April 1

April 1!  It's a fun day, isn't it?  Before chapel I "winked" to the students sitting around me as I whispered in a loud voice to Remington,  "Will you help me tell the sophomores that you all failed your speeches yesterday."   The joke lasted 1/2 second;  I couldn't stand the look on his face! 
Peter pulled a better joke on Dr. Chinchen, handing him his cell phone and telling him he had a call from America.  Everyone loved that one!
April also means that the month of my return home as arrived!  Only one more set of grades to record.  I heard yesterday that my oldest GRAND doesn't know what day I do return.  She told my friend,  "Ask Sarah."  Sarah is the 8 year old second grade granddaughter who with her class has been enthusiastically following this journey, especially my interactions with the orphans.  Look for pictures later today as I go again!

Musings with the News

I'm not usually a pessimistic person, but lack of interaction with people coupled with being ready to see all of you COULD play on my mind this weekend.  Today, I "wince" at the words I've just highlighted.  Boy, emotions are fickle!  What was I thinking"pessimistic"?  A junior student today asked me to help him with a tutoring class tomorrow of community children he is helping with.  I'm excited for this opportunity. Becky and my 2 roommates have decided to stay in Monrovia until Sunday, so my quiet house continues.  I've finished teaching until test time Monday afternoon.  I'd love to have time for souvenir shopping, but then that's kind of a funny thought since there are so few souvenirs to be found.  Why am I surprised when I can't even find cabbages? ha!


Tomorrow a man who is a student here but I haven't taught is coming to my office at 10 A.M.He didn't come, so maybe I was wrong.  I "suspect" that he wants to tell me about his ministry, his project, his hardships.  I've had these conversations from time to time with others like that.  It's been interesting what has grabbed my heart and what hasn't.  I'm not really sure whether or not it's the speaker's ability or inability to articulate the needs or it is The Holy Spirit moving me towards one and away from another.


I am moved towards the evangelistic endeavor Eleazar and the students are carrying on with Ivorian refugees.  I think you know of my heart being pulled for the Betty Jonah orphans.  Then there's Eleazar's church  and Ruth's work  with the women both in Ganta.


Some of this could tie in with EAFC, but some of it will be "real indirect".  There was a time when all I would have talked about was EAFC's needs.  I STILL BELIEVE that the philosophy of ministry of EAFC is the healthiest I've seen.  And once again, in Liberia, I'm finding leaders here ENTHUSIASTIC about what we do and really wanting to work with us.  That's very satisfying!


But it'll be a long time if ever before the orphans at Betty Jonah's would need EAFC.  Let's pray that SOME OF THEM WILL!!!!!!


Now, I think I'll share a few of today's speeches with you.Speeches are now graded! yeah!  You're hearing so much from me BECAUSE I can't go for that MUCH NEEDED WALK.  A STRONG, WINDY THUNDERSTORM swept in just as class ended at 6, and before long it will be very dark here.

Annie's daughter is going to be one of the models in the Sankofa Fashion Show in May.
She's beautiful and very skinny.  Annie talked today about the need to have "free" education in Liberia.

Evelyn is from Ghana.  She IS one of the models in May.
But her speech topic today was on how much more important inner
beauty is.  I'm curious what the men in the class thought about it.

Leeneh was by far the best speaker in the class.  She didn't use a note,
and passionately talked about the dangers of smoking cigarettes and their
damage to families and the society.  You couldn't help
but be entertained the way she delivered her speech.
She's come out slower than lots of them, but
it's really been fun to get to know her.
(Boye-Nelson is her brother.)

Thanks for your prayers and interest.  You keep me going!

Mixing Experiences with Other Kinds of Learning

Last night the staff met at "my house for a few more days", house #2 for Bible Study and prayer.  I found out on Tuesday that I was to give the devotional thought.  All I knew to do was tell them what I've been pondering in my time alone with God, unconditional love versus the needy kind that we humans give. Tim  Keller says we need love like we need air and water.  That's a lot of need, isn't it? 


Keller's book King's Cross  handles the subject in a way that helps me.  He quotes from an out of print book by William Vanstone in chapter 8 that made me want to try to find a copy of that book..


I wonder too how I've found time to read two books while I've been here.  It makes me wonder what I do at home that 'steals reading time".  Surely, I am better off from reading John Piper's latest book, going to a staff/student Bible study reading Steve Fry's book and now focusing on the book of Mark with Tim Keller's book, than activities like the evening news or even so many movies.  Now, I guess I haven't gotten as much physical exercise as I would have at home, and I DO miss having my exercise buddies.


I've also missed chatting time with Barry, but I think you get my point, that even in the "down time" differences, I am being challenged to rethink their use.


Anyone got ideas to help me as I assimilate back into "our world"?

Making Introductions

I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Ruth.  Yesterday she came
to my house for lunch.  Here she is working in the college business office.
I've written the story she told me.  Hummm?  Do I post it?  It is about 4 pages!

Remember George and Jutonue?  Father and son I wrote about the other day?
This is the son, giving his persuasive speech yesterday which with the outline counts 17.5 percent
of his grade.  

I'd like you to meet Boye-Nelson.  You've heard his name before when
I wrote about the bus ride from Monrovia on Sunday.
He brought down the house with his speech yesterday, persuading his classmates
to write the administration their concerns about so many of "us" short term professors.
I videoed a part of it, but alas, I'm not good at uploading, YET.

On Contentment, chapter 22

More from Fry's book
"If we go a step further and ask God for a sense of his presence in our place of need, feeling that the only way we can be content is to know he's there, then are we not being ruled by our senses?"....... 


"contentment based on these other things suggests a submission to God for what he does; peace, on the other hand, is the evidence that we're submitted because of who he is.".......


"The rule of peace begins when we no longer want answers, but want only God."


"The journey is the destination," 'which means that the character that is built in the process of growing is itself the most important goal."...........


"it is when fear becomes a stranger to you and pride an enemy.  It is only as you tiptoe on ledges so precarious on either side----- impossible circumstances on one side and the sometimes silence of God on the other---that you learn wisdom, enjoy the miracle of divine peace, and ultimately are able to feast at a table prepared for you in the presence of enemies."

Next Wednesday and Thursday I'm treating my students to chocolate chip cookies, thanks to my last housemate, Vicki, giving me "the treat" idea, and Barry sending over the chocolate chips with Peggy.


See why everything feels like it's in FAST MOTION now.  Barry and I are talking about plans we'll share TOGETHER.  I DO want to return home different!  but different in a way that draws people to Jesus, not to noticing my difference.  Now, that IS a God-sized project, the new revelation I discovered as I began to prepare for the journey I am about to complete. 

Webcast, Not Last Night

Samaritan's Purse webcast was "live" at 11:30 P.M. in Liberia, at a much more decent hour in the U.S. but you wouldn't  believe how many of us were up then to TRY to watch it.  Our college president was going to be interviewed, and we'd get to see the SP description of last week's rededication of this campus.  But it wasn't to be here.  Maybe some of you saw it and can tell us what it was like.  The internet had been unsettled earlier in the evening as I talked with Barry, so it doesn't surprise me that it happened.

Last Tuesday as preparations were being made for the Dedication
that would take place the next day  (taken as Peggy
and I went for a walk in this beautiful world)

First time I'd seen goats grazing as we took our walk that day.

This morning we had Small Group with faculty and students that took the place of chapel.  We're going through Steve Fry's book  I Am, The Unveiling of God.
Here's a couple of lines from that book that stood out to me.
"It is when we face our seasons of discontent that we discover what rules us."....."if the only way we can be content is to get answers, then are we not being rules by knowledge?"

Oh, there's more I might quote in another post.  I was in a pondering mood as I began this pilgrimage, and I see myself returning to that state of mind .  I may even keep this blog going a few weeks after I get home as I de-brief, process the journey back into the world that was and is to be.  Boy, are these two worlds different!  ......... and yet the same.





Ruth, a 53 year old 3rd year student, is coming to lunch today.  I have baked a chicken.  Jamaima is preparing WHITE rice (something I personally have eaten very little of if I have had a choice.)  I've had BROWN rice instead, but I figure my guest will like the white variety.  We have fresh avocados that I put a little garlic powder and Italian dressing on.  Different?  yes, to us, but I'm learning contentment, which is the chapter we focused on this morning.  I hope Ruth will tell me "her story".  We've talked a little about it before so she knows that is why we're having lunch.  I imagine that she has a rich story to tell.  I hope I can do it justice, and that each of you reading this will also benefit from hearing a godly Liberian woman tell her story.

Talking With My Fingers

At 6:15 P.M, I'm eating potato logs and asparagus I got frozen in Monrovia.  (yes, I cooked it first.ha!)  May not sound gourmet, but my eyes gravitate to anything green.  I've asked for cucumbers, cabbage and garlic that I can usually get here in Yekepa, but alas, not this week.  I did buy 30 more eggs;  that's the quantity I have to buy.  Thankfully, Hannah and Stephanie like eggs too, for I imagine that they'll be eating these long after I'm gone.  It rained on the tin roof classroom while class was going on this afternoon.  Now, that's challenging anytime, but today, the only advantage I saw to it was that the air is now nice and cool.


Why did it make such a difference today?  Well, I taught from 8-11 this morning, talking constantly as I helped PR students understand how to give me work that would be acceptable/ yes, they are just like us all, waiting to the last minute to begin projects they knew were due on the first day of class.


Then I came home to eat a bite and GRADE papers.  I like to have FAST turn around with their work so that the learning can be reinforced and hopefully, they'll be motivated to keep working on projects still to finish.  From 1-3 I had a STEADY STREAM of students in my office, going over their outlines which all needed major revision.

From 3-6 I taught AGAIN.  So, now you see why my voice was SHOT by the time the rains came.  My fingers, however, still work, and I enjoy chatting with my friends this way. 

 I still have to pinch myself in realizing how SHORT I am for this place.  I'm almost looking around again for the very first time, savoring the discussions, the smiles, the lively discussions, the scenery and yes, even letting the tears absorb in my soul.

This afternoon one of my girls shed tears.  I'd just recently learned about the significant struggles she and her husband have experienced regarding housing.  I've reached out to her before but with 35 others, it's hard to keep reaching out when she didn't make the initiative.  I DO care about the "girls", the "women" who to just BE HERE is HUGE.  But how do I in 7 weeks shrink the gap?  
Could I have prayed more? You bet I could!
Could  I have been more available?  probably not, but with more prayer, I might have been wiser and more creative.


I DO CARE, and I think they know that.  Some are realizing that the lack of efforts are really going to affect the outcome of their grades.  They're appealing for extra credit, for bonus points, grabbing at anything.  The Administration has been very plain about my holding up the standards.  This isn't easy.  Can you tell?