Liberia Update

November 16, 2008 There were days right after I arrived where I questioned my sanity in deciding to come for so long but time is passing quickly. I’ve fully recovered from being sick and am back at Mt. Barclay every day. This week the kids attending Mt. Barclay Christian School will be getting reading books in their classrooms for the first time. Most of these kids have never held a book before and will be delighted to just sit and enjoy all the great books. A Christian school in Oregon also donated a large amount of text books that they will be using as well. Up to now, the kids have just copied all their work from the blackboard into their copy books. Having a text book for math, science, and reading will really be a huge improvement. Monday also begins the 3rd period of the school year and Mt. Barclay School will be adding agriculture classes to the curriculum for the first time. Each class will have their own garden and will be growing vegetables for the lunch program. This week they will be clearing the land and deciding what each class will be planting. It’s exciting to see that the administration move in this direction because it’s a way can they help support the school plus expose the kids to farming. The Women’s Empowerment Program is struggling at the moment with funding and has had to stop the practical classes where they were making soap, bakery goods, clothing, and hair pieces. They’ve returned to the “theory” part of the curriculum which is fine for the women who have recently joined but it’s frustrating for the women who have been in the program for some time. Despite the set back, most of the women still come each day and are hoping to resume with the practical training soon. I’m still spending my afternoons talking with them and visiting their classes whenever I’m free. The days are gradually getting hotter but we are still getting a good rain shower most days which I always LOVE! I usually take a chair and sit out in the rain to cool off which makes everyone crazy here because they think the “cold” rain will make a person sick. It will pour for an hour and then be cookin’ hot the minute it stops, but it’s nice while it lasts. I want to thank you all for your prayers and for the emails that many of you have sent. I know that’s what is helping me make it here. Please continue to pray for me as I head into these last few weeks. I’m missing you all so much and am looking forward to seeing you all soon! In His Grip, Jill

Mercy

Mercy – November 5, 2008

Read Matt 25:31-46 today. Our lives need to be about mercy. I feel like I have an advantage over you all in the states because the need for mercy here is so obvious. Daily I confront people who are struggling with hunger, disease and desperate need so I don’t have to look very hard. I know there are people in your lives each day in need of mercy but it’s a little harder to see there. I’m praying we’ll all be people whose faith leads us to set a table of mercy in our lives every day.

Here’s an update on the church that received a donation of land to farm in its efforts to support the widows of the church. The land donated has increased to 100 acres! The reason the village is willing to give so much land is that they are hoping that the churches involvement will bring jobs to their village as well as farming expertise from the agriculturists who are helping. The plan is to employ people from the village to work alongside the people from the church as they begin this new venture. Pastor Steven’s passion for this project has been the driving force behind this whole thing moving forward and he believes that God has provided this opportunity for his church to care for these women in need. The church was able to purchase about $200 worth of farming tools and boots to begin the clearing of the land which begins this week. Once the land is cleared they are praying that a couple non-profit organizations will help out with more tools and seed once they are convinced this project is moving forward. The current need is for money to purchase rice and food for the workers to eat as they work out in the fields. It’s so hard to watch the struggle that these people are in and know that I can’t step up and help them with all their needs no matter how much I want to. What encourages me so much about this project is that the people are looking for a way to be self-sufficient and are taking it upon themselves to move towards that reality. However, the reality is that they don’t even have the means to begin without some initial help.

The farming project which has been named “The Nehemiah Agriculture Project,” couldn’t have come at a more critical time. I visited Pastor Steven’s village this week to get a first hand look at the current life these widows are facing each day. For some time these women have been doing the only job that is available to them which is breaking huge boulders into smaller rocks and then breaking the smaller rocks with hammers into small stones that are used to make concrete. I walked past the 3-4 foot high neat piles of stones and learned that it takes a woman about 1 month to make a pile that she hopes to sell for $20 US. They are trying but they can’t manage to provide their families with enough to eat each day. To add insult to injury the government has recently come to the village to announce that they will no longer allow the women to take boulders from the hill because it belongs to the government.

• Please be praying for this project as the work begins.

• Be praying for Pastor Steven and the other four Pastors who are working with the ministry at Mt. Barclay as they deal with the latest setback of not receiving the expected monthly support for themselves and their families. Their families are hungry.

• Pray also that I will be feeling better. I’m trying to recover from malaria at the moment.

• Praise for a woman that the Lord has raised up to take up the work with the women once I leave in December!!! Her name is Martina and please be praying for her as well.

Thank you to everyone for remembering me in your prayers!

In His grip,

Jill

Goat business

Oct. 23, 2008 I realized the other day that I haven’t mentioned how beautiful this place is. I’ve grown accustomed to the lush green bush that is filled with giant palm, mango, papaya and rubber trees. As the rainy season comes to an end the growing season is here and it’s a battle to clear the bush so crops can be planted. There seems to be a rekindled interest in farming in the Mt. Barclay area which I’m excited about. The church that I mentioned in an earlier blog will soon begin “brushing” their donated land which has grown to 50 acres. They are anxious to begin and many from the congregation are planning on spending the week out on the land, returning home on the weekends, until the crops are planted. Today at Mt. Barclay Christian School a truck drove in with 14 goats that had been purchased to begin their first farming enterprise. The Mt. Barclay campus is surrounded by grassland and lush vegetation so feeding them will not be a problem. If we can keep the boa constrictors from feasting on them, we will be in the goat business! There are also plans to begin an agriculture training school at Mt. Barclay. It’s really exciting to see the people here make efforts to become self supporting. I am convinced that we need to not only equip people spiritually but also do all we can to make them economically viable so they can stand on their own at some point. They do need some help to get started but life is simple here and a little help goes a long way. School will be closed tomorrow for the funeral for Pastor Stewart who passed away last week. I’ve learned what a complicated affair dying is here in Liberia. It involves many family meetings to decide all the funeral details and Plan for the Children’s pastoral staff is taking great care to accommodate all their wishes. Prayer requests: Prayers for the family of the pastor that passed away. They are left with no one to support them. Prayer for the women attending Empowerment Program to embrace lives that are committed to Christ Prayer for God to bless the efforts that are being made to begin farming in the Mt. Barclay community Prayer that God will provide support and pastors to reach the hundreds of unreached villages in the interior of Liberia I am doing well and staying healthy. I am finding that life here or at home is just about showing up every day asking the Lord to give you His Spirit of love. Pretty simple. He’s has been so faithful and I remain… In His Grip, Jill

TIA - This is Africa!!

Sorry for the long break in communication. I’ve had lots of trouble trying to connect with the outside world! Thank you all for your prayers. They’ve been what gets me through each unique and challenging day. I’ve spent the last week visiting and praying for a young man we got to know last June named Cyrus. He had his appendix removed last week in a “clinic”. The condition of the clinic took my breath away and I found fear and panic pounding at my door. Most things don’t shock me anymore but I found that I could hardly accept the reality of the place. As I left Cyrus there that day, I discovered I needed to depend and trust in God’s goodness with all I had. Dependency in Him is “job one” here. I know that is true no matter where we live but it is crystal clear here most of the time. Today we received the sad new that Pastor Stewart, a pastor who serves in the Women’s Program and in a nearby village church, had died. He was in his late forties and struggled with high blood pressure. He had come to the medical clinic we held last Friday but the drug he needed had run out. He went home without being helped. It was a shocking blow to the staff at Mt. Barclay to hear that this soft spoken, loving man was gone. I saw his 7 year old daughter leaving school today still unaware that her father had died. No one on the staff could find the courage to tell her so she will hear it tonight when she goes home. I am planning to go with one of the pastors to Pastor Stewart’s church on Sunday so please be praying that we can bring them an eternal perspective that will comfort them and bring them peace. Life has returned to “normal” with the team from Portland leaving last Monday. It was quite a task to feed and care for 12 people. I still can’t cook a decent Liberian meal but I took care of the “American breakfast” every morning. Unfortunately, there isn’t a traditional Liberian breakfast because most don’t eat that meal here. Antoinette and I took the day off on Tuesday after they left and just rested. I am spending my mornings out at Mt. Barclay organizing a “mobile library” for the school. The school received a donation of used text books and some children’s books so I am anxious to get them into the kids’ hands. Our mobile library consists of small crates of reading books for each class that they can look at while they are in class. It’s the first time most of the kids have ever held a children’s book so they will enjoy them. My afternoons are spent talking with the women. Each day I’m meeting more of them and last week a group of women expressed an interest in meeting as a small group. Pretty cool! I am praying that God will carve out a time each week we can meet. I find myself wishing I had more energy and time each day so it’s important to remember that God’s the one getting things done over here. I’m just here to watch! Thanks for your continued prayers and support. I am looking forward to catching up on your emails tomorrow!!! In His Grip, Jill

James 1:27

Thursday – Oct. 2, 2008

It’s about 7:30pm and I’m sitting here trying to digest all that has gone on this week. I’ve been spending my afternoons talking with many of the women who attend the Women’s Empowerment Program at Mt. Barclay. I want to share a couple of their stories with you.

Cecelia is in her early 20’s and her only family is a 2 year old son. She is one of the women who’s not involved in prostitution, so her life is so hard (because most of these women use prostitution as a means to get money to buy food, housing, clothing, etc for themselves and their children). Cecelia is a gifted singer and often leads worship at our devotion time and is sometimes invited to sing at local churches. She has been living in a small hut made of mats, rice bags and plastic. The hut is about 6’x6’, half of which is a small bed made of sticks and blankets, that she shares with her son. Cecelia came to the campus yesterday and told me that a severe rain storm the night before had blown the top of her house away and she, her son, and all she owned were soaked in the torrential down pour. A neighbor let them spend the rest of the night in her home but she came to ask me to pray for God to provide her with the money to fix her roof. She had no where else to turn. I prayed with her but after she left I felt that I needed to share her situation with Saah, the Director. His response was that we needed to find a room for her to rent in her village until she could make her house livable again. That was quickly arranged, so tonight Cecelia and her son Teddy, have a dry, safe place to sleep. She just called me this evening to tell me that she had just moved her things into her new room and she is praising God for answering her prayers.

The second woman’s name is Patricia, who also leads worship for our devotion times. Patricia is a widow who lost her husband in the war. She’s about 30 and has 3 children, ages 12, 9, and 7. I first meet her in June and she shared then the struggle she was in to care for and feed her children. She was hanging on to her faith in God to provide for them. The woman I met today was no longer a woman who had that hope. She has spent the last 3 months unable to provide for her kids and there are many days when they all go hungry. The latest blow has been that all 3 of her children were sent home from their school because they didn’t have shoes. The Patricia I met today was a broken woman who has lost hope that God will come to her rescue. I prayed with her and gave her something to buy food, but as she walked away the Lord reminded me that he doesn’t call widows and orphans to figure out how to make it on their own. He calls for his people to care for them.

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” -James 1:27

I’m writing this to ask you to pray for these two women and for the many others who are in such a struggle just to survive. These women are currently learning a skill that they will use to support their families, but until they have means of supporting themselves, they are in need of our help. We have decided to set up a “relief fund” for the women attending the Empowerment Program to help those who find themselves in emergency situations. Those who are interested in helping these women can send funds to:

c/o PLAN Loving Adoptions Now, Inc. Women’s Empowerment Project-Mt. BarclayRelief Fund PO Box 667 McMinnville, OR 97128

If you have any questions or want more info, so feel free to email me or respond to this blog.

In His Grip, Jill

Settling In

September 26, 2008

It’s been over a week since my arrival and I’m finding that I’m settling into life here. Things that once seemed so shocking are starting to seem quite normal but I’ve run into a few things this week that stand out as completely not okay. There was the young man in the market yesterday walking on his hands using flip flops to protect his palms, dragging his body behind him through the filth and garbage. Then there was a farmer I met who walks 7 miles each morning to get to his small farm to work and then walks home again at night. How about the 8^th grade classroom full of young people ranging in ages of 17-22 years old, trying to finish their education that was put on hold by a 15 year war? The thing that so amazes me is that the people here are not daunted by the “impossible” situations they find themselves in. They continue to wake up each day and do what they can to pursue their dreams and make their lives better.

I spent my day Thursday going out in the bush to visit a village that had donated some land to Pastor Steven’s church. Pastor Steven is one of four pastors who have planted new churches in the Mt. Barclay area. Pastor Steven has also been evangelizing a remote village out in the bush these past few months. The people living in this remote village have appreciated Pastor Steven’s willingness to come to teach them and many have been receptive to the gospel. Pastor told the village about his plans to help support the 35 widows who attend the Mt. Barclay church with the proceeds from a church farm. Upon hearing about the plans, the village wanting to be part of it, donated 2 acres of their land to the Mt. Barclay church.

So, on Thursday morning, I headed out with Pastor Steven to visit the village and see the 2 acres. We took along a young farmer who had recently graduated from a agriculture training school to see what he thought of the land.

The “road” into the village was quite the challenge to navigate and I was truly scared as I drove through deep ruts and ponds of rainwater that were up to the doors of the truck. I had visions of having to call Saah and tell him I was stuck out in the middle of nowhere with his truck! We finally arrived in the village that had an array of lean to huts, mud brick houses and one cement block home that belonged to the chief of the village. We spent some time on the porch talking to the chief, telling him we had come to see the land, and then we headed out to see it. About 4-5 other people followed us and when I look back I was surprised to see that even the old chief was making the trek. The donated land was part of about 20 acres that was covered with low brush that hadn’t been cleared. The young men of the village want to farm but have little knowledge of how to go about it and their only tools are machetes and hoes. The agriculture student promised them that he would come back and give them a farming seminar, sharing what he had learned.

As I stood out there in that beautiful lush green place, so full of promised abundance, I found myself asking the Lord what I was doing there. Was this just a random trek or was the Lord up to something? It didn’t take much imagination to envision a productive farming operation in this place. I still don’t know if that’s the plan or if it’s something else. I ‘m believing that as these people commit their lives to the Lord, blessings will follow. We will have to wait and see if those blessings come in the form of a thriving farming community or something else, but I do believe they WILL come. While we all stood there, Pastor said a prayer and asked the Lord to bless whatever plans He had for this land, this village and his church. It was an amazing experience and as we walked back to the village I found myself once again realizing how amazing God’s plans can look compared to our own limited, small ones. It’s only as we let go of our own plans and dreams that we begin to see what he’s got in store for us. As we do, I’m pretty sure we won’t be disappointed. I don’t know what He’s doing out in that village but I’m convinced it’s going to be good!

Had some awesome pictures but couldn't get them to post.

Walking in his Goodness,

Jill

Send Bail Bondsman!!

The adventure begins! Arrived safely and with little sleep but was met by Antoinette and friends. However, on the way from the airport we managed to have a small fender bender and ended up at the police station for over an hour! It was crazy for quite some time with everyone arguing and shouting at the top of their voices. I didn’t get involved because it was important that the guy that hit us didn’t find out there was an American in the car. If he had known he would have demanded some serious cash! Things finally were resolved and we were able to leave without any further trouble. Quite an exciting beginning I thought!

I was able to go out to Mt. Barclay on Thursday and Friday to see the women and get re-acquainted with everyone. Most of them didn’t know I was coming so they were surprised and happy to see me. That was a lot of fun. Be praying that my time at Mt. Barclay will be useful and a blessing to the women.

I was also challenged to drive the first day here. I drove into downtown Monrovia to get a phone and then through a busy market at night. I had someone to direct me but it’s just a tough place to negotiate as all the “roads” that have no signs or lights and no one knows or follows any traffic rules. It makes for stressful driving! I can’t say I’m driving with confidence yet, but Saah thinks I’m ready to drive his 4x4 vehicle while I’m here. The boys next door to where we live already washed the truck for me this morning before I went to church! Inside and out!! Please be praying that I can drive without any problems.

On Saturday Antoinette and I moved to the guest house that is about 20 minutes from Mt. Barclay. We are living with just a couple of mattresses on the floor and candles and flashlights but we are happy to be here. It’s a great place! The compound is surrounded by a high wall with razor wire and a huge iron front gate. It looks like prison from the outside but it’s really awesome inside! The teams are going to love it!

This coming week will be a busy one. We are frantically trying to get the house ready for the team that comes Oct. 2^nd and I will still be going out to Mt. Barclay each day. After spending an hour at the market yesterday, I’m intimidated with the prospect of buying things for the whole house. Pray that the house gets in order in time for the teams arrival. It’s going to take a miracle!

Sorry for no pictures but I hope to get my act together once we’ve gotten more settled here. Thanks for all your prayers.

In His grip,

Jill