How Many Ways Can You Say “Monday Update”

Last week was the first “official” week back in the EQUIP office after the holidays. We’ve spent many “unofficial” days at the office and working all over Nimba county throughout the holidays. Needless to say last week was a busy one!

Kyle is very popular around the office. I’ll leave it at that. You can just call him “Mr. Moneybags”. We had expected our colleagues from the States to be back this week, but unfortunately a luggage problem kept them detained in Monrovia. So we’ve continued to hold down the fort here in Ganta.

The fort is hurtin’…we need them to get back!

Our friends Steve and Sandy are here from Atlanta, Georgia. They do ongoing ministry in Saclepea through their ministry, West Africa Crossroads. EQUIP runs a Health Center in Saclepea so we are familiar with the area. Please pray for them as they spend the month of January ministering and working Saclepea.

In the past week Kyle and I have started considering some new and different ministry opportunities. We’ve told you about the TB/Leprosy Rehab hospital/community that our compound is adjacent too. We have had the opportunity to get to know many of the young men that have received treatment or who have come with family members that are receiving treatment to live in the community. Many of them are struggling to pay their school fees and financially provide for their families (many of them live with parents or grandparents that are disabled). The people in the Rehab community, including these young men, have used their skills as artists and wood workers to make items to sell. Carvings, baskets, earrings, they are really talented guys. The only problem is that they would like to sell their things, but don’t have much of a market here in Ganta and let’s be honest Kyle and I can only buy so many baskets. Also, many of them have come asking us for school fees, business start-up money, etc. We don’t just want to give them a hand out. We passionately believe in breaking that cycle here in Liberia and empowering the people, particularly young men, to make wise decisions about money and plans for the future. We are prayerfully considering how to help train them to manage their finances wisely and according to God’s Word and get their products into the hands of interested buyers. We’ll definitely be writing more about this project here on the blog as God opens doors.

Here’s some of the goods that we’ve snagged from our Rehab friends:

Baskets, super practical and really well made!

Carvings- (left) a traditional Liberian guitar (right) what they call the “Hand of Authority” or a hand holding an egg. I’ll let Kyle explain that some other time.

Up close of one of the baskets.

I’ll post more pictures of their crafts along the way.

In other news…

There is no end in sight to the refugee situation. Each day new reports come out of the Ivory Coast, but none of the reports sound like they are heading towards a resolution. Continue to pray for us as we work day and night to meet the needs of those affected along Liberia’s eastern border.

We will finally make our move to the rooms next door to live. We aren’t exactly excited about this, but we are making it work! We will share pictures once we get moved.

Weekly Prayer Needs:

Pray for rest in the midst of extreme busyness!

Pray for the unfolding of ministry opportunities among the Rehab community.

Pray for us as we travel this week. We are trying improve the infrastructure of our clinics which means going 5-6 hours away from Ganta to reach them all.

Pray for our co-workers as they return from vacation. Pray that we can be salt and light as we work alongside them.

Pray for our relationship with those we live with here at the Rehab compound. If you’ve ever lived in an apartment complex you know that their can be conflict…this is kind of similar…kind of…

Pray for our friends Steve and Sandy as they minister in Saclepea for the month of January!