have poor doctrine and don’t seem to be able
to dig it out of scripture correctly.
Perhaps it’s the lack of leading by the Holy Spirit due to a poor
prayer life, hidden sin, etc. I’m
not sure but I do know that most U.S. pastors have access to
tremendous helps. What do retired
pastors do with their books?
I’m sitting one row behind
and to the side of a lady with a small child. She’s dressed in Arabic type clothing
attire and I notice she’s reading the Koran. If we don’t reach these people for Christ
others will bring false religions to fill the void. Then the Christian in the U.S. will
whine about those radical Muslims.
Why can’t we get ahead of the curve for once?
One of the things I’ve noticed
is that most of the African women traveling (some level of wealth compared
to others) are very assertive bordering on rude. They push in line and seem anxious to
challenge you to say anything about it.
Perhaps it’s just the natural “better than you” attitude that seems
to come with affluence. Or maybe it
could be that women have been treated so poorly in this culture that, when
given a way out, are not going to take it anymore.
I hear that Liberia would like to have a U.S. airlines flying into Monrovia but they require a hotel at the
airport first. The airport’s stuck
off by itself. I wonder what could
be done?
It looks like we’re
descending now. I think we will be
down about on time, maybe early. Not
bad.
I clear immigration, get my
bags and then clear customs and find Shadrach and Jerry outside waiting on
me. We load up into the new truck
and head for Monrovia. The only decent road in the country is
between the airport and town (kind of).
We stop on the way to deliver
a package of repair materials at the ELWA radio station to the manager,
Moses Nyantee.
Then we go by the ELWA hospital and meet Dr. Rick
Sacra. It’s good
to spend time with him. I’ll try to
recount in a later section the relationship between SIM (Sudan Inland
Ministry), ELWA and ECUL. They are
all good people doing God’s work. I
look forward to finding ways for STS to help them. We did talk about pointing people to him
for medical missionary service. He
only takes those able to serve 8 weeks or longer due to the staff’s
investment of time and the learning curve.
I asked about an optometrist and it turns out they’ve never had
one. He seemed excited at the
possibility but would definitely need one or more doctors who could put the
program into place.
Finally we make it to the new
house location in Paynesville. It’s
pretty nice and has a second story porch that has a nice wind blowing and
feels like air conditioning. Carl
Hadley, where are you when things are comfortable?
We’re supposed to talk with a
broker about getting the container through the port later tonight, speak
with an attorney about incorporating STS in Liberia tomorrow and now we’re
off to the internet café (this one is owned by the Wesleyan church here).
The internet café is owned by
the Wesleyan Church. I got a connection for my laptop so that
I could upload these pages but my ftp software wouldn’t let me do so over
the connection. Not sure what the
issue is but I want to get these uploaded.
I was able to email just fine so I sent this page out as an
attachment to several people hoping that they would pass it on until I
figure things out.
The head of the Wesleyan Church
in Liberia
is Rev. Moses Wheiger and we were able to meet
him outside the internet café and talk for a while. (David and Matt, I’m
always having to do your jobs.)
I explained the goal of the Crown Financial Ministries’ event and
also discussed some ways that we might be able to help him. He seemed especially interested in the
shared shipping container possibility.
I believe this could turn into a real service that we can offer to
many of the ministries.
The broker was at the house
when we returned and we had a good discussion (actually he and Shadrach
did, I just listened). We gained
some good information and he is to come back to help us some more in the
morning.
Gayla, I’m taking my malaria
medicine but can’t seem to remember my vitamins. I do love you very much and wish you were
here with me to enjoy this relatively cool weather. They haven’t seen the sun here in several
days.
More tomorrow.
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