Healing on the Sabbath!

Healing on the Sabbath? Yes!

Yesterday we had our first faculty meeting. Yes, a faculty meeting on a Saturday! It was 4 hours full of great information, with a little humor thrown in every now and then. It was a great time for Holly and I to meet everyone, and become familiar with the basic rules and procedures. The first 15 minutes Olu (or Rev. Menjay, as people refer to him at school) did a devotion. He read from Luke 13:10-17, when Jesus healed the crippled woman on the sabbath day. He talked about how Jesus did the unusual or the unexpected, because it was unheard of for there to be healing on the sabbath. Olu said that he wanted our goal and dream this year to be to heal on the sabbath. He wants the faculty at Rick's to dream big and set goals to do the unusual or unexpected. It was a very powerful devotional, and one that made me feel even more empowered!

Today we went to church! It was our first Liberian church service, and it was amazing. Holly and I went to New Georgia Baptist Church with the Menjay family. Olu and Otolee have a 2 year old girl named Mia, and a 2 month old boy named Q (Olu's middle name). Their children are beautiful! I held Mia as she slept through the whole service. She is precious! The service started at 10:30 with choir singing as people came in. We arrived at 11:00, and the choir was still singing as the congregation worshiped. The service consisted of singing hymns, clapping, dancing, announcements, offering, scripture reading, a sermon, and an invitation. This may sound familiar to a lot of baptists, but there was something different that I cannot really explain. I saw worship in a whole new way. It was so real and genuine. They said "God is Great!" and "Amen!" so many times, but it was never over said and it never lost meaning. As I held Mia and looked around at the people, I almost started to cry. I want to be more like the people here in so many ways. I saw God today!

On the drive home we stopped at the market and got corn, boiled peanuts, and bananas. Otolee, Mia, Holly and I ate the peanuts in the car, and Olu ate his corn. We sang songs on the radio, laughed, and told stories as we drove. We went and had lunch at the Menjay's home. They also live on the Rick's campus. We had rice with potato greens, and plantains. The potato greens had fish, chicken, and peppers in it. It was very good, and spicy! After lunch we played with Mia, and Olu showed us a video of some exciting events at the school. It was an exciting afternoon with our friends!

Giggles and Smiles!

My classroom is officially ready for school to start on Tuesday! I had lots of little helpers today. Steven, Patience, Mariah, and Leah helped me carry things from my classroom down to storage. This was a big job. There was a lot of stuff in the room that was just taking up space. In about 4 trips, with lots of help, it was out. Some of the stuff was quite heavy, and the kids showed us up by carrying it on their head. After we were hot and sweaty, they taught us how to play some hand clapping games. This brought back memories of my elementary school days. Holly and I eventually got it, and we had a lot of fun. We laughed for over an hour as we played. The kids also loved playing with our cameras. They were definitely not camera shy either, haha. Today brought me so much joy! 

The Porch

The porch of our house has become one of my new favorite places. There is never a time when we are on the porch that we do not have visitors stopping by to say hello. This has been one of the best ways for us to get to know people here. Holly said, "I feel like a celebrity here sometimes" and it is so true. Everyone here is so friendly. We don't ever see someone on campus without a "hello!", "how is your day?", "how are things?." The people here are genuinely interested in how we are doing and always want to know what they can do to help us. Marcus and Dukuley have been frequent visitors to the porch. Both of them are high school boarding students. Marcus has been responsible for helping us get settled in the guest house. He has helped us with water, hooking our gas up to our stove, and even takes out our trash. Yes, we told him we could do these things ourselves, but he has insisted that he wanted to do it. He told us that hospitality was his way of ministering. We have loved listening to his stories. Dukuly stops by during the early evening just to talk for a little while. He has helped answer a lot of our questions about what boarding life is like, and what a typical school day looks like.

When I came to Liberia I expected to invest in a lot of lives, but I was not expecting to be invested in. These are some of the most sincere people, who care more about others than they do about themselves. What an awesome example of what we are called to do as christians! Something you will hear a lot at Rick's is "It is not about what you got, it is about what you do with what you got." I see my friends here living out that quote every day. We all have a lot to learn from these amazing people! That is why we sit on the porch!

Pictures!

Ok, so... Everyone has been asking to see pictures, and I realize that not everyone has facebook. I have created an album using Picasa. You will find the link to my pictures on my blog homepage under "helpful links". I will try to keep these pictures updated and post when I add new albums.  

A little update...

Things are going very well. Holly and I are slowly getting adjusted. We went into Monrovia today with Olu to do some shopping, and see some historical landmarks. Liberian English is becoming easier to understand by the day, and we are constantly meeting new people. Mally is a high school student here at Rick's who is going to help us learn to cook Liberian food, and wash our clothes in a bucket. We are very excited!

Look forward to more pictures soon!

Party Time!

Well... the party on Saturday night was really cool. It was a farewell party for Meg E. Riggs, who works at the US Embassy with education. The party was in the Embassy compound at Hannah and Graham's house. They also work for the US Embassy. The compound was right off the Atlantic coast, and we could hear the waves from the porch. This was a neat experience, and one that allowed Holly and I to meet some Americans who are living in Monrovia. They were all very friendly. Some of them had a hard time understanding why we would come to Liberia voluntarily for a year. Holly and I enjoyed telling them our story and why we are here. They have all heard of Rick's Institute, and speak very highly of the school. Meg and her husband, Gib, have been here for 4 years. They are moving to Washington DC for 6 months for language training before they begin their next assignment. We stayed at the party pretty late, and were exhausted when we got back to the guest house. 

On Sunday we slept until almost 1:00pm. This allowed us to catch up on all of our lost sleep from traveling. We came over to the school at 2:45 for Closing Convocation that started at 3:00pm. This was very much like a graduation ceremony, only without the diplomas. In Liberia, promotion is based on standardized test scores. There is a rule in place that no students are allowed to graduate until the test scores are received back by the school. So legally Rick's Institute was not allowed to hold graduation, since they do not have the test scores back. Olu was telling us that by having "Closing Convocation" it was like a protest. The students were each presented with an empty diploma cover, the senior class president gave his speech, and the ceremony went on like a normal graduation would. Olu and many other expressed their frustration, to the overly crowded room, about the law concerning the test scores. The argument is that the test should not be the only standard that determines if a student can graduate. Some of the students are A students but do not perform well on the tests, and therefore are not allowed to graduate. I will be interested to see how the testing process works this upcoming school year. 

Closing Convocation was an amazing experience! Holly and I were guests of honor, and we sat on the stage with the guest speakers and faculty. I spent most of the 3 hour ceremony "people watching" from my seat. From my seat you would see the graduates on the left, the school choir on the right and rows and rows of family of friends in the audience. People were so dressed up. Most of them were all in their native dress. The clothes are beautiful! We sang hymns, listened to speeches, and heard an amazing performance by the school choir. As people left the convocation, most of them were dancing and singing in their native language. It was so cool! I feel like this day formally began our time here at Rick's Institute!

This is my life now!

WOW! We are finally here, and thank God that all of our luggage made it too! We left Orlando at 12:40pm on Thursday, August 20th and arrived in Liberia Friday around 7:30pm via Chicago and Brussels. We were welcomed at the airport by Olu Q. Menjay, the principal at Rick's Institute, and his wife. We drove about 40 miles into Monrovia, where we ate at a Lebanese restaurant inside a hotel. Holly, Olu, and myself all ordered Chicken Liberian Style. That means Spicy! haha. It was actually very delicious. We got to Rick's around 10:30ish, and immediately got settled into the guest house. Holly and I unpacked a little and went to sleep. It had been a long 24 hours of travel and we were exhausted. However, it did take time falling asleep with no air conditioner. We are learning very quickly that life here is very different than what we are used to at home. 

This morning Holly and I woke up at 7:45am. We realized in a matter of minutes that there was no running water. This meant taking a "shower" with a bucket. This was definitely a new experience, and a challenging one. We also had an encounter with a HUGE spider. After about 15 minutes of getting over our fear, we finally killed it. We both laughed at the thought that we were already freaking out about a spider. It will be interesting to see where we are 10 months from now.

We met Olu at 9:00am and were given a tour around campus. We had seen many pictures, but it is amazing how different it looked in person. Later this afternoon we were taken to the grocery store in Duala Market. This was an experience!! People crowded the streets, going from vender to vender. Taxi's cut in and out of lanes, and police officers guided traffic. I have never seen anything like it. I will honestly say that I was a little scared, or maybe way outside my comfort zone is a better way to say it. 

Now we are back on campus, getting ready to attend a farewell party of a friend of the Menjay's. I will try to update again in the next few days, when I have more time.

Commissioning at College Park Baptist Church

Sunday was an amazing day! Friends and family were in town for the weekend, and I was commissioned along with 3 other people from CPBC. My grandmother reminded me that I was the 4th generation to be a member of College Park Baptist Church. This church family has made a huge impact on my life in so many ways. I am very grateful to have grown up in a church that values missions as a top priority. On Sunday I had the honor of being commissioned to Liberia by this amazing church. It was a very special day. I feel so blessed to have family and friends that are so supportive of my calling. 

My step-cousin Katie came from NC! Love her!

My mom and brothers!

My dads side of the family!

It is hard to believe that Holly and I leave in 3 DAYS! We are both very excited. On Sunday, I gave the church several prayer requests that I would like to share with you all as well. 

1. Pray for mine and Holly's health and safety while we are gone.

2. Pray that I will have patience and an open mind to learn in a culture that is very different than what I am used to. 

3. Pray that the Liberian government will remain stable

4. Pray that Christ will be seen in me as I build relationships

5. Pray that God will be the center and focus of all the we say and do.

Thank you so much for all of your love and support!!