Mission Update 5-8-19

No one knew her name:

Written by Susan McLay:
She had the prettiest dress on.  The top half was a deep red velvet, the bottom half was a silky white, and flowers were scattered around.  The bow was coming undone.  She had a raging fever.  She was so weak.  She came and sat on my lap which surprised me because many children her age are afraid of my white skin.  She vomited and was too sick to even cry.  She just put her arms around my neck and fell asleep.  As I held her I realized I didn’t even know her name.  But it soon became apparent that no one knew her name.  No one seemed to care much about her.  So I just held her.

My darling new friend - does anyone love you?  Does anyone care about you?  Who kisses your booboos?  Who makes sure you get enough to eat?  Who reads you a bedtime story?

On Monday, this sick little girl, from an orphanage we visited, heard the gospel message.  I pray she won't forget what she heard.  She had someone care about her.  May she remember that and pass it on to someone else one day.

You see, to us she wasn't just another orphan.  She wasn't just another statistic.  To us, she is a precious little girl, a girl whom God loves so much!  This world may never care who she is, but GOD does and because God cares, we care.  That why we have a medical clinic.

Last month, we treated 606 poeple at our mobile medical clinics:

Luke 9:6 describes Jesus’s ministry this way, “And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.”  Our mobile medical clinics seek to model Jesus’s ministry by preaching the gospel in remote towns and villages where there is little access to medicine and by treating the sick.  Every Monday, our medical team is out serving the sick.  Last month, we were in two bush towns and two orphanages.  We treated 606 patients.  51 people gave their lives to Jesus.  Here are a few pictures from last month's clinics. 

This patient is being registered while having her vitals taken.  Our medical charts keep each patient's medical history and a record of their spiritual growth.  

Susan (on the left) is one of our Physician Assistants.

Every patient meets with a pastor to have their spiritual needs met.

This picture was taken from Falita Orphanage.  Our medical team treats every child in every orphanage in our area.

She did not want to stand on the scale....

Peter is testing this child for malaria.

Thank you for buying all our medicines.  You enable us to take the gospel and medical care to those who need it most.  From start to finish, our clinics are free for all our patients. 

Two new children and one new foster mom:

God is doing great things at His Safe Haven's village for special needs orphans.   We are excited to announce that the Lord has added two precious children to our group home family and one new foster mom.  I praise God for all He is doing!

Ongoing construction at His Safe Haven's Village:

Last month, we moved all our special needs children to their new homes at His Save Haven's village.  Our construction sight was transformed by the sounds of laughing children and talking adults.  Now, during the day, half of our village is busy ministering to the needs of special needs children while the other half is under construction.  At this point in time, we have completed 4 group homes and a community kitchen.  

The construction of 3 additional group homes and the ministry center are ongoing.

We hope to complete this group home by the end of May.

This is a picture of our ministry center.  It’s large screened in porch will contain a therapy center and an indoor playground.  If you look at the exterior wall, the two windows closest to the porch are part of the dinning hall.  The last window is part of the medical clinic.  Our sponsored children, children from our school, our special needs children and people from the community around us will be treated in this clinic.  

All the door frames for the ministry center have been installed.

All the windows have been installed.  This is a picture of the dinning hall. 

The dinning hall will have cathedral ceilings.  These men are adding gabble walls so we can begin installing the ceilings. 

Ceiling joists have been installed in the medical clinic, hallway, bathrooms, and office.

Inside the clinic.

This well was dug next to our kitchen and ministry center.

24 of these coverts were molded for the well.

These men are lowering the coverts into the well.

Our new well is very deep and has an abundant supply of clean drinking water.  Thank you for our new well!

My prayer is that we will be able to complete the construction of our special needs village before our family visits the States this summer.  Thank you for building beautiful homes for all our special children!

The mother wanted to kill him at birth:

Written by Philip, Sponsorship Director:
Names have been changed to protect the identity of children.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female, he created them.” 

(Genesis 1:27)

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” 

(Genesis 1:31)

These verses came to my mind as I distributed supplies to baby Flomo’s house this week.  Let me tell you a little about Baby Flomo’s life.  Baby Flomo’s mother wanted the doctor to killed him in the delivery room after she noticed that his hands were not correct.  We praise God for the physician assistant who saved his life.  After recovering from giving birth, Baby Flomo’s birth mother walked out of the hospital, leaving her son behind.  The same physician assistant who saved Baby Flomo’s life came to his rescue again by taking him home.  Though Baby Flomo’s new mother is a physician assistant, she found it difficult to provide for his daily needs.  This is where our mission got involved.  Through the grace of God, this child is now being supported by a sponsor from America.  Baby Flomo is gradually putting on weight and is healthy.  

Every man, woman, and child has been made in the image of God.  I am so grateful to God for such an amazing work He's doing in the lives of orphans and disabled children through your financial support.  Thank you and may God bless you all!

Scripture Memory Bible:

We want to be experts in helping people memorize the Bible.  With Liberia’s high illiteracy rate and rampant corruption, we believe one of the most fruitful things we can do is help people hide the Word of God in their hearts.  God’s Word never returns void (Isaiah 55:11).  

So what is a Scripture Memory Bible?  There are many methods people have used over the years to help them memorize large portions of Scripture.  These methods focus on using a person’s senses to help them memorize.  Seeing, hearing, speaking, and writing the Bible are the keys that unlock Bible memory.  

Since writing is not an effective tool in our illiterate / barely literate culture, we are creating a tool to help people see the Word of God using pictures while they practice saying the Scripture by memory.  They can also listen to the Bible using audio recordings that are distributed on mobile devices.  Wouldn’t it be exciting if children were able to recite entire chapters or even books of the Bible by memory?  Can you imagine how beautiful it would be to see illiterate old ma’s and old pa’s, deep in the bush, quoting the Scriptures?  This is our dream.

So, does it work?  Praise God, it is working.  Last month, we took Proverbs 2 into our elementary School for a trial.  Students were taught one verse a day, using a simple lesson plan that we created.  

One month later, our students are running around their neighborhoods quoting all of Proverbs 2 by memory.  Some students have even taken the material and started training other children in their neighborhoods.  Last week, we introduced the material to several pastors and encouraged them to begin using it in their churches.  The initial results are very encouraging.  

Psalms 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” 

Rainbow Around the Sun:

Last Saturday, while visiting the group homes with my boys, Melanie called and told us to look up at the sky.  To our amazement, we saw a spectacular rainbow circling the sun. We quickly informed all the construction workers and our group home residence.  Everyone stood outside staring at the sky in amazement.  

Our awe filled silence was occasionally broken by someone saying words like "wow," "amazing," and "God is awesome."

After returning home, I did a little research and learned that these spectacular rainbows are caused by a thin cirrus clouds at altitudes above 20,000 feet.  These clouds are made mostly of ice crystals which refract the sun's light like a prism.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Day to day it pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world" (Psalm 19:1-4 ESV).  

Look up!  God is still on His throne!  The heavens will remind you of His glory and power.

The Remote Bible Institute:

This month, three of our Remote Bible Institute classes will be taking their final exams on the book of Romans. These classes are located in bush towns.  Last month, we also worked in partnership with a missionary friend to train Pastors in our home town.  Please pray for our students as they begin taking the material they have learned and begin teaching it in their churches.  

Fairview Missionary Children’s Church Project:

This part of my blog was written to the children at Fairview Missionary Church who raised money to help us build a group home for special needs orphans.  Thank you!

Hey Kids, check out the work that was done at your house last week!

Last week, we added plaster to your walls.  

Our plaster is made from a mixture of sand and cement.

After plastering your walls, these men installed your ceilings.  We use 4’x8’ ceiling tiles.  There is no need for insulation in our ceilings since our temperatures stay hot all year long.  

After the ceiling tiles were hung, we used these wood strips to secure the ceilings.

Here is a picture of your front porch.  We built large front porches so our children could enjoy the outdoors during rainy season.  We have just two seasons in Liberia.  Our rainy season lasts 6 months and our dry season lasts another 6 months.  

This is a picture of your living room.

This is a picture of a bedroom.  Our group homes have 3 bedrooms.  The first bedroom is for girls.  The second bedroom is for boys.  The last bedroom is for the foster mom who takes care of the children.  Many of our foster moms are widows.  Our mission desires to take care of widows and orphans.  These moms work hard throughout the day, taking care of all of our special needs children.

What would you do if you saw this little guy in your house?  These lizards are quite harmless.  As a matter of fact, we like having them in our houses because they eat mosquitos and other bugs.  Our mosquitos carry a terrible disease called Malaria.  Malaria is one of the greatest killers in Liberia.  We have a new missionary from New Zealand who recently joined our team.  Believe it or not, she names all the lizzards in her house.  She has a 3 legged lizard that lives in her bathroom and another lizard that lives in her living room.

It won't be long before a foster mom and all her children will move into your home.  Thank you again for building this home for our special needs children!  You are truly making a difference in their lives!

Prayer Requests:
1.  Please pray that doors will be opened for our family to make an extended visit to the States this summer.  Please pray that we will be successful at getting visas for our three newly adopted children. 
2.  Please pray that we will be able to complete a number of projects we are working on before visiting the States.  
3.  Please pray for my wife as she home schools all 7 of our children.

Mission Update 4-25-19

Susan's first month in Liberia:

A little over a month ago, Susan McLay traveled from New Zealand to join our team here in Liberia.  She has been a wonderful blessing to our mission.  I want you to come to know her.  I thought you might enjoy reading some of her thoughts on Liberia.  

My First Week in Liberia:

You know how on TV there’s a documentary made on Africa every now and again? The camera crew are riding a two wheel motorbike into some remote bush town.  

The dirt is a rich red color that creates much dust.  

The children aren’t wearing much, they line the roads waving and shouting “white man.” 

The women have bright colored clothes, a contrast to their dark skin.  Well, that’s not some exotic program on TV anymore.  That’s now my life. 

Less than 24 hours after arriving in Liberia, I was on my own motorbike navigating the roads filled with potholes, chickens, and dogs.  People littered the roads, all turning heads to see the “white man.” It was a great start to this adventure.  

The people here are friendly.  

They really have nothing, yet still offer to share what they have.  My first week was a stark contrast to New Zealand.  There are no coffee shops, no shopping malls, no sheep farms in rolling green hills.  

What is here are survivors.  People building a life again after 2 civil wars, a genocide and ebola.  They are people of strength, people of change.  They are people fighting for a future here in Liberia.  It’s a humbling experience to be a part of.  

Snake:
"You wan see a sane?" Which translates into, "Do you want to see a snake?"  Yes!  Of Course I did!  We were out at the group homes enjoying a morning of interacting with the children, chatting to the mums and appreciating a new day when Philip, my workmate, came and asked me about the snake.  Not knowing where the snake was or if it was dead or alive, I followed Philip to the new well we are digging!  

The snake was about 25 feet down, a very small speck of green poking out of one of the foot holes on the wall of the well. 

I was informed, "We try kill it with a rubber gun."  What's a rubber gun?  Good question!  It's a slingshot!  They were taking turns to shoot stones down the well, trying to kill it.  The snake was a green mamba, one bite from it could kill a man.  Hence why it needed to die.  I was absolutely amazed at the accuracy of the shots!  Many times coming, within centimeters of it.  Once or twice, the snake was hit, but not killed.  Then one hit sent the snake into the water that was sitting a few feet below it's residence.  Apparently green mambas can swim!  

One of the men had a new solution to kill it.  He climbed down the well with a stick and we all watched in anticipation as he balanced only a foot or so above the waterline, beating the water with the stick to find and kill the snake.  Eventually he succeeded and up he came with the snake on the end of the stick.  I must admit I was rather dissapoited as the snake was so small, I was surprised to see something this small be so deadly!  However, we all let out a breath of relief and thanked the LORD for keeping him safe.

The excitement for the day could have ended there but it doesn't.  While all this "snake business" was going on a truck with a load of sand arrived.  About 50 meters into the driveway at the group homes is a creek.  This creek has a bridge made of a couple of logs. At the end of the bridge is a small but steep hill.  The truck came down the driveway, crossed the bridge, up the hill...  And then it stopped! Standing and watching from the well it all happened in slow motion.  The truck slid down the hill, crashed through the bridge and the back end of the truck rested in the creek.  Thankfully, no none was hurt!  

I don't know how the truck was pulled out as we had to leave.  Getting the motorbike out was slightly entertaining to me.  There was one small log that had not been broken.  The truck rested on one side of the log and the creek was on the other side.  A team of 4 men worked together to drag and lift the motorbike across the bridge.  After a small slip, they were successful and we left.  

The Lord is so good!  He kept the men from being killed by the snake, He allowed the truck to go so far so the driver wasn't hurt either!  Yesterday was a very unexpected but a great day.

Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Dirty, Urine Smelling Boy:

An impish grin split his face as a squeal of delight escaped his lips.  Little Don (not part of the Riley family) just caused friendly trouble again and had decided that my lap was the safest place to be.  Not that I minded as I sat watching a football game.  This dirty, urine smelling boy had captured my heart.  Laughter crinkled around the edge of his eyes, his little hands moving as fast as the pigeon Liberian English coming out his mouth.  Sometime earlier this week, I realized something.  The words of Matthew 25:40 have been coming to mind. “Verily, I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”  I have a choice. I could choose to brush this smelly boy away and not give him a second chance or I could choose to see beyond the grime to a little heart that needs Jesus.  This little boy represents so many children in this country.  These children not only need human love but they need to know the love and care of a Savior.  If one of the ways to show that is through holding this child on my lap while listening to a story I don’t understand, then that’s something I should be doing with joy.  

More than a Cook:

Outside the rain is bucketing down and the wind is howling.  Roads are turning to small streams as another changing of the season storm rolls through mid afternoon. Inside the kitchen, there is calm.  Laughter erupts in a conversation between the cooks.  The team is picking Palava leaves off the stocks for dinner that evening. An invite is extended by Dennis to come and help while we wait for the storm to pass.  

Dennis is the head of the kitchen, yet looking on you don’t see him bossing everyone around.  You see him working alongside his team.  You see him explaining when someone doesn’t understand but most importantly, you see the joy of the LORD shining through him.  Hearing him over and over thank the LORD for the healing that’s happened in his life is humbling to listen to.  Hearing him thank and praise the LORD throughout his conversations is encouraging to hear.  The LORD is working through Dennis and his team as they cook for the mums and children of the group homes.  The LORD has given Dennis the ability to not only cook delicious food but to have such joy while cooking!  Dennis is using his gift for the LORD to serve others.  The atmosphere of the kitchen is a delight to be in because of this. 

Hiding God's Word in their Hearts:

“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you!” This is the opening verse of Proverbs 2.  Visiting Liberty Elementary School this week was an absolute joy.  Why?  Because there was a class of around 20 students learning this verse.  They will continue to learn one verse a day and in 22 days will have learned the whole of Proverbs 2.  

Earlier in the day, we sat and listened to another class of 30-40 children recite up to verse 16.  They have been learning Proverbs 2 for 16 days now.  But it’s more than that.  These students aren’t just learning a verse or a chapter.  They have teachers that not only care about their education but they care about their souls.  The teachers are explaining the verses as they go along.  They as well are learning the verses and as we watched the teachers share with the classes, they believed what they are teaching! 

Verse 5 of Proverbs 2 says, “Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”  There is a generation of children here in Liberia being raised up to fear the LORD and to find the knowledge of God.  These children are taking these teachings to their homes for their families to learn.  One of the boys came and recited what he had learned.  He has also been teaching another boy who goes to a different school the wonderful truths of Proverbs 2.  These truths are spreading and praise the LORD for having the Gospel in Liberia and in the school!  

Fairview Missionary Children's Church Project

This part of my blog was written to the children at Fairview Missionary church who raised money to help us build a group home for special needs orphans.  Thank you!  

Hi kids, we were able to get a lot of work done on your house last week.

We finished framing the ceilings.

We built window and door frames.  Look at these men, do you see anything missing in this photo?  If you said, they have no power tools, you are right.  We have no electricity and no running water on our base.  These men have to do all their work by hand. 

This is what windows look like in Liberia.  We have no need for glass in our windows.  It is nearly ninety degrees year round.  We put steel rods in our windows to keep the thieves out.  Our houses are made out of mud, brick, and cement so we are not worried too much about house fires especially since our houses do not have electricity. 

This is what the exterior of your house looks like now.  Look at the front of your house.  How many bricks do you think it took to build your house?  We used 510 blocks on your foundation and 2,547 blocks on your walls.   

Believe it or not, we made each block by hand. Unfortunately, there are no Lowe's Home Improvement stores in Liberia.  All the 2x4s in your house were cut by a chainsaw in the bush.  Imagine how hard it would be to cut a 2x4 using only a chainsaw.   

Stay tuned to my blog for more updates.  I'll try to post new pictures every week.  Thank you again for helping us build this home for special needs orphans!  God is using you!

Prayer Requests:
1.  Our family would like to visit the States this summer.  There are several steps we need to take to be able to travel with our three newly adopted children.  These steps are taking a lot longer than anticipated.  Please pray that we are successful at getting visas for our children.  Please pray the door will open for us to visit the States.
2.  Please pray that we would see many people come to Christ and be discipled through our ministry.  Please pray that healthy churches would be started.  
3.  Please pray for my wife as she home schools our children.  

Thank you for your faithful prayers and partnership in the Gospel!