Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Mission Trip 2012 Blog 5

Saturday, March 10
  • Three persons visited me: Rebecca Baba, Bindu George, and Edison Garswa.
  • Rebecca is married to Mike Baba, who has promised to help with security arrangements for our mission trip events in Monrovia. Rebecca was reared by Ma Bronkahn, our late matriarch on the mother side of our family.
  • Bindu is studying agricultural management at the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) in Kakata. So far, Bindu's education has been made possible by financial support ($50 per month) from Bells Run Baptist Church through arrangements made with the church by my long-time friend Betty Cambron. Financial assistance from Americans is an important tool in giving Liberian youths quality education that is key to lifting them out of poverty. Bindu will graduate from BWI in August, and hopes to continue higher education in the same field at the University of Liberia, though she does not yet have the money needed to pay for her university education to become an agriculturalist.
  • Edison is my youngest brother, who has been out of touch for months now. He was doing some no-pay work in Grand Cess in southeastern Liberia. Ever since Edison completed his computer programming course in Ghana and returned to Liberia, he has continued to educate himself in other areas. He now has the skill to build speakers. Also, he has learned to install solar panels on homes to utilize solar energy to power electronic equipment and electrical appliances. With all that knowledge and skill, Edison is currently unemployed. Pray for him to land a job soon.
Sunday, March 11
  • I rode with Pastor Luther Tarpeh (my host) and his family to Harbel for worship at the five-year-old Pillar Of Fire Church, founded by Brother Luther and his wife Christine in 2007. The growing church meets in a school building on the grounds of the Firestone Rubber Plantation. The music, the singing was electrifying, the air of worship soaked with the presence of God, as Liberians danced away their troubles and for joy. As guest preacher I delivered the message, “Give Me This Mountain”, based on Joshua 14:6-14, sharing lessons from Caleb, the 85-year-old mountain climber and giant killer. It was my third time preaching this message, which I first preached during a Wednesday evening service at Church For All in Owensboro, Kentucy. Pastor Luther, his wife Christine, and others said the message was very timely and encouraging for their church, which is on the brink of constructing their first building.
  • On my way home from church I met Israel, son of my late elder brother, Abraham, who passed away in 2005. Elder Martin Curlon, who has been driving me to places, took Israel and me to a meeting with Harriet's family, my in-laws. I had asked Alice Dennis, one of Harriet's older sisters, to arrange this special meeting. We kicked off with fufu meal, then Elder Martin manned my FlipVideo camera to record each family member's video mail to Harriet. Some of the messages were light-hearted, funny. Two of the messages were packaged with desperate calls to their American sister for assistance with their education. The remaining messages were pure gratitude to Harriet for the help she has rendered her family members over the 17 years she has been in America. In all all, Harriet has not seen her family for 22 years, since she fled the Liberian Civil War in 1990.
  • After my time with Harriet's family, I took Israel with me for some one-on-time loaded with fatherly counsel for him to receive Jesus Christ to fill the biggest need of his life, then to re-enroll and complete high school; he is 22 years of age, and in the 9th grade. Israel dreams of studying business, perhaps to became an entrepreneur like his late father. ~ End Blog 5 ~

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