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!!!!