May 2013 Update

May 2013 Riley Family’s Update for Liberia

Blog: liberiacalls.blogspot.com  E-mail donriley4@gmail.com Webpage: wordsowerliberia.com

Summary:

1.  We started a church locally of former rebel soldiers, ghetto drunks, addicts and notorious thieves.

2.  Our family has been very sick.  Please pray for our health.

3.  Construction is going well on the Bible Institute.  We anticipate construction to be completed this month and classes to start in two months.

4.  We have 560 students enrolled in our literacy program.  Please pray for this ministry.

Report:

Our mission is that every village of Liberia will have a healthy church.  Most of the towns and villages of Liberia have no church.  We have worked in over 200 villages in 10 counties; there are 8,700 villages and towns in 15 counties. This month we made 79 mission trips, visiting 84 villages and other locations and we made many local mission trips.  We went into 12 new villages.  Many of the places we visited multiple times, our longest trip was 13 days, shortest a few hours.  We printed and distributed approximately 2,360 pages of teaching material and distributed hundreds of Bibles, 58 were baptized and 6 completed our extensive Bible study program.  We showed the Jesus film 1 time to over 60 people.  Several factors affect how many mission trips we can go on each month; illness, injuries, motorbikes repaired, the availability of gas and money are some.

When I look at Liberia here is what I see.  I see a land the is ripe for an amazing spiritual harvest and I see extreme poverty and suffering.  Many people are coming to Christ.  Nearly every day we baptize those who have come to Christ.  To illustrate the spiritual hunger that is here, while typing this report, I was just interrupted by a man who started his conversation with me by saying, “I want to be born again.”  I stopped typing and lead the man to Christ.  Earlier this month, a man started his conversation with me by saying, “I heard this was a place I could find freedom.”  Never before have I seen such an openness to the Gospel.  We are truly blessed to be able to participate in what God is doing here.  Liberia is also a place of incredible physical need. 

Last month, we celebrated the birth of a girl named Christine.  Christine was born on the street, directly in front of our house.  Every day, we celebrate with those who celebrate and we grieve with those who grieve. 

Last month, we grieved with a man named Chaco.  Chaco’s little girl died from extreme constipation.  We could not get money to the hospital in Monrovia soon enough to save her life.  Sad!  We grieve!  The surgery to save her life would have only cost $20.  Death from preventable causes happens regularly here.  The people of Liberia know hunger and suffering yet they are always found with a smile on their face.  When you ask them how they are doing, they respond, “I’m trying.”  Please remember to pray for the people of Liberia.  Multitudes will respond to the Gospel if they are simply given an opportunity to hear about Christ.  Sadly, every day, people die without Christ in town and villages that have no churches.  Please pray that we will become more and more effective at making disciples who will make disciples who will make disciples resulting in churches being started where there are no churches.

Local Missions:

WOW!  What fun!  We have formed a new church of former rebel soldiers, ghetto drunks, addicts and notorious thieves.   Soo cool.  The Holy Spirit was powerful today.  Last week one said, “Why don’t we ever worship and just study the bible?”, so we are now having great worship.  Today another said, “Why don’t we ever give testimonies?”, so we had testimonies.  Of the 30, there were probably 20 who gave beautiful testimonies that would cause a rock in a desert to shed tears.  Others said, “What is the name of our church?”, so later today we will name our church.

Family Update / Prayer Requests:

Please pray for our family.  For the most part, we have acclimated to our new lives in Liberia but we are struggling with sickness.  Melanie, Christian, Grace, Tommy, and I have all had Malaria.  In addition to this, at one time, Melanie was sick with dysentery, Tommy had a 103.6 degree temperature from a stomach sickness (Tommy still has a severe tooth ache, there are no dentists anywhere near our home), Christian had Malaria, and I was being treated for what is suspected to be typhoid.  I think our sick days have outnumbered our healthy days in Liberia.  We are praying for a breakthrough.  We believe we may be suffering from bad water.  Last month, our well was broken.  I learned a lot about our dependency upon water when water was not easily accessible.  Our well is not sealed, therefore contaminates leak into our water.  We are suspecting our newest round of sickness may be do to this.  Our family has reverted to drinking the expensive bottled water to see if we can kick our sickness.   Please pray. 

The Bible Institute:

Last month construction started on the Bible Institute.  My home church in Indiana, Fairview Missionary Church, generously donated the funds needed to complete this construction.  Construction happens quickly in Liberia.  There are no building codes nor building inspections.  Bricks are made from mud and structures go up quickly.  We anticipate the construction to be completed by the end of this month and classes to start two months from now.  The Bible Institute is desperately needed to train and equip pastors and church leaders from churches that have been started.  Pastors will come for two weeks at a time for training.  This will allow them to continue to work their fields and provide for their families while receiving ongoing training.   One of my main responsibilities in Liberia is overseeing the Bible Institute.  Please pray for this new ministry as it is starting.

Literacy Training: 

Last month we built upon the hard work and solid foundation that my friend Allison Smith laid when she spent three months in Liberia focused on Literacy.  I have visited the schools Allison worked in and I see lasting fruit.  Thank you Allison for your hard work and dedication to the Lord!  Last month, we formed a team of teachers who are focused on bringing literacy to all of Liberia.  Most of Wordsower Liberia’s ministry focuses on the remote towns and villages of Liberia.  Many of these towns have no churches and no schools.  After a healthy church has been established in a community, we desire to train teachers from each church to bring the gift of literacy to their community.  In many of these communities, we estimate there to be an 80% illiteracy rate.  Last month, 560 people were enrolled in our literacy training.  Next month, we will begin training the teachers who will teach these people. 

There is much more I could report on but I will stop at that.  I have a blog.  You can signup to receive email updates from my blog at liberiacalls.blogspot.com.  I try to update the blog weekly with testimonies and pictures from Liberia.  I hope you enjoy reading my posts.  You can also check out our webpage at wordsowerliberia.com.

Update from Melanie 

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings from Zwedru, Liberia.  Wow, I cannot believe that it has been 1 month since we left the USA.  Crazy how time flies by.  After first arriving, I thought that 2 yrs seemed like too long but now I know that before I know it, I will be sending a letter saying that I cannot believe it has really been 2 yrs. already.  What a pluthra of feelings that are constantly going through my mind.  I am only scratching the surface but the needs here are great in all areas - spiritual to physical.  I know that I only have a glimpse of understanding of how true that statement really is.  God is working on my heart day after day.  Lately, He continues to bring me to Phil 2:1-18.  I have read that time and time again but I did not have a clue what those verses really meant until I got here and I prayed for compassion.  God showed me true compassion when He told me to read Phil 2.  To think that He really came down here and showed compassion - that He died, yes, He died on the cross for me.  Now that is true compassion.  I think that these vs have become my life verses.  No matter where I am, I need to be doing this.

Well, I am sure that the kids have informed you that 5 out of the 6 of us have gotten malaria.  Tommy, Grace, big Don, Christian, and I have had malaria.  Something that one of the ladies told me has helped me a lot.  She said, we are not afraid of malaria here because there is a cure.  When we get malaria, we take medicine.  We are then fine.  But like AIDS.  Now that.  There is no cure.  So we are afraid of that.  (That statement helped me out a lot.  Why am I afraid of malaria?  There is a cure.)  The kids handled the pricks and IV treatments like true men and women just for the record.  They were very brave and strong.  :)Tommy has an extreme tooth ache and is taking amoxillian for it.  We are praying for healing or a dentist whichever the Lord has in mind.  

Love all of you, in Christ, and greatly appreciate your prayers!!!!

Mel :)

Update from Christian:

Hi Friends and Family,

I have been having a blast here in Africa.  I miss you all.  I have been hunting with Junior, my friend.  He helped us make rubber guns.  Today, Junior killed two birds.  You don’t need seasoning on the birds.  They taste good without it.  Junior killed 10 birds since I was here.  I am having a blast.  My favorite part of Africa is friends and animals, especially when you get to eat some.  I learned African football.  Yesterday, we went on the motorbike in the rain.  It was hard to see.  We were going really slow but it was raining hard.  There are lots of baptisms here, nonstop.  That is a lot of fun.  At least every day there is a baptism.  Last month, we baptized more than 50 people.  There are people here begging for the Lord.  It is sad because we don’t have enough material for all the people who want to know Jesus.  I want you to all know that there is no limit to how many birds I can hunt.  All the birds are pretty.  They have a lot of bright colors on them.

Update from Grace:  (Written a week ago)

Hi, I now live in Liberia, Africa.  We just visit USA now.  Did you know that we got a new puppy named Hope.  I love the food here.  Everyday we eat rice.  Rice is yummy.  We have only been here for 3 weeks.  Can you believe we got here that fast?  It seems like yesterday.  It was just a short time until it was my birthday.  Our days go by fast.  It is so fun here.  Maybe you guys should come and visit someday?  I have malaria now. Tomorrow, I get my last shot and then I will be done with my shots.  Three nights ago, I fainted.  I went to the restroom and couldn’t walk.  Mom had to help hold me up.  I am feeling a lot better now but I still get dizzy.  There were American people who came and visited but they are gone now.  Please pray that God will give me good friends.  Please pray that the girls will like me.  Love you guys, bye.

Update from Tommy:

Hi, I am in Africa.  I love you.  I can’t wait until I get to America.  I love you really, really much.  I ate lots of stuff here.  I have a new puppy.  We have swings here in Africa.  I have a lot of new friends.  I like to play with my friends.  We like to play soccer.  My favorite food to eat is beens.  I love you, bye.

Update from Donny:

I want Nanny and Pappaw to know that I love them.  I want you to know that I live here in Africa.  I like Africa.  I love Nanny and Papaw and Africa.  I have a new dog.  We gave Snickers to Pete and Lisa in the USA.  I want to see our cat Noah who is at Grandpa and Grandma Riley’s house.  Maybe he has a baby now because there was a mommy cat there.  I want to help people.  I don’t want people to cry because I am in Africa.  I am happy that I am in Africa.  I am happy.  I like Africa and I like the United States.  I have a dog here in Africa.  His name is Hope.  He is a baby dog.  I love him.  Our cat that is in the Untited States has a hurt leg.  I don’t know what happened to him.  Maybe he is taking care of a mommy cat.  We have motorbikes here in Africa.  We have chickens, a pig, goat, a mom duck with baby eggs.  I love all people.  I don’t want a monkey to live in our home.  We had someone today want to sell us a pet monkey.  People here eat dogs.  I don’t want to eat our dog because I love him.  The dog is white and brown.  I don’t want to kill him because I love him.  He is thirsty. 

Donations:

Donations may be mailed to:

Wordsower International

P.O. Box 1648

Piqua, OH 45356

Donations may also be made online by going to our webpage: wordsowerliberia.com

All donations are tax deductible.  A receipt will be sent at year’s end.  100% of donations go to the mission for the Liberians and Ivorian refugees.  None is used for me or administration.  If there are any donation questions, you may call Doug Billeinstein at 937-4596412.

Wordsower International: Liberia Branch May, 2013 Ministry Expense Report

Ministry expenses:

$658 – Paper, gas for the generator, pens, folders, Bibles, mission trips feeding, etc.
$645 – Motor bike gas and repair, we have 9 bikes (Gas prices are between $5.50 - $11.00
a gallon).
$701 – We have two schools that we pay the teachers. We pay each teacher $50 a month, there are two teachers per school.. Money was also used for other student needs

Assistance to the poor:

$366 – Humanitarian assistance: including food (average cost is $1.50 a day for food), rent, home repair, etc.
$77 – Medical expenses (average treatment cost per person is $1.00 - $10.00).

Compound construction project:

$468 - Don, Melanie and family are moving to Liberia to join us. We are using designated money for the addition on our place for them to live in.

Bible Institute construction project:

$4,556 – We have acquired 1⁄2 acre adjacent to our existing property. It had 5 unfinished buildings on it. We received a $17,400 donation from a church in Indiana to renovate the property. Construction is progressing rapidly. We hope to have 100% of all construction finished by the end of June. The rainy season is upon us. It rains every day now. This may delay us. The site will be used as a Bible school for the bush spiritual leaders.

Team food and house supplies:

$1,380 – Food and house supplies (close estimate). Our core team consists of 13 adults and 17 children. That averages out to $1.53 a day per person to cover, clothes, food, batteries, soap etc. Really, our team uses less than that per day because we feed visitors every day from the interior, refugees, and locals from our house funds.

$5,024 – Total designated money for construction $3,827 – Total ministry, mission money

$8,851- Total for the month.

Villages, towns and cities we have been working in:

Sinoe County: Bardoua, Beatuoken, Bilibokee, Charlic, Cass Town, Chebioh, Cheboken, Dagbe, Deedo, Dejila, Deyankpo, Fanfin, Funnioh, Gbliyee, Gardoway, Greeneville, Geelor, Greft, Jalay, Jaytoken, Joazon, Joe Village, Jokoken, Judu, Karquekpo, Kilo, Korjayee, Kuwait Gold mining camp, Nyennwlejen, Pellkon, Pokpaken, Putu Jadweodee, Peace Camp (a gold mining camp), Pratt, Pynes Town, Qutatozon, Saygbeken, Seetor, Saybaken, Saydee, Senquene, Sennajalh, Titus, Voobadee, Wiah.  Grand Gedeh County: Army barracks, Badou, Bah, Bargblor, Barte-jam, Bassa, Bawaydee, Beezon, Beh, Bently Mining Camp, Best, B’hai, Tarway, Billibo, Boe,  Boley, Boplue, Border, Boundary, Chayee, Chebeh, Compound, CVI gold mining camp, Deplay, Diah, Dolozon, Dougee Refugee Camp, Duo Town, Dweh,  48 mile, Franzaz, Garbo, Garley, Gbakah, Gbarbo, Gbayea, Gbeyoubo, Gbloue, Gboe,  Gboe Geewon, Gboleken, Gambo, Geeha, Geeyah, Gleplay, Gorabert,  Gorbowrogba, Graddeh, Grady, Gwenebo,  Jackson, Jaibo, James’s Sayon’s, Jargbeh, Jarwleh, Jarzon, Jayteken 1, Jayteken 2, Jellu,  Johban, John David, Jonesgbaye, Juahzon, Julutuzon, Karlowleh, Kohn, Kojayee, Konobo, Ziah, Kpae, Kyne, Kwebo, Ma Esther, New York gold mining camp, Nico, Old Pohan, Panwolor, Pellelzon, Penokon, Peter Saydee, Pineapple village, Ploe Bodee, Polar Town, Polar Village, PTP refugee camp, Queboe, Sant, Savah, Saylee, Sayubo, Sentrodu, Sewion 1, Sewion 2, Sinkon, Sloman (a gold mining camp), Solo Inside, Solo Outside, Solo Refugee Camp, Sowaken, Steven, Suahken, Taye’s Village, Tiama, Toes Refugee Camp, Toes Town, Toffoi, Togbayee, Tojillah, Toueah, Tuglor, Varglor, Vleyee, Whybo, Willie Jellu, Woloken, Wulu, Zarzar, Zaiyee, Zeon, Ziulay, Zwedru, the county prison, 4 road check stations, and the county hospital.  Montserrado County: Bannerville, Jacob town, Monrovia, New Georgia, Pipeline.  River Gee County:  Cheboken, Dweaken, Fish Town, Fish Town Prison, Geeken, Jarkaken, Jaytoken 1, Jaytoken 2, Kanweaken, Klaboken, Podroken, Putuken, Sargba, Sweaken, Tartiken.  Bomi County:  Beh, Jaway, Joes Town, Tubmansburg.  Margibi: Army barracks, Bovclay, Brown, Dolos Town, Harbel camp 7, Kpuyah, Mazoe, Naway, Sherflin Barak,Takata. Maryland County: Cain, Cavalla, Cavalla Konukridi, Gbolobo, Dakay, Dannis, Dibleken, Factory, Fish, Gboloken, Halfgrayway, 7 locations in Harper, Holegrn, Judy’s, Kablaken, Kings, Lexicon, Little Weleppo Refugee camp, Middle town, Nekpachelu, Nemelken, New Half and Whole Graway Towns, Old Lady, Olegravic, Pedebo, 4 locations in Pleebo, Philadelphia, Poceken, Pular, Pulla, Puluken, Refugee Village, Rock, Rubber Bag Camp, Saydeken, Sawlowken, Saywonken, Siliken, Spring Hill, Warteken, Weah’s Town, Wechoken, Wholegrayway, Wuluplukredi, the county prison and check stations.  Nimba County: Beatwo, Camp 1, Dialah, Fienney, Freeman, Glalay, Gonkopa, Graie, Guotoin, Kpaytuo, Miller, Noway, Sarlay, Tappita, Towah, Unification, Venn, Wontoe, Yiteepea, Your Peg, Zarwulugbo, Zautuo.  River Cess: Darhga, Gbee.  Grand Kru: Bewan, Camp Spin, Doubbo, Gbarken, Wropluken.