Strike a Pose

My Small Group Today "Striking a Pose"

Because they are protected children, we couldn't take pictures of their faces.

We called the boys in the bush tonight to check up on them. It turns out that they have already finished the generator house (all but the roof), and they already layed the wiring and started the generator. That is incredible. They had a lot of help from people there, and they are right on time, so we'll be seeing them again tomorrow night.

Good News! Brent's bag came today!! <--- the faithfulness of God, right there.

All we are really missing now is a tool bag, but God has been faithful to provide all the tools we need so far. :)

Belynn, Miles and I went to THINK again today, the transistion and counseling home for physically and sexually abused children. The moment we walked in the door we were all attacked(!) with hugs. Belynn and I had already been there on Wednesday, and it was so good to see them again. This time we were a little bit more prepared since on Wednesday we had no idea what to expect. Today we sang songs , played games, read them "The Good Samaritan", and split the kids up into small groups to ask them questions about the story. Belynn took the younger kids, and I took the older kids while Miles took a tour of the place with Theresa, the supervisor. Belynn and I were both excited to talk to each other about our small group time. I think God really ended up using that time to touch their hearts.We both had the oppurtunity to look each kid in the face to tell them that God loves them, they are clean and spotless in his sight because of Jesus, and that we believe that they can overcome and be great through humility in their lives. It really was a beautiful thing. I am so amazed by God.

PRAYER REQUEST FOR TONIGHT: This was not in our plans, but THINK does not have electricity or a working generator, and we have access to one that we could give them. We are tempted to just run over there and give it to them, but we're trying not to make the decision in our own emotion, and it's not such a simple decision. Please pray that God would reveal his will to us. It's his generator, and we want to do what he wants.

The crew at Diana Davies (Emily, Dave and Jose) have everything complete in their generator shed except the roof and the wiring. They're hoping to be done with that early tomorrow.

Emly's Thoughts on Liberia so far:

"Liberia has been what I expected and not what I expected all at the same time. Being around fellow believers here makes me feel at home, but I also feel so much darkness here. I knew this to be true before coming, but I know it even more so now--the future of Liberia is dependent on the condition of its citizen's hearts. It overwhelms me each time I speak to someone and hear what their experience was in the war. Today, on the way to Diana Davies Orphanage, we crossed a bridge and the driver pointed out the bullet holes that pierced the metal of the bridge;there were hundreds. But the past 3 days at Diana Davies has shown me what it looks like to start over. I have never had the desire to say 'God Bless You' to anyone more than she. She is raising these 35 kids as her own, providing them with a wonderful education including the arts, and they are all so well-mannered. It is impossible not to fall in love with them. I am ready to see what the second half of this trip brings...I believe there is much stretching, growth and heartbreak to come."

Specific Prayer Requests

• Pray that the Bush Boys (Rodney, Matt, Brent, Collin and Yanni) would finshed their task, minister with Holy Spirit love and power to the people around them, and make it back safe tomorrow.
• Pray for us girls and Miles as we go to "Orphan Relief and Rescue" in Monrovia. We haven't been their yet, but Belynn and Emily have been in touch with the missionaries there for the last 6 monthes. Pray that we would be able to deeply encourage and strengthen the missionaries who work there long term, and that the kids would tangibly experience the love of God as their Father. "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." John 14:18

Off to the Bush!

Diana Davies with Danielle, Emily, Belynn and Stacey

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! We celebrated last night with candy, a countdown and we passed around a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice! Whoo hoo! 2009! It may have been one of my most memorable New Years Eve moments.

This morning Matt, Brent, Collin, Yanni and Rodney went to "The Bush" to build a generator shed for a Catholic Seminary. They'll be roughing it for a few days in the middle of nowhere 5 hours away from Monrovia. They are really excited about their trip. We expect to see them back here on Saturday night, but they have a lot to do in the mean time. They made it there safe today, and they'll start their work tomorrow morning.

The rest of us went to the Diana Davies orphanage. Jose, Dave and Miles teamed up with older boys to work on the generator shed and dig a trench to the building, and took breaks to play with the kids. The rest of us girls played kickball, soccer, and coloring with the kids, and since part of the team was there yesterday, they were a lot more open to us today. Stacey was given the opportunity to talk to the older girls about all sorts of bible verses like "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." and "The Lord is my husband, the LORD Almighty is his name." I admire Stacey so much because she speaks to these girls out of the overflow of her heart, and she was really able to connect with them.

Dave, Jose, Emily and Stacey will go back from their last day at Diana Davies Orphanage tomorrow. Please pray that the Lord would make a way for his spirit to connect personally to each kid. Pray that God would reveal himself to them as a loving and protective Father. God please be near to the orphans! Save their souls! Save their futures God! I pray that with your spirit in them that THEY would be hope and change for Liberia!

Also tomorrow Belynn and I, now accompanied by Miles, will be going back to THINK, The transition home for abused children. Please pray that the Lord would heal their broken hearts. As you pray allow the Father to fill your heart with the righteous anger, sadness, love and hope for these children. All of them are in there because they have been psychically or sexually abused. We only get one more day with these kids, and we are planning on doing a bible story on their worth and healing. Please pray that the Holy Spirit moves in their hearts and restores them!

[Good News/Bad News]: Matt's bags came in!!... Brent's did not. :( He's still just as happy as ever though, it's not holding him back one bit. Please continue praying that his bags will be recovered soon. It would be such a blessing.

Tete and Miles

Thoughts from Belynn, Yanni, Stacey and Collin

Thoughts from Belynn:

"I was so excited about today. Danielle and I got the opportunity to visit a place called THINK (Touching Humanity In Need of Kindness). This is a place where they temporarily house children who have mostly been sexually abused. At the beginning Danielle and I got the chance to spend time with the case managers. I enjoyed this becuase I have had the opportunity during my intenship back at home to work with social workers. It was interesting to see the similairites and differences between the states and Liberia. The children were absolutely beautiful. They enjoyed every minute we were there! We only had a little time with them today. So I am looking forward to a full day with them on Friday."

Thoughts from Yanni:

Today, we went to the Greater Love compound, our initial objective was to complete a generator project that would give electricity to the whole facility. We were missing a couple of parts so we did not finish the generator today. I was actually pleasantly surprized a couple of hours later we looked back at all the meaningfull, relevant, and practival conversations we had. I had a great talk with a guy named Pao. Pao is called to be a pastor in Liberia, but he has tons of fears and doubts because of how hard life is here. I told him not to give up and when God calls with one hand he gives with another. I loved our conversation, I was blessed to have talked to him. When we returned home Collin and I went for a walk around the village close by, and all the kids followed us as they showed us their homes/shacks. Playing soccer, basketball, hopscotch, handing out candy, and giving out a bible were all involved. We are falling in love more and more with this country and cannot wait for the next 7 days ahead.

Thoughts from Stacey:

Today, Dave, Miles, Jose, Emily, and I went to the Diana Davis Center. The center is a combination of a clinic and orphanage. It was truly amazing to see how welcomed we were by a speechless Diana Davis, who ran the place and gave all the glory to God every second. There are 35 kids at this orphanage, all of them lost their parents in the war. The guys worked on the generator house. Emily worked in the clinic for the first part of the day, and I played with all the kids. It was really neat to see some of the Liberian guys at the orphanage pick up on how to build a generator house being led by one of our drivers (he just jumped right to work!). Emily was able to help with one of the patients and watched how they performed each process. I was able to play with the kids, talk about favorite Bible verses, paint pictures, and paint the girls' nails. The kids smiles are contagious. The big, most interesting highlight of today was that our driver got arrested with the car on the way back to the compound. We had to get out and walk all the way back to the place. This was definitely interesting but it was all God! God is everywhere and in every detail. All praise is His!!!

Thoughts from Collin:

AHA! The conclusion paragraph is mine! So for the next four-five lines, you are all mine. Tomorrow, Yanni, myself, Brent, Matt, and Rodney all head out to the bush. Where monkeys, jaguars, and other insane animals roam. Like Crazy. We will be bringing out peanut butter and bread, in addition to that we will also have some more peanut butter and bread... We will be building a generator house and fixing up a generator and then sending the wire out to the school. So, i did say that I had like five-four lines but... yea. So for three days us five will be in the bush. Pray for us. We will be cut off from civilization entirely. zing! Alright! Hope all is well with everybody back home and I miss you guys and Julisa. :) PEACE! Happy New Year!!!!

REAP Generator

The Generator Shed and Water Tower at REAP

Working on the Generator

We started off today going straight to the REAP Camp. The generator shed was already built, so they just had to figure out how to connect the wiring and get it running. The guys stayed at the generator site, and they got it running. Now all they have to do is dig a 100 foot trench on Friday to connect the electricity to the building.

While the guys did that, us girls went with Christine to help her with the kids and helping her get ready for a big meeting. We all got to see the Vice President today along with many other distinguished people. It was an honor to be with them.

Quotes from Yanni, Collin and Belynn

Yanni- "We played soccer with 15 kids in the rainforest today... we lost, and we wouldn't have had it any other way."

Collin: "How many lion teeth do you want? ZIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!"

Belynn: "I connected with a girl today who lost her father in the war, and she and her siblings are being raised by their mother who is single and tryng to support her children to go to school. The young girl is 12 years old and loves school. Her mom said she wish that she could afford to pay for her kids to go to school. The entire time we were there she followed me everywhere. My heart grew for her. I just wish I had more time with her..sigh."

We saw a cockroach, and Yanni was scaring Belynn at the same time.

Our full first day in Liberia

Us at the Beach

Walkin Around

You'd be happy to know that most of us slept well last night, and we woke up this morning to eat breakfast with the Norman's at about 9am. It's been a good day. First, we went to visit the Greater Love church, the same church that had the tragic fire. Sadly the fifth man's funeral was last week. Pastor Wesley was so kind to us and showed us around everything they had there. he showed us their church, clinic, school, and the burned radio station. We will be going back there to install a generator for them in a couple days.

After that, we drove around downtown Monrovia. I personally have never seen such a bustling chaotic citiy before. The people have been exceptionally kind to us, and we're looking forward to jumping into ministry tomorrow.

We also got to go swim at the beach today. It was good to have some more time to unwind and have some fun before we start the real work tomorrow.

Good News!!! Biamba and Joseph made it here after a detour to Ghana, and my bag came today!( which I am currently rejoicing over) However, you can keep praying because Brent and Matt did not receive their lost bags yet... which is a bummer.

Dave and Emily are sitting with me out on the porch.

Dave is sad that the Jets lost, and he loves Karen.

Emily, is taking in this culture around her and it feels surreal.

Everyone else has gone off to bed.



We send our love!

The Rocks at the Beach

We're Here!

So it’s 9:52 pm Liberia time and we’ve just finished eating dinner at the Norman’s house. I’m not going to write much tonight because I haven’t really slept much in these last 30 hours (I’m not the clearest thinker right now), but most of us made it safe! Biamba and Joseph had some difficulties at the Amsterdam airport and they had to separate from us. We expect to see them tomorrow.

Everyone is well-fed and going to bed. Pray for us that we can sleep well and deeply, and that our bodies would become quickly accustomed to the heat which is in the 80s and 90s.

Also another thing you can pray about: Brent, Matt and I lost our luggage somewhere along the way. It would be such a huge blessing if you all would pray that we’d get it back soon.

We send out love! Thank you!

Danielle

Update Since Yesterday on Tragic Fire

Message from Pastor Richard Wesley of Greater Love Ministry in Liberia:

Dear Christian Friends,

Just wanted to let you that 4 of the 5 technicians have died, the 5th is on a critical list. Our hearts are filled with sorrow. Thanks for your prayers for us and the families of those who have died.

Pastor Richard Wesley

Liberia Prayer Team, please pray that we will be able to minister to these people when we get there in a couple weeks. Pray that God brings an Isaiah 61 kind of restoration to these people.

God please meet all their needs, and be close to them in their brokeness.

"To comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated ; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devasted for generation."

Isaiah 61:3-4