We are here now

Well here we sit in Brussels, there is an earlier flight to Madrid, but they won’t let us change. I have 5 hrs to kill so I’ll tell some more stories.

John is another of those remarkable people. We rode to the airport and sat in the waiting room with him. I had met him at ELWA, but hadn’t spent much time with him. He had been in Liberia for 6 weeks. Some of that time he spent in ELWA, the rest out visiting churches he had planted. John is late 60s early 70’s and “retired”. He lives in Portland now, but comes to Liberia for at least 6 weeks every year. He also goes to eastern Russia for 6 weeks each year. He would go more but he made a consesion to his wife. He, his wife and 5 daughters lived in Liberia from 79 to 90 when he had to evacuate because of the war. He was one of the first back after it was “safe”, and stayed until the next war broke out. He has some real war stories, he thought it was the end a few times, but he said God spared him. He said when he returned and saw all the destruction he just wandered around ELWA in shock, asking why? He went into the gym at the school, it had been hit by mortar fire, but still on the wall was a map of Africa with an inscription that read “Jesus loves Africa”. He said he thought about that and knew it was still true, so he just started worshiping God. He loves the people he is discipling and communicates with them over the phone and internet when not here. He grew up in the Port Angeles area, one of 10 children. His father became a Christian when he was in his mid twenties and felt called to preach. John said his father never got a regular paycheck the whole time he grew up. His father just traveled around preaching. They had twenty acres and grew and raised just about all their food. John said that he decided to be a missionary at the age of 10 and never had a thought of doing anything else with his life and never regretted it. Of his 9 siblings 6 were missionaries. John is undergoing treatment for multiple myoloma. You see John is dying from cancer, he doesn’t fear dying, but he said he hates the thought of not being able to share Jesus with lost people.

Well we finally made it to San Sebastian. We spent more time in Brussels than we were suppose to. Our flight out of there was delayed 2 1/2 hours so when we got to Madrid our train had already left. We stayed the night in Madrid at a nice hotel right across the street from the train station, that gave us a chance to get tickets and check the place out. It turned out to be a good thing, because if we took the train we were suppose to we would have been in the dark most of the way. From Madrid to San Sebastian you pass through some very picturesque country. Not far out of Madrid you pass though a long tunnel then you go through country reminiscent of Eastern Washington, then you pass through some large cities, farm land and villages. You alternate through flat farm land, hilly farm land and wood lots. It was all very interesting. Then you get to the Basque region and it was spectacular. Every where you looked it was like a calendar or post card picture. Some of it looked like what I would expect to see in Switzerland, with chalets in high meadows and cottages in steep valleys by steams. I was glad we got to see it all. It was a beautiful day with clear skies most of the way and about 60 degrees when we got to San Sebastian. We met up with Joel, Kelly, Caden and a sick, coughing, Owen. I felt sorry for him he had a fever and didn't feel well at all. We went for a walk around town, it is really neat, very different from Liberia and home. We are going to have fun exploring it all. We don't have any specific plans, but I'm sure we won't have any problem finding stuff to do. I'm not sure how much more I'll be blogging, you'll just have to wait and see.

Victory, Cockroaches, and Tee shirts

It is our last day in Africa, it has gone very fast. We leave here at 7:00 pm and fly to Brussels, we have a 5 hour layover there, then on to Madrid. From there we take the train to San Sebastian. We should arrive at Joel and Kelly Perrys at about midnight Saturday. I'm not sure when I will post again, but the next time I do we won't be in Africa. At some point I will collect all my thoughts and try to say something profound. When I started this blog I really thought I would run out of things to say, but believe me I haven't told you half of what I saw, did, or thought. Well yesterday was no exception.

First things first, the good guys can win every so often. Rusty and Uriah went to the airport first thing yesterday. When they got there, there were no customs people there. They showed up about 9:30 saying that they had bus trouble. They inspected the papers and decided that they were in order, so all that had to be done was the fee for not having to pay a fee had to be paid, but they couldn't find the cashier. Eventually the cashier showed up, the $55. US was paid and the boxes were loaded into the Land Cruiser. Rusty and Uriah made it back just before lunch with their trophies.

I started the day with a run with Christopher, I didn't try to beat him, there is no way I could do that without help or seriously injuring him. Later I did some more math with him. I did a little snorkeling and D'Linda looked for more treasures on the beach.

A fisherman came by just as Rusty got here for lunch so we bought 7 lobsters from him for $15 US. We boiled them up for lunch.

Rusty took the afternoon off so we could see a few more things before we left. He took us up to the ELWA school to show us the computer room. It has 7 working computers, they looked pretty old to me. The teacher said they have to limit the class. He also said they have server problems and pretty much every other problem you can have.

We went to visit the orphanage that we visited the first day here. We got there just as the bigger kids were getting up with from their nap. They were happy to see us, especially uncle Rusty, he brought out the bubble making stuff and everyone popped bubbles for a while. Then the chalk came out and pictures on the concrete courtyard appeared. Teddy was excited to see Rusty, he always picks him up and puts him in the tree. Teddy loves to sit up in the tree. Of all the people and things I have seen in Africa, Teddy has effected me the most. He is 5 or 6, he has bright beautiful eyes and long eyelashes, he smiles a lot, but his body doesn't work right. He seems quite smart, but can't talk. He walks around on his Knees dragging his feet behind, he has a hard time using his hands, but manages to hold the chalk and draw. I have to believe with a little therapy and work Teddy could function very well. There is a family in New Jersey who loves and wants Teddy, but... If I thought I could get away with it, I would pick Teddy up on the way out and take him to New Jersey. When the younger kids got up from their nap Jamie got Dekaghar, the other little girl that they would like to adopt. They have approval to take her home as a foster child, but Rusty has decided not to until they are sure that the adoptions will open up again. He thinks it would be to hard on her and them if they had to take her back to the orphanage when they leave.

After the orphanage we went to the resort down the road to relax around the pool for a while. Everyone went swimming except me, I just enjoyed the breeze and watching them play. We had decided to take everyone out to dinner and thought about doing it there, but we decided to go to The Palm Springs. It is a nice hotel, office, shops, restaurant, place, I really don't know how to describe it. It is not quite finished but what is is very nice. When we got to the restaurant the manager came out a told us he was very sorry but the restaurant was reserved for a private party. He told us that we could go down stairs to the lounge and he would serve us there. I noticed that there were lots of men in suits around, but didn't think much about it. We all had different things for dinner and everyone was good. It was the nicest place we had been here in Liberia and it wasn't overpriced. We kept noticing more men in suits and they all had earpieces. Rusty asked someone and we found out that the private party up stairs was some foreign dignitaries and the President of Liberia. I was hoping that she would come through and greet the people and we could appeal for her help with Blessing, but no.

We came home and I stayed up watching Transformers 2 with the boys until I was falling asleep. Christopher had bought a bootleg copy of the movie, along with about 20 others for $4 US.

In the middle of the night D'Linda got up and I heard her talking and laughing, I asked her what she was doing and she said she was chasing a cockroach. She chased it into our room and managed to hit it with a shoe. She was quite proud of herself, just three weeks ago she would only scream and run. She also said that she doesn't like the ants in the food, but it doesn't gross her out anymore. I guess three weeks in Africa can change you.

Lastly, I saw the most inappropriate tee shirt yet. I saw it at the orphanage again. This time it was Teddy who was wearing it. It was a couple sizes too big, frayed around the neck, well worn but clean, it said "someone who loves me very much went to Miami and got me this shirt"

Good times

After I finished my blog yesterday I asked if anyone wanted to run on the beach. Colton said he did and we went for a nice run/walk. I love spending time with the boys individually, they each have different perspectives and senses of humor. We saw the fishermen going out and a number of jellyfish. Colton estimated 30 to 40, I say maybe 30. Because we saw so many we decided not to cool down in the ocean.

After breakfast I decided to make the allegedly dead rooster into the actually dead rooster. It's been a while since I butchered chickens, but I guess it's like riding a bike. Kobe wanted to help, in fact he said he wanted to chop the head off, but when it came time he declined. The cutlass (machete) that Poppy had sharpened wasn't that sharp, or the blade was not smooth anyway it took a few whacks to get the job done. Felicia, Rusty and Jamie's house help, she comes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to clean, do laundry and cook, came about then and said "thank you grandpa" for butchering the chicken. She calls D'Linda grandma also. Missionaries are expected to hire some help. Felicia cooks the dinner on the days she works, so they get authentic Liberian food. She put the rooster in the pumpkin soup for dinner, but she said she had to cook it extra long because of how tough he was. After chewing for a while I agreed, but he was organic I'm sure.

Kobe said that he had wanted to go running with me, so I went again. We ran down to the fishermen again. When we were about 200 yds from the finish Kobe said he wanted to race, so I was trying to figure a way that I could beat him, but he was watching me close. Then a miracle happened, he spotted a shell, the kind that grandma likes. We stopped and found quite a few, when we had most of them picked up I pointed one more out to him and when he went to pick it up I took off. Through shouts of "unfair" and "cheater" he tried to catch up, but with my jump and an arm load of shells he couldn't. Treachery triumphs again! We decided to cool down in the ocean, even with the threat of jellyfish, we had to wash the sand off of the shells. When we got back D'Linda was excited about the shells and had to go to see if she could find more. Jamie and Blessing went with her.

Christopher was doing math, I sat next to him and asked some questions. We started doing problems together. The boys are pretty much minimalists when it comes to school work, especially math. Christopher has a workbook that he uses, his practice is to do the problems he has to do, which are the odd numbered ones, and he skips the lesson and the practice problems. He does quite a bit of guessing. We started working through all of the problems and really had a good time, so much so that he did a few lessons ahead. We did some with negative numbers and I had to look at the answer book to remember how.

I had a great morning getting to spend time with each of the boys individually.

Rusty had another fuel day. Kobe and I walked up to the shop while they were delivering the fuel. Steve and Mel were there also, the fuel looked like mud puddle water. Steve took a sample so he could have it tested. As much trouble as they have keeping generators running they don't need dirty fuel, but there is little you can do.

Rusty told us he would be late tonight. He had to go with Kedrick, the director of ELWA, to take an autoclave to another hospital. They had a new autoclave here that they couldn't use because it was a different voltage than what they generate. As it turns out the other hospital got an autoclave that didn't match their voltage but would work here.

Dr Sacra stopped by after dinner, D'Linda asked if he was on call and he said he was and that he was expecting a rough night. He said the OB ward was full when he left. I asked him how many babies are delivered here. He said that it is pretty consistent at 110-120 per month. He said that they do a higher than average number as c-sections. Many women deliver at home so the ones that come here tend to be the problem ones. He said he was at JFK hospital today, teaching a class, when a bunch of new equipment came in from an organization called Hospitals of Hope(HoH). Rusty told me later that HoH was donating over a million dollars worth of equipment there. That is where the autoclave came from.

I asked Rusty about Uriah, he kept saying he hadn't heard anything. I don't know if your familiar with the bible story, it is in 2 Samuel chapter 11. It is a story that could be a great movie. It is about an honorable man and has loyalty, deceit, conspiracy, betrayal, violence and sex involved. It could be a current political story, except for the honorable part. It shows that the good guys don't always win. Back to our Uriah, Rusty finally heard that he was leaving the Ministry of Finance last night at 8:00 after spending another day there. He had the signed documents and was going to try and get the packages today. This is getting to be like those old serials, you'll have to tune in tomorrow to see what befalls our hero...

Loose ends

Edwin stopped by yesterday, he was the vegetable seller who ran down the street jumping for joy about the seeds. He said he had planted the okra, corn and something else and they were already up. Warm soil, rain and sunshine will make seeds jump out of the ground I guess.

Kobe and I would have lost the bet, Jerry, the contractor in the dispute, showed up and worked on Moses' home Saturday. He said he should finish Moses' house this Saturday, and only have a little left on Mamosa's. Even undependability is unpredictable here.

I was up typing the last blog until about 5:00, then I had just gotten to sleep and the dead rooster started announcing rise and shine. Jamie said that Rusty is under orders to do something about it before sunrise.
An old man that they call Poppy, what they call all old men, came by today to sharpen the tools. The same ones that he sharpens every week, that don't get used very much. Jamie and Rusty were gone so we had to find the tools so he could sharpen them. He is nearly blind and this is how he supports himself. I told him I was Rusty's father, he thanked me profusely for Jamie saying she was "all right". He told me that she had paid some medical bills for him. They had told me that while he was in the hospital his neighbors stole all his belongings, I guess they thought he wasn't going to make it, all he had left was his little bench with a sharpening wheel. When I first told him that Jamie was gone he thought I meant she had left the country and he was real disappointed, but when he understood she was just in Monrovia he was relieved and very happy.

A man came by in the morning just after Rusty had left for work, so Jamie went out to talk with him. I saw him take off his cap and talk with Jamie. When she came in she said he had a growth or tumor on one eye. He had come down out of the bush to find help. He had gone to a clinic, but couldn't afford the treatment. He was hoping they could help him, I think she was going to see if she could get him to Dr. Sacra.

Generator #4 is running, that is the one that they were rewinding on the dirt floor in the goat shack. They had a little trouble getting it going, but it seems to be working well now. Wow 3 out of 4 running, and Rusty said they did some work on #1 and are going to try and get it running today!

The mechanic called and thinks the problem with the car is fuel injectors. You can't get new ones here, but he thinks he can clean them and get it running smoother.

There was a potluck dinner last night and I got to spend some time with Dr. Sacra. I had hoped to spend more time with him, but he is always working. He is head of the hospital and they are presently two doctors short so he is filling in all the time. Hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to corner him. He stopped by the other day with a shirt that said Liberia needs blood, so I asked if I could give. He said he would let me know when he had a blood tech available. I might as well give blood here I won't be able to back home for at least 3 years and maybe the rest of my life. He is leaving in May for two years, but plans to come back. When he comes back he is hoping to be able to make ELWA a teaching hospital, and train resident doctors. He said that the University of Liberia is turning out some good medical students. Along with all his other duties he teaches some classes there, just another of those remarkable people that seem to be all over around here.

Rusty and Jamie had to go to the US Embassy to get their fingerprints updated. I didn't know that fingerprints have a shelf life, but they have to keep current ones for the adoption file. They said that they were the only ones there, but it still took over an hour.

The potluck last night was for the electrical team. There are six of them here now, and some more are coming in on the flight we are leaving on Friday. They all are volunteers, and just more of those remarkable people I keep telling you about. Paul, Steve and Mel's cousin, is a lineman from Mississippi, he is the one that shipped the package Fed-Ex. The package has a couple thousand dollars worth of tools and supplies that he plans to leave here. Along with his flight, expenses, and time off of work that makes a pretty substantial contribution.

About the Fed-Ex package, Rusty got the fellow who had been waiting for his Department of Finance release to add our packages to his request. I was wrong, I thought Rusty had said he had been waiting a week, he has been waiting a month. He went and spent 8 hours there yesterday, and was successful in adding our packages to the release. He even got it signed. He has to go back today to pay the fee for the release to not pay duty? His name is Uriah, I asked Rusty if Uriah knew what happened to his name sake when they sent him off to battle on his own. I'll let you know if he actually gets the release today.

Well the allegedly dead rooster must have overheard Jamie, he waited until 7:30 to start crowing.

How to waste a day Liberian style

It is the middle of the night and I can't sleep again.I have been sleeping fairly well, but I will get to the reason I can't sleep later.

First,our trip to town went well. Jamie drove, we went down to meet up with Kevin at 8:00.

He had a pickup belonging to the mechanic because his car was in need of repair and the mechanic had loaned him his truck. We left ELWA and drove to the mechanics house where Kevin's car was. We met up with the mechanics driver who was going to drive the pickup while Kevin drove his car to the mechanics shop. As we were leaving, another man came up to the driver and motioned for him to pull over. The man said the driver had to pick up some barrels to take to the mechanic and that we should go on ahead. Kevin, who is Steve's son, was actually born in ELWA hospital and grew up here, but wasn't sure he could find the mechanics shop. I said I could find it if Jamie could get to the US Embassy and she said she could, so we headed off in the lead. Traffic was slow so our 2 lanes appropriated one from the other side. We were getting a lot of stares, which isn't unusual, just being white gets lots of stares here, but you don't see many women drivers so that is probably why they were staring. Traffic started moving a little faster until we came to an intersection where we turn left. I have been through the intersction before, it is a very busy road, but the left turn seems to have the right of way over the through traffic from the other direction. As we got to the intersection, a policeman stopped us to allow some of the through traffic to go. At this point Kevin was a couple cars behind us. When you make the turn, you are on a road between the Legislature Building and the Presidential Offices. There are signs all over that say, "No photos, no parking, no stopping". We went past there and around the corner and noticed that Kevin wasn't behind us any more. We pulled over and Jamie tried to call him, but her phone was out of minutes. She had another phone card with her and it took her a few minutes to add some time. She called Kevin, but he didn't answer, so we turned around and went back to look for him. We spotted him pulled over in front of the Legislature Building with his hood up, and some men talking to him. The mechanics pickup was beside him but it pulled away as we approached. We couldn't stop so we had to go past, but Kevin didn't see us. We went back out onto the busy road and went down that road until we could find a place to turn around. Our turn around took us through the University of Monrovia Campus and back to the busy road and finally back to where Kevin was. He asked if we had a tow strap, which we did, so we hooked him up and proceeded towards the mechanics. Kevin told us later that that was quite an ordeal because the police and Liberian Secret Service told him that he couldn't park there and that they were going to confiscate his car. Luckily we got there before they towed it. Jamie says that honking is considered polite and not honking is rude. People were very polite to us as we pulled Kevin's car slowly through Monrovia. At one point we had to go up a hill on a narrow street. We came up behind a taxi trying to turn left but everytime he tried to go his engine would die. Then he would get it started, but he wouldn't be able to go because of the traffic. When he got another opening, his engine would die again. Finally he made it and we proceeded to the US Embassy where they have barracades set up on the road and only allow one car at a time to go past. I thought we were going to have trouble, but they let us through. We got to the mechanics without to much more trouble, Jamie managed to keep the car running even though we were towing Kevin. Then the driver gave us all a ride back to ELWA. That only took about 2 hours.

One of the members of the electrical team had shipped some tools and supplies Fed-Ex because he couldn't carry them all with his luggage. He had shipped them in care of Ben, who is in Ghana at a conference, so he asked Rusty to pick it up for him. Rusty checked the tracking number and found out the package was at the airport. He called Fed-Ex to find out how to pick it up. They told him he had to come to their office in Monrovia and pick up some paper work and take it to the airport to get the package. Kobe, Christopher and I went along. It turns out that the Fed-Ex office is just around the corner from Dinah's Restaurant, the place with the big Philadelphia sandwiches. While Rusty went to the Fed-Ex office the boys and I ordered sandwiches for lunch. We headed back through the now heavy traffic to ELWA, where we dumped off the boys and sandwiches for Jamie and D'Linda. We headed for the airport to get the package. Another missionery had arived the night before and when he came through customs he was carrying some boxes of parts for the radio station, they wouldn't allow them through, they had to be inspected by someone who wasn't there, so he asked Rusty to pick those up while we were at the airport. We found the Customs building at the airport, went into the lobby where 5 or 6 men were standing around. We told them we needed a Fed-Ex package and showed them the paper work. One man took the paper work and said he had to find someone with a key to the room where the package was. Rusty also explained about the boxes for the radio station. Our guy said those were probably over in the terminal. After waiting awhile, an official looking guy in a blue shirt came over to take us to the terminal to get the boxes. On the way over he asked us if we had any paper work for the boxes. Rusty said no. When the boxes were confiscated, the missionary asked for a receipt but was told they didn't have any. The man in the blue shirt said "How do I know they are your boxes" and Rusty said "because I told you so". After arguing for a little bit the man decided that the packages probably aren't there anyway, that they are probably in Monovia at the airline office, so we head back to the customs building and continue waiting for the person with the key. The guy that was helping us came by and said something to me that I didn't understand and motioned for me to wait and went to the terminal building. After awhile he came back and told us that the person with the key was busy and she would be here as soon as she was finished. I decided to go for a walk to check out the terminal, but about half way over, the guy in the blue shirt came out of terminal and motioned for me to come with him. We walked back to where Rusty was and I noticed he had a key with him. He unlocked the room and we found the package. After they were certain it was the correct package, they told us that as soon as we got a release from the Ministry of Finance we could take the package. The Ministry of Finance Office is in Monrovia. Rusty said we were just in Monrovia, why didn't some one tell us we needed another document, and they didn't know but thats just the way it was. After more discussion, they took us to their boss who didn't seem to understand the process any better than we did, so he took us to the head of another department. He told us that we needed the Ministry of Finance release so we wouldn't have to pay duty on the package, he also told us that the radio parts were there and we needed a release for those also. Duty here can be very expensive, up to 50% of the value of the item. By then it was about 3:00 and they told us they closed at 4:00 so there was no way we could get to Monrovia and back in time. It is probably a good thing because when we got back to ELWA Rusty called around to try to get some paper work on the radio station boxes and found out that someone from the lab had been trying to get a release from the Ministry of Finance for the last week. Hopefully we can get the package for the electrical team before they leave.

Now, the reason I can't sleep. I am sure you are aware of the California couple that is charged with the death of an adopted child. That child was adopted from Liberia and that is getting a lot of press here. There was a rumor that the President was going to end the moratorium on adoptions because the Legislature was taking to long to revise the laws. Now with the outrage over the abuse of the children, that is unlikely to happen. There is going to be an investigation into the adoption of these children. The problem is, the orphanage that these adoptions went through is the same one that Rusty and Jamie are working with to adopt Blessing. The orphanage doesn't approve adoptive parents, US social workers, the US state Dept. and the Liberian Ministry of Health do that, but the orphanage may end up losing their license. I said that there were many things that could go wrong with Blessing's adoption, well, add one more really big one. This is the same orphanage that Teddy, Gail and those special needs children I introduced you to in my first report from here are at. I can only hope this blows over, but I don't think it will. Even though the only other case of a Liberian orphan dying in the US is back in the 80's and children here are abused, beaten, starved and discarded daily. There seems to be growing sentiment to stop all adoptions. I ask you to pray for these children, especially Blessing. The chance of her getting the surgeries and therapy she needs if she remains here is very remote. The only family she knows is Jamie, Rusty and the boys, and even a casual observer would see that she is loved. At this point I am convinced that without God's intervention she will not be adopted, but with God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. I know that there are some people that read this that don't believe in God, I ask you to pray also to maybe help you believe. I say that knowing that God doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want, Jesus asked to be spared from the cross, but he wasn't, but He does listen and care. And sometimes he does great things.

To be continued, I PRAY.

To be continued, I hope

The plan was to go to another church, but the car was running real rough, so we went here at ELWA. Back home some people show up late for church, here pretty much everyone does. When the service started it was less than half full, there were only 4 choir members there. after about a hour the place was full and the choir was about 10 strong. A couple noticeable differences about worship here, the energy level is higher, and there are more men attending than women. The service lasted about 2 hours. We were early enough to get seats close to a working fan, there are lots of fans, but only about half work. It didn't do me much good anyway, I was soaking wet in no time. One of the electrical team was behind me sweating almost as much as I was. He said that it surprised him, he was from Mississippi and used to hot humid weather.

After church the plan was to visit one of the orphanages, but the car problems changed that. D'Linda and I took a walk on the beach, a dip in the ocean, did some reading and took a nap, a perfect Sunday afternoon.

A few Liberian boys came by and borrowed the soccer ball, some others borrowed the basketball and one came for a boogie board. There were a couple who came by and used the computer.

Patrick, one of Rusty's plumbers, came by to ask if we would consider paying for him to finish high school. He is 21 and currently taking night classes, he has about a year and a half left to complete high school, then he would like to go on to college. Night school takes longer to complete than regular school, Patrick said that often he goes and the teacher doesn't show up. If he does switch to regular school he couldn't work, but it would take him less time to finish.

Rusty just came and asked me if I would drive the car to the mechanic this morning. One of the other missionary was taking a truck in so he said I could follow him. Jamie felt sorry for me so she said she would ride along. Alright, another new experience. If you don't hear from me again it's been exciting.

Lazy Saturday

We had a relaxing day Saturday after our great road trip Friday. Rusty went to the shop to meet with Steve and go over the electrical teams plans. Some of the team is here now, most of the rest will be here this coming week. Steve doesn't know all of them, they are all volenteers from different places. While they are changing things over ELWA will be without power for a few days. D'Linda said that she is real glad that we will be gone when that happens, the thought of trying to sleep without air conditioning is not good.

It rained a little in the morning, for the fourth time since we have been here. That made it nice and cool, mid eighties, but the sun came out later so the net result was hot and more humid. One of the boys told D'Linda that the forecast for the first of the week is in the 100s. She's already worrying.

Rusty came home and had to run some mouse traps up to Steve, apparently where they have him staying has a problem with mice. Rusty said that they haven't caught any lately so he was loaning him their's. I went with him to meet Steve. When we came back as we turned into the driveway the car alarm went off. It stopped after announcing our arrival, but after we got out it went off again and on and off every couple of minutes. Rusty looked through the fuses to see if he could disable the system, but the best he could do was remove the fuse for the horn. Jamie needed some cheese and Rusty had to pick up some hardware so I went with him. He was worried about driving without a horn, I told you it is a big part of driving here. The flashers would go off periodically as we drove, but that isn't unusual around here. Some drivers drive with their flashers on all the time. When we came out of the store the car had unlocked itself. It was running pretty rough also. At the hardware store Rusty left the car unlocked, but when we came out it was locked. When we got back Rusty disconnected the battery, a problem for another day.

When we got back D'Linda was visiting with Tracie, a cute four year old who lives down the road with her grandmother. She is another child Rusty pays tuition so she can go to School. Rusty said that onetime they were visiting with her grandmother and telling her that they wanted to adopt so the grandmother offered Tracie. Rusty said it didn't work that way, the grandmother said no it was alright, she was the grandmother.

The boys spent most of the afternoon at the beach with some friends, by evening they were all sunburnt.

Jamie made lasagne for dinner, she said for only the second time. It was very good even though the oven they have is not very good and the cheeses you get here are a little different than back home. D'Linda was grossed out when the first package of lasagne noodles they opened was full of hundreds of weevels. Luckily Jamie had another package that was okay.

After dinner we went to the Chapman's for the bi-weekly devotional. Some of the electrical team came. It was inside and a little hot, but everyone seems to be used to being sweaty.

I was trying to think what my new experience for the day was, the only thing I could think of was, that this was the first day that I didn't see Rusty give someone money. There were a couple people over using the computer, and Alfonso, a boy Rusty helps with his school tuition, was over washing the windows. Maybe a relaxing, mostly uneventful day was my new experience?

By the way the dead rooster is still alive and living on the back porch.

A Small Distance

Well, If Thursday was uneventful, Friday made up and more. I'll tell you right now I won't be telling you all of what we did and saw I'd be at this all day.

Morris showed up a little late, about 9:00, which was fine we weren't ready at 8:00 anyway. Rusty had run up to the office to give Mel some keys and his guys some instructions. The boys were taking their time getting their chores done and packing up. We finally pulled out around 9:15. Our plan was to head south to visit Morris's village then continue on to Buchanan. It is about 1/2 hour down the road to the airport and just past that we entered the Firestone Plantation. They have about a million acres of rubber trees. D'Linda and I each had a camera, the one I had told me the battery was low before we got through Firestone, I guess I took too many pictures of rubber trees with buckets, collecting stations and other interesting features. I had said that there aren't any traffic signs in Liberia, I was wrong. Firestone has private roads and they do have signs, but posted 25 mph means 50 mph, and stop means slow down if someone is in the intersection. The roads in Firestone are a little rough, but good. When we left Firestone the road to Buchanan varied, a large part of it is under major reconstruction. It Varied from smooth fresh asphalt to very rough dirt roads, with most of it being old pavement with lots of potholes.

We went for a couple of hours dodging potholes, big trucks, motorcycles, pedestrians and construction equipment. We were stopped for a while while they were doing some welding on an old one lane steel bridge we had to cross. While waiting we walked out and looked at the bridge, Rusty said he had heard about it, it was different than any I had ever seen. It didn't look well designed to begin with, and it had definitely seen better days. You could see through to the river below and the old bridge that had collapsed under it. There were cross members that had rusted through completely. The plating for the deck was very thin with large indentations from the very heavy trucks that use the bridge. The welding crew was welding patches over the larger holes. After about 10 minutes they pulled the truck off the bridge and hollered at us to hurry up and cross. D'Linda protested, she thought that we should let other cars go first, and make sure we were the only vehicle on the bridge when we crossed, but we were number one. We came to a large roadside local market and Morris said this is were we turn. Rusty couldn't see the road and went past. We turned around and Morris got out to get a motorcycle and some people to move so we could go down the road to his village. The "road" was right through the market, vendors had to move stuff back so we could pass. There was an old van in the road and we had to drive up over a big pile of garbage to get around. The road was a very rutted trail with lots of people carrying stuff to market. Morris talked to a few people and said that the "road" was in bad shape and we probably couldn't make it. Rusty wasn't convinced of that so we went on. After listening to complaints from the back seat and coming to a particularly steep very rutted downhill section he decided to turn back. I got out and guided as he backed up until we found a spot to turn around. We managed to get turned around despite more protests from the back seat that we were to close to a cliff. We drove back through the market, making them move their stuff again. We decided to look around the market, we were a curiosity because not many white people go out there. In all of our travels that day I can only recall seeing three other whites. But Blessing was the main attraction. She drew a crowd, curious to see why she was with white people and about her face. Rusty and Jamie took turns trying to explain. That is about the point our second camera ran out of battery. I went and got Rusty's camera to take pictures of the crowd. It was pretty amazing, some of the vendors we getting upset because the crowd was pushing into their space. Rusty moved out to the road, where the crowd was blocking traffic. I had Christopher climb up on the car to take some pictures of the whole thing. After leaving there Morris said that instead of going to his village we would go to his sister's because we could drive there. We headed back the way we had come a couple of miles then turned off on a dirt road and went for quite a while, and over some more bridges that drew protests from D'Linda. She would ask Morris if they were safe and he would laugh and say "oh, yes yes". At one point one of the boys had to go to the bathroom so we asked Morris if we were getting close or if we should stop here. He said it is just a small distance, so we should stop. I guess that is like our expression "a little ways". We kept going over this dirt road, sometimes fairly smooth, but mostly rutted and rough, for quit a while. We reached a little village and Morris said we could park here. He said we could walk from there to his sister's village. As we were getting ready to go a man came up and Morris, all excited, said that it was his small brother, Joe. Small meaning younger, because Joe was quite a bit larger than Morris. After walking about 15 minutes Colton asked one of the men that were walking with us how much farther, I was afraid he was going to say "just a small distance", but he said we would be there in five minutes. Fifteen minutes later we came to the village. The village consisted of 10 to 12 mud huts with thatched roofs. Some were square or rectangular and some were round. Some were decorated with hand prints, some with shoe prints and some with other designs. I asked if I could take pictures and Morris said "yes yes". At one point the Chief seemed agitated and was arguing with Morris. I asked Morris what was wrong and he said the Chief was excited to see us, but I think it was that we had come unannounced and he wasn't prepared with a gift for us. They ended up giving us a rooster and some pineapples. While there the whole village was excited to see white people, except for one small boy who was very afraid of us. The rest of the village laughed about it, but he ran and hid and screamed. Morris told us we were the first whites to visit the village. Rusty handed out glow in the dark bracelets that he had brought, I'm not sure if they really understood, but I'm sure last night in the village it was exciting.

When we left there we headed on to Buchanan, another 30 to 45 minutes up the road. Buchanan is an old town with a very different flavor than Monrovia. They had concrete roads with curbs and sidewalks. Everything is pretty run down, but at one time it was very nice. It was a little after 4:00 and everyone was hungry. We found a restaurant, but were told it didn't open till 5, but the man there said he called the owner and he would be right down. It was a pleasant place and it even had air conditioning. The cook/head waiter was an older man who spoke good English and was very appreciative of the tip we left him. He said "God bless you" when we left, and I really felt blessed. It was about 6:00 when we left and the sun goes down about 6:30. No one slept on the long ride home, except for Blessing, who seemed to sleep better the rougher the road was. There seem to be more pedestrians at night, and they do more of their construction work at night. The construction crews don't use traffic cones and light or signs and it is obvious that you are in their way. At one point we had to go down a one lane section, there was what we thought was a big truck waiting at the other end for us. About 3/4 of the way the lights started moving towards us. Rusty moved over as far as he could and stopped, I braced for what I thought was going to be a collision. But some how a very large excavator missed us. We had a flat tire that I think we drove on for a while, but couldn't tell until we hit some smooth road. That is a whole blog in its self. Rusty said they recommend carrying two spares, after our experience and seeing lots of cars with flat tires I could see why. Rusty only had one, as it turned out that was enough.

Two last things, we went through eight or ten police check points, usually you get stopped and papers checked or vehicle inspected or something to extort a bribe. We were waved through everyone, Rusty said that was a first for them. After we came out of the restaurant the boys said the rooster was dead,they each inspected him and confirmed that he was dead. When we stopped to fix the flat we noticed that the rooster was alive. I told the boys that if they ever thought I was dead to call for another opinion before they bury me.

Old, but slow

It's unanimous, I can't keep up with any of the boys. Kobe finally went running with me, he was a ways ahead of me near the end so he was waiting for me. When I got beside him I started sprinting, anyway that's what I'll call it, I got 4 or 5 steps on him and as he was just about up to me I shouted "finish line I win". I'm sure I learned that from one of my grandkids, so if it works for them it should work for me. It doesn't seem that long ago that I could beat them all running backwards.

The single man fishermen were not going out this morning, even though it seemed calmer, but larger 2 and 3 man boats were. They look a little more sea worthy and they had nets on them. We didn't stay and watch though. Rusty informed me I was wrong, Liberia does have a Coast Guard. It consists of 60 men, 9 of which can swim and no boats, I stand by my statement, Liberia has no Coast Guard.

I had a totally uneventful day, no new experiences. I stayed home all day with the boys. D'Linda went shopping for fabric with Jamie and another lady. She bought lots of colorful fabrics. She said it was way to hot though, she felt light headed at one point, Jamie told her she was dehydrated and bought her some water. She drank it all and said she felt better after sitting a bit.

They had a little excitement on the way back, Jamie ran into a young girl pedestrian. Every Thursday and Friday they have football (soccer) games at the fields at ELWA. That draws a pretty large crowd. When Jamie turned into ELWA there was a crowd in the street, she was honking and driving slow, but one girl didn't move and she hit her. Jamie felt terrible and apologized, but a man came up and accused her of doing it deliberately. Jamie talked to the girl and she said she was alright, so I guess everything will be okay.

I guess I did have one new experience, after dinner Rusty couldn't get a hold of Morris, a security guard who had invited us to visit his home village. We drove over to his home to see if he was available to take us there today. He lives in a community just north and across the road from ELWA called Rock Hill. It used to be the site of a rock crushing operation before the war, now it is full of homes. The roads, more like heavily rutted trails, wind all around and it is hard to find places because there are no addresses. The residents there earn extra income by making crushed rock. They dig up big rocks and break them into small rocks with hammers, there are lots of piles of crushed rock in front of the houses. They dig the big rocks up where ever they can, including in or beside the road. You have to be very careful so you don't drive in one of the holes, some where 8' deep. Rusty said it is particularly treacherous in rainy season because the holes fill up with water and you can't tell if they are just mud puddles or caverns. I was surprised at the amount of traffic, with the condition of the roads and the obvious poverty of the community. There was a old dump truck ahead of us and quite a few taxis coming and going, with motorcycles with usually 3 people on them passing us. We hit one hole where I was sure Rusty must have tore off his oil pan, but he must have a skid plate on his Rover. He found Morris's' house, we met his wife, Manny, and she sent one of the children to get him, he was at a neighbors. It was dark then and we sat there while Manny was bathing the children in a small washtub with maybe 2 gallons of water in the front yard. Rusty was asking the children their names, when he asked one boy about 6, Manny said he doesn't talk. Rusty asked if he could hear and she said yes he could hear. They were in the dark except for a small battery powered light just inside the door to the house. Morris came and thanked us for coming to his house, that seemed to please him that we would visit his house. He told us that he had 7 living children, 2 girls and 5 boys. Rusty said he had tried to call him, Morris said he had lost his phone. Rusty asked him if he would take us to his village tomorrow and he was thrilled and said he would. We talked for awhile, he said he liked living there away from the water, because it is to cold down where Rusty lives. He is one of the night time security guards, he said it is very boring, just sitting there trying to stay awake. When he is off he comes home and breaks rock, which he said he liked to do. When we left we drove by the community well and there were about 30 people all with 5 gallon plastic jugs lined up waiting their turn to get water. When you flip your light switch and flush your toilet tonight say a little prayer for Manny and Morris and their seven living children.

Fishers of fish

I finally got Colton to go running with me, I had to coerce him, I told him if he didn't it might reflect in his next Christmas present. He said "what about my birthday, it comes first". I said "it couldn't hurt" so he went, the bad thing is I had a hard time keeping up with him. We ran south along the beach to were some men were putting their boats in the water. There were about 10 of them lined up getting ready to push of into the surf. Their boats were all hollowed out canoes, approximately 18' long and about 2' wide. Some had sails rolled up in them and once they cleared the surf they would put them up. Where they were launching was a sandy point with a reef about 100 yds off shore, waves in the 6'-8' range were breaking on the reef, then there was an area of relative calm water then the waves would reform into 3'-4' waves and break on the beach. As we watched they would try one at a time to get launched. They would wait till it looked like it would be calm then they would push off, run hard and jump in the boat and paddle hard to clear the waves. Only about 30% made it the first time. Usually a wave would build quickly and swamp the boat, or they would get sideways and take on water. Then all their gear in the boat would be floating in the surf, they would pull the boat up on the beach and then gather up their stuff. Most of the time no one would help. After getting the water out and re stowing all their gear they would try again. Once they made it past the first waves into the calm area they would have to bail out their boats because even when they made it they would take in water. Then they would paddle parallel to the beach until they got to a break in the reef and paddle out into the ocean, or put up their sail. They would go out a long way, some out of sight. They didn't have nets, they all had 2 gal buckets and I assumed they must have had some gear and bait in the buckets, most had some rope with a rock tied on one end for an anchor. There were a couple longer boat with two men, they didn't seem to have any better success rate. I never saw a life jacket or any kind of floatation. I didn't see anyone give up, but Colton wanted to head back, so we didn't see if they all got launched. As we left one of the two man boats offered to take me out. I assumed he was joking with me, but I might have done it if I had some water along.

When we got back Edwin was there delivering some fresh lettuce. Edwin comes by once or twice a week with produce and Jamie buys from him. He had come just the day before and Jamie had bought some lettuce, after he had left she remembered that Rusty had us bring out some seeds for him. Rusty came by just after that to pick up me and Christopher and Jamie told him about forgetting to give him the seeds. As we were leaving Rusty saw Edwin and told him to go back by the house and get the seeds. I wasn't there, but D'Linda told me what happened. When Jamie gave him the seeds he was so excited he started dancing around in the front yard. He kept thanking Jamie and jumping up and down. D'Linda said she watched as he ran down the road jumping and shouting whoopee every few yards. Who'd have thought?

In the afternoon Rusty and Jamie had a meeting at the US Embassy to make sure that there would be no problems from there end if they get the approval from the Liberians to adopt Blessing. Please keep this in your prayers there is so much that can go wrong yet. They were assured that if Liberia okays it they won't have any other problems. Rusty lucked out, they had a fuel delivery while he was gone, so Mel agreed to do the arguing.

While they were at the Embassy Christopher went with me to see if the fishermen were back yet. We timed it pretty good, we saw 4 of them come back in. They had a much easier time getting back in, the waves weren't as high and the tide was lower. They all had fish, maybe about 10 to 20 lbs of fish each, most of the fish in the 2 lb range, with one that might have been 15 lbs. They offered to sell them, but I didn't have any money and Christopher didn't want to carry fish down the beach. While there I got another offer to go out with them, I just have to be back in the morning. I told D'Linda when we got back, but she didn't like the idea, especially with no life jackets. She said if I did she would worry and have a migraine before I got back.

Christopher and I shared a grapefruit when we got back. While I was eating my half a small worm jumped out. It was about 3/8" long, Christopher thought it was a maggot, but as we watched it would scrunch up and spring about 6" at a time. D'Linda was screaming, "gross" and "kill it", so we did, then we finished the grapefruit.

When Rusty got back he was able to get power to the whole campus, with more fuel and the new pump working we made it through the night with electricity, the first time in days.

I have been thinking about the fishermen, I didn't ask, I probably wouldn't have understood anyway, but I wondered how many were lost. If a storm came up or they ran into some kind of trouble, I don't see how they could possibly make it back. They didn't have radios, or life vests and there is no Liberian Coast Guard. I thought about better boats, I ruled out motors because of the cost, but a double ended surf boat with a small keel so it could be rowed or sailed, I think would be great. If it was made out of fiberglass it could be larger, more sea worthy and lighter than their dugout canoes. If you could set up a small factory here making them you could employee some people, and make fishing safer. But I can't do that in my last week here, I will pass the idea along and maybe some organization might think it better than just handing out rice. I thought about their existing canoes, If they just put some kind of air bladder in the bow and or stern. All they would need is an inner tube, that would give them more floatation when they were swamped, and it would make it easier to get them bailed out. Also if they had a tarp or even heavy plastic sheet to cover part of the canoe when they launched they would take on less water. They could rig it so they could take it off when they were fishing and replace it if it got stormy or when they came in. I don't know if I can communicate my ideas to them, I suspect I would have to show them. I'm not sure if they would care, I'm sure that they have been fishing this way for years, if not centuries. They are probably doing it like their fathers taught them. As I thought about them I thought, what if a stranger came to me and told me I was doing something wrong, or that there was a better way, would I listen to him? I began thinking in spiritual terms. Am I, are you, living our lives as our parents or culture handed it down to us? If God through his Spirit, or a friend, or a stranger tried to tell me something would I listen? I thought of how many times in the Old Testament the people of God were lead astray by the surrounding cultures, not listening to the messengers He sent. I know not all messages are right or good, but do I ignore them just because they aren't the way I've always done it? Has God been trying to tell you something, through a friend or a stranger, something that could save your life?

Just another day

It was just a nice sunny average day. I ran on the beach, couldn't get one of the boys to go, so I ran alone. Then I walked a ways on the beach with D'Linda. We reflected on how different our world is. It is hard to figure out what is really needed here. There has been loads of money dumped in Liberia, but it doesn't seem to get to the people who really need it. If it does I wonder how much good it is or if it just makes them dependant? I think more free schools would be a good start, or more industry to employee people, or better health care, or help with agriculture, or, you see the dilemma. Many great efforts have been and are being made, but the only thing that seems there is more of is corruption. That may be unfair, there is definite improvement in the roads, there is peace, most people had enough of war. There are some pretty radical candidates getting ready to run for President, if one is elected all the meager gains could be lost. I don't have an answer, but I don't want to sound too pessimistic either. I have met too many good people who love these people, and I know that God loves them. I know that doing nothing is not the answer, God has always expected his people to help the fatherless and oppressed. Just because our efforts may not be the best we still must do something. Think about giving to Rusty and Jamie or Samaritan's Purse or Charity waters or one of hundreds of good causes, the next time your about to buy something frivolous.

One thing that stands out is their love and almost worship of the United States. Almost everyone here wants to go there. So we do have leverage, but how do we use it? How can we export what is good and keep the bad away? or is what they really want the excesses? Just some questions I can't answer, maybe you can. Most importantly pray, ask God to help and guide your efforts.

Rusty was still trying to deal with generator issues. He brought his skill saw by and said that the carpenters said it was sounding funny, so he left it for me to figure out what was wrong. It made a clicking sound, I found the problem pretty quick, It is missing a piece off of the armature. As it comes around one of the brushes falls into the hole and clicks as it is kicked out. I can't figure out why only one brush does it and not the other. If I can keep the one from dropping in, it should work fine, or if I can find the piece that's missing maybe I can glue it back. I'll have to think more on it.

Afternoon Rusty and Mel had to run back to town so Christopher and I road along. Ben, a young missionary here who coordinates housing for people coming here, rode with us to pick up one of the ELWA vehicles that was being repaired. Earlier in the day I had a conversation with Ben. He was preparing the little apartment above Rusty and Jamie's laundry room for a couple of the team members coming to work on the electrical system. Ben grew up in Maine, he married a girl who grew up as a missionary kid or MK as they are called here. He had gone an a couple short mission trips, but now is living here with his wife and young daughter. We discussed some of the frustrations I mentioned at the beginning and the cultural differences he has to deal with, but he was optimistic that good was being accomplished.

We had to drop off some parts that someone had just brought in to the same mechanic that Ben's vehicle was at. Rusty and Mel Had to check on a part for the generator that they had taken to a "technician". Mel had some real concerns that they had left the armature for one generator there in a little wood shack for him to rewind. When we got there I could understand his concern. His shop looked like a small goat shack, there were about 5 guys working there on the dirt floor, the work they were doing has to be pretty precise. After inspecting what they had done Mel was relived to see that they were doing a good job. After that we went back to the store we bought the pump at to exchange it for a smaller one. They had explained the problem they were having with the pump to someone back home and he told them that the pump they got was too large. The store manager, Sam, took the pump in exchange even though it had been installed. He said he trusted Rusty and Mel that it hadn't been damaged. Rusty is on first name basis with most of the merchants at the different stores we go to. One of the reasons is that ELWA is on such a tight budget that Rusty can't buy supplies in large quantities so he has to make frequent trips, costing Rusty more because he pays for the gas in his car.

Most of the merchants are of Lebanese decent and they treat their Liberian employees poorly. They order them around harshly and watch over what they do. They usually have 2 or 3 times as many employees as you would expect, but labor is cheep, and the Lebanese don't do anything, they just tell their employees to do stuff. Even when the transaction is made a manager will watch over the shoulder of the Liberian cashier.

Everything is cash here, Rusty said that there are places that you can use a credit card, but I haven't seen one yet. There are two monetary systems U.S dollar ($US) and Liberian dollar ($LD), the exchange rate varies, it is $71.LD to $1.US now. The local markets and street merchants deal mostly in LD and all the stores and restaurants deal in US. There are money changers seemingly on every block. They are men with a chair and a little table and a sign with their exchange rate on it. Payday at ELWA is every other Friday and they pay in cash, Rusty says that he is asked to help occasionally. He said that it takes over a million dollars to make payroll, and that it is a pretty impressive pile of money until you realize it is $LB. Most of the US bills you get in change are really well worn. Rusty said a missionary went home recently and deposited some cash he had in his pocket. The bank called him and told him the Secret Service would be in touch with him because about half of the money he deposited was counterfeit. I think Rusty told me so we will leave all our change with him.

It Never Rains in February

Rusty had to go to the powerhouse early to shut off half of campus. The whole campus had power all night, but at about 7:00 the usage usually goes up and if the generator overloads then it shuts down. When Rusty got back he asked if I wanted to ride to town to try to find a new pump motor, we took off for town about 7:30. We picked up Mel, who had come in on the same plane with me and D'Linda. Mel is another of those remarkable people who seem to be all over the place around here. Mel is a farmer and engineer from Kansas, He comes out for a month about every other year. His brother Steve did the job Rusty is doing for 27 Years. Mel is here to prepare things for Steve and a team he is bringing to upgrade the electrical distribution system here. The team is due to arrive this week, Steve will be here Friday. Mel said that he is never here long enough to do any real good, but just to try and encourage the guys. I would argue that he does plenty of good. He is always working on something, he has already been a great help to Rusty in the week he has been here.

We headed for town and it was raining, then it really came down. Traffic slowed down and I learned a new African driving rule. We were on a nice 4 lane road, when our 2 lanes slow down we can take one of the lanes from the other side, Rusty didn't, but a lane full did. We went to a number of stores, dodging torrential rain, before we found a pump that Rusty and Mel thought would work. I have always been fairly ignorant when it comes to things electrical, they were talking about the difference between 50 htz and 60 htz. The motor was one and what they needed was another, but they couldn't find exactly what was needed. There is a public power system in Liberia, but it doesn't reach everywhere, and it doesn't seem to work much better than ELWA's, so there are lots of different systems all with different voltages and whatevers. The store we bought the pump in had just lost power because the transformer across the street had blown up. We went to the grocery store and got a donut and a pop, and I picked up a diet coke for D'Linda, You can't find them very many places around here. Regular coke is everywhere, But most of the people around here don't need any diet drinks. While at the store one of the managers who new Rusty told us "It never rains in February" as we watched a small river running down the street.

The goal was to have the generator back up and running by 10 or 11, at 12:30 it was started. In the interim the backup generator had some problems and had to be shut down, some filters changed and started up again, with only a slight improvement. We went home for lunch, but before it was over Rusty got word that the big generator had to be shut down, there was something wrong with the new pump. I might add that Mel paid for the pump $350. US, Rusty will turn in the receipt and eventually he will get reimbursed, I think. Rusty went back, but I stayed and did some work at the house. It had stopped raining, Rusty's rain gauge showed 2.14 inches of rain. I had gotten wet, but I enjoyed the rain.

Christopher helped me install some sofit plywood on the front porch. I have had grandchildren help me before, but when they get to almost 6' they can really help. We had been having a fly problem the last few days, Jamie said that that was not normal. While putting up the plywood we found a large dead lizard between the sheets. It was full of maggots and stunk, the boys thought it was cool. Colton wanted to keep it close by , but we made him take it away from the house. We came up a half sheet short, and broke a light fixture, but what we did looks better and should help in keeping the bats out of the attic. If Rusty can find half a sheet of plywood and some screen we can finish it.

Their house is adequate, Three bedrooms, indoor bathroom, living/dining room, kitchen and large laundry room. The kitchen has a small propane range, but a lot of the cooking is done on a small charcoal stove in the backyard, a refrigerator, a small microwave and a chest freezer that is shared with the Sacras next door. The kitchen sink has only cold water plumbed to it. There is a small hot water tank that is hooked to the shower, I don't know why they would need it, the cold water is not that cold. Rusty said that they didn't use it at first, but in the rainy season the water does get colder.

Rusty got home about 6:00, they finally came up with a fix for the generator, they hooked it up to the water system to cool it. When he got here there was a lady waiting to talk to him. She had just lost her 8 year old daughter to cancer, and didn't have enough money to pay for the burial. Rusty is in contact with many of the former missionaries and one of them had heard of her problem and asked Rusty if he could help her and they would send him the money. D'Linda overheard the conversation and was in tears at the thought of losing a child and not even being able to bury them. The woman was very thin and subdued. Rusty said it costs $50-$75 US to bury someone and there are other expenses, he gave her $120. and told her how sorry he was and that the other missionary was sending the money.

The stream of people coming to Rusty for help never stops. Most of them are looking to get help for them selves or family for school expenses. There are some free schools, but not many and even those you need to buy uniforms and books. Without some education it is impossible to get a job here. the official unemployment rate is 85%. That is misleading because many people do odd jobs or make and sell things for cash. You see kids with wheel barrows full of bread or cookies or water or coconuts, or girls with baskets of donuts or plantain chips on their head going around selling them. I can remember hating school, but no one hates it here.

Well it looks like my cool weather is over, the sun is coming up and I can't see a cloud in the sky, see you tomorrow.

2nd Sunday in Liberia

Sunday morning began with a light rain, after it stopped it was lightly overcast with a slight breeze. I spent about 20 minutes trying to get one of the boys to run with me. Finally Christopher agreed to go. We went about 1/2 mile down the beach and back. Christopher had a hard time going as slow as I was going, I walked a little and while I did I made him run down to the water and up to the top of the sand, but that didn’t slow him down any. I felt good even though my legs were a little tight from yesterday, I doubt if Christopher’s heart rate increased more than 10 beats, he’s a long legged fluid runner. Rusty measured him right after we got here to see if he had made 6’ yet, not quite, 5’11 3/4”. He measured all the boys and Colton has grown almost as much as Christopher. Kobe has grown 1 3/4”, so the climate hasn’t seem to hurt their growth. After cooling down in the ocean we came up to the house to find out the power was out, Jamie and Rusty were out running and D’Linda was cooking eggs for Kobe and Colton. There was only two eggs left so Christopher agreed to arm wrestle for them. I beat him right handed, but he is left handed so we did it that way. I had a hard time left handed, but I did win, I’ll have to find some other way to beat him pretty soon.
When Rusty got back he had to go up to the powerhouse to see what was wrong. The #3 generator, the old Cummings powered one, had shut down because its water pump had failed. He got the backup going and sent a text around telling everyone to conserve power and shut down any nonessential appliances. By the time Rusty got back we were late for church, he said he had wanted to take us to a different one anyway and it started an hour later so we went there.
I have praised Rusty for many things, but his driving won’t get any. I think D’Linda closes her eyes most of the time we are in the car and I’m hanging on with both hands. He has mastered African driving, There aren’t many if any traffic signs in Liberia and pedestrians have no rights, you just honk at them and it is their responsibility to get out of the way. You can pass if you can fit, on two lane roads you can make three if you want. The main thing is honk, a lot. You can turn when and where you want, just honk and go. When he gets home I suggest you stay off the road for a few days until they arrest him and get him off the road.

The Church we went to was a little larger than the one on the ELWA campus. I love the colorful dress, and the energy that they put into worship. Rusty was the only man in shorts, Jamie had told us that they get pretty dressed up, so I wore long pants, and sweat through the service. They had a special service to ordain some new ministers for a sister congregation, after about two hours Rusty signaled it was time to duck out.

After stopping for lunch we came back to ELWA, the security guard at the gate had a coat on and gloves. The wind was blowing 10-15 mph, but it was 86 degrees.

During lunch someone called Rusty to tell him the power was out again so when we got home he went up to the powerhouse and spent most of the afternoon there. In the evening I went to a men's Bible study with Rusty, well really it was dinner at a restaurant near Monrovia and a long bull session. I learned some more remarkable things about Keith Chapman. I just deleted a long paragraph of his recent exploits because after reading it I realized someone here might read it and someone could be hurt. Believe me, as slow as I type that was a hard decision, but I will say he is a brave man and that he speaks out against injustice. While at the restaurant Dr Sacra called Rusty to tell him that the power had gone out while he was in the middle of an emergency C-section. Rusty got a hold of someone who could get power back on to the hospital. Oh by the way Dr. Sacra had stopped by in the afternoon and told us how he thought he might of just set a world record by draining 3 1/2 liters of puss from a patients chest. Rusty told him next time to call and he would come up with his video camera.

On the way home from the Bible study I got my first experience at driving at night in Liberia. A lot of cars don't have all their lights working, most motorcycles don't have tail lights and there are pedestrians everywhere. We didn't run over anyone, that I know of.

The Dispute

The cold snap is over, but it was good for one day anyway. It was in the 90s most of yesterday. We spent a pretty relaxed day around the house. Rusty went and pumped fuel from the underground tanks to the generator, a daily duty of his. I went for a run on the beach, I didn't go far but it felt great, my knees didn't hurt. I probably only went about a half of a mile but that is the longest I've been able to do in over a year. I don't like the heat except I don't mind running in it, especially when I can cool down in the ocean.

Pretty much every day someone comes by to use Rusty's computer, I think we had three yesterday. There are a few students that are taking computer classes but have no computer to work on, and there are some who come to check email and, or get on facebook. It is a real mix of worlds here. You have primitive superstitious people who almost all carry cell phones. They believe in spirits and demons and potions and spells. That is why so many are afraid of the water, they fear the demons that live there will come up from underneath and snatch them. A problem the doctors have when they treat them is that if they don't get better right away they believe the medicine didn't work. Then they go and get "country" medicine, which could be anything from a potion to chalk rubbed on, then when they get better it was the country medicine that worked. One of Rusty's plumbers broke his leg and he had a hard time convincing him to go to the hospital. The plumber wanted to go get country medicine which consisted of braking a chicken's leg and putting some kind of potion on it and his leg, then when the chicken's leg was healed his would be also. (a note to the Moeller's, maybe a new profit center) When we were at the restaurant in Monrovia there was a tv advertisement about a big revival going on all week at the stadium. You could go and buy this salt that if you sprinkled it on it could cure almost any disease. There were many testimonials of great healings. There was also some kind of cloth or blanket that could heal relationships or bring a job. The Preacher went on and on about how any problem could be fixed with this or that item. Rusty said that it is a huge problem here, so many people come and prey on these people, what little they have they take. I'm pretty sure that is why the policeman let Rusty go the other day when he found out he was a missionary, because he didn't want to chance angering God.

True to form I had a new experience yesterday. I went with Rusty to mediate a dispute. A missionary couple before they left hired a "Contractor" to build a house for their house worker, Mamosa. Along with that house was a small house for her nephew, Moses, who was their yard boy. Missionaries are expected to hire some local help, it gives some employment, but I think it adds to the division between blacks and whites. Anyway there was a problem with the first Contractor and a second was hired to finish the work before the couple left. They had purchased all the materials and gave Jerry, the second Contractor, enough money to finish the homes. Jerry also does some contracting at ELWA so the only time he can work on the houses is after work or Saturdays. A Contractor here is anyone that is hired to do a specific job. At ELWA there are some employees, but a lot of the work is done by contractors, in fact if it is a large job the employees want to do it as contract work because they feel they can earn more that way. It is a discussion Rusty has had many times, but he can't convince them that they should work just as hard either way. Back to our dispute, after the couple left Jerry has had a lot of things come up on Saturdays and hasn't been able to make it out there to finish the project. He also decided that it is too far to get there after work and get anything done. All his excuses seem reasonable to him, I think one Saturday his sister was sick and other time he had a different job to do. When He does show up Moses is suppose to help him, but he says Moses just tries to boss him around and doesn't always help. There is also something about missing materials. Kobe and I went along with Rusty, we picked up Jerry and went to the houses to meet with Mamosa. She had gone to the market, but Moses was there. We went around the houses so Moses could show us the unfinished or deficient items. Moses then gathered up some chairs and we all sat in the yard as each pleaded their case to Rusty. The language is suppose to be English, but I could only get a few words here and there. Also in the dispute was Jerry had come to get some of his tools that he had left, but Moses wouldn't let him take them because he felt he shouldn't be working somewhere else until he finished there. Jerry also said that Moses had spread a rumour that Jerry was having an affair with Moses' wife, Moses said that was a lie, because he doesn't have a wife. Rusty seemed to understand it all. After 30 minutes Rusty rendered his decision, he got them to agree on what needed to be done then he said " I beg of you Jerry to work with Moses and finish this" then he said "I beg of you Moses to work with Jerry to finish this". They both agreed that they would, although when we left Jerry wouldn't shake Moses' hand. As we were getting in the car Mamosa came up the road from market, we heard this shout "Grandma" and a flock of kids went running up to her. Rusty greeted her, she was a charming old lady, Rusty asked her how many grand kids she had, she said she had 18, Later he told me that she is raising most of them, apparently her children are not to responsible. After we dropped Jerry off Kobe and I tried to bet with Rusty that Jerry would have an excuse not to show up Saturday, but he wouldn't bet.

I had wanted to tell you more but I'm at my typing limit. Maybe one day I won't see something new and I can catch up, hey it's raining out, maybe we'll have another cold day yay!

A Cold Day In Liberia

Yesterday was a good day for us, it was 80 degrees and overcast in the morning, that is the coldest it has been since we got here. The sun did come out for a while about midday, but it cooled down in the evening to 80 again. Everyone was complaining about the "cold", except me and D'Linda. In the morning D'Linda, Jamie and I went for a walk on the beach, the men were carrying sand, I asked one if I could take his picture, but he said " I would not like that". I have been asking people first because some people really don't like their picture taken. Others are really excited about it and I usually show them after I take it and they are thrilled. I decided not to wait for another one because the picture wouldn't have gotten the effect I wanted seeing that they were all wearing long sleeve shirts because of the "cold".

After lunch I went to work with Rusty for a while. The air conditioning in the OR is still not working right, the one that was repaired seemed to be making heat, the one that was taken from the morgue was working, but not as good as it should. We met the AC tech, Morris, there and went over the problem, he was going to check the refrigerant levels and see if he couldn't fix the problem.

Rusty has lots of projects that his people could work on, but he doesn't have the funding for them, so he is always scrambling to keep them busy. I helped one worker fix a "spoiled", nothing is broken, it is spoiled, Basketball hoop. It should have taken about 15 to 20 minutes but because tools and material are scarce it took over an hour. What tools they have are pretty worn, especially the wrenches, we had to scavenge a piece of wood and cleanup and reuse the bolts.

At about 3:30 D'Linda and I went with Jamie and the kids and some of the other missionary families down the road to a resort that lets them swim in the pool. It is a 5 star resort, by Liberian standards, it was comparable to a nice motel back home. It is pretty new and they don't get much business, so they let the missionaries use the facility, they were going to charge them, but decided to just let them use it for free. They all had a good time, I went down to the beach with the boys while they played in the surf, the guard was concerned for their safety, but I assured him that they would be alright and that I would stay with them. It seems that most Liberians are afraid of the water. The guard didn't know how we could go in the water anyway because it was so "cold" out.

Rusty met us there after he was done working, he was a little late because he was arrested on the way. He has a little, 100 cc, motorcycle that he rides most of the time to save on fuel. On the way to the resort a Police Officer stopped him and told him he was in serious trouble because he wasn't wearing a helmet, that the fine was over $1000. Rusty had to give him a ride to the police station, most police are on foot. While standing there a missionary friend drove by and honked and waved. When Rusty waved back the Police Officer asked if he new them and Rusty said he did. The Officer asked if Rusty was a missionary and he said he was, the Officer asked "why didn't you tell me?" Rusty said "you didn't ask". The Officer told him that he was free to go.

The guest services manager at the hotel came over and was so excited to see how good Blessing looked. He couldn't get over how much of a difference the surgery has made. He is Liberian, but grew up and was educated in the States. His grandfather was the President of Liberia for 27 years. He told us that he really believes that things are getting better, he said you can even criticize the President and not "disappear". There is an election coming up and one of his uncles is running for President, but he said he was going to vote for the incumbent. He said that he thinks she has done a good job despite all the criticism. He believes that it is better to have a woman in the office because the African male mind set is too confrontational and that her motherly approach is better.

I had thought that after a few days I would run out of stuff to write about, but so far that isn't the case, I have quite a few more things to report on, and it seems like everyday I get more stories. I'm a slow typist so I get tired before I run out of things, which is probably lucky for you, these posts are long enough. I have gotten feed back from a few of you through email and that is encouraging, I'm never sure if anybody is interested or if I am just rambling, but either way this is kind of fun, see you later.

Liberian Holiday

Yesterday was a national holiday in Liberia, Rusty said it was for his birthday, the way I've been bragging about him you could probably believe it. It was actually Liberian armed forces day, but it was also Rusty's 35th birthday. Most stores and markets were closed, so traffic and congestion was at a minimum. We went into Monrovia and did some sightseeing and visited an artist friend of Rusty's. We visited the Duckor hotel, a once beautiful expensive hotel. It is on the highest hill in Monrovia. I got some good pictures and when I can figure out how to upload them I will. I have tried numerous times, it takes a long time and then says I did it but they don't appear anywhere. The hotel is now a gutted building. They have guards there that let you wander around, they are there to keep the squatters out. I was taking pictures and one of the guards came over angry wanting to see if I was taking pictures of their positions. I showed him that I was just taking pictures of the building and the view and that seemed to satisfy him. A young school teacher was there and asked if he could show us around, he was off because of the holiday and did that to supplement his income. He showed us all around we even got to go to the rooftop. There was a guard and locked door up there because they have a number of radio towers there. Our guide got us through to what used to be a restaurant and bar with a commanding view of the city and ocean front. There were a bunch of kids playing in the empty pool, and quite a few tourists wandering around, but we were the only ones that got to go on the roof, that I saw. There was a great view of what they call West Point, a vast shanty town.

When I figure out the picture thing you can see.

We went to a small restaurant down town for lunch where I ordered a philidelphia sandwich. It cost $6.00 US, but it was a medium sized loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with meat and cheese. It was good and so big I had to take a picture of it. I couldn't quite eat half, Jamie had the same thing with chicken but she could only eat about a quarter of hers. Good thing we had Christopher with us, he cleaned up the leftovers.

In the afternoon we went to a market to pick up some clothes for Alice and Mercy, the girls that Rusty and Jamie were planning on adopting when they came over here. It is a complicated story, but they have reunited them with their mother. They visit them often and are trying to help their mother Fatu earn a living. They had us bring over a bunch of seeds so that Fatu can plant a garden and earn some extra income. She, Alice, Mercy, and her two other children are living with her Pastor and his wife and seven children in a 12' x 25' shack. There was a sign over the front door saying "We are cover with Jesus" and something about God coming in love, it was written in chalk and kind of smeared. They all seemed happy and excited to meet us. They are very hospitable people, it is obvious that their joy is not dependant on their circumstance. Mercy is a shy girl who clung to Rusty and Jamie while we were there, Alice was at a friends, so we didn't see her.

When we came back home Bill, one of Rusty's workers was waiting, Rusty had promised to pay him for some work he had done. I'm pretty sure Rusty doesn't get reimbursed for a lot of his expenditures. Even though this is a third world country it is expensive to live here. It costs Rusty and Jamie about $5000. US a month. They have to pay rent and utilities for their house even though it is owned by ELWA. They pay for health insurance themselves also. Rusty did extensive repairs to the house, new windows, new roof, air conditioning for two rooms, plumbing and electrical repairs and he was not reimbursed for them. Besides all that Rusty is constantly "loaning" money to people. I have only been here one week, but not one day has gone by that I haven't witnessed Rusty giving money to someone and I haven't spent that much time with him. One of the masons came to Rusty saying his Mother in Gambia was very sick and he needed $150 US to get her here to the hospital for surgery he was pleading at the point of tears, Rusty ended up giving him $30, all he had on him, and told him to try to find her cheaper transportation. He continued to plead and Rusty agreed to talk to Jamie to see if they could give any more. When we got home Rusty talked to Jamie and she told him that he can't keep doing that, that he has to say no. Later Akbar came by to plead with Rusty and Jamie, they ended up giving him the money. I'm telling the story because Ive seen it a few times now, just change the name. Jamie just talks tougher, really she is just as easy as Rusty. One young woman Rusty had loaned money to for rent, paid him some back, when he asked how her daughters were doing in school she said that they had to dropout because she couldn't afford it. He gave her money back.

Before They left for here Rusty and Jamie got pledges for support from numerous sources, many of those people and businesses have never given or have stopped giving. I have told Rusty to write and remind people, but he hasn't and I'm sure he won't. He won't tell me for sure, I'm not sure he even knows, with all the "off budget expenditures", how much he is going backward every month. I think it is in the range of $3000. US, not counting the house repairs. I know that the economy is bad, but if you can help in any way you can contribute to them through SIM or Sterling Drive Church, it is tax deductible and all of it will get to them if you note to them on the check.

I forgot first thing yesterday morning some women came by and sang happy birthday to Rusty, and thanked me and D'linda for him, maybe it was his holiday?

Fuel, surgery, and sand

Good morning, well it is just after 5:00 here, but that is an improvement. I woke up a few times during the night but was able to get back to sleep each time until about 4:00. My computer is still set to pacific standard time which is 8 hrs earlier, my body is somewhere in between.
Yesterday Rusty had to do his least favorite regular duty, monitor the fuel delivery to the powerhouse. First about 10:00 the power went out, that is not unusual here for various reasons, but because the hospital is on the system it is crucial that it keep working. The hospital has a backup generator, but it doesn't work, a story for another time. The powerhouse has 4 generators, one that hasn't worker for a long time, a newer more expensive one that was suppose to be more dependable, that you guessed it, isn't working, an old Cummings powered one that keeps chugging along, unless it runs out of fuel, which is the case now. The fourth is a John Deere powered generator that is used as backup and when the load is to large on the Cummings. It is too small to run the whole ELWA campus on its own so Rusty had to cut the power to half of the campus. Luckily Rusty and Jamie's house is on the half with the hospital, Jamie was afraid she was going to have to start cooking everything in the freezer. Back to the powerhouse, each generator has a fuel tank with enough capacity for a day or so. There are two 5000 gal tanks in the ground outside and fuel is pumped from those to the generators as needed. If all this is not complicated enough, Service in Mission (SIM) who owns and funds Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) is having a hard time raising funds because of the current economy and there has been some funds gone missing from ELWA. So the new director here, who Rusty believes to be a good capable man, is trying to cut corners and save money to make up for the "lost" funds. One of the cost saving measures is only buying 1000 gals at a time. Rusty had warned that fuel was getting low, but the director was trying to make one more day. Anyway when Rusty first got here the fellow who used to monitor the fuel delivery warned him that they would try to short you fuel so the drivers could sell the extra, and he believed they had a way to alter the delivery meter. So Rusty would measure the tank before delivery started and after they said they had pumped 1000 gals he would measure again, always coming up with less than they said. Then after arguing for awhile they would put a little more in. Measure, argue, little more fuel, measure, argue, so on until Rusty thought that they weren't being cheated too badly. Over time a system of 4 oil drums was set up, with a connecting manifold that dumped into the underground tank. Now they fill the four barrels, Rusty checks each barrel to make sure they are full, almost every time they have to add a little more, then Rusty opens the valve and dumps the fuel into the underground tank. That process is repeated until 17 1/2 barrels are filled and dumped, add in spilled fuel, leaky pipes, sticky valves, barrels filled out of order, and when done the meter on the truck said we were due a little more fuel, you can understand why Rusty dislikes it. I might add that the fuel truck is manned by 4 workers, a driver who has to remain in the truck to keep putting it in gear and out because there is no nozzle on the end of the hose, one to run the hose, one to argue with Rusty and one to stand around.
After that we went to the hospital because the air conditioning in the operating room had quit working. In an effort to save money the new director had purchased two used units for there, both had quit, after some discussion with the electrician and a AC tech it was decided to cannibalize one to make the other work and move the one from the morgue to replace the other. I had said I wouldn't have a problem going to the dental clinic here, the hospital is another story, I would have to be pretty sick, I'm talking life or death sick. If it is your only choice, then I guess it will have to do, but anybody complaining about our health care system doesn't want to come here. When we came out Dr, Rick Sacra saw us and came over to Rusty to "beg" for AC in the OR, I imagine operating while you are sweating profusely is not good. The Operating room is not sealed off as well as you would expect, but it doesn't have good ventilation, so it is stifling without ac.
D'Linda and I had walked up the beach to get some pictures of the guys carrying the sand, they weren't, but the women were. I took a picture of one with the 50 lb sack of sand on her head and her baby on her back, for you women wanting to lose that extra weight after pregnancy. I have been trying to load some pictures, but I'll haven't had any success so I guess that is all for now.

First time to Monrovia

It.s the middle of the night, you know the routine, so here goes. I went with Rusty to work. I met some of the men he supervises. He oversees the facilities here at ELWA. That includes the hospital, dental clinic, school, radio studio, office buildings, warehouse, generators, water system and houses, I probably left a few things out. Some of the projects that we visited were an addition to the hospital, some work on the hospital's sewer system and a house being remodeled for Sammaritan's Purse. Sammeritan's Purse has a big presence here in Liberia, they have their main office and a number of their people here on the ELWA campus. Rusty's day seems to consist mostly of asigning duties, problem solving, getting parts and materials, resolving disputes and counseling disgrunted workers. The inefficiency of the system here would drive me nuts, but Rusty has always been pretty unflappable, he handles it well.
While at the hospital Rusty gave me a tour, including the dental clinic, which is connected to the hospital. Of all the facilities on campus the dental clinic is the nicest. It would meet the standards back home. The waiting room was not very big but it was full. We went in and caught Dr. Keith Chapman between patients and talked with him briefly. I asked him about his practise, he said he has never had a slow day, all his patience are on a first come first served basis. He and Dr Freada are two of 4 dentists in all of Liberia, a country of over 3 million people. He said most of his work is extractions, his patience usually don't come to him untill it is too late to save the tooth. In fact he usualy has to remove adjoining teeth as well. He does do fillings and root canals, but it is rare. He is one of the people I had labeled as remarkable and my visit with him moved him up the list. I would have no problem going to him for dental work. I know the flight is long and you would have to wait in the waiting room for quite a while, but a root canal is only $50. US and an extraction is only $3. Dr. Chapman is self supported, meaning he has to raise his own support for his work. He does get some perks though, he is an avid surfer and there are some good surfing spots close by. He came in second in a national surfing competition recently.
In Liberian culture parents are looked on as responcible for their children as long as they are alive, so if you have a complaint about someone you take it to their parents. That works the other way too, as a parent you are complimented if you child does well. So far I haven't had any complaints and almost everyone I meet has thanked me for my son. His workers were no exception, all telling me he was a good boss.
About 11:00 Rusty had to run to Monrovia to pick up a pump for one of the wells, so we picked up D'Linda, Jamie and the kids and took the short drive to Monrovia. It is a city of over 1 million, before the war the population was just over 100,000. The liberian government is trying to force people out of the city back to their villages, but has been pretty unsuccesful. There are shacks built on any unocupied piece of ground. In an effort to move people out the Mayor periodically sends workers out to knock down some of these shantees, making her unpopular and not appearing to do any good. There is no working public water system in Monrovia! All the water is trucked or carried, there is a sewer system that Rusty says works sometimes, always needing repair, espesially in the rainy season. The sewer system dumps directly into the ocean at what they call poopoo point, as it turns out is one of Dr. Chapman's favorite surfing spots.
Monrovia is a bustling city with bad traffic and roads, although they were repaving some roads in downtown. We went to a pretty well stocked hardware store to get the pump. Next door was a grocery store that Jamie liked to shop at so we picked up some stuff there. It wasn't as big or well stocked as we are used to, but it had a good selection and prices were higher than home, but not outrageous.
When we returned the boys went to their Tae Kuando class and D'linda and I took a nap. Time to go see if I can get some sleep. Please comment or email me if you have any questions