Friday, February 22, 2013  - This morning we leave Ganta and head back home. I woke up early, showered, and finished some last minute packing. Ernie and I went to the restaurant at about 8 am for coffee. I decided to eat and ordered a Spanish omelet. Ernie passed on breakfast and just ate a breakfast bar that he had brought with him. Fannia came to pick us up at 9 am. Alex also came to say goodbye and to wish us a safe trip.

I believe that I dreaded the trip from Ganta to Monrovia more than anything that I’ve experienced during any of my mission trips. The road is in so bad shape and full of pot holes, and everyone drives like mad men.

About an hour into our trip, I heard a noise that was obviously coming from one of the rear wheels. I asked the driver to stop and let us check it out. We all got out of the vehicle and the driver looked under the car, we inspected the tires, and could not see anything that was wrong with them. We got back in the vehicle and took off again, but just a minute or two later, Ernie and I both heard the noise again. This time it was really making a racket. Ernie yelled at the driver to stop and pull over. Again, we all piled out of the vehicle. The driver got the lug wrench out and started to check all the lug nuts to see if they were tight. He started at the right rear and worked his way around the vehicle and when he came to the left rear wheel, he put the wrench on one of the lug nuts and when he started to tighten it the lug wrench spun around easily. We knew then what was causing the noise. In all, four of the five lug nuts were loose! It is good that we stopped when we did because in a few more miles and a few more bumps and we would have lost the left rear tire! I hate to think of what would have happened if we had not stopped when we did. Thank you Lord for looking out for us!

The rest of our trip was not so exciting (thank goodness). Just a lot of bumps, crazy drivers trying to pass us, and our driver swerving back and forth trying to miss the pot holes, which is by the way, impossible to do!! After five hours we finally reached Monrovia and then headed to the hotel to link up with Darryl.

The hotel that Darryl had stayed at on Thursday night was amazing! What a place! It was located right on the beach and was pretty much up to the standard of most American hotels. We met Darryl, unloaded our luggage from the vehicle, and then ate lunch in the hotel restaurant. Darryl gave us a very good report on his meeting at the US Embassy. They approved the young girl’s Visa! Praise the Lord! She can now come to the US for her surgery.

After lunch, we said goodbye to Fannia and waited for another young man that Darryl had asked to pick us up and take us on a short tour of Monrovia and then take us to the airport. He was almost two hours late picking us up because of a problem with his car. We found out later that he was having problems with his brakes.

While we were waiting, Ernie and I walked down to the beach to take a few pictures. Ernie decided that he wanted to put his hand in the ocean. While he was at the water’s edge, he decided to take a picture and as he was trying to do that a wave came in and swamped his right foot. He tried to get away from the oncoming water but tripped and fell down in the sand. Fortunately for Ernie, I was not close by to observe or take a picture and the only damage done was that his right shoe was soaking wet.

Finally, after waiting for a couple of hours, our driver showed up. He came in and Darryl bought him some lunch and we talked for a few minutes and then we loaded our luggage in his car and took off towards downtown Monrovia. His vehicle was an old Lexus that had seen its better days.

The young man drove us past the President’s mansion, the US Embassy, and several other important sites in the city. He then took us through a very poor area of town. It was Friday evening and it seemed like everyone was out in the streets. They were selling everything imaginable. Vendors were selling clothes, food, beer, fish, car and motorcycle parts, and about anything else you could possible think of. This was the first time that I did not feel safe during this entire trip. We finally got through the throngs of people and then asked our driver to take us to the airport. By this time it was 6:15 pm and we wanted to get to the airport early in order to avoid the rush.

I had no idea that the traffic leaving the city would be this bad! It was bumper-to-bumper and was moving very slowly. After awhile, the driver sensed that we were becoming a little anxious and decided to take a short cut or two to get around some of the congestion. I’m glad he did because we just might have been late and missed our flight.

The brakes on his car got worse and worse the longer we drove. He would pump his brakes and down shift to first gear to get the car stopped. As we were driving, we came to a very busy intersection where cars were trying to merge in from a street on our right side. Just as we started through the intersection, a woman and a small child came out from behind one of the cars on the left side of the street. Our driver hit his brakes, but had to swerve hard to the right to miss them. When he did that we almost hit a taxi that was merging in from our right side. Of course, the taxi driver was mad and cussed us out.

We finally arrived at the airport at around 8:15 pm. This gave us about 1 and ½ hours to check-in, go through security and customs, and get to the gate to board our plane. Fortunately, there was no one waiting in line and we cruised through the check-in line and didn’t have to wait in line but a few minutes to go through customs and the security screening station.

Michelle had given me instructions to buy some souvenirs while I was in Liberia. I planned on doing that on Friday while we were in Monrovia but we had run out of time. Fortunately for me, there were two shops in the airport, so I was able to buy a hand carved wooden mask (Liberia is famous for them) as well as a hand carved nativity scene.

Our plane started boarding at around 9:15 pm and departed for Brussels right on time. We are headed back home! The flight to Brussels was a little over six hours and I was able to sleep for most of the way there.

Saturday, February 23, 2013 – We arrived in Brussels at 5:30 in the morning. Our next flight wasn’t until 11 am so we had a lot of time to kill. We had talked early on that since we did have so much time that it would be nice to go to downtown Brussels and see some of the sites and maybe get some breakfast. When we got off the plane we soon realized that it was around 20 degrees outside. I initially tried to talk Ernie out of going but he soon convinced me that we would just be bored staying at the airport, especially since everything was closed. So, off we went!

It was fairly easy getting directions and information. Everyone we asked was very helpful and gave us good instructions. We first had to go through customs and had no problems whatsoever. We then had to buy a train ticket and again, it was no problem. Finally, we had to get on the right train. The ticket agent told us to go to Line #2 and get on the train for Central Brussels. When we found Line #2 a train was already there and so we got on and took a seat. We did think it was funny that no one except us was on this train? After a few minutes, Ernie got up and went back outside. He spoke to a conductor of a different train next to ours and then came back and told me that we were on the “wrong” train and needed to get off this one and on the other train. So, we quickly ran and got on the right train just a minute or so before it was to depart. It seemed that the first train had a sign on it (in French) that said it was “Out of Service”. Maybe I should have taken French classes in High school? In any case, we were now on the right train and were off to central Brussels!

While we were on the train a nice fellow began talking with us and we asked him how to get to the Central plaza from the train station. He said to get off the train and go down the hill and we should have no trouble finding it. So, that’s exactly what we did. It was still dark and very, very cold! We walked for two or three blocks and were starting to give up and go back to the train station when we passed a small street and I just happened to look down that street and saw what I thought was the steeple of a big church. I told Ernie that I think I saw where we needed to go and sure enough, we had found it! We took some pictures and briefly walked around and looked at the beautiful old buildings.

It was cold and since we had just come from 90 degree weather in Liberia, we were freezing!! We had passed several cafés on our walk from the train station but they all were closed. We thought that they might now be open as it was past 7 am. But, we were soon disappointed. They were still closed. We really wanted to get some Belgian waffles but had to settle for Plan B, which was to go back to the train station and see if something was open there. When we walked into the lobby we were surprised to see a Starbucks! We then went in and each of us ordered up a large coffee and a muffin. We also decided to buy a souvenir Starbucks travel mug with “Brussels” and a picture of the central plaza on it. After we finished our coffee and muffin we climbed back on the train and went back to the airport.

Our plane for Chicago was on time and we departed at 11 am for the USA as scheduled. The flight was a long one – nine hours. I probably slept about one half the flight and then either read or listened to music on my MP3 player the other half. Ernie was able to review the church’s personnel policy manual and do some other work. He did get some rest but I don’t think he slept as much as I did?

During this flight, my thoughts kept going back to Liberia and I asked myself how can a country get into such bad shape as this one? I continued to think about the people that I had met and the daily struggle they go through to just get by.

We arrived on time in Chicago and hopped on the tramway to go to our gate for the final leg of our journey. We had a three hour layover, so both Ernie and I got a snack to eat and then pulled out our smart phones and checked email, Facebook, etc, while we waited. We also ran into an old friend, Ike Pinkston and his wife, who just happened to be on the same flight to Lexington with us. Ike is from Frankfort and is a retired Warrant Officer from the Kentucky National Guard and I have known and worked with him for a number of years. Ernie also knew Ike and his brother Marty from the time he lived in Shelbyville.

Our plane for Lexington was about 10 minutes late in its departure but the pilot was able to make up the time. When we landed at Bluegrass airport Pam Perry and their daughter Kyleigh were there to greet us and hand us a cold bottle of Ale 8! Michelle was still in Columbus with her parents, so Pam and Kyleigh picked us up and dropped me off at my house on their way home. Our journey was now complete! Mission accomplished.

I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon after going to church this morning. Tomorrow (Monday), I plan to set aside some time to process all that we experienced and I hope to post some closing comments on our trip on Monday evening or Tuesday morning.

Thanks for your prayers. We definitely needed them. I hope that my posts kept you informed and allowed you to share in our journey. Blessings to the max!!

Fred