So, Happy Easter to everyone! We went to church at our compound this morning and really enjoyed the time of worship. Today I have been thinking a lot about God’s provision for Ryan and me since we have been here. There is not one need He has not met. It’s easy to let this go unnoticed in the busyness of our daily lives, but we really are blessed. Ryan and I have both had good health since coming here, which is pretty amazing considering how much disease goes around. God has protected us and kept us from harm…we have not even been pulled over one time by a police asking for a bribe…which is very unusual for a foreigner! The Lord has given us a wonderful place to live and good people to surround us. We’re very thankful. It was a bit of a wake-up call when we found out this week that the pastor of our church was attacked in his home by 7 armed robbers, who wounded him pretty badly with machetes. He is doing ok now…and we praise God that He is ultimately in control…even when Satan tries to bring us down.
Life in Liberia is definitely interesting! I’m trying to think of things I can share with you that might tell you more about our daily lives. We live in an apartment that is right in the middle of the city. The whole place has windows that give great ventilation and keep the place pretty cool without air conditioning. However, they also let us hear everything going on in the neighborhood around us! We’ve heard lots of different noises while living here…loud roosters, random preachers, puppies wailing, lots of music (they like Jordan Sparks)…mangos falling off the trees onto a metal roof (in the middle of the night sounds like a gunshot!)…and then there are other sad sounds such as people crying and screaming. I often wonder what these people are going through, and pray that they know Jesus.
We’ve picked up a saying here…“This, too is Liberia.” This quote is actually the title of a section you can find in the Liberia newspaper. This section just shows a big picture of a typical scene in Liberia, which is usually hilarious or crazy and just makes you say “oh Liberia”. So we say this lot when we see things that you wouldn’t see anywhere else…or just seem crazy. We also use it a lot while driving…when you can either get quite frustrated at the insanity…or try to laugh about it and say “This too is Liberia."
Ryan has picked up Liberian English really well! It’s pretty funny to catch him right in the middle of it. You’ll often hear him say things like “Morning-o!” or “That plenty rice-o!” or “Hey my man.” I catch myself using “o” on the end of sentences more and more…and making my sentences as short as possible…
During the month of March Ryan officially became the Program Manager for his program, the LIAP. Currently he’s working on his first quarterly report as I write, which takes many hours. Because his program is a grant from the government, there are a lot of strict reporting guidelines. His program alone has around 60 employees, so you can imagine how much work goes on! We’re both getting a lot of great experience that’s for sure. I just finished a couple weeks of interviewing and hiring a couple new staff, which was new for me. I also had a visitor come for a week during March. She is one of the Field Accounting Managers who works at Samaritan’s Purse in Boone, and the person that I report to and send all of my finance information too. It was great to have her out here to see Liberia and get a feel for how things run at our office.
There are a lot of great projects going on here with SP Liberia and it is neat to see how God is working. We now have a SP helicopter that we can use to assist the projects. The pilot and his family arrived last month and the chopper has been used a lot already! One of our main projects here is Water and Sanitation…which involves building water filters, latrines, wells…as well as hygiene education. There are so many villages here in the Liberia in the middle of the jungle that can only be reached by foot, so these places generally do not receive help from aid organizations. With the helicopter here now, SP has been able to begin working in some of these villages. The helicopter will carry big loads of cement, construction materials, etc. into the villages for the projects. I’ve been able to ride on it a couple times to get to our upcountry offices which is fun.
We have something exciting coming up next month…Ryan and I both have birthdays the first week in May …and we’ll get to celebrate them in Ethiopia! There is a workshop going on for USAID (which is the donor for Ryan’s grant). The point of the workshop is for both Program staff and Finance staff to learn USAID rules and regulations, which works out great as Ryan is the manager for the project and I deal with the finances. So, we’re going for a week to Ethiopia and will spend 3 days at the workshop. It is also a way for me to obtain CPE hours for my CPA, since I have not done any since we have moved here! We’re really looking forward to seeing East Africa. There is also an SP office in Ethiopia and they also have staff attending the workshop…so it should be fun!
I’m trying to think of any pictures I want to put up here from this month. Let’s see…we had our first “karaoke night” with the SP staff last month a couple weeks ago, which was fun! This is Ryan and I trying to sing Spice Girls, which turned out terrible…
This picture below is of Ryan and Eric, one of our friends who hangs out around the compound. He is 15 years old and his parents died several years ago. Right now he sells cookies (which they call biscuits) during the day to earn money. He sells them out of a wheel barrow which says “Eric, Minister of Biscuits.” He asked Ryan if we would pay his school fees (all schools charge these fees in order for the kids to attend). So, we paid this small amount and now he always wants to help us with something! Last Saturday he came up to clean the apartment, but instead we told him he could help Ryan wash the dishes…so here they are. Then he just kept cleaning and cleaning and eventually we had to tell him to leave ha. :)
Well, this is getting very long so I think I’ll stop. But I’ll try to update again if I think of something interesting later on. :) We miss all of you! I’ll leave with these words that were an encouragement to me today.
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because He lives
