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Gayla and I wake up about
7:15am (1:15am our time) and have slept very well. We did get pretty cold at one point during
the night (my brother Fred will not believe this). We’re pretty lazy getting going this
morning and it takes a while for us to get cleaned up in the bathroom and
out to the 2nd story porch where a breakfast of homemade bread
and scrambled eggs is waiting. There
is also hot water for tea. Gayla and
I eat and enjoy the company of Shadrach, Gertrude and Jeremiah.
Dave, the 4:00am early riser
back in the States, is nowhere to be seen.
Finally I tap on his door and call his name. No answer. A few minutes later I do the same and
still no answer. Now I’m trying to
think how to explain to Karen (Dave’s wonderful wife) that I’ve brought him
halfway around the world just to have a heart attack and die in the room next
to us. Finally I knock a little louder
and say “Dave!”. “Do you need to
come in?” he asks. “No, I just need
to know you’re alive” I reply. If
you’ve never seen Dave first thing in the morning after two days of flying
you’ve really missed something.
Dave emerges, has some
breakfast and then gets ready for the day.
I’ve already explained to Gayla the washing process so I go through
it again with Dave. Gertrude has
heated a full bucket of water for us to use so neither Gayla nor Dave has
yet had the pleasure of a cold bath in Liberia. Their day will come.
We leave about 10:00am for Monrovia to get a
cell phone for STS. There will
likely be times in the future when we will be in Monrovia and Shadrach will be at the
Children’s Village. We will need a
way to be reached and to make calls as well. The cell phone, charger and $20US of
calling credit totaled $100.
As the 5 of us started into
the cell phone store a younger man with 1 arm missing came up and began to
beg for money. I have a policy of
leaving this type situation to Shadrach.
He was walking right beside me proclaiming loudly that he needed
help and calling me “master” and other enticing type names. I brushed beside him and into the
store. He remained on the outside
standing in front of the door calling out for me to give him some
money. The man who owned the store
kept calling out to him to move from in front of the door but he wouldn’t
move. We picked out a phone just
like Shadrach’s so we could share a car charger and also because it was one
of the cheapest ones in the store.
We purchased the SIM card which provides the carrier’s (Lone Star
Cellular) information including my cell phone number
(011-231-6-652-187). The man is
still pleading. Shadrach sends
someone out to change some U.S.
currency into Liberian currency. He
tells our helper to give the man something.
As it turns out he offered him $10LD (approximately 20 cents). The man is offended and keeps walking
right beside me, calling out loudly for me to help him. I try to explain that Shadrach gave him
some money but he’s insistent that it isn’t enough to buy food. After I refuse to do more he becomes
quite bitter and shouts a lot of things to me while walking right beside
me. One of the things he shouts is
that I come over here in God’s name but I’m really not helping. We get loaded up and finally pull out
with him walking beside the truck and shouting until the moment we finally
move forward into traffic. The
question I have for you the reader is…is he right? (I could give you all the standard
answers for why I don’t give money to needy people but that might color
your thoughts on the issue.)
We begin the trip back to the
house through the very slow traffic.
It’s like the worse city’s rush hour traffic but with huge pot holes
and broken down cars in the road.
I’m enjoying very much
watching Gayla and Dave experience Liberia for the first
time. It’s been a while since I
first visited with my brother Fred and Donald Hurst and, surprisingly
enough, things are beginning to seem normal to me here. Gayla and Dave, however, are on sensory
overload. When we got back to the
house Gayla began to describe how overwhelming it was to see the people and
sights, smell the smells of cooking and people, hear the shouting voices
and horn beeping and just be immersed in the melee of the city. (Plus the experience of riding in a car
in Monrovia
can be pretty overwhelming all by itself.)
On the way to the house we
stop by the water business to pick something up and a herd of children see
Gayla taking a picture of a man weaving a bamboo mat and swarm all around
wanting their picture taken. It’s
Gayla and Dave’s first experience with this and they have a ball. Shadrach tells them later that if they
want to be swarmed they should go to the Children’s Village. I can testify to that as Fred and I were
standing at the outside of the church tent during a revival meeting three
years ago and I counted 12 children with their hands touching some part of
his body (and Edwards’ men aren’t much on being touched [although some
would say we are a little touched already].) Anyway, we leave the water business and
stop at an internet café to upload the website updates and to let Gayla and
Dave check email. It ends up costing
us $3.00 for the time we spend there.
That seems pretty reasonable to me until I realize that it more than
the average Liberian makes in 2 days. But anything with equipment and
electricity is expensive here.
Back at the house Gertrude
has a dinner of white rice with a mixture of stewed cabbage and beef (they
call it cow meat). It is very good
and we all eat a plate full. Even
after that she’s cooked enough for at least 5 more people. I think she’s like Mama, not happy unless
everyone’s eaten enough to make them miserable.
The rest of the afternoon is
spent relaxing on the 2nd story porch where a nice, cool breeze
is blowing constantly. It hasn’t
rained today although it was raining last night when we got to the
airport. Shadrach says he’s never seen
it rain like this so late in the season.
But I think that it’s kept things cool and do give thanks for
that. Shadrach says he wants it very
hot so people will buy lots of our cold water.
The time with Shadrach,
Gertrude and Jeremiah is good as we discuss a number of different things
concerning Liberia. Gayla and Dave get to know them
personally and we relax from the two day trip over. Dave and I decide we’ll each take a nap
and Gayla joins me a little later.
The rush of traffic, the horns and the very spirited way people here
communicate all try to keep us from sleeping but we win out in the end.
The evening is spent with
more visiting. I can see the wheels
turning in David’s mind as he tries to get his arms around Service To
Servants’ purpose and how he can communicate it to those with whom he has
influence. It is a blessing indeed
to have him spending a significant amount of this time serving through the
ministry. God has a way of sending
the right person at the right time.
(I guess that’s one reason they call Him God.)
Finally, at around 9:00pm we
retire to our rooms for sleep. Now
that the generator is on I can charge my laptop battery and work on the
website update. Gayla says that I
need to put the pictures into different pages for people who only have dial
up access so they don’t have to keep waiting for pictures they’ve already
seen to load up again (can you tell she’s on dial up at home). She asks if it would take much time for
me to do this. Only an hour or so I
say to her. Good, then you can take
care of it.
Shadrach has also given me
the Sept-Oct. update for the children’s village showing the efforts they
are making to start a serious agricultural operation there. I’ll try to get those ready for the
Liberian Ministries website tomorrow.
Gayla’s asleep. Dave’s asleep. Good night.
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