Mel's Big News

Dear All of Our Very Sweet and Wonderful Family and Friends,

How are you all?  We are doing well over here, though, Christian has a hand that is hurting.  Strangest thing really.  He said that he noticed that during the night before, he got a scrape on his wrist and then last evening, his hand began to hurt, swelled up, and he couldn’t move it.  In fact, if it was touched, the pain was incredible. This morning, he feels that it is a little better but he still can’t move it.  Strange, huh?!  Oh by the way, yes, this is Africa...  😊

Well, I have exciting news for you all!  Two more days until we begin our trek westward.  Yes, we are now leaving on Thursday.  Wahoo!  However, I will greatly miss Mr. Kim and all of our new friends.  But, our things are almost completely packed, so we have decided to leave a day early.  We are going to spend an extra day in Gbarnga.  We are hoping to spend more time with the missionaries and are hoping to see more of the area, so that we can better prepare ourselves while we are in the US.

Well, we love you all dearly!!!!!  Mom and Dad, we will hug you in exactly 8 days!!!  Wahoo!!!  Remember, you are looking for a family of 6 - in case, you do not recognize our traveling tired little souls. 😊😊  (Mom knows this, but my kids are seriously concerned about this.  They are also concerned that they will not recognize them.)  I am sure that all will be well.  We are definitely excited!  

Please be praying for continued safety for us and my sweet father in law.   

Love you all,

Mel 😊

Photos from Dad's trip to Liberia

Christian traveled with me to Monrovia to pick up Dad.

On the way to Monrovia we stopped in Gbarnga to make preparations for our move.   While in Gbarnga we discovered that they have ice cream.  It has been a year since we have eaten ice cream.

While in Gbarnga we made a deposit to secure our house and we opened a bank account.

Here is a photo of our living room. 

This is a Panoramic view of our back yard.

At the Bible Institute this month, we offered a level 1 class in French while Dad was with us.

After picking up Dad, we spent a day traveling to Zwedru and then we let him rest for one day.

Dad brought American candy and several gifts from my mom's work place.  Thank you!  Jessie really liked the candy.

The next day we toured Zwedru.  Dad got to meet my friend Peter.  Peter started a school for children who can not afford to go to school.  Here is a photo of Peter with some of his students.  Dad is hoping to be able to find used curriculum for Peter's school.

Dad was able to visit with Baby Emanuel.

Saturday, our family went to PTP Refugee camp and ministered to the children.

Our children taught Bible stories while Grandpa played music.

Dad brought his flute, clarinet, and soprano sax.  Most of the people had never heard any of these instruments.

Dad and I slept in the camp and helped lead their Easter service.

After the service 3 people were baptized.

These girls captured Dad's heart.

My friend Nelson took us deep into the bush to see a field the church has planted to feed widows and orphans.

Before traveling to Liberia my Grandma bought Dad snake bite shoes, snake bite pants, and a special mosquito hat.  I am hoping this photo gets my dad in a lot of trouble!!  Grandma, do you see any of your gear on Dad?  :)  Dad kept saying, "My mother would kill me if she saw me like this."  Sorry, Grandma!

After ministry in PTP camp, Dad and I traveled to our church planting hub in Maryland county.  The road was rough.  We arrived in Harper tired and dirty from the road. 

Harper was once a beautiful port city with electricity and running water.  During the war everything was destroyed.  

Harper's coast is beautiful.

Dad and I are on the beach.

Harper is known for it's sea port.

Most of the boats are carved out of tree trunks.

While in Harper, we ministered in house churches and in the refugee camp.

This is a house church in the refugee camp.

One church was so remote that we could only reach it by boat.

We left Harper tired but we praise God for the opportunity to serve.

On the way back to Zwedru our car ran out of gas 1 time and broke down 2 times.  The car had no headlights so at night, we drove under the light of our flashlights to get home.  We were happy to be sleeping in our own beds.

Last Sunday, Dad and I traveled to Jellue Town.  To reach Jellue town, you have to cross several land bridges like this one. Unfortunately, due to the rain it was not safe to travel all the way back to Jellue Town.  The land bridges were full of slippery moss and it had rained in the morning.  

In this photo Dad is attempting to cross a slippery land bridge deep in the bush. 

This is one of the homemade bridge going to Jellue town.  To cross this bridge you would have to be a tightrope walker.
Today, we ministered in the prison.  Tomorrow, we will pack our bags.  Thursday, we will begin our trip back to the States.    We will spend 2 days in Gbarnga on the way home to make preparations for our move.
Thank you for your prayers and partnership!  We look forward to seeing all in person soon!

Millions of ants in our house!!!

Ants, ants, and more ants!!!!  I have experienced ants in my pants while in the bush but never did I expect to wake to ants in my bed.  One day last week, I woke early in the morning to read my Bible in bed under the dim light of my flashlight.  While reading, occasionally I felt a small sting from what I thought were bugs.  I smacked my legs and continued my reading.  From time to time, I heard the sound of papers moving in my room.  I was sure we had another rat in the house.  I took a couple quick glances toward our food storage area but did not see any rats.  After being bit a few more times it hit me, DRIVER ANTS!!!!!!!!  That's right, our house was infested with driver ants.  Some people call them army ants others call them traveling ants but regardless of the name, these ants leave a path of distraction wherever they go.  I sat up in my bed and shined my flashlight on the floor to the sights of thousands upon thousands (maybe millions) of ants marching straight into my house.  I woke Melanie and the war was on!

  

This line of ants stretched across our entire property and went into the next.  Their final destination?  OUR HOUSE!!  That's right, they were marching under our back door.  

We started our battle by bug bombing our room.  Our room became a bug gas chamber.  Next, we went outside and began to reap destruction on the entire colony.  We sprayed the line of ants that was closest to our house and then set up a perimeter of poison to greet the rest of them as they came.

These ants are known for traveling in large colonies and destroying everything in their path.  The army ants form tunnels in which the smaller ants march through.  The larger ants face outward from the tunnel.  They have pinchers and are ready for battle.

By the time the war was over, the ants had eaten 3 of our baby chicks and had killed a rat from our house.  We were thankful for the dead rat but could have lived without the ants.  Our house looked like a battle field.  The dead bodies of ants covered our floor.  Though we had a mess to clean up,  the victory was ours!

Isn't life fun!  We thank God for the wonderful adventure He allows us to live.  Everyday has it's own challenges.  Each challenge is a gift from God that keeps life fresh and interesting.  In the end, our family laughed around our breakfast table as each family member retold the war against the ants from their own perspective.  Thank you Lord for good family memories!  

Christian's Update

Hi Friends and Family,
I have been making a money box.  It is made from wood.  It has three different compartments: Saving, Spending, Salvation.  I just got done making it.  I put a padlock on it so that Jessie can’t get in it.  Jessie likes to eat money.  How are you all doing?  I hope you are good.  

I have also been hunting with my rubber gun.  The way you aim it is you pull it back and look at the target.  The bird must be in the center of the sticks when you are aiming.  When you shoot, you normally kill it.  I have just been close to hitting it.   It is fun to hunt birds.  

I just got a chicken.  A woman was walking down the street toward the market with it.  We were walking past her on the way to our motorbike.  Dad asked how much the chicken was.  She said 200 LD.  That is pretty cheep because I paid 400 LD for my first chicken.  This chicken I got for 200 LD.  When we got home we fed it so it would not run away.  I hope it lays eggs and produces chicks.  The first chicken I got had 15 eggs.  They all broke except 3.  When the 3 chicks hatched, the chicken hawk came down and swiped all my chicks.  I am hoping this one will produce and the chicken halk will not get it.  

I have been climbing our tree more recently.  Jessie thinks I am trying to double her when I climb.  Each time I climb a tree, Jessie will climb a little farther than I am.  One time I climbed, she came and cuddled me.  It was fun.

Yesterday, Tommy and I were playing with sticks.  Tommy threw a stick and it hit me in the eye.  Jessie, when she heard me crying thought, “It can’t be that bad."  She kept coming to me and cuddling and kissing me.  I am thankful I can still see out of it.  Yesterday, I vomited twice.  It was a hard day.  
I love you all. I hope you have a good day.
Love,
Christian

Reminiscing Last Year

Dear all our sweet and wonderful friends and family,

So, how ARE you all doing?  We are doing okay.  My sweet and wonderful grandma is in the hospital and they tell me that she is doing well.  She spent 14 days on a ventilator, but now she is doing well.  Praise the Lord!!!!!

So, what has all happened in the year since we have been away.  Let's reminisce a little bit here.  Go back to memory lane with me.  Let's see....  We left Chicago on May 7th.  We had a grueling long layover in England.  Then we arrived in Monrovia bright and early on May 9th.  We spent the day in Monrovia and were able to see and visit with friends from my sister in law's church in Michigan for a couple of hours.  The kid's ate popcorn, which we later would regret, that evening.  Early in the next morning, we awoke to 3 of my kids vomitting.  But what is a little vomit?  We began our long and grueling trip, 12 hours, to Zwedru - our home town with frequent "pit" stops that is until we ate some bananas.  Just a side note, African bananas are very good for the soul. :) Just before dark, we arrived at our new home.  That night, in our exhaustion, we thought, "What in the world did we get ourselves into?"  Thankfully, the Lord carried us through, because we awoke with fresh feelings....  Now, let's fast forward a little bit.  

Soon money had been donated for the Bible Institute.  So we went straight into the big building project.  Before we knew it, not only were the buildings built, but then classes were started and money for food had been donated.  Wow!  PTL!  God is so good!  

Shortly after this, God bought us 10 new motorbikes and gas for a year.  (Completely minimizing our everyday motorbike break downs and allowing our field leaders to continue their missions....)  

Let's keep fast forwarding....  The next thing we know, God bought us 2 printing presses and they were on a boat headed our way.  Land was purchased, the office/print press and storage shed were built.  At the beginning of Dec, the presses were on a plane and  headed our way from Monrovia.  Then our dear friend, Mr. Lee (and his beautiful  wife came but she needed to return a few days later), came to show us how to work the presses.  Thank you, Mr. Lee (and Miss Sandi), for everything!  

Meanwhile, we were working hard to start a soap business.  Our prayer from the get-go has been, that God will bless it so that our field leaders will be able to provide for their families.  Pure Life Soap is doing very well.  In fact, today, they produced the most yet - 1200 bars of soap all in one day with only 4 people doing all the work.  And it is selling about as fast as they are making it.  Praise God!  And school?  (Yes, needs to be in here since this was my focus.)  We have 3 weeks left in our school year and we will have completed a year and a half's amount of work.  Yeah!!!

Last but not least, I must talk about my sweet immediate family.  They are wonderful.  I love each of them soo much and I am so thankful for them.  At first, It was hard for me to get use to staying here most of the time and not being able to jump in the car to travel as a family whenever we desired; but I have learned that each and every one of them is my best friend.  (Yes, I realize that I am the mom or the wife and they all know it, too) but out of all of my friends, I am closest to each one of them.  So, it is like they are my best friends.  I really believe the Lord is proud of this as well and wants this for all of us.  Therefore at the same time, Deut 6 has really been on my heart.  If you have time, take a moment to read all of Deut 6.  It is powerful.  However, right now, I will only quote verses 4-9, 12.  "Hear, O Isreal:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the dooor frames of your houses and on your gates....Be careful that you do NOT FORGET the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."  As a mom, I must take a moment here.  Please do not lose heart.  Spend time with your Heavenly Father every single day so that you will not become weary.  Every single second you get, train those special little one's that God has given you.  Something that I have realized when I am not on guard spiritually, then, I am not carrying out this portion of Scripture.  I become lazy and think that I will have plenty of time to teach later.  Not the case, I need to take advantage of EVERY opportunity that comes my way and you do too.  Especially, since  we do not want our children to FORGET the LORD OUR GOD........

Well, I love each of you tons!!!!!  See you very soon!!!

Love, Mel :)

P.S.  Oh my, I almost forgot to tell you, though, I am completely sure that most of you know this already.  But, we are moving!  We are moving to Gbarnga, Liberia.  We are bringing a couple families with us and we are planning to start a church planting hub.  We will move after our visit to the states.

PPS.  If you have time, please feel free to send your reminiscing memories of your family to me as well.  I would love to cry or laugh through the year with you!!!!!  Love you all!!!!