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Day’s Journal
We arrived in Brussels around
8:30am their time (they are 7 hours ahead of Nashville and 1 hour ahead of
Liberia). The flight wasn’t too bad
but the 767 just doesn’t seem to be configured for comfort on such long
flights (at least in economy class but the folks in business had sleeper
chairs and seemed to be doing just fine).
I didn’t think that I had slept any but when I asked when breakfast
was to be served the steward said it already had and that I had slept
through it (he brought me one anyway).
While on the flight over
yesterday I overheard a couple saying they were going over to pick up a 2
year old girl that they were adopting.
They are also adopting a 6 year old boy but his paperwork is held up
somewhere so their 19 year old daughter may come back and get him when
things get worked out (hopefully only a week or two away). After we landed today I made it a point
to meet them. They are Mark and
Debbie Frazer from Maryland. They seem like a very nice couple and we
had a nice visit. We are traveling
back together on the same flight so I should be able to get a picture of
them with at least one of their new children.
I used up 2 of the 3 laptop
batteries that I am carrying so I had to find a place to plug in and
recharge before the flight to Monrovia. By the way, we fly to Freetown,
Sierra Leone and then on
into Monrovia. But we don’t have to change planes. Anyway, Europe
operates on 220 volt power and has a funky looking plug that doesn’t work
for us. But I purchased an adapter a
couple of trips back and brought it so that I could recharge in Brussels.
The flight to Monrovia boards at
11:40am and leaves at 12:30pm but I haven’t seen anything of Dion, Katie or
Ken. I keep hanging out and charging
my batteries. Finally they show up
an hour or so before time to load up.
They’ve been out in the main lobby area on the internet. I should have checked out there and I
could have uploaded some stuff from yesterday. It costs about $30 for a day of internet
service so I really didn’t think it was a good investment given that we are
supposed to have service at Christine’s.
We’re about 3-4 hours out of Freetown and should be somewhere over the northern tip
of Africa.
We passed through Spain
and across the Straight of Gibraltar an hour or so ago (they have a moving
map display on the monitors that shows our position, speed, etc. whenever
some U.S.
sitcom isn’t playing with subtitles.
I can’t stand to watch them in English. How much worse it must be to have to read
the stupid things that are being said in French.
I’ve spent the last hour or
so going through the daily schedule (posted on this site) and it’s pretty
full before I work in the people that I need to see. On the way to the airport yesterday I
received a call from Liberia
(you can tell because you say “hello” about 5 times before the signal makes
it back to the caller and he responds back). He is Rev. James Milton Harris from Providence Baptist Church. He wants me to call him the moment I get
to Monrovia
and he wants to give me a tour. I
don’t know that there’s any time left in the schedule for this but I do
want to meet with him if possible. I
also need to spend some quality time with Robert Cuppah who is a pastor,
secretary of the new Crown – Liberia organization and
involved in several other areas of God’s work there. STS is looking for a full time
representative in Liberia
and I need to find out if Robert might be our man. I also have some auto parts to give to
Shadrach before he leaves for the Village on Monday afternoon, get the
diabetes testing strips to Emile Sam-Peal,
spend some time with Pastor Richard Wesley (a man of financial integrity),
deliver the QuickBooks Pro 5 pack we bought for James Kesselly of ELWA,
talk with Debey Sayndee about
getting the Crown college curriculum into the University of Liberia and see
if Ben Amos has finalized our duty free status yet. Plus I promised to help determine if the
work that African
International Christian Ministries
advertises on its website is actually taking place. Whew!
I’m tired already (I really am tired of flying already). I’ve been thinking about a noise
canceling headset but the Bose sets are pretty pricy. This trip may convince me to shell out
the dough.
My Sunday school class is sick of hearing
about Purpose (we’ve drifted in and out of lesson on purpose for a year
now) but I know that God has called me to serve Him in Liberia. I am so blessed to have a wife that hears
what God is saying and is supportive and involved. I can’t imagine the struggle that some
people go through when God is calling them to a certain ministry and their
spouse is not supportive. It reminds
me of a quote that I found:
"Must you go to China? How much nicer it would
be to stay here and serve the Lord at home! She made it plain at last that
she would not go to China."
J. Hudson Taylor’s new ex-girlfriend
Well, we’re not at 39,000
feet, going 460mph and the outside temperature is -67 degrees. I think we are about 1:45 away from Freetown but they keep
displaying it in Dutch or German or something so I’m not sure. We’re 1405 km from Freetown
(divide it by 1.6 to get mph) and we’re over Nouakchott (tell me where we are). I love these gps moving maps but I still
don’t get there any faster.
We stop in Sierra Leone
for an hour. It’s my first time
here. I really don’t get to see
anything because we are not allowed off the plane. Soon we’re back in the air for the short
40 minute flight to Monrovia.
Upon arriving at Roberts International Airport
we are greeted by fairly cool weather brought about by the first rain since
the dry season started in late November.
The cattle stampede through immigration and baggage collection is
actually better than ever before. Plus,
we skipped customs because someone had called and cleared the way for us. The same crowd of young men are outside to
grab you luggage so they can make some money on tips. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t
make more per month than 2/3rds of all Liberians. John and Ridge are there to pick us
up. I ride with John in the work
truck (which has no air conditioning) and Ridge, Dion, Ken and Katie right
in the regular truck THAT HAS AIRCONDITIONING. But it really doesn’t matter tonight
because it’s cool outside. So there.
The ride back to Paynesville
from the airport is both cool and smooth. They’ve been doing a lot of hole patching
on the highway. There are many signs
that things are getting better. I
even hear that American Airlines has agreed to bring a direct flight to Monrovia from New
York City. Wouldn’t that be great.
We are staying with Laurence
and Christine Norman at their lovely home and guest house. Christine is the daughter of the late
William R. Tolbert Jr. the 19th president of Liberia. She maintains connections that we trust
are going to help God’s Kids and STS better serve the people of Liberia. The rooms are great, theirs a generator
for electricity and there is running water plus fully functioning inside toilets.
I’m saying all this to rub it in on
my preacher- brother Fred.
The dinner tonight with
Christine and her family was wonderful beyond words. She made a yam soup that was her mother’s
special recipe and it was very good. We had a tuna casserole, bread, plantains
and the freshest pineapple you’ve ever put in your mouth.
After I finish this journal
and update it to the website I am headed for bed. It’s 11:30pm here now.
God is good… all the time. Thank you Lord for a wonderful trip and for
an exciting week of seeing Your people and hearing Your words. Don’t let us stray one inch from your
path. Amen.
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Day’s Journal
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