Thursday, February 21, 2013 – Greetings from Ganta! It's raining! It's really, really raining!! It was actually thundering. We woke up to the sounds of rain hitting the tin roof on the hotel this morning. I wandered how this might affect our teaching today in that my class has been outside in the school courtyard? Oh, well? We will do our best to remain flexible. I'm sure that things will work out.
Pastor Freeman and his wife Fannia met us at our hotel at 8:30 am. The rain storm had caused them to change their plans and move things around a bit. My class (in the courtyard) had been basically washed away. Ernie was OK since his class was in the church sanctuary. They told us they needed some time to set up a new classroom for me in one of the school's classrooms and would send someone back to pick us up at around 9:45. So, Ernie and I went to the hotel restaurant for a cup of coffee and to wait.
When we arrived at the church, they had set me up in a classroom in their school (which is next door to the church). It took me only a few minutes to set up my projector, laptop, and sound system. The people, however, were somewhat slow coming this morning so I was unable to get started until 10:15 am.
Today's lesson was on the Habits (or spiritual disciplines) that Jesus had that helped him stay focused on his mission. They really enjoyed the lesson. To get them excited about the day, I played the "That's my King" video clip. Later, when we talked about the habit of Abiding in God's Love, we did an exercise that we call the "Unconditional love" activity. We then finished with "The Greatest Management Tool of all Time" where we show them a video clip of Jesus washing the disciple's feet and then we give them a cloth or napkin and ask them to shine the shoes of someone as an act of service just as Jesus did. They went around the room shining each other's shoes and hugging and loving on one another. It was a great scene!
After we finished our afternoon class, leaders from a small church that is near Ganta presented us with a couple of gifts to show their appreciation and thank us for coming and teaching them. They gave Ernie a wood carving of a black man and a white man standing with each other and they gave me a carving of a fish. They were very nice gifts. (The reason they gave me a fish was that I had told them during one of my classes that the disciples had been "fishers of fish" but now Jesus had called them and was going to make them "fishers of men.")
As we left the church, a large group of people gathered around us and our vehicle to say goodbye. They hugged us and shook our hands and told us that they would miss us and that we had to come back some day. It was a very emotional experience for both of us. They are such loving and gentle people and I will miss them too.
Tonight we are having dinner with Pastor Alexander Freeman and his wife Fannia at the hotel restaurant. Tomorrow morning we depart for Monrovia and to catch our flight back home. We are also planning to link up with Darryl and do some shopping at a local craft market before getting on the plane which departs at 9:30 pm.
Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers for us while we have been here in Liberia. I will do my best to update you on the young girl's situation with her Visa after I've had a chance to talk with Darryl tomorrow. I also plan on posting some of the thoughts I have about our trip and what we've been able to accomplish here when I return home. I most likely will use the time on the airplane to process what we have experienced and make some notes.
Again, thanks so much. God bless you and Lord willing we will see you soon!
Blessings!
Fred
No comments:
Post a Comment