A Week at a Time

Welcome to another week in Liberia!

Last week really kept us on our toes. On Monday we went deep into the far reaches of Tappita (pronounce tap-PEE-tah, a region within our county) to a village called Gblarlay (pronounced BLAH-lay) to take a look at the situation with the refugees from the Ivory Coast. It was a daunting journey over the roughest roads imaginable, but we made it there and back in one piece but not until after we had endured 10 hours of driving (round trip that is!), a nights sleep on the floor of an EQUIP clinic and a motorbike ride to one of the small villages  where the refugees are crossing the border

Somehow even though we were in one of the most remote regions in Liberia we managed to find a man wearing this t-shirt:

 

Some of you may not understand the significance of the shirt, but for those of you that do I’ll give you a moment to pick your jaw up off the ground. Veronica, we will send this photo in an email with the GPS coordinates attached.

The refugee situation is continuing to grow, but appears to be somewhat stabilizing. Only time will tell at this point. There has not been any type of resolution to the situation in the Ivory Coast. If you are asking yourself, “What are they talking about?” just hop on the BBCs website and cruise for stories on the the Ivory Coast. EQUIP is involved with other organizations that are engaged in meeting the needs of the communities affected by this influx of refugees. Pray for us as we continue to respond to the needs of our communities here in Nimba.

I  (Jessica) have found it rather interesting during this Christmas season that we are involved with working with refugees..

I feel a blog post coming on…look for it later in the week.

In other non-refugee related news: Some of you have asked for an update on the child that was brought to EQUIP and abandoned. One of the Liberian staff took the boy home for a couple of weeks, but due to certain circumstances was not able to keep the child. He is now in the care of an orphanage. Continue to keep this child in your prayers. He is still in need of advanced medical care.

This week we are trying to wrap up a lot of projects before some of our ex-pat friends leave for holidays home in America and our Liberian friends take a break for the Christmas season. We have our monthly staff meeting and a Christmas Party that promises to be a good time. We will have a couple of weeks “off” after this week. Pray for us as we make decisions about what we will be doing for the holidays. Even though we have only been in Liberia for 1 1/2 months we are looking forward to a time of rest!

Weekly Prayer Needs:

Pray that we will be diligent in building relationships with our Liberian friends and taking advantage of opportunities to share the Gospel.

Pray for us as we work to open doors for local pastors to receive training.

Pray for us as we consider how to spend our holiday. Don’t forget our family during this season that we are away.

Pray for our response to the refugee situation.