Testimonies from Liberia

Just returned from ministering on Kokaya Road

Ministry on Kokaya Road

Our prayer is that we would see a healthy church in every town and village of Liberia within our lifetime.  Last month, our team in Bong County started ministering on Kokaya Road.  We visited 39 of the 45 towns on the road to do an initial assessment.  Our goal is to continue ministering on this road until each town has a healthy church in it and until there are trained leaders teaching Bible in every school on the road.  We have been told that some of the towns we visited are deep into satanic worship and have been hostile toward the Gospel in the past.  Please pray for these towns.

Liberia is Ebola Free, but many are not free from Ebola. 

Last month, we began ministering to 23 Ebola orphans.  I am brought to tears as I think of their suffering.  All except 4 of these 23 orphans are living in my hometown.  Meet the Flomo Family.  

Esther is the older lady in the back wearing a white shirt.  Esther is the grandmother of 7 of the children who live in this house (not all of her grandchildren are in this picture).  Esther's husband died of Ebola.  The 7 grandchildren are the only surviving grandchildren she has.  All 7 of these grandchildren were orphaned by ebola.  

Joseph is the man in the black shirt, standing next to Esther.  Joseph is Esther's brother.  Joseph's wife died from Ebola.  5 of the children in the picture are Joseph's grandchildren.  All of them were orphaned by Ebola.  

Junior is the man in the yellow shirt.  His father is Joseph.  Junior's wife died from Ebola leaving him to raise his 3 children alone.  

Rebecca is the 23 years old.  She is the lady in the front wearing a green shirt.  Her grandfather is Joseph.  She was accepted into nursing school when Ebola hit.  Both of her parents died from Ebola.  She had to abandon her dreams of being a nurse to work to help feed the family.  All of these people once lived in separate houses.  They now live together for survival.  

I want to say thank you to those who have made donations to help Ebola Orphans.  Your donations will feed this family and others like them until we find sponsors for the children.  Your donations also have put several of these children back into school.  For those who are interested, soon, I will begin posting information on how you can sponsor children who have been orphaned by Ebola.

From L to R:  Please pray for Musa, Faith, and Patience

The Family Store where we do some of our grocery shopping

Mary’s $5 Dance.

One day last month, I went to town to get food from the market and Family Story.  After parking my motorbike on the street, an old blind woman, sitting on the curb, held out her hand asking for money.  My day had been long and full of request from numerous people for financial help.  I wanted to walk past the woman but the Holy Spirit prompted me to stop and love on her.  I sat on the curb next to the lady and learned her life story.   Mary had been widowed and all her children have died.  She is blind in one eye and cannot see well out the other.   When Mary finished her story, I excused myself so I could shop and seek the Lord how I should help.  After shopping, I sat next to Mary again.  We talked about Jesus’ love for her and how He died for her sins.  I told her one last time that our Lord Jesus loved her as I gave her $5 US dollars.  In Liberia, $5 US dollars is equal to $425 Liberian Dollars.  Though it is not a lot of money it is considered a good day’s wage.  While I was loading my motorbike, I looked back at Mary.  She was holding the $5 in front of her good eye, moving it back and forth, trying to see how much money I had given her.  What happened next shocked me.  Unknown to me, Mary and I were being watched by everyone in eyesight.  From both sides of Broadway’s busy street people were watching.  One man came to Mary and said, “He gave you $5 US dollars.”  Mary was still a little confused.  The women from the market came, surrounding her, they explained how much money I had given.  Mary jumped to her feet, praised God, and began to dance an African dance right there on the street side.  Those around her, joined in her celebration.  I quietly finished loading my bike and slipped out through the crowd.  From this experience, I will never forget how powerful a simple act of love can be not only on those being loved but on those who are watching. 1 John 3:18 says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Picture of Kenneh

A hotdog for the town’s outcast woman. 

In Liberia, people with physical or mental disabilities are often demonized.  That was the case with a lady named Kenneh.  Kenneh once was healthy and helped run a local orphanage.  Through her life, she developed a mental sickness that left her mentally unstable.  She is now one of the towns most outcast women because of the superstitious stories people believe about her.  People believe that Kenneh is the way she is because she became a witch, had interacted with demons, had killed several children through witchcraft and had eaten their bodies.  As you can imagine very few people in our town care for her.  Kenneh spends much of her time lying in the dirt on a small bridge leading out of town.

Last month, Christian and I went to love on Kenneh.  We gave her a hotdog and then sat on the bridge next to her.  When we sat down, Kenneh jumped to her feet and ran about 10 feet away from us.  She was terrified of us.  In her commotion, she dropped her hotdog at my feet.  I began to speak to her in a calm voice hoping to de-escalate the situation.  Though she was terrified of us, the hotdog was too much of a temptation for her.  She grabbed a stick and inched closer and closer to us until the stick could reach the hotdog on the ground.  She pushed the hotdog a safe distance away from us and began to eat.  In the midst of the commotion, a crowd gathered to watch.  They were laughing at Kenneh’s fear of the "white man".  I felt led by the Lord to address the crowd.  In the crowd were muslims, business men, taxi drivers, and those who were passing by.  I asked if anyone in the crowd was a Christian.  A few of the local business men and a few others raised their hands.  We talked about how Jesus calls us to love the least among our community and that if we worked together, God’s church in Gbarnga could meet Kenneh’s needs.  Please pray with me that we will be able to work through these Christians to meet Kenneh’s needs. 

Princess, Samuel, and Christian going to school for the first time

School for some but not for all

Our home in Gbarnga is surrounded by homes of fatherless children.  These children often are hungry and have no or little education.  Families cannot afford to send their children to school.  This month, we paid school fees for several children in our community.  Melanie and I feel called to play a parenting role in these children’s lives.  This week, I had an experience that left me feeling like rejoicing and crying at the same time.  I had been working on getting the Kalie family’s children in school.  Samuel, Christian, and Princess have never attended school and were very excited about the possibility.  After meeting with the school principal and getting permission for them to enter the school, it was now time to share the good news with the family and to take the children to the taylor’s shop to be fitted for school uniforms.  When I told the children that we needed to go to the taylor’s shop they ran into their house overflowing with joy.  They put on their best cloths and loaded my motorbike.  After the three got on the motorbike, other neighborhood children also tried to load the bike with us.  They too wanted to go to school but could not afford to go.  How do you tell beautiful children that you don’t have enough money to send them all to school?  My heart rejoiced as I saw Samuel, Christian, and Princess standing tall and proud at the taylor’s shop while they were being fitted for their school uniform.  I also grieved over those I had to leave behind.  So far this month we have helped 8 of our community children go to school.  Their names are Samuel, Christian, Princess, Hannah, Ruth, Mary, Joe, and Stephen.  We also were able to feed many other children from our house.  Thank you for sending these children to school and for placing our family in a position where we can love on them.