January 24, 2009

Safety is an ongoing issue for Liberians, but we are well taken care of here. Living with a local family in their compound gives us a real good dose of this culture, the constant struggles of daily life here and how they manage by God's faithfulness and sovereignty over their lives. Home invasions are common here and the police force is not respected. The UN will not allow the local police force to carry arms so there's no respect for them. Our driver today ended up being someone who works for the Liberian police force so it was interesting to hear his side of things.

Today was laundry day so the generator was started to run the many loads of laundry. :) We went into town this afternoon (driver was 2 hours late) oh, well!... :)

We met Chris for an exchange of paperwork and did some "shopping" downtown. We found the only shop in Monrovia where we could purchase Liberian t-shirts (owned by an American company). We drove past the University of Liberia and all the students were sitting outside in their desks. Apparently there are 3,000 new students and the building cannot handle that capacity. So it's first come, first serve in the morning otherwise you stand for your class or maybe don't even get in.

Here is a quote that was sent to us:

We find that if, instead of praying for our own comfort and satisfaction, we ask the Lord to enable us to give to others, an amazing thing happens... We find our own needs wonderfully met. Refreshment comes in ways we would never have thought of, both for others, and then, incidentally, for ourself. Elizabeth Elliot

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

Doing laundry:

A new stadium recently built... Chinese workers come in to train the local people in rebuilding:

The Ministry of Health building being taken over by squatters since the war:

The neighbourhood where we're staying: