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