Gbarnga Mission | Liberia – West Africa

There’s always a bit of interpretation going on when different cultures try to convey similar messages. Bible translators have attempted to update terminology to reach different readers so we have the King James, the Good News, The Message, the Revised Standard…the New Revised Standard Version, and even an American Sign Language Version (among many many… Continue reading Dry season Christian

Today was water tank replacement day – a day of reckoning for my welded tubular water tank maneuvering device (WTWTMD) – a sort of water tank trebuchet. Lavela and some manpower met at the warehouse and hauled the trebuchet truss to the base of the tower. I spent some time rigging the main hauling rope… Continue reading The Water Tank Trebuchet

Many of you know I have a long relationship with a boy named Moses Pewee. In Liberia, I’ve witnessed many very strong family ties that extend beyond nuclear bonds to children that simply need a home and seamlessly get absorbed into the fabric of family workings. Then there are extremes of brokenness where basic parent-child… Continue reading She don’t love me

A scrambled egg sandwich with fresh eggs from our farm with a side of sweet bananas given by one of the villagers started this Sunday morning off right. A special Thanksgiving Celebration Service planned by Leon and Sumo was scheduled for this afternoon on the school campus so we decided to play hooky on the… Continue reading A scrambling Sunday

Here are the truck-pickup-in-Monrovia stories. John 2 and I discussed with Saah about a late afternoon departure on Thursday. I had made all the necessary phone calls to arrange lodging for me at the LCL Guesthouse and nearby for John 2; drop off of two boxes at the Peace Corps office for Andy Penfield and… Continue reading Poly tank pickup

It’s been a long day but I wanted to introduce you to our new baby with its first load (I think I said the same thing when my son Bryan was born and his diaper was full!): More details tomorrow…

Where to begin? My network connection has been terrible…blah…and I’ve picked up someone’s cold…blah…and we’ve got an issue with the water tank leaking…blah. My first order of business yesterday was assessing the leak and experimenting with a patch idea which failed miserably (a totally flawed concept with more wishful thinking than engineering logic). I had… Continue reading Drip, drip, drip

I had a good night’s sleep at LCL and woke up feeling a little more rested than usual. Saah met us about 8:00am and repacked the Land Cruiser in preparation for the trip up to Gbarnga. I had planned to go on a solo expedition shopping for a new truck but Leon and Donna decided… Continue reading Keep on truckin’

Our flight from Brussels to Monrovia typically goes through Freetown, Sierra Leone. However, today they swapped order and went to Monrovia first then Sierra Leone. This trimmed about 2 hours from our scheduled arrival time. We found this out just before boarding in Chicago so I was able to call Mark to have him inform… Continue reading Smiling Saah

The drive to Logan Airport with my son, Matthew, was a breeze. The traffic serpent of red brake lights on I-93 caused a momentary twinge in my punctuality nerve but quickly resolved as vehicles continued moving. We pulled up to Terminal B, rented a curbside luggage cart, and piled eight bags in an interlocking pattern… Continue reading Happy 5th Anniversary!