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Today we had planned to be up
and out by 8am (very hard to do here) and meet Owen Garnett, the contractor
who will pour the pads for the container, at the cold water store. We were then going to stop by an internet
café so that I could upload the yesterday’s information to the website and
check email. Then we were going to
meet with John Russell of the Methodist Church
in Liberia.
I woke up about 6:30 and took
a bath, shaved and dressed for the day’s activities. We didn’t get away until around 9am and
drove straight to Bro. Russell’s offices.
He was very gracious to listen to my full presentation of the STS
and Crown conference story.
Afterwards he said that it was an answer to prayer to have Crown
coming to do this for the Christians of Liberia and that he would be glad
to serve. I assured him we were the
ones being blessed and that his participation was very important to the
attendance of many pastors. Before
we left his office we asked Bro. Russell about the location of the Lutheran
headquarters as we had Bishop Harris’ name but not a phone number of
location.
It turned out that the
Lutheran compound was only a couple of blocks away. Since we still did not have a phone
number we took a chance to drop in unannounced. Bishop Harris was most gracious to accept
us immediately. As he had no prior
knowledge of this event we worked through the entire story knowing that it
was a lot to throw onto him so abruptly.
He listened intently and, at the end, commented that this was a very
beneficial area of training for the pastors of Liberia. I asked if he would serve on the pastor’s
committee but, due to travel plans, he asked if his special assistant, Rev.
Peter Kpakela could represent the Lutheran
denomination. We were thrilled to
have him so he was called in and we went back through part of the
presentation so that he would be brought up to speed. What a blessing to have church leaders so
quick to sense the importance of the event and to offer their
influence. It turns out that Bishop
Harris is also the president of the Liberia Council of Churches and
further, that Benjamin Lartey, the general
secretary of the council, was on his way over. We passed in the outer office and I was
able to make personal contact. He is
checking to see if the council might agree to a special meeting to discuss
the conference. Pray that this
opportunity will open up for us.
We left Bishop Harris’
offices and stopped by the internet café to upload yesterday’s
information. It only took about 30
minutes to pull down all the email, respond to some and then update the
website. What an improvement. We left there and started back to the
cold water store and things really got interesting.
The UN has checkpoints at
several places along the main roads.
The checkpoints take the road down to one lane and allow traffic to
pass in only one direction then in the other. The roads in Monrovia
are in very poor condition and the driving habits…well let’s just say it’s like a street full of New York City taxis without the
organization or friendliness. It is
a mad house. The only thing worse
than being in a car in Monrovia is being on
foot in Monrovia. There is absolutely no concept of a human
being having any protection while walking along the road or in
traffic. The only reason 1,000
pedestrians per day are not killed in Monrovia
is that the cars are packed so tightly and the road conditions are so bad
that they can’t get above 10 mph for a significant distance. The horn, which is constantly in use,
means “I am coming and you should run”.
It’s quite well accepted here that pedestrians have not rights. I see things constantly (multiple times
per minute) that would lead to a driver being dragged from their car and
pummeled in the States. Here they
just accept it as normal. People on
foot with a heavy load or pushing a wheel borrow down the road are expected
to perform circus like feats to get out of a car’s way. Anyway, I digress, back to the UN
checkpoint. These checkpoints make
an already unbearable road situation into one leading to constant suicide
thoughts. The lack of structure here
means that, when you stop in line ½ mile from the checkpoint, taxis and
other vehicles will continue to stream by you on either side and break in
down the way. We sat in one today
where so many cars were doing this that we did not move in two separate
changeovers. Shadrach was getting
pretty agitated (I would have but don’t know enough not to expect this as
normal). He told our driver, Elijah,
to pass the others in line ahead too.
Bad move. We couldn’t get
back in until right at the UN checkpoint.
They saw us and put us in vehicle “time out” which means that we had
to pull off to the side. Shadrach
argued violently with them (which I thought was a bad move since they had
guns and we had nothing) but it didn’t help at all. Now we have mad Liberians and made
foreign UN soldiers with guns. I sat
quietly and tried not to make eye contact while in “time out”. It actually did speed us along since we
were the first to go when the next changeover occurred. I would rather wait in line myself.
We stopped at the cold water
store and talked with contractor Garnett, paid him his fee and Shadrach
made him promise that the work would be complete by next Tuesday (I’m not
sure Owen ever promised but there was a lot of loud talk and laughing exchanged). The language of Liberia is
English but it’s not one that I can understand unless Shadrach or Gertrude
is talking to me specifically so that I can understand. If Shadrach’s talking to another Liberian
I understand maybe a third of what’s said and then only if I know the
context. Hopefully, over time, I’ll
be much better at this. It seems to
me that most words have their last syllable or some portion of the
consonants (at least) removed. The
speed of the speech then pushes the words together such that there’s no
time to think about where one word stops and another starts much less
interpreting what that word actually was.
I do much better when people speak slowly but, like Latinos, that is
not a normal event.
By the way, I heard several loud
bangs while typing this that sounded like large gun fire. There are now UN helicopters circling
around nearby so I’m not sure what’s going on. I think I’ll wait for the news at 11
rather than venture out.
Shadrach had Elijah bring me
back to the house (about 4 miles away) and pick up Jeremiah, who has been
sick with a headache, and take him back to help order the sand and
cement. So I’m typing and listening
for gunfire (if that’s what it was).
I think I’ll emulate Jesus and take a nap while the storm is
brewing.
More later.
An update on the “gun fire”. It was a large truck that blew several
tires in sequence and I guess the helicopters were just a coincidence.
Just before bedtime Shadrach
made it back to the house. Jeremiah
had been complaining o f a bad headache.
I assumed it was just a headache and gave him some aspirin. He didn’t get any better and ended up
going to a clinic where his blood pressure was very low. They gave him an IV of something to help
raise his blood pressure and a few different types of pills. I think he also began treatment for
Malaria, “just in case”.
Debey Sayndee called and we
have an appointment with the Vice President at 3pm tomorrow afternoon. Please pray for this to go according to
God’s will. Thank you for your
previous prayers as well.
The Articles of Incorporation
are completed. I reviewed them and
then signed them. Shadrach has to
sign them as our Liberian representative, then Ben
will take them to the Ministry of Finance.
Pray that this process goes well and that the international duty
free status is quickly approved (worth $850 on this first container alone).
It’s 9:30pm here so time for
bed.
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