The Riley Family is in Liberia!

Hello, this is Chris Andrews, Don Riley’s sister. I will be helping update this blog while the Riley family is in Liberia. Don, Mel and the children will continue to provide content which I will post on their behalf. As you can image, internet speed is very slow in Liberia. For this first post I will summarize some phone calls and will quote an email that Don was able to send. I’m also excited to share the first of the Riley family in front of their new home!

Words cannot express my overall pride for my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephews. The work that they are fulfilling is directly affecting so many people’s eternity. Sometimes it is hard for the human mind to comprehend just what eternity means – if you stacked toothpicks end-to-end clear to the moon – with each toothpick representing a lifetime – it wouldn’t come close to the time that we will all spend in eternity. Amazing! Due to the work of this mission many people will spend that eternity in Heaven and we can all play a role in this very important work.

As you know, the Riley family’s journey to Liberia began many years ago as they began preparing for God’s work in missions. Amazingly, Mel has felt a calling to Africa since her teenage years. On May 7^th the actual physical trip to Liberia began and along their travels they spent a night in Monrovia with a team from Woodside Bible Church. Below is a story Don shared from Monrovia:

“I have to tell you a story.  When we arrived in Liberia, we spent one day in Monrovia with the team from Chris's church. While talking to the team I watched our children play ball with the neighborhood children.  The picture was beautiful.  There were three white faces, one brown face, and many black faces all smiling from ear-to-ear.

They were laughing and having a great time.  Our children had a hard time communicating with the African children because they speak broken English.  After playing for a while, I noticed that Christian stooped down to the ground and began writing something in the red dirt.  My curiosity got the best of me so I went over to see what he had written.  Here is what I saw, "I love you."  Of course, I was a proud dad.  Christian had been trying to figure out how to communicate with the children and now he was successful. I left Christian and rejoined team from Michigan.  After sitting a long time with the team, I noticed Christian was still writing in the dirt so I went over to see what he had written.  What I saw made me even more proud. Try to picture this in your mind. Christian was on his knees with a small rock in his hand. The rock was his writing utensil. In the same way a football team huddles around the team leader, 30+ children crowded around Christian, trying to see what he had written. On the ground Christian had drawn a clear picture of Golgotha. Christian had drawn the Gospel message from beginning to end on the dirt of the ground.”

Don went on to discuss their remaining road travels to Zwedru and their first two nights in their new home.

“The trip was long, about twelve hours in all. The roads were rough at places but our SUV maneuvered them with relative ease. Upon arriving home, we were greeted with loud cheering as the team ran to greet us. We are truly blessed to be here!

Or first night was tough, I think due to culture shock. Our emotions were all over the place.  Try to imagine feeling extremely happy and terrified all at the same time. I carried my wife over the threshold of our house and stepped into our new, two room home that our team had built for us. It was evident that their labor was a labor of love. The team had woven together flowers and made an archway that went over the doorframe of our house. While feeling extremely loved by the team, we also realized just how much we would be roughing it.

We all sleep under mosquito nets, on small mats, on the ground. Our house has 5 windows, all without glass or screens therefore we really are sleeping in the elements under a rain and wind shelter. To be completely honest, I think our entire family fell asleep feeling both loved and scared.

Today, was a good day. We spent most of the day turning our house into our home.  We unpacked our suitcases and made plans for building a few small tables and bookshelves.  The kids got their teddy bears and blankets out of their suitcases and made their beds.  Toward the end of the day, Melanie said, "This is starting to feel like home." Today, everyone in our family made many new friends.

I am writing this letter while sitting under my mosquito net, late at night, listening to the rain hit our metal roofed home and hearing crickets out my window. Tonight, our entire family went to bed with smiles and without fear. We are certain that with each day that passes, Liberia will feel more and more like home. One thing is for certain. We all know God has called us here and we all feel blessed to be here. Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to this new culture.

The team from Liberia truly went out of their way to build us a beautiful home.  We have two rooms. One room is probably about 12'x12' and the other room is about 12'x14'. 

Today, we met a lot of people and began unpacking our things.  By the end of the day, our two rooms began to look and feel more like home.

The first night, the kids were scared to sleep. Tonight, they went to bed easy. Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to this new culture.”

Don has shared a number of stories of lives being changed. I will share some of these stories in another post but with leave you with the most common phrase “The harvest here is plentiful, ripe and ready  – people are begging to know the gospel!”

Please continue to pray for the Riley family as they continue to adjust to the new culture and join the amazing work of this mission – affecting the Eternity of so many people – one life at a time.