Bits & Pieces

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

"This is Africa"

This is Africa. That's what people say here whenever they're trying to excuse something that shouldn't have happened, or that should have been done by now, etc. Here's a story that illustrates the saying:
Liberian law requires that the name of the NGO (in this case, the Free Presbyterian Mission Church of Liberia) be placed on the sides of the vehicle if it comes in under the duty-free category. So we needed to get decals made and stuck on the sides of the vehicle I'm driving (otherwise it could have been impounded). It took us five trips into town to this one business to get them done -- spending an hour or two there each time!
Trip 1 (Thursday) -- Obviously, we wanted to get something that would look good. Rev. DiCanio and one of the guys at the printing business designed the logo -- the guy is good at his job but his computer is really slow so it took ages to get it done. The man who does the printing was away somewhere else so we were asked to come back the next day.
Trip 2 (Friday) -- We arrived back at the shop to find that the man had printed our decals -- but they had come out of the machine some shade of pink and lilac instead of grey. He tried them a few times but no joy, so we headed home again with his promise that he would definitely get them printed on another machine and we could pick them up the next morning.
Trip 3 (Saturday) -- The decals were printed, the colour was good -- but when they went to put them on the vehicle a couple drops of water got onto one of them and the ink started running. Now the rainy season is just about to start here in Liberia, so that would never do. So the guy said he would print them again and let them dry over the weekend and we should come back on Monday morning.
Trip 4 (Monday) -- We arrived at the shop around 10am to find the workers all eating rice. We were asked to sit down with them, and after a few greetings and some small talk, we asked if we could get the decals because we had a lot to do. Well . . . the owner hesitated and then explained apologetically that he had printed the decals on Saturday afternoon, but on Saturday evening his children had come into the shop and had cut up our decals to make aprons!!! I couldn't believe my ears!!! It was so like the classic "my dog ate my homework" excuse that I seriously thought he was joking. Should have known better -- who could have thought of an excuse like that? I actually just laughed out loud because it was either that or explode. He showed us the ruined decals -- and to be fair to the kids, they had made a pretty impressive apron out of them . . but it wouldn't have looked good on the car.
Trip 5 (Monday) -- So we left and he printed them again (I still don't understand why he didn't reprint them as soon as he found what had happened on Sat night). We went back in the afternoon and finally picked up the finished product. The guy who came to put them on the car had just been painting and kept smearing paint on the car whenever he touched it. Also, he didn't have any tools with him at all -- nothing to measure etc, and in fact looked a bit confused when we mentioned that he should measure the space to make sure the sticker went on straight. But he borrowed a yardstick from someone, and then was about to scratch a line on the car with his thumbnail since he didn't have a wax pencil. So at that point, he got fired. The second guy who came along seemed to know what he was doing, and at long last I have the decals on my car and I'm legal to drive.
You think this is an incredible chain of events? So do I, but after all . . . this is Africa!

I have wheels!

I'm very thankful to be able to say that the vehicle has been released from the port at long last!! I was so excited to get it -- also, if truth be told, very nervous about starting to drive in Monrovia, but God's kept me safe so far. Manuevering through traffic is quite a challenge -- not so much because of the number of cars as because no one seems to obey any rules at all! I have to be constantly on the alert and drive defensively. Also I need to drive offensively because otherwise I'd never get anywhere at all! There are no traffic lights or roundabouts, and only a few stop signs or intersections with police officers directing traffic. So most of the time you just have to edge out of the side street and flash your lights or beep your horn until someone stops and lets you through (or until you're completely blocking their lane and they have to stop! LOL) So pray for safety please.
Pray for Sunday services tomorrow. I heard that there may be a group of students attending from a nearby school -- their teacher attends the Paynesville church and is hoping to bring them. So pray that they will come, and that the Lord will speak to them as they're under His Word.

So much to learn!

I've been struck with how much I don't know in the last week! I mentioned in the last post that I'm taking taxis quite a bit while I wait for the vehicle to be released (yes, we're still waiting:-) It is more of a hassle than having your own vehicle, but taking taxis certainly gives opportunities to witness! People are always curious about who I am, where I'm living, what I'm doing in Liberia. So the conversation often comes around to the things of God naturally. One taxi driver went to a Pentecostal church -- I believe he may well have been saved, but he was asking questions about our church and how we worship and why we don't believe in "speaking in tongues" etc. I definitely need to do more reading on Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movement.
And then, in a store in town, I got talking to some Lebanese people. The Lebanese have really flooded into Liberia since the war -- they've set up a lot of businesses etc. Nice people -- but these folks in the store were asking the usual about who I was etc, and I asked them about their beliefs. They are Druze -- a sect of Islam. I had heard the name "Druze" before but knew absolutely nothing about it. We talked for a bit, and they are definitely open to discussing religious things, but I really need to read up on that one too!
Islam has a big hold here, and almost every major cult is found here also. Pray for wisdom and open doors! I've been thinking especially of the women from Islamic backgrounds -- a lot of them, from what I've read, don't get a choice as to what to believe. And of course, in some cases at least, the men in our church would not be able to speak with them, so pray that doors will open for me to get to know some of these ladies.

Settling In

The meetings finished up well with about 100 kids on the last day. We were encouraged to see many of them back again on Sunday for Sunday School -- pray that this interest will continue! It's wonderful to see so many kids under God's Word, but please pray for wisdom as to how best to teach them, and what to teach them first!! They need to learn the Word of God, but they also need to learn how to sit still and be quiet so that everyone can hear the lesson. Sometime it's difficult to know when to interrupt myself and settle the whole group down, and when to just keep teaching and trust that a few are listening.

Gillian, my friend from Ballymena, went home on Wednesday, so the apartment is pretty quiet at the moment! But I've been very busy cleaning and getting things organised here so that when I get started in my regular schedule, I'll be able to concentrate on the work.

Please pray that the vehicle which has been sent over from the US will be released soon from customs. It's been sitting at the port here in Monrovia since March 11th, but due to one holdup after another, it still hasn't been released. I've been taking car taxis mostly to get around the city, but yesterday I relented and bought myself a helmet and got onto the back of Rev. DiCanio's motorcycle. From seeing people come into A&E after motorbike accidents, I always said I'd never ride one, but I suppose you never know what you're going to do. At least he's a responsible driver!

But there's only so much you can carry on a motorbike so pray that the vehicle will be released -- it will make things simpler all round, especially when the rainy season starts in a couple of weeks!