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.