Journal Entry about Attending the Village Church of Philadelphia

What a unique Sunday morning. Colby Martin, Samuel (an ABC Student), Enoch (our van driver), and I attended a village church called Philadelphia. It was a small, open-air church outside the city of Ganta. The pastor is an African Bible College graduate.

Sunday School

Sunday School had already started by the time we arrived. The pastor stopped the lesson and greeted us as we entered. After a short introduction, the teaching resumed. The lesson was about the Great Commission and how Jesus ministered to the physical and spiritual needs of the people. The pastor was encouraging his congregation to attend to the physical needs of others in the village. To put this into perspective, the congregation was filled with people who live in mud huts, eat one meal a day, and drink water that would make me sick for days.

Worship

The worship was amazing. We sang, danced, raised our hands, prayed, and praised God. Everybody in Liberian churches sings, and they all sing loudly. It was awesome to hear the voices of the men and women sing praises to Jesus as we worshiped together.

Giving

If the mention of Giving Boxes from the pulpit gets you stirred-up, don't go to church in Liberia. There were three separate offerings taken during the services. The first was a general offering taken during Sunday School. It was typical. The second was The Tithe. This was an offering of not less than 10% of your income. Three people went forward to tithe. The pastor laid hands on them and prayed a blessing for each one individually. The third offering was a choice to give to the church general fund, or to a fund to help church members in need, or to a fund to help less fortunate people within the village...and everybody gave. Wow!

Message

The people at this church were thirsty for the Holy Spirit. Colby did a great job of delivering Biblical truths through the message. He spoke about God's love for us, and the value God sees in each of us as His children.

Closing thoughts

I pray a blessing on the leadership and people of this church. I'm thankful for their graciousness, hospitality, and love. It was cool to be able to worship the same God with people of a vastly different culture.

Journal Entry about Lawrence

Earlier this week, I traveled to a village called Camp 4. I wrote previously about my experiences with the Mobile Medical Unit and a little girl named Rachel from this village. I met someone else that same day in Camp 4, and I can’t get him off my mind. His name is Lawrence.
About 3 months ago, at the Grove Church, 125 families committed to sponsoring orphans from several different orphanages throughout Africa and Haiti. My oldest daughter and I agreed to do this, and we selected a child randomly. We chose Lawrence. Our family felt called to support this child financially, but also through prayer. We pray for him consistently. We pray for food, clean water, medical attention, shelter, care, spiritual needs, and love.
A few weeks prior to departing for Liberia, I discovered that there was a chance we would travel to Lawrence’s village. Of course, we did, and I was able to meet him. He is a strong, healthy, good-looking boy who was shy at first, but warmed up quickly. He speaks an unusual dialect, so it was difficult to communicate…we managed. I gave him a picture of our family and told him stories about each of the kids. After our conversation, he took the picture to the sleeping room and put it next to his mattress.
After the Medical Unit closed for the day, we were taking pictures of the Medical Team and the orphanage staff. I heard a quiet voice behind me say, “Father Michael, father Michael”. It was Lawrence. The feeling was mutual…we wanted more time together. We took a couple pictures, and then it was time for me to leave. I had hoped to get back to see him later in the week, but we had too little time in Yekep’a for a second visit.
For now, we will continue to sponsor Lawrence, pray for him, write to him, and love him.

Journal Entry about Outreach Events

The Outreach Events have been a huge success. Thanks to our local contacts, Eleazar and George, the Pastor's Seminars have been well attended. Our teachers are providing Liberian pastors with Biblical insight into things like leadership and counseling. Corruption, bribery, and the mis-treatment of women are prevalent here, so our teachers are helping the pastors understand how to stand against those things. The pastors are soaking up the information like sponges. Highly-qualified, Biblical teaching is rarely available for pastors of jungle churches. Irving Mawolo is one of the instructors, and is also a Liberian-American. He and I have been rooming together, and it has been interesting gaining insight from him on the challenges the pastors face within their villages. He's been doing a fantastic job of using his education and talents to train other church leaders in his home-country.

The basketball team has had the opportunity to interact with and minister to the younger population in Yekep'a and Ganta. The crowds at the games have been great, and it has been fun to watch how athletics has opened doors to building relationships and trust. Our opponents have taken the games seriously, and have been “good-sports” even in defeat. Today, we will play the all-star team from Buchanan. Thanks to George Lavien for arranging this...we expect a good game. Their coach called me yesterday to tell me they are excited to play us, but wanted me to know that they are a great team, and that we should expect a more competitive game than the first two we played. He also requested that we play them two consecutive days. He took his team away from the city yesterday, and they spent last night camping together and getting mentally prepared for today's contest. More on this another time.

The band concerts have been awesome. We've had great turnouts in both Yekep'a and Ganta. The band is a group of praise and worship musicians, from The Grove Bible Church, who have been fabulous. God is working through their music to open the hearts and minds of the local crowd to the message of the gospel. (The pics above are of the venue in Yekep'a. It was an old theater that got looted during the war.)

Scott Erickson has been a brilliant addition to the concerts. He has been painting the message of the gospel on-stage while the band plays and the pastors speak. God is using Scott's work as an artist to captivate people and to illustrate the concept of God's love.

Pastor Palmer Chinchen and a few of the local pastors and church leaders have taken a few moments at the concerts to deliver a message about Jesus. Liberia is only about 5 years removed from a 15 year civil war. Palmer's message is that "Love is better than War"...and that love comes from Jesus Christ. Between the 3 concerts, there have been over 100 Liberians who have publicly responded to the message. Our team and local pastors have prayed with these people, and have arranged for local pastors to stay in contact.

It has been remarkable to see what God has been able to do through us in such a short time. I'm really excited to see how He uses us on the remaining portion of this trip.

About Rachel in Camp 4

About Rachel…

Today, I traveled with the Mobile Medical Team to a village called Camp 4. Camp 4 lies on the outskirts of Yekepa and is home to an orphanage called The Betty Jonah Orphanage. Our Doctors and Nurses will be providing a clinic for all 50 of the orphans later in the week. The Medical Team is comprised of 2 doctors, 3 nurses, 1 dedicated assistant, 3 medical field workers from African Bible College, and a couple of volunteer helpers. Let me say that this group of medical professionals is incredible. In what amounted to about 30 minutes, they set up a functioning medical clinic in the middle of the jungle. It was an open-air structure with concrete/dirt floors, no electricity, and a waiting room of hundreds of eager patients. Over the course of about 7 hours, they examined, treated, and loved about 400 people. I helped a little, but my main function was to film and photograph the Doctors and Nurses working with the people in Camp 4.

I’d like to continue by introducing you to Rachel. Rachel is a beautiful 9 year-old girl who was brought to the clinic by her dad. Rachel didn’t say much, so her dad described her symptoms. He was well-spoken, and seemed to care intensely about his daughter’s illness. She had diarrhea, couldn’t keep any food or water down, and had a slight fever. Doctor Haynes diagnosed her with dehydration (possibly from mal-nutrition or consuming parasitic water). Rachel was also missing a couple of fingernails. I asked about that. Doctor Haynes and Karen Stevenson explained to me that untreated dehydration and mal-nutrition will cause blood density to increase, therefore the heart works harder and the blood quits flowing to the most distal parts of the body. Basically, the tips of her fingers were dying and couldn’t sustain the fingernail. This isn’t a broken arm, or a virus from a classmate. This is simply not having enough food to eat or enough water to drink. The problem is that her dad can’t afford to buy food for the family, and her village doesn’t have clean, drinkable water. If she does drink, it is most likely from a well that has parasitic water.

Annie, a Liberian medical worker, inserted an IV in Rachel’s arm and treated her to “500 of lactating rings”. A little bit of rehydration, some pills to calm the fever, something for the diarrhea and Rachel was on her way back to the village…back to the empty table…back to the dirty well. Her dad loves her, and I pray he finds a way to provide her life’s essentials. For now, she will sleep well tonight because God blessed her today with Doctor Haynes, Karen Stevenson, Annie, and the rest of the Medical Team.

There is rampant sickness here. I saw illness, mal-nutrition, dehydration, infection, and disease today like I couldn’t have previously imagined. I chose to tell you about Rachel because her story is real, but not gruesome. There is gruesome here.

There is also joy here. I witnessed patients paying in hugs, handshakes, thank you-s, and tears. About 400 patients left the clinic today with more wellness and comfort than they have felt in weeks or months. Some will sleep without a fever. Others will sleep without pain. All will sleep as blessed children of God. Thank God for the Medical Team. Thank God for Grace, Ken, Karen, Sandy, Brandy, Cassandra, Geekor, Annie, Jamima, and Tim.

Orientation and Prep

Wednesday 6/16

It was an interesting first night in Yekepa. For the first time, I slept under a mosquito net. Sleep wasn't easy as there is no A/C, and the humidity is as high as I've ever experienced. We are staying on the campus of ABC University, set in the jungle of northern Liberia. The day began with a quick breakfast, then a chapel service. The praise team from the University lead the music worship. The students are very passionate about worshiping through song. The band we brought, from the Grove, will lead worship tomorrow. I'm excited to see how the students will respond to a different style of music. I'm thinking the band will get an exceptional response. They had an open practice today, and several students trickled in after hearing the band from their dorms and class rooms.
I got a chance to bond with and work with a couple of students and faculty at ABC University. We organized the dirt-bike rentals today, and this was an unusual process. For $12 per day each, we rented 8 dirt-bikes...no contracts or insurance. This evening, my dear friend, Eleazar, organized a prayer hour to pray for the Love Liberia Team, the ABC University, and Liberia as a whole.
Tomorrow, the outreach teams begin work. I believe I will be traveling with the Mobile Medical Team to some villages within Nimba County, Liberia. I anticipate meeting with the village chiefs, praying with the local pastors, and assisting the doctors and nurses in the medical aid they will be giving.

Days 1 & 2

Monday 6/14

Amazing...is the landscape in Liberia. Green everywhere. We have landed in a country decorated with rainforest and canopy. The Atlantic is to our West, and we were fortunate to be able to swim for an hour in the surf. It was a refreshing bath after about 48 hours of travel. We swam, ate dinner, now it is sleep time. We are bunking in an ELWA guesthouse arranged by African Bible College. Finally...sleep other than on a plane! Tomorrow is an 8 hour drive to Yekepa.


Tuesday 6/15

Amazing...is the evidence of poverty on the road to Yekepa. We left early this morning, and saw camp after camp of block huts, shoeless children, and parasitic water wells. All of which were broken in some way. I anticipate more of this, and at a greater magnitude.
We had little to no interaction with Liberian people today, as the day was spent traveling. Tomorrow we will meet with some of the students and administrators at ABC University in order to plan the outreach events which will begin Thursday.

Can't Sleep

Tonight, the Liberia Team packed 26 large boxes of supplies for the Africa trip. I'm really proud of this team. I'm proud to be a part of a passionate group of adventurors who are excited about "giving their lives away" in Africa for 17 days.
Each box contains small miracles for healing, teaching, giving, ministering. Each item is an answer to prayer for those we are going to visit. Thanks, team, for the work and heart you've put into this trip so far, and I'm excited to see how God is going to bless our efforts in Liberia.

I've been fortunate to have met a couple of Liberian gentlemen who have helped me coordinate our in-country outreach events. I have only met them via the internet. The emails and Facebook messages have sufficed for our planning communication, but I'm ready to put some faces with the names. Thanks to Eleazar, Kokeh, George, Wellington, and Geekor. I am looking forward to meeting you, and your families, in person. Thanks for your help.