To Teach A Liberian…Part 17

“What are they doing?” I asked Mark, trying to figure out why they were having a meeting without us. It wasn’t that I expected them to have us for everything but if something good was going on, I wanted to be there.

“They’re eating lunch!” Mark replied, watching the expression on my face. I’m not sure what he saw but I know what I felt!

“Well, do they not want us to eat with them?” I responded, trying to figure out what was going on.

“No, it’s not that they don’t want us, they just expect us to eat up here because that’s how it’s normally done!”

“What?!” I can’t remember if I got loud at that point, but I was definitely not happy about it. “Well, can’t we just take our stuff and go eat with them?”

“We won’t do it today because everything is already set, but I don’t think this will happen again.” I could tell Mark also was not happy about the situation staying the way it did. We really are no better than anyone else and for us to stay away from them at meal time did not sit very well with Mark and I.

“This is NOT right and I want to be able to eat with everyone else. I can’t believe we are up here and they are down at the meeting house. This is really upsetting!” I was almost in tears when I said it. It’s not that we were trying to prove anything, but we were there to spend time with the people not set ourselves up as being better than anyone else.

Mark turned around to the pastors, who were talking among themselves in the Kpelle language. “Men,” he began, “this is not acceptable.” The pastors turned to look at him, probably wondering what he was talking about. “We will not be eating up here while everyone is eating at the meeting house. Tomorrow, we will have our food served with everyone else at the meeting house.” From what I remember, I think a discussion ensued for a short amount of time but Mark was adamant. We would all be eating lunch at the meeting house starting on Wednesday. We also let them know that we didn’t want another meal in the night time. I think the pastors were relieved over that because they said they didn’t normally eat but one major meal in the daytime. We said the same thing and so it was settled that our major meal would be at the lunch time with the people at the meeting house.

Mark and I started the same routine of him serving me and us sitting down to eat our food but this time Mark insisted the pastors eat with us. He let them know that they needed to eat at the same time as us. We already had our food but they began getting their food at this time and we ate and chatted. Sister Tamah also ate with us and it seemed that her and I were the only ladies at the mission house. I thought it seemed kind of strange but I didn’t really say anything as I wasn’t sure what to say.

After lunch was over with the men began talking about VCP and how it would look. I knew this would happen because Mark said they had a lot of ground to cover. There was never anything said about us leaving so I just sat there. I was quite happy to listen and extremely interested in what was being said. They did cover a lot of ground! Towards the end of their discussion, though, I began wondering if I should even be there as it was very much the men’s meeting. I wondered if the pastors felt I was intruding on “their” meeting. I almost got up and left a couple of times but then remembered that Sister Tamah was there and didn’t want to leave her by herself. I did stay there with her and, in the end, the men finished up their meeting and Mark reminded them that we would be eating with the people. The pastors didn’t seem too upset over it so I guess they didn’t mind at all! When they finished up, Mark told them that we needed to rest and prepare for the evening service. At this point, I was pretty relieved because I was starting to feel the wear once again on my body!

Photos of Liberia 2

Videos of Liberia

Here is a video done by Village Church Planters of our welcoming committee in Duaita!

Photos of Liberia

To Teach A Liberian…Part 16

I was told it was time to go to the meeting and so I headed over to the meeting place the ladies would be. I wasn’t sure who was going to be translating for me as no one seemed to understand anything I asked…or at least not much. I told whoever the lady was that I was going to find out who my interpreter was going to be and I would be back. I went to Pastor Philemon and asked him.

“Yes,” he replied, “let me see who can do it.” I returned to the meeting place and waited. The women stared at me and I stared back at them as I didn’t really know what else to do. There were only about 4 women at that point, then Pastor Philemon showed up with one of the ladies. “She will interpret and if she cannot then I will,” he informed me. I was very relieved over that because at least I knew someone would be able to do so. The ladies began singing then it kind of died down. Looking back, I think it was because I was standing, whereas they were sitting. I had a chair behind me but I was pretty nervous and thought that maybe I shouldn’t sit. Anyway, I didn’t know what to do and they probably didn’t know what I was going to do. They weren’t the only ones that didn’t know because I had no idea if this was even going to work out. I wondered if the whole thing would be a flop…after all, I’d never had or needed anyone to interpret for me and this was a different culture. What if the response I received from them was horrendous? All kinds of thoughts were going through my head and, at this point, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be there. I was ready to call it quits and go hide out in the mission house. I took a deep breath and asked the Lord to help me.

That first morning started off with teaching the background of being a believer. The ladies would not understand the reason for being submissive to their husband if they were not saved. I started off with creation, went to Abraham, then Moses – the law – and the sacrifice, then went to the prophets then to Jesus. I explained why we needed to be saved and how to be saved. After that, I shared what was necessary for a true believer to grow in the Lord – getting to know the Lord through the Bible and prayer. I laid out some of the things that happen to believers like going through trials, tribulations and persecution. Finally, I was able to share about the relationship between a husband and wife.

The lady that was supposed to interpret for me started off fairly good…for the first 3-4 sentences then gave me THE LOOK. Now, let me explain: if you have ever been in a position where you have tried talking to someone who speaks a completely different language then you and you don’t understand them…they don’t understand you…the two of you are at an impasse, then you know exactly what I am talking about. At that point, the only thing you can do is give each other THE LOOK! That is what she and I did. We gave each other THE LOOK then I looked over at Pastor Philemon sitting out with the women. At that point I knew he had a job to do! LOL! He was busy reading and he looked up when it grew quiet and I spoke up (probably in a very timid way), “Ummmm, Pastor Philemon, can you help us?” He kind of smiled and came up to the front. The other lady sat down and I was extremely relieved!

The teaching time was stilted at first and I was struggling to figure out when to talk and when not to. Just when I thought he was done, I would start again and he would finish what he was saying. I kept berating myself (silently) for interrupting him at the wrong times. Several times he said, “Excuse me,” but it was never said in an improper, rude or abrupt way. He always said it while deep in thought of how he would explain what I was saying. Before long, we began getting into a rhythm. I was so impressed with how the Lord worked out the whole situation. Some of the things I said, he would put it in question form to the ladies so they had to think about what the answer was. Many times each of them would give a part of the answer until it was ALL made into one answer. He always told me, though, what he had asked them and what their answers were. He also made it a point to let me know when he was going to ask them a question. This was always very interesting to me because I was able to watch their faces. I did so with great interest and was thrilled when I saw them understanding what was being said. At times, I would see the faces light up with a smile when they understood and other times Pastor Philemon would say, “Uh-huuuuuuuuuuuuh!” in a very emphatic way. This let me know that they did understand. Sometimes, Pastor Philemon would finish off with what I had already planned to say and I would nod my head then tell him that was exactly what I was going to say. By the time we were done that first day I was very excited over our first day of teaching. We only did about 2 hours and then some question and answer time. I could only praise the Lord for working it out in such an exciting way.

After it was over, Pastor Philemon stayed and introduced me to the different women, to include his biological mom, his adopted mom, and many of the other women. I couldn’t even begin to remember everyone! The ladies decided, at that point that, I needed to learn Kpelle and began inundating me with all kinds of words and how I should respond. I tried to keep up with them but had to laugh at myself because I knew it was way beyond me! Eventually, everyone began to go and Pastor Philemon went to the men’s meeting. They were still meeting together. Sister Tamah told me that I reminded her of her daughter who had died several years ago…at least, that was my understanding. She said that she was adopting me and she was now my African mother. I simply smiled at her and nodded my head. By that time, my head was swimming and I was ready to rest! My new African mother walked up with me to the mission house and we sat there for a bit but then she ended up leaving as I told her I would have to rest some. I think I was overcome from the heat, not receiving a lot of rest, jet lag, and so many new things going on around me. I can only deal with so much then my body shuts down and it was beginning to do that. I did rest, regardless of the flat air mattress and then woke up feeling loads better; albeit, hot and ready for either an air conditioner or a nice breeze!

I walked out of the room into the living room, where we had been eating our meals. All the pastors were there as was Mark. Mark said they were about to serve the food, which was fine with me. Pastor Amos, Sister Tamah, and Pastor Gbaquoi showed up and Mark invited them to eat with us. While we waited for the food to be brought up to us, Mark came over and spoke in a low tone, “Come here, Violet. Let me show you something.” I followed him, wondering what was going on. The window in the living room looked over the open air meeting place and we could see what was going on. There were quite a few people gathered together doing something or other.

To Teach A Liberian…Part 15

Shortly after we entered the mission house, we noticed that our belongings had already been placed in the room we were staying in…the pastors pointed that out to Mark. We took out our air mattress and mosquito netting and got things situated. Apparently, the pastors thought we needed all the mattresses and beds in our room so we ended up having to get them to take at least the mattresses to their room. We looked to fill our air mattress up but left the pump in Monrovia at Pastor James’ house. Jerry had told us that he had a pump that connected to the cigarette lighter so we decided it would be best to save some room. The driver had disappeared somewhere so we were hoping that he would show up before night time so we would be able to fill up our mattress.

Jerry situated himself and then we went outside. There were a couple of children standing outside and I remembered Mark taking pictures of the children when he had visited previously. Every time he would take the pictures of one or two children suddenly a bunch would show up out of nowhere because of wanting their pictures taken. We decided to try it ourselves and see what would happen. Sure enough, the one or two that were there turned into five, then ten, and pretty soon quite a number of them! We did get many photos of children!

After we amused ourselves for a time with taking pictures of the children, we were told the food was ready. It was really tasty. Once again, there was a bit of spice to the food and we mixed what they call ‘soup’ with our rice. Mark dished my food up again which is quite usual in our house. We either go ahead and dish both girls up…Mark does one and I do one…or if the food is going around he’ll put some on my plate from what he gets and I’ll do it to his. We do try to help each other with the food, for which I am very thankful. We did notice that the pastors were watching everything we did…ok, Mark noticed, I should say! I think I asked for an overabundance in mine because it was so good! I had seconds, as well, since I liked it so much. After the first time or two, I only had one helping because I wanted everyone else to be able to enjoy what we were having as well. We knew that what we didn’t eat would not be wasted. Everyone else would be able to enjoy what was left. Mark pointed out that there were several children and women watching me eat through the window. He suggested that maybe they wanted to see how white women eat. I kind of laughed and said I expected I ate like they did…with my teeth! Pastor Philemon made a comment about the children staring at us as we were eating so I told him about how the girls had a friend that would stare in our window every time she came over to play with the girls so we were kind of used to it. He smiled about it but I wasn’t sure how much he understood.

We did rest and the afternoon turned into evening. Pretty soon we heard the bonging sound of the bell. I think it was the pre-requisite for the normal bell because 30 minutes later we heard the bell go again. We were to learn that everything is done on Liberian time…which means that when you say you will start at a certain time, the people will eventually show up maybe 15-20 sometimes 30 minutes later. Anyway, the first night we started at 7:30pm then went back to the mission house to eat. I really wasn’t hungry but didn’t want to offend anyone so I ate. We were all definitely exhausted.

Everyone was pretty exhausted so we all headed to our rooms shortly thereafter. The driver still hadn’t returned and the air mattress was thin on air. We decided to put the air mattress over the regular mattress and our sheets on that. When we rested in the afternoon, we found out that the mattress was extremely thin and we could feel the hard frame. There were no springs to save us from the frame of the bed and so we tossed and turned all night long. I was tired enough that I slept a lot better than I would have in the same situation in the states. The food we had bought earlier in the day, we kept in our room…which was a mistake. We had finally fallen asleep and then we heard a noise in the room. Tap, tap, tap, tap….it turned out to be a rat (or possibly two) after the food. Mark grabbed the light and shone it in the direction of the rat. He froze from the light but then Mark made a loud noise and the rat took off. I didn’t personally see the rat so I couldn’t describe it properly. Mark did say it had brownish colouring and that it wasn’t as big as a rat you would find here in the states. It’s more like the size of a mouse that you could buy from a pet store. Anyway, after the rat ran away, we did hear a couple of more. I joked around about it and suggested we name the rats. Mark came up with Obama for one and I can’t remember what the name of the other one was. I don’t think we really told any of the pastors about our names for the rats! 😀 Now, once you have gotten underneath the netting, it is so hard to get out so if there are any kinds of bathroom breaks needed, you’d better make sure it’s done all at one time. We figured we’d get up while we were both awake. It didn’t take long to get the netting up but it sure was hard getting it all tucked underneath the mattress when we returned! Finally…finally, we were able to get settled back down and go to sleep! The rats did come back a couple of more times and Mark woke up to scare them off again.

Tuesday, March 1st – We rose up early because we heard everyone stirring and didn’t want to stay abed while everyone else was moving around. We took our bucket bath again and I ended up groaning because the water was so cold…it was a pretty cool morning. They told us they would be willing to have the women heat up the water if we wanted but I figured I’d save them some effort, considering how much effort they put in to welcoming us, cooking our meals, and everything else they were doing. I just went ahead and bore the agony of really cold water on a pretty cool morning.

After getting dressed, we took a walk down to the village. Now, the mission house wasn’t too far from the village but it was further than just being next door. The house had been built on the hill about a year or so after the first missionaries came into the village. The missionaries had been invited to stay in the chief’s home and then they were offered the hill to build a house for themselves. The hill was actually where the villagers did their spirit worship. I guess they figured the white people were close enough to being spirits that they needed to live on the hill. Anyway, the land was given for the purpose of the missionary building a home there. I think he lived there about 30 years or so but it was definitely a positive thing which encouraged the villagers to listen to the gospel.

The villagers all stared at us as we walked by. I’m sure we were a very strange sight…Mark was holding my hand all the way through the village. Jerry and Prince followed behind us at a more leisurely pace. I think Jerru was caught up in taking photos of the children, to which we ended up with loads! Ok, so we did get a few ourselves, as well.

The trees are absolutely beautiful as they are so tall and not the kind we are used to seeing. One of the trees are so tall that the roots have grown much higher than people! The view from the mission house is breath-taking and to be able to see it every morning while we were in Duaita was great!

After we returned from our walk, we went back to the house to wait for breakfast. I went into the bedroom to do some more studying because I would be teaching the women that morning. After some study, I came back out and asked Mark about the food. Apparently, they got started late on the breakfast and it’s not like here where you can throw something together or just grab something on the go. The breakfast was late and so was the meeting! Oh, well, the Lord knows what He is doing…even if we do not! We had rice for breakfast and I wondered about the oatmeal. Mark said he hadn’t given them the oatmeal but he would do it so we could have oatmeal the next morning. We also secured the food, just in case the rats decided to come back in the daytime…ok, we thought we did! We had noticed the pastors didn’t eat with us; although, we did tell them that several times to do so. We finally insisted they do so to which they helped themselves with a bit of reserve and being unsure of themselves instead of waiting for us to finish our food completely. They always did want us to go first, though, no matter how many times we invited them.

Shortly after breakfast was finished off, it was time to go teach the ladies. At first, we had been told that we would be using the church building but it ended up growing quite warm, even in the morning that they decided to use another building that didn’t have walls built all around it. I understood later that it was the storehouse and it was located directly behind the kitchen. There was nothing there so I guess it was not really being used or they moved everything somewhere else for the time.

To Teach A Liberian…Part 14

Let me stop for a moment and tell you about the Liberian hand shake. Normally, they grab the hand in a regular handshake like we would do, next grab the thumb part with the whole hand (both people do all of these things) then back to the regular handshake then the middle finger and thumb slide down to meet and snap. This is the full handshake and I think (I’m not sure but it seemed to me) they normally don’t do it that way with the women. The abbreviated handshake is the normal handshake then the middle finger and thumb slide down to the other person’s middle finger and it ends in a snap. Sometimes it doesn’t snap but when both people have really sweaty hands they can get a very loud and satisfying snap! The idea is to sweat as much as possible in your hands! LOL! All the women and men shook my hand with the abbreviated handshake and not once did anyone do the other with me…which was fine with me. What really got me, though, was that most white people I shook hands with didn’t do it so my hand seemed to not know what to do next! Hahaha! Kind of embarrassing but you get over it!

Back to the welcoming committee again! The people surrounded us and they were thrusting their hands right in front of us and the question became, whose hand do you grab so I was seriously watching the hands and trying to get to all of them. We did get to all hands that were waiting to shake ours at some point but it took time. They were all singing praises to God during this time and throwing rice around…if I’m not mistaken, I believe one or two of the women threw little pebbles in the air. It was an exciting time and it was a confusing time because I really didn’t know what to expect or how to respond. I just stood close beside Mark and kept a smile pasted on my face!

Pastor Philemon told us after a time that the people wanted us to start walking towards the village…this was fine with me because I didn’t know what else to do. A man carrying a little boy walked beside me throughout the trip towards the village. I smiled several times at the little boy but he hid his face, probably frightened of the strange looking person standing beside him. During the time of walking into the village and seeing how excited everyone was, absolutely astounded me and it did bring tears to my eyes; although, I was able to keep from crying and did keep a smile pasted on my face. The people were joyful…they sang praises and threw rice and continued this all the way into the village. We were introduced to several of the main people as we were walking but I couldn’t keep them all straight and didn’t try. At this point, I began thinking about how there was joy in heaven over one sinner that repents. Granted this isn’t the same situation but how can so many people be joyful over 3 people they have never met? What joy and abundant expressions of joy came forth from these people of Duaita! What overabundance of love was shown to us even at that time we met them. Jesus told His disciples, “By this shall all men know ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another.” The villagers did not expect anything from us other than that we would teach them the Word of God and so they were thrilled and excited over the fact that we were willing to do what Jesus commanded His disciples to do. I find it sad that so many people are unwilling to go beyond the scope of their comfort zone, all the while insisting that there are so many people to be reached here in America. A lot of them don’t really make the effort to reach anyone here but the excuse is still there.

As we walked with the villagers, my heart was humbled over their evident love for us. Eventually we made it to the open air meeting place, after having walked underneath a couple of trees made into an arch. There were two trees, one on either side of the road, that they had tied together with vines and beautiful flowers. I have to admit that I was so caught up in the moment that I never even thought to take any kind of pictures. Mark did get a picture later after the flowers had died but we do have a video of it because at least Jerry had enough sense to take a video of our walk to the open air pavilion. The people continued singing praises to the Lord until we ended up sitting down. The original open air pavilion had been extended by the people for a ways as they were hoping that many people would show up for the time of welcome. They had special seats for Mark, myself and Jerry and the way we ended up sitting down was that Jerry was closest to the people, then Mark, then myself.

The presentation began with the choir singing songs. These were similar to the ones sung at Pastor Togba’s house except there were two ladies doing the main singing while the rest of the choir sang the background music. I was still fascinated and stared at them! Hehehe! The only thing is, I don’t think my mouth was open! It continued on with someone praying (someone interpreted throughout the presentation), someone sharing something about us showing up and eventually Pastor Sam stood up.

He began talking about purity and how the hearts of the people were pure towards us and they wanted to show us that they were by giving us a kola nut that represented purity in Africa. The nuts are a kind of tan colour on the outside and I understand they are white on the inside. I never looked to see so I am not sure. Anyway, he continued on by saying that they were offering us one from the pureness of their hearts. He did tell us we only had to take one bite of it and not to worry about eating the whole thing. Pastor Sam gave The Pilgrim one first as he was closest. He didn’t show any expression or anything so I figured it was ok. They gave Mark the second one and Mark just examined it while we were listening to Pastor Sam continue to share. I was the last one to get it and I still figured it would be fine as even Pastor Sam said to show us that there was nothing wrong with it, he also would have one. He began eating on his and actually finished it off. I put the one I received into my mouth and ended up getting about a quarter of it. What a surprise and shock to me! It was extremely bitter!

The next few thoughts went through my mind within seconds but it will take some time to explain what I thought. The first thing that popped into my mind was, ‘Don’t let them see you make any kind of face because you will probably offend them and you don’t want to do that after all they have done for you.’ The next thing was (all the while keeping my face straight), ‘I don’t think I’ve tasted anything this bitter before…ok, maybe it tastes a little like the middle of a peach seed but I don’t remember those being as bitter as this is! I wonder what they mean by purity of this nut. I will have to ask Mark about this.’ Part of the reason I thought that last bit was because I wasn’t completely understanding all that had been said. I know Pastor Sam said more but between not being completely acclimated to the way they spoke English and thinking instead of listening, left me wondering what I had missed in all that had been said. I decided to listen a little closer in case I missed more. My mind did wonder about the taste a little bit but thankfully the heavens opened and the rain began to pour! The chief was about to say something but they dismissed us (due to the rain) until the evening so we could rest some and be better prepared. I was relieved due to the long drive and the heat of earlier in the day. As we walked up to the mission house, I mentioned to Mark that the rain felt so good! He agreed with me!

To Teach A Liberian…Part 13

I watched the scenery for awhile but eventually fell asleep on Mark’s shoulder because I was pretty exhausted. I used the pillow that we had received from a close friend for our plane flight. It was a huge blessing because I was able to rest for quite awhile.

About halfway there, we stopped at a place that we would call a rest area. It’s the only one in Liberia and it was built in honour of President Tubman, who was a really great president, I understand from all that I’ve read. Apparently, he did his best for the people and brought prosperity into the country. They loved him so much that they built this place in his honour. There used to be a zoo there but due to the war, the animals were killed. At least, though, everyone is able to relax for a time and enjoy the beauty of God’s nature in the midst of a long and hard drive! We walked around for a bit, sat on chairs and just chatted for a bit then eventually began moving again.

From there we went to Gbarnga (pronounced as in Bong-u…short o sound, short u sound). We did stop to get out and buy some snacks in a previous town on the way…we got some bread and a drink for everyone in the land cruiser…for which I was thankful to have. I was so thirsty! We also bought some rice for us to be able to have in Duaita. I had been asking Mark if we could go to buy some Liberian clothes and he said we couldn’t do it yet in Monrovia or the other little town but then he asked the pastors about stopping someplace in Gbarnga. Pastor David, Pastor Philemon, and Pastor Sam all went with us to one of the clothing stores (which was basically a stall and that was it). We looked only at Lapas, which is a wrap around skirt without anything to connect them. The Liberian women are very good at getting them wrapped tightly around themselves so they will stay quite well; although, sometimes even they have to tighten the skirts. I only wanted one and chose out one for myself but then found out later it was too small for me. Oh well! So much for shopping with the men! I must say, though, that Pastor David did tell me I needed two and I didn’t listen…talk about stubborn women! LOL! The lady I bought the Lapa from did say she came from Duaita, which made me glad that I bought the skirt even if I couldn’t wear it!

We didn’t stay too long after that because we were stopping at AFBM clinic. If you read about Mark’s previous trip, you would know that he stopped in Gbarnga at one point and visited the AFBM clinic. At that point, the clinic was fairly small but it grew during the four years Mark was gone. Mark went looking for Sister Carolyn to talk with her but she was with someone at first. We kind of walked around and waited for her to finish up what she was doing. She came out and talked with us for awhile. She did say that we needed to be careful about eating the fruit that was cut by dirty knives as we could get some kind of disease. I was disappointed because I wanted to be able to eat some pineapple, which had to be cut by someone’s knife! I eventually gave up on not eating the fruit because I wanted some so badly. The Lord kept us safe and I was thankful for that! We met one of Pastor Sam’s sisters. She came out looking for Mark but he was busy at that moment. When he was finally free to talk, she was busy. I told Mark she wanted to see him so we walked around looking for her. I think Pastor Philemon went over to talk with someone else and so Mark was finally able to talk with her for a moment. When we were done, they had to go looking for Pastor Philemon, which everyone joked about. It was time to go and they couldn’t find us then they couldn’t find Pastor Philemon. We did leave so we could head off to Duaita.

We piled back into the car with the promise that we would see them the following week and spend the evening and night with them. That did sound exciting but so had everything else so I felt like it was just another exciting event to add to our already filled repertoire of things happening on our trip in Liberia that I would be journaling about! 😀

Once again, I fell asleep until I heard someone mention about us being pretty close to Duaita. I woke up because I knew I needed to be awake and not half asleep when we arrived. I began looking around and studying the countryside…after all, this would be the area we would be living and I was very interested in seeing it. We stopped to drop someone off at the village that wasn’t far from Duaita…Gbenequelle. From there, we continued on to Duaita but we had to go really slow because the roads were an absolute mess. There were huge dips in the road with one side of the road low, and the other very high. The photos give you a good idea of how bad the roads were.

As we neared the village, we saw people standing on the side of the road. They behaved differently then most of the people we saw on the trip. A lot of the children would wave at us, but very few of the adults. These people, however, began jumping up and down in excitement, waving for all they were worth. At first, I thought it was just a really friendly village then remembered that we were very close to Duaita. I told Mark that they must really be excited about our arrival…he agreed. During our trip, I had been the only woman in the vehicle and kind of felt like I was surrounded by bodyguards. It was pretty interesting because I knew by then that we were safe no matter what was happening. The pastors had gone out of their way to be a help to us and we had done much discussing of the things of the Lord (ok, they had with Mark and I mostly listened). Every time we went shopping, Pastor Philemon would go with us and carry our bags. Now, don’t get me wrong…we didn’t tell him to do so, he told us it was the safest thing to do due to people who would steal from us when they wouldn’t necessarily do so from someone who knew what to expect. This was quite interesting news to me and so we let him carry our bags because he knew what was best.

Anyway, back to the village and what was happening…after we went past a few people standing and waving at us, we eventually came to a group of people blocking the road. The driver came to a stop and we sat there for a minute or two until the driver decided that we needed to get out. Pastor Philemon told us that we needed to get out of the vehicle because all the people were surrounding it and the driver wanted to go on to the house. Jerry, Mark, myself, and the pastors got out and suddenly people surrounded us, trying to shake our hands.

To Teach A Liberian…Part 12

As we were sitting there, Pastor James asked someone to pray over the food. I was the only woman at the table but Mark made it a point to dish out my food along with his…not that this was much different from normal. Mark chatted with Pastor James for a few more minutes then we phoned home to let everyone know we were safe at the Togba house. The Pilgrim took photos of me calling home! LOL! Eventually we all retired to our respective rooms! Mark and I pulled down the netting that was positioned above the single bed we slept on and tucked it around the bed to keep us from getting bit by those nasty little mosquitoes! I had heard what malaria does to you and didn’t want to catch it. In fact, I figured we might not make it back to the states so I was trying to be extra careful! We eventually drifted off to sleep despite how hot and humid it was.

Monday, February 28th – The next morning found us up early and ready to start a new day. We weren’t sure what time we were to leave but knew the pastors would be arriving around 8am. I was able to get in my Bible reading and it was fairly cool out at first but then started warming up. We went into the dining room to eat breakfast and Sister Lydia had prepared us a delicious meal of oatmeal and pineapple. Pastor James ate with us and we had a great breakfast time. Sister Lydia came out to say goodbye to us and we finished packing things up in the suitcases so that they could be packed on the top of the vehicle. I was pretty interested still in seeing what would happen next so I could put it down in my journal. One thing I did know was that I would NOT be writing while we were driving if the roads were anything like our trip from the airport to Pastor James’ house. Prince was one of the ones that showed up to say hello to us. He told us that Pastor James told him to come with us. We were fine with that since Pastor James thought it was a good idea and didn’t say anything to the contrary. He was nice enough and I was glad to meet him after praying for him for so many years. I was hoping the teaching would help him and prayed to that end.

Mark and I went over to the school as that was one of the places Mark took many pictures and videos the last time he was in Monrovia. I was pretty interested in seeing the school and taking more photos for the boys to see. Pastor James asked Mark if he wanted to say anything to the children and Mark said yes. As he spoke to the children, I was able to get several videos and photos. The children kept eyeing me…probably wondering what the white woman was doing! I must say, though, the children loved to have their photos taken so maybe it wasn’t too bad for them! We finished up there and went back to the house. Everyone was waiting on us to return so we could begin our journey into the bush!

When it came time to leave, we decided to stop at one of the stores that sold American and British food. We wanted to be able to buy the pastors some treats so when there wasn’t any food being given, they would at least be able to have some bread and mayonnaise or bread and peanut butter. It took us awhile but we finished our shopping and carried on with our trip.

After a short drive, we ended up getting stopped by a policeman. He wanted to see the papers of the driver for some reason. We figured it was because he wanted a bribe but I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. The driver – Gerome – and the policeman argued for a time then the policeman told him to pull over. There was another policeman at the side of the road talking to someone else. He came over to talk with the driver and wanted to see the papers, as well. During this time, I was beginning to wonder again because it seemed to me like we were eventually going to make it into jail…one way or another! I didn’t like that idea at first but then I had a thought. Instead of thinking that we would end up in jail every time something happened, maybe I should look at the whole situation as an adventure. I liked that idea and decided that every time something happened I would say that another adventure was happening to me that I could write about. I figured that at least the boys would enjoy hearing about it! Who knows what kind of adventures we would have when we returned the next time! They could then write about their own adventures! This was a huge help in most of the situations I found myself and I believe the Lord used it to keep me sane and excited over the time in Liberia no matter what the circumstance (outside of one major event but that is another story that I will get to eventually).

Anyway, Pastor Philemon spoke up and said, “Officer, officer. Excuse me but can I say something?” The policeman indicated to the affirmative and so Pastor Philemon said something I didn’t understand to which the second policeman seemed ok with that. The policeman said, “They can go!” The first policeman started to argue but then we were waved on. I was very relieved and glad that the Lord kept us safe once again.

From there, Mark asked for us to stop at the Red Light District. Now, let me clear something up…when we say ‘Red Light District’, to us it means something completely different from what is meant in Liberia. The reason this place was called that is because it was the first part of Monrovia to get a traffic light. Now, the red light doesn’t work…in fact, none of the traffic lights work and I don’t remember even seeing it in that area but that’s what they call it still. We did get out to buy some water and get Jerry a scratch card and sim card for his phone. I will admit that it was a very scary place and Mark kept a tight hold on my hand. Many people were staring at me but I acted as if I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary! It was a strange feeling but I figured they hadn’t seen a white woman with red hair before so they were justified in staring! LOL! These are all little shops on the side. Some are actual buildings and some are little stands where they sell different things…anything just about that you would need. Some places just sold scratch cards, which were cards that you scratched and put into your phone. This would give you five dollars worth of call time on your cell phone. Some places had like an exchange stands. You can exchange money from one country to another…mainly USD (US dollars) into LD (Liberian dollars). Some places sold different types of food that smelled sooooooo good! I asked Mark if we could try something and he said we’d better not. Some of the places sold shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc. Some places sold clothes (western world style) while others sold Liberian style clothes. Everywhere we walked there was something interesting to see and I wanted to buy so much but we only bought what we needed! When we finally returned to the car and actually got in, I breathed a sigh of relief because it was a bit overwhelming!

To Teach A Liberian…Part 11

The church building, school building and house building all looked very familiar to me as we had seen many pictures and videos from Mark’s previous visit. When we left home, our temperature had been around 16-17 degrees F, but when we arrived in Liberia it was about 92 degrees F with high humidity. When we pulled up to the house, we were told we could freshen up before eating something. Pastor James showed us where we would be staying…it was the same room that Mark had on his previous visit. It was like a master bedroom as it had it’s own bathroom! What a blessing that was! Well, considering how hot it was, we decided to take a shower to cool off! Now, let me explain! Our shower to cool off was basically the tank which was a big bucket (about 20 gallons) with lots of water in it and a smaller bucket (about 5 gallons) with a smaller scoop in it. The way we cooled off was by pouring water over our heads and when we ran out of water in the 5 gallon bucket, we grabbed the smaller scoop and kept refilling until our 5 gallon bucket was full! That was our bathroom! It did have a sink, a toilet, and a bathtub so we were in style. Now, I will say this was a more affluent household in Liberia…kind of like middle class! Btw, we did have running water…one of the kids went running for it when we needed it! (I know, a very old joke but this is seriously how we ended up getting most of our water!)

Before we went into the bedroom to freshen up, Jerry, James Matthews (the missionary), and the other guy arrived from the airport. Mark saw Steve Trexler and introduced me to him. I was glad to meet him after having heard so much about him. We stood for a minute to talk and Pastor James introduced me to his wife, Sister Lydia. We talked for a minute then we were told that the we needed to freshen up, so we did. Jerry showed up slightly after we had. He and Mark chatted with James Matthews, Steve Trexler and Pastor James while I listened. I wasn’t saying a whole lot at that point…not that I really did the whole time I was there…except for when I was teaching! We did give Steve his M&M’s and he was so happy over it! He thought we were only bringing him a small bag so it was a treat. The only thing was, he wasn’t going to be in Liberia after the next day as he was flying back to the states due to his brother having medical problems.

When we walked out of the house onto the porch, one of the ladies began singing and clapping her hands. This was my introduction to Liberian singing! The lady that started the singing sounded like she was actually singing the song while everyone else was her background. Most of what was sung was pretty close to the same thing maybe a slight variation on a theme. So it would sound something similar to one lady singing many different words and she would stop while everyone else sang kind of the background music, then they would be almost finished and the main singer would start up and sing many more words. She would stop while everyone else sang the background music again. During this whole time they would clap their hands in a kind of cadence. Sometimes it was a clap, clap, clap, pause, clap, clap, clap, pause. At this point I believe it was more of a clap, clap, clap, quick pause and two quick claps. I couldn’t tell you what they were singing but I am sure they were praising the Lord because that is what Pastor Philemon told us. The song normally goes for a few minutes and if everyone gets enthusiastic over it then it can go on for quite awhile.

The praise time finally stopped and Pastor Philemon introduced himself and the people from his church then each of the pastors introduced themselves and the people from their church, then they asked Pastor Mark to introduce himself and his team. Afterwards, Pastor Philemon shared about how Mark and himself met in 2007 through the scam. It was a great time of blessing but also a time for me to wonder why it was that we were so welcomed! I knew we had never been welcomed like this in any place we had ever been and so it was pretty confusing to me. It wasn’t until later that I understood the strong ties between Liberia and America and how that affected Liberians! On top of that, the people were so grateful that we were willing to come to Liberia to teach and train. To them, this is of paramount importance that no one else is willing to do! Eventually, Pastor Philemon told everyone that we were exhausted and we needed to go to bed and get plenty of rest because we would be leaving in the morning to go to Duaita. He asked two men to pray and then Mark to close in prayer. After prayer time, we talked a short time with everyone then said goodbye as they were all leaving.

Pastor James invited us to sit down to the table so we could eat. We noticed that there were many people gathered outside of his house. I really wasn’t sure what would happen next. They had welcomed us when we first came and I thought I recognized some of them from photos but it turned out that I had never seen their photos before! Thankfully, most of them didn’t even understand what I was saying so I was pretty relieved. Anyway, I received my first taste of Liberian food and I must say I was impressed! I think it was made with the greens but I couldn’t be positive. However Sister Lydia made it, it was very good!