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.
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