Encouragements

I've been here five months now! Hard to believe :-) I was having a bit of a self-examining session the other day in light of that and thinking of what the Lord has done in these five months.
I've been really encouraged by the Bible Club the last two Wednesdays. We've had approximately 30-50 kids at Bible Club ever since the VBS in July, and they have been very enthusiastic -- but also getting noisier and more unruly each week. So 2 weeks ago, I had to be very serious with them (cross in fact) and gave them quite a lecture on their behaviour. They were still mostly listening well to the lesson, but the rest of the meeting was getting out of hand. So both Nathan Barco (the man in charge of the children's work) and I were quite sharp with them and told them they need to mend their ways or they'll go home for good. We were pretty burdened about this -- because there's no point in their coming to the meeting if they are causing so much noise that they can't hear the teacher, and more importantly hear God's Word.
But last week and yesterday, we saw a dramatic improvement in behaviour! And I don't believe it was simply our scolding that made the difference -- it's the Lord settling them down in answer to prayer. So we are thankful!
We're encouraged by a couple of kids who really are wanting to learn the memory verses, and even one or two who have attended the prayer meeting and prayed in public. We don't know their hearts, of course, but these are encouraging signs! Pray that soon, if it's the Lord's will, other teachers will be raised up so that we could divide the children into classes and teach in a manner better suited to the different age groups. When I consider the folks in the church at present, I cannot think of one person who is even near to being ready to take a class! So I'm glad that the Lord is in charge of the work, not me, and He is the One Who does exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think!
And while you're praying for teachers, you better also pray for more space! At the moment, we only have the one room for the children. If we were going to divide into classes, we would need somewhere to put them. Thanks for your continued support in prayer.

Skepticism or Reality?

The Independence Day Program was a lot of fun, although we had 11 helpers to nearly 200 children so we were slightly outnumbered and very tired at the end of the day! We rented a school near the Paynesville church and had games and races and other activities (and food!) for children ages 4 and up. These kids are like kids the world over -- they have boundless energy! We arrived at the church at 8am to set up ( a lot of kids were already there waiting for us), then the program started at 10am and lasted til 3 or 4pm, and then cleanup. We did the usual sack races, egg&spoon and three-legged races, a water relay (I stole the idea from memories of our youth camp in the States, but it wasn't quite as well organised LOL), a treasure hunt (which the kids did NOT get at all), balloon basketball, musical papers (newspapers to stand on instead of chairs to sit in since we didn't have chairs). And then the food which Rev. DiCanio kindly organised and prepared -- bread and jam, juice, popcorn, and ice cream cones (I was almost as excited about the ice cream as the children!) The juice is interesting -- they made it up in little plastic bags so you have to bite a hole in the corner of the plastic bag and then suck it out. For one thing, how can that be hygienic? And secondly, I can't seem to bite and suck at the same time . . . . so I got sticky koolaid all over me. I guess I need more practice. They sell water on the street like that but I usually avoid it because I think it's unhygienic:-)

Anyway, it all went well I believe, and random people were passing on the street saying "thank you so much for your work." It's funny, people here thank you for things that they have no connection with -- like one time I was washing the windows in my apartment. All the workers from other apartments were coming over to thank me for doing it. I couldn't figure it out! It's not like they were going to do it if I hadn't done it! They probably think I'm rude because I don't thank them for washing their employer's dishes . . .

Yes, so as I was saying, the general community seemed to appreciate the effort on Independence Day. Or . . . maybe they just wanted some ice cream. We had a couple adult neighbours join the queue for ice cream, saying "I haven't had mine yet." Oh, this wonderful "African socialism"! "If I don't have, I can ask (and expect to receive) from someone who does have, and if I do have, I have a responsibility to give to those who don't have." I read that very statement (as nearly as I remember) in a Christian Religious Education textbook in Kenya, and the man who said it called it African Socialism. It's not Biblical! Try this: "If any would not work, neither should he eat." "Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread." (II Thess. 3:10, 12).

Not that we didn't give them the ice-cream since we had some left, but it's the general principle that is being illustrated here that I wanted to share with you :-)

Happy Independence Day!

VBS went well I believe -- a lot of kids came in (about 130 on the last day), and although we had the usual problems of overcrowding and lots of distractions, many of them seemed to listen intently. I need to keep reminding myself that even those who didn't seem to listen at all (and there were a few in that category!) may still have been touched because God's Word is powerful and will not return to Him void. We don't know what is happening in their hearts!
Some of the new kids at VBS have been attending Sunday School or the Wednesday Bible Club since then, and we're really encouraged by this. Five children (one of whom is only 4 years old) received their very own Bibles this past week in Sunday School as prizes for having learned and recited Psalm 121 perfectly. They've been working on it for many weeks now!
My time with my family was wonderful! I think they were all a bit busier than they had anticipated, but they certainly helped me out a lot. They were rather traumatised by the traffic and the roads -- one day an accident happened right in front of us, and we ended up taking a lady to the hospital. Or maybe it was my driving that was traumatic! I was "arrested" one day for not pulling to the side of the road when the vice president's convoy was passing. My excuse was that the lead police vehicle, which would usually have "VP Escort" written on it, didn't have any such marking, and I thought it was just a normal police car passing (in which case you get out of the way, but you're not required to pull over and stop.) Anyway, it turns out that the "VP escort" vehicle had broken down and they were using a regular police vehicle as a substitute so a lot of people were having difficulty recognising it. So I apologised politely and didn't say much more than that and played especially dumb when they hinted about a bribe and they eventually let me go.
But apart from such minor catastrophes, we all had a good time. The electricity and water went off and on just enough to give my family a true picture of living in Liberia. :-) Truth to tell, I was more frustrated than them when this happened. Dad preached at the Sunday service in three of the mission churches, and at prayermeetings as well. He also spent some time working with the men at the building site (that's his idea of relaxing!) Mom and Jerusha helped a lot with VBS and the children's work in general, and with the Reading Club which meets twice a week.
July 26th (this Thursday) is Independence Day in Liberia. Apparently liquor is sold freely on that day and on Christmas Day, even to children, and a lot of kids as young as 9 or 10 get drunk. So it was suggested yesterday that we have some kind of program on Thursday -- games and activities for the kids so that they won't be at a loose end and will be less likely to get into trouble. It's all systems go since we're planning this at the last minute. Pray for this effort! Sin is practiced openly and unashamedly all around these children every day, and it's only the Lord Who can keep them from it and make it distasteful to them.

VBS

It suddenly occurred to me tonight that I'm supposed to be keeping a blog here. I had kinda forgotten that little fact for about a month! Sorry, folks.
Anyway, just to update you, I am now a resident of Liberia -- for a year at least -- then I have to renew my permit again. The next thing is to get my Liberian driving license which I hope to do very soon.
My parents and sister Jerusha arrived last Thursday for an eagerly anticipated visit. It's great to see them and let them share in the work -- they're supposed to be on vacation but so far they've been pretty busy!
We are holding a Vacation Bible School in the Paynesville church this week. Please pray for these meetings -- from 10am to 12 noon, Monday to Friday. We went round the neighbourhood on Saturday, giving out special invitations to the meetings. We had a good response from parents so pray that the children will come and learn and that their hearts will be touched.
The building has commenced on the property in Dwazone. The foundations for the first house are underway. I was down on Friday and it was exciting to see the progress being made. Pray that this building project will go smoothly, and that Rev. DiCanio will be able to move into this house by the time his current lease is up in September.

I can't think of a title right now . . .

June already! I know, what an original way to start a post. But seriously, I was just thinking about the fact that it's really easy to get out of touch with what's going on in the world. Part of the problem is the fact that I don't read newspapers, I don't watch TV, I don't listen to the radio, and since my internet's so slow right now, I don't keep up with news that way either. (By the way, none of the above is because of conviction or anything like that -- I guess it's just that I'm lazy and my head just naturally buries itself in the sand unless I make a supreme effort to dig it out.) Anyway, at home (in NI), I couldn't help but hear the news from my large and talkative family (some of whom are pretty clued in to current events). Here . . . well, it's easy to be out of touch. And hence the fact that it's June is rather surprising to me -- my head seems to have stopped somewhere around March 21st!
Only in that one sense, though. In many other ways, I'm extremely conscious of the passing of time -- because it's going so fast! And there's so much to do . . .
I'm thinking and praying about holding Holiday Bible Clubs during the kids' summer vacation (which is starting in the next week or two). Pray with me about this, please.  It would be a good way to kickstart a children's work in the Balla Creek and Gardinersville churches -- I haven't done any work in either of them yet since I came. BUT there would be no point in holding a Bible Club and contacting children if the folks in the churches don't then put their shoulders to the plow and continue the work the rest of the year. In Paynesville (where I've been working the most), the church people have really gotten behind the work with the children. I would like to see that happening in the other churches too. The way I see it, the missionary can help with teaching, and especially with training the teachers, but the people in the local church need to dedicate themselves to the work, week in and week out -- getting to the church early to set up, going out into the community to round the kids up, etc. So pray that the church folks will be burdened for their own children.
The Paynesville work has been encouraging. Nathan Barco (the committee member in Paynesville who is heading up the Sunday School work) and I went out on "visitation" round the community a couple of weeks ago. We had made up a leaflet to remind the children about Sunday School, and we made a point of speaking to the parents directly to encourage them to send their children. We stressed the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day, and of teaching their children to do the same. We challenged them not to send their kids to wash clothes or sell in the market on Sunday, but rather to get them up early and send them to Sunday School on time. Of course, most parents agreed with everything we said (only one Jehovah's Witness lady said point-blank that she wouldn't be coming or sending her children). I wasn't sure how many of them actually meant what they said, but we've definitely had some new kids in the last couple of weeks, and last Sunday some parents actually brought their kids right to the church (and one lady stayed for church). So pray that these children will remain. We've been encouraging the children to come on time and we're going to give little prizes each month to those who come on time every Sunday in the month. Only 4 children got the prize for the month of May! But the prize-giving certainly raised some interest among the others. It's really distracting (both for the kids and the teachers) when children are wandering in any time from 9:30 (when Sunday School starts) right up until 10:45 (when it ends). And then obviously the kids who come late are missing a lot of the teaching.
Last weekend Rev. DiCanio, Pastor Andrew Joe, and I travelled down to RiverCess -- it's about 120 miles away. It took about 5 hours to drive -- the road was paved for the first 2 hours (actually a really good road!). We were on dirt roads after that, but it wasn't too bad, and it didn't rain so that made the travelling a lot easier. RiverCess is the fourth Free Presbyterian Mission Church here in Liberia -- I had only been there once before (I think in 2009). It was nice to visit again and meet the people. Rev. DiCanio had a committee meeting on Saturday evening when we arrived, so I met with the children informally and taught them some choruses (they were all waiting for us at the church!) Then on Sunday morning, I taught Sunday School -- they do have a good group of children there. Most of the people in RiverCess speak Bassa and I had thought that I'd have to be interpreted, but it turned out that the kids all learn English in school and they assured me that they understood me. I don't know about the little ones, but it was definitely easier to teach in English without having to be translated. There's a lot of work to be done in RiverCess -- the church people seem to be putting effort into the children's work, and I'd like to help in some way. Obviously, the logistics of getting there are more difficult than for the places close to Monrovia, but pray that the Lord will make the way -- perhaps to go down and stay for a few days and hold a Bible Club.

Sorry for the silence for the last couple of weeks. They've been crazy! My shipment arrived last Wednesday with a lot of books and teaching materials and also a few musical instruments! I was really grateful and relieved that nothing was damaged in transit. I played the piano in church for the first time on Sunday, and I've used the keyboard for a couple of music lessons already. I had some "household" articles in the shipment as well, which I've been scattering around in the apartment to make it look more "homey"! Exciting . . .
A couple people have asked about the girl with the arm injury -- she's actually having surgery tomorrow, Lord willing. When she saw the orthopaedic surgeon, he said it's a pathological fracture due to an underlying bone cyst (told you my x-ray reading skills weren't very good!!) So we took her to the hospital today and got her admitted -- please pray that the surgery will go ahead tomorrow as planned and that the Lord will keep her safe and give the surgeon skill.
The Wednesday Bible Club has gone well for the past couple of weeks. We do find that the kids are pretty sleepy in the afternoon (they're up very early in the morning to start school) so we're trying to make the lessons quite interactive, more so than on Sundays. The numbers are smaller on Wednesdays too, so it's easier to make it interactive and actually work with the children instead of just teaching at the front. The numbers have gone down on Sundays as well, which is not entirely a surprise because that's usually what happens when the novelty wears off. We're really praying about this -- we don't want the kids coming simply because of novelty, but at the same time we're burdened to know that these children are in the neighbourhood and are not hearing God's Word. At least a few of them that we know of are being kept at home to wash clothes or to go with their parents to sell in the market -- and we're definitely praying against that!! Pray that wisdom will be given to us to know how to contact them again, and pray most of all that God will give the kids the desire to hear His Word and the parents the willingness to send them.

Bits & Pieces

Last Wednesday evening as I went into the church for prayermeeting, I saw a dozen or so kids sitting in the cry room singing Deep & Wide. Some more children were already sitting in the church itself, looking very pleased with themselves! I must admit I was glad to see them there, but a little nervous about how they were going to behave, since they're only just learning to sit in Sunday School. The committee men decided to let the older ones stay but send the little ones home (there were some 2 or 3 year olds there -- with no adults in sight of course!!) They didn't do too badly, to be fair to them. A couple had to be put outside (and then of course they stood and made faces through the windows because we don't have curtains yet!). There was a little chatter and bustle but altogether I was pretty proud of them!
We had already planned to have a meeting about the Sunday School work after the prayer time. As we discussed the work and the children, we felt that it would be good to have a mid-week meeting for them as well as the Sunday School. So, Lord willing, we will have our first Bible Club meeting this Wednesday at 3pm. Please pray for this meeting, and for the kids who attend!
I'm planning to take a little girl to see an orthopaedic specialist tomorrow. She's 11 or 12 years old, and she broke her wrist in November or December. Sadly, at that point, she was taken to see an herbalist (practicing traditional medicine) and a cast was put on without the arm ever being x-rayed. She's had pain, swelling, and loss of function ever since -- she's missed a lot of school, she can't grip things properly, etc. She finally got an x-ray two weeks ago, and her grandfather (a man in our church) brought it, and the child, to me on Saturday. Now I'm terrible at reading x-rays, but even I can see that there's definitely something wrong here! It looks like the whole head of her ulna was broken off and pushed up in between the radius and ulna a little farther up the arm. It may not be that, but there's definitely a big lump on her arm, and that's my guess as to what happened from looking at the x-ray. So we have an appointment tomorrow -- pray that something can be done for her here in Liberia. It's so sad that she's suffered all this time.
By the way, if you ever have an emergency in Liberia, don't ring 911! Nobody answers. (even though that's supposed to be the emergency number). I was in the city centre last week, and a man was having a seizure on the sidewalk. A few people were standing around looking at him, but most folks were just walking on past. I ran and got gloves from my car, and by the time I got back, the seizure had stopped. The shopkeeper next door said he had tried to call 911 but no answer -- and I tried again but it just rang out. It seems the man lives on the streets, and some of his buddies told me that he has seizures now and then. We stayed with him for a while --- he came round quite quickly, and his friends said they would keep an eye on him. So I went on my way -- but now I know there's no-one to call in an emergency! (I had been told this by Rev. DiCanio, and now I believe him! :-) Someone told me afterwards that there is a number for the police, but it takes a long time for them to answer and to be honest, from my experiences with them, I can't see them doing much to help.