Mission to Jellue Town

Our prayer is that there would be a healthy church in every town and village of Liberia within our lifetime.  Most towns do not have churches in them.  Yesterday, Donny and I visited Jellue Town.  Jellue Town was once ruled by the devil (witch doctor) and the devil's dancers.  Today, there is a healthy church there.  Nearly all 100 citizens of Jellue Town have become Christians.  The church was started by two men named Jefferson and James.  Both of these men attended the Bible Institute.  While meeting together we made plans to bring the Gospel to Kuma Town and Zabay Town.  Kuma and Zabay are still ruled by the devil and his dancers.  Please pray for these towns.  Kuma town has a church but the pastor is from out of town and only visits once a month.  Zabay does not have a church.  This Saturday we will be on mission in these towns.

There is no road to Jellue Town.  I believe Jellue Town has to be one of the most remote places on earth.  To get to Jellue town, we travel on motorbike until we could not travel anymore.  Then we walked on foot 3 hours deep into the bush (we took a wrong turn in the bush so our trip was longer than needed).  Along the way, we had to cross several natural bridges like the ones in these photos and climb many steep hills.  We carried all our supplies on our backs and enjoyed every step we took.  The walk was beautiful.  The air was cool and damp.  The trees were huge and beautiful unlike anything in America.  The birds and other creatures in the rainforest serenaded us with their songs. 

Lasanna is the man in this photo who is helping Donny.  Lasanna was a former rebel soldier during Liberia's Civil War.  About 5 months ago Lasanna gave his life to Christ.  Now, Lasanna servers in God's army.  Lasanna has become a very close friend and goes on most mission trips with me. 

While in town, Donny told Bible stories to children while Lasanna and I trained church leaders.  In Liberia, parents often put their deaf children outside the town to die believing the children will bring a curse on their family if they don't.  God is using Donny to change the hearts and customs of many Liberians.  He is always warmly welcomed and loved in every town we visit.  In this photo, Donny is signing while I interpret.  Adults stood outside the house listening to Donny's teaching. 

We have a lot of fun while serving our Lord.  Here is a short video of Lasanna trying to cross a tricky part of the river.  I almost fell in while crossing so I stopped 1/2 way across the river and told Lasanna that I wanted to video him crossing in case he fell.  I videoed while still standing above the river on the log.  Lasanna laughed at me and the rest is history.  Don't ever think that we are suffering in Liberia.  We are not suffering, we are having the time of our lives!  Every morning I wake and thank God from the bottom of my heart for giving our family the opportunity to serve Him in Liberia.  Everyday we feel the joy that is found in seeing God do things through our lives that we know we could not have done on our own.