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Today’s a day of relative
rest. Most of the emphasis is on
getting Shadrach ready for the Sinoe store. We received enough contributions to pay
for the fuel to the Children’s Village, buy school uniforms and rice for the
Village. The West
Florida churches collected enough funds to catch up last
month’s teacher salaries and pay Shadrach & Gertrude their $200 monthly
salary. Getting the truck to the
Children’s Village will take approximately twice the fuel as normal due to
having to take the long way around (over twice as long in distance). The roads are better for most of the way
and the normal way is passable only by a 4 wheel drive vehicle due to the
rainy season. The truck will
accomplish two goals. First, it will
take all remaining supplies and items previously shipped from Monrovia and it will
allow the lumber necessary to finish the school roof to be delivered. We have not kept to a reasonable schedule
in completing the school and need to restore people’s trust by completing
it and getting it into use.
Shadrach left this morning to
get the truck ready for the trip. So
I spent my time finishing up the contact list for the 2 committees and
working on the Sinoe store accounting
sheets. Shadrach will be able to use
these sheets to report each month’s sales quantities, revenues and items
that need to be restocked. It is
important that we prove to be good stewards of the $1,700 that was given
for this purpose.
Our friend, Rhoda Yloe, came over this morning and surprised me with a
beautiful white Liberian shirt with gold trim. This is especially touching as she is in
her final semester of college (economics) and surely has no extra funds to
expend. I felt very awkward
accepting the gift but also didn’t want to insult her by being
ungrateful. Few people in Liberia
have graduated from high school during the war years much less made it
through college. She hopes to get a
job at one of the banks (I think Monrovia
only has 2 at present). So I spent
the balance of the morning on the porch with the women. (Even with my poor understanding you’d be
surprised what “us girls” can find to talk about.) I’m using this time to gain a better
grasp on the way English is spoken in Liberia. It’s tough but I’m sure I’ll pick up on
things as time passes.
Shadrach called at about noon
and said Elijah would be by to pick me up in a few minutes so I grabbed my
computer and got ready. Elijah
arrived a few minutes later and we picked up Shadrach and Jeremiah at the
cold water business and started for town.
We had a short meeting with
Dr. Reeves, chairman of the Pastors’ Committee, and he was far along in the
planning process with a meeting scheduled for today with a complete agenda
printed along with a binder set up for committee business. I feel very comfortable that these
committees are in good hands. Dr.
Reeves and I discussed several things but primarily he is passionate about
continuing the leadership training conferences once we complete the Crown
Financial Ministries Catalytic event.
He is a huge John Maxwell fan and dreams of having him come to Monrovia for a
conference. Some of the STS guys
have a relationship with Equip Ministries so perhaps this could become
reality. Another common concern we
share is that the pastors of Liberia do not have adequate
Bible study reference materials. In
the U.S.
most pastors have an office full of top notch study aids. In Liberia there are almost
none. I would love to see a group
take ownership of putting together the key reference books and create
shared libraries at key places throughout Monrovia and the outlying counties. This would give pastors a place to go and
spend time doing research for their sermons and other teachings. If you would be interested in taking on such
a project please contact me (rodney.edwards@servicetoservants.com).
We stopped by SN Brussels and
picked up my boarding pass for tomorrow.
The flight leaves at 6:50pm but the pass says to be there by 3:00pm
(and we complain in the U.S.
about 1 hour lead time). Last year
we showed up at the time they said and the ticket counter didn’t open for
another 2 hours. As long as the
plane is there and they let me on I will try to be grateful. It will be good to see my family again.
I’m at the internet café
writing this now and will spend the rest of the day working with Shadrach
at home.
I’m not sure if I’ll have an
opportunity to give a final update prior to leaving tomorrow or not. If not, I should be able to provide an
update in Washington D.C. on Thursday.
Your prayers have been
answered in so many ways to accomplish more than I had the faith to
expect. Thank you so very much.
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