For anyone that knows me, this is the most challenging month for me to be in Liberia. Today I turn 54.  Age is not the problem…I’m really a child.  However, I usually celebrate the entire month of March by forcing Kathy to create a continuous stream of desserts to satiate my sweet tooth – from dreamy chocolate cream… Continue reading Birthday Balloons

After a bit of slow loading of the items we ordered yesterday at Eagle Electric, John 2 and I were on our way up to Gbarnga to meet Hawa Norris and finally get our official Gbarnga Lutheran Training Center, Inc. bank account at LBDI in downtown Gbarnga.  I slept on and off during the drive… Continue reading Move In Day

I think this trip’s blogs will be shorter…I just don’t have the time and patience to do them like I did in the beginning.  Any way…here’s today’s update. BOXES:   Way back on December 22nd, Leon, Donna and I packed up 14 boxes of books, backpacks, and other school supplies (mostly the result of donations… Continue reading Boxes and Tires and Nets…Oh My!

Just a brief note to get the word out that I’m on my way to Liberia today with the excitement of our upcoming school opening on March 6th keeping me awake.  Please pray for Leon who had to cancel his trip due to crippling back pain that has necessitated an emergency MRI and another surgery.… Continue reading Back to Gbarnga-School Opening!

I’m writing this on my phone from Monrovia airport so no photos this time. Sorry to not blog over the last few days. Not only is it hectic with the things I want to accomplish, but everyone who has been meaning to talk with me tries to squeeze it in on the last day…including St.… Continue reading Banking Pinball

Another morning started by strolling the streets of Gbarnga buying supplies. After packing the truck with cement and lumber, we headed back to the work site while hearing a strange sound coming from under baby Foton.  Turns out a portion of the chassis by the shocks cracked and the shock absorber was damaged.  After unloading… Continue reading The Four-Poster Bed

I saw the ugliest bug I’ve ever seen today.  As Kathy will attest…I hate bugs.  I love snakes, but I hate bugs.  This one was about 3 inches long and looked like a mix between a huge shiny black beetle, a horseshoe crab, and a lobster claw – and they fry them up and eat… Continue reading The Carpenter’s Son

As previously mentioned, Wednesday is market day. I stopped at Deanville on my to Gbarnga and found a very full truck load of cassava greens, water greens and women awaiting their Foton taxi to haul them to market. It takes two women to hoist the pan of greens into the truck, yet when they arrive… Continue reading Those Banking Blues

I just realized as I sat down to put QWERTY to pixels that today it is exactly one year from when I arrived in Deanville to see the first trench digging of our warehouse foundation – Phase 1 construction had begun.  In just one – uhhhh, short year – we’ve gone from an overgrown cassava… Continue reading Happy Anniversary – Phase 1

It’s interesting the effect of lighting. As I sat in church yesterday, I was drawn to the woman “usher” who stands in a doorway at the right front corner of the preaching point’s mud chapel.  The variation in lighting behind her, the color of her clothing and head scarf, and the deep brown skin tones struck… Continue reading Let There Be Light