Gbarnga Mission | Liberia – West Africa

I departed Boston yesterday afternoon with the usual flurry of plans running through my head. My focus this monthlong trip is to help develop some of our small business ventures on the school campus to lead us toward financial self-sufficiency — a challenging goal. The trick for me will be not getting sidetracked although I will take time to read and play with our school kids. I’ve got an envelop full of letters from child sponsors and Mt. Calvary members which will be fun to share with the children.

As I sat on my flight to Brussels I enjoyed the diversity of passengers–from my elderly seat mate, Phyllis, heading to Prague for a Viking river cruise to the clan of Hasidic Jews with their flat-brimmed black hats and long curly hair sidelocks to the young Spanish family maneuvering to get adjacent seats despite their seat assignments. I was fortunate to get a free upgrade to “economy plus” seating, which in airline lingo essentially means you can eat the inflight meal instead of your knees (on that subject, the barbecued chicken and grits wasn’t bad at all). After a movie (Wonder Woman so I could think of Kathy) and an intermittent nap, we landed a few minutes early.

An hour more to go on this layover and I’m on the next flight to Monrovia via Freetown, Sierra Leone. I’m looking forward to being greeted by John 2 at the terminal exit. I’m feeling very loved by my friends in Deanville as I’ve heard from Sumo that three of the ladies–Annie, Amelia, and Amuchain–have cleaned the guesthouse and prepared my room for my arrival. It’s nice to have another family in Liberia.