Update from Liberia

Friday, February 15, 2013 – Praise the Lord, we have arrived in Liberia! All of our flights were good and we did not have any problems with any of our connections. We arrived in Monrovia, Liberia at about 9:30 pm (their time). They are five hours ahead of the US (Eastern time).

We were welcomed by Jim, his wife and daughter, and a couple of other men from his church. They helped us with our bags and got us through immigration and customs very quickly and smoothly. We then loaded up our bags in the back of their mini-van and headed to the hotel.

The hotel is located in the "boonies" about halfway between the airport and the city of Monrovia. It has no A/C, no internet, but it is fairly clean and well taken care of. Even though it is not the best of accommodations, it seems OK and we are very tired. It is really hot here. It's probably 80 degrees at midnight.

Our entire luggage made it to Liberia with the exception of one of Ernie's carry-on bags that they made him check-in when we were getting ready to board the plane from Chicago to Brussels. This bag has most of his teaching notes. Please pray that it will catch up with us in Ganta before Monday when we begin teaching.

Tomorrow, we journey to Ganta. It will take us around 4 to 5 hours to drive there. Thanks in advance for your prayers. More to follow.

Blessings!

Fred

 

Saturday, February 16, 2013 – I slept pretty well last night and only woke up once at 4:15 am. The mattress was "extra" firm so my back and hips are a little sore today. I got up at 6:30 and typed my blog report from Friday. Just as I was putting my computer away in order to take a shower, the power went off. Oh, well. Welcome to Liberia.

The power came back on at 7 am. I then took a shower and went to the restaurant to get some coffee and breakfast. They didn't have any coffee so I went back to my room and got a couple of Folgers coffee singles that I brought with me. The breakfast was really good! We had porridge, fried plantains, scrambled eggs, bacon, bread, and juice.

After we finished breakfast, Darryl had a good discussion with a man from the US that represents a church/mission that owns the hotel about what needs to be done to improve it and make it a place that US and European visitors would want to stay at.

We were supposed to be picked up by around 10 am for our trip to Ganta but there was a mix up and they finally came to get us at 1 pm. (They might be on Jamaica time here too?) Once they arrived, we loaded up our luggage in the back of the SUV and headed out for Ganta.

The road to Ganta from Monrovia starts out by being pretty decent, but the further you go the worse it gets. Not long after we left the hotel, we went through the Firestone Tire's rubber farm property. They must own several hundred thousand acres of land here in Liberia. It's a really big operation. Darryl asked our driver to stop the vehicle and we got out and examined the rubber trees. I learned something today. I never knew that they get the rubber from the trees just like in the US people get maple syrup out of maple trees. Who knew?

About half way to Ganta, we suddenly heard a thumping noise coming from the right rear of the vehicle. It soon was apparent that we had a flat! Our driver, T.K., pulled over and changed the tire for us. Fortunately, the spare was good and a young man on a motorcycle pulled over and also helped us. It still took us over an hour to get the tire changed.

We had hoped to arrive in Ganta before it got dark, but that didn't happen. The road just kept getting worse and worse. The pot holes were terrible (which is probably how we got a flat tire). Eventually, we ran out of pavement and the road turned to just dirt and gravel. Just as we hit the gravel road, it started to rain, and I mean "rain". At first it really rained hard but after 10 minutes or so it eased up somewhat.

We did get some good news while we were enroute. We found out that Ernie's missing bag had been found and would be coming in on a flight from Brussels on Sunday evening. So, by sometime on Monday, Ernie should be "good to go".

Finally, after six hours on the road, we arrived in Ganta. We first went by the church (where Ernie will be preaching tomorrow morning and the conference will be held) and then they took us to our hotel. We are staying at "Jackie's Guest House". It's really a pretty nice place. Our rooms have A/C, a TV (with 3 or 4 stations), a small refrigerator, and most importantly – we have internet!!  After we got into our rooms, Ernie and I each ate an MRE that I had brought from home with me.

Tomorrow we will be going to church at 10:45 am. Ernie will be preaching. Hopefully, we will be able to get some rest tomorrow afternoon. More to follow from Ganta. Thanks for your prayers.

Blessings!

Fred