Monrovian Monday Update

Live from Monrovia this blessed Christmas week! Yes, country has come to town! We are living it up Monrovia style in what we like to refer to as “a proper house”. We were really blessed to be offered the opportunity to stay at the head doctor for USAID’s house over the Christmas break. It is one of the nicest houses in Monrovia. What does that mean? Air conditioning and minimal bugs/snakes inside of the house. It’s awesome.

We’ve come to the conclusion that every week of this adventure is different. It defies description most of the time and leaves us reeling and in need of a good long sleep. Last week was no different. How bout’ I bullet the week for ya? Yeah, lets make this easy…Imagine Billy Joel singing that crazy part from “We Didn’t Start The Fire”

• Monday morning rooster crows
• Ride to work pothole dodging
• WATSAN has a lot to do
• Joe Suomie training still
• Olive’s malaria makes her very ill
• Kristen and Patty off to the states
• Refugees flooding through our gates
• Monrovia
• Dr. Rick’s house
• No food in our house
• Cars going everywhere
• Oil filters upside down
• Kyle’s in charge
• Justin is back
• Dave is himself
• Cheeseburger cardiac attack
• Santa is a secret Christmas parties
• Kyle’s still in charge

I could go on, but for all our sakes I won’t. Unless you beg…you are begging small…here’s a few more

• Traffic for no reason
• It’s the Christmas season
• Dogs behind a Chinese restaurant
• Kyle’s in charge of the refugees- all of them

Ok, so for those of you that didn’t get the Billy Joel reference…look it up…I think if this version had a chorus it would go like this:

“We didn’t start the crisis. There were always refugees since West Africa…started…” or something like that.

I’m losing it…Can you tell? This is what Liberia does to you…

I wish I had pictorials for each of those points. My camera died when I tried to take a picture of the pack of dogs behind the Chinese restaurant.

In other news:

We are in Monrovia for a few days. We are house sitting for a doctor and his wife over the holiday. The only downside is that we have to continue with activities in Nimba and addressing the refugee crisis which is growing in the wake of continued violence in Cote D’Ivoire’s capital Abidjan. We will be going up to Ganta and coming back again before Christmas!

We hope to talk to many of you over the holiday. We would love to try out some skyping while we are here if anyone is up for it. We just might have a strong enough signal to make it happen! Email us if you want to give it a try!

For those of that we won’t talk to over the holidays know that we love and miss you. For those of you that have never even met us but read this blog- Thanks…we’re humbled, we’re blessed, we’re blown away that you choose to spend a tiny portion of your time following this crazy journey. Read and be blessed. Ponder God’s grace through these posts. Because let’s be honest- It’s all grace. It’s exhausting- but it’s all grace.

Weekly Prayer Needs:

-Pray for rest and relaxation over the holiday in the midst of craziness.

-Pray for peace to reign in Ivory Coast

-Pray for our ministry of the Gospel to everyone we come in contact with

-Pray for Kyle and I to be drawn closer to one another and to the throne of Grace.

-Pray that we would be protected from the evil one. That peace would reign in our hearts.