Wow! Hello Friends and Family,

So much has happened over the last week! Please check out my Blog because I have been able to post some pictures and more will be coming. The connection here is often so slow but I look forward to sharing with you some of my experiences through pictures.

I am now living on a Leprosy and Tuberculosis Compound with three wonderful catholic nuns!!! I have met and spent time with all the patients and I cannot describe to you in adequate words what my heart feels every time I am with these patients. Leprosy men, women, and children, who are often shunned by society, with crippled hands and feet and open sores on their body, come up to me smiling and asking me how my day is going! A man, who because of leprosy was unable to see well, with contracted shriveled fingers and crippled feet, grabbed my hand and started dancing and singing, “Praising the Lord!” As I watched his face a sudden wave of emotions came over me and I started crying because I felt the Love of God in such a Powerful and Sincere way! The patients in the compound have all started their treatment so they are considered in remission. They take medication for 1 year and then they are able to say they are cured. Once a patient has started the treatment there is virtually no way they can pass the disease to anyone else. Because of this, Leprosy compounds and treatment centers are closing down all around the world and patients are encouraged to live in their own communities with their families after they are given the medication. The stigmatisms, however, are still present so many patients love to have a place where they can live with others going through the same disease and be loved and not shunned from their towns and loved ones.

The TB patients in the compound are so thin, but they all have smiles on their face, and when you meet them and asked them how they are doing (“how’s the Body”) they say, “Thank the Lord. My body feels good!” There is a craft shop in the compound with hand-made crafts that these men and women make, both Leprosy and TB patients, and I was in awe as I walked inside. Brooms, woven baskets, floor mats, woven purses, stationary cards, and wooden crafts filled the room. Ex-patients now work on the compound in the lab and drug administration station as well as make prosthesis legs and special shoes to allow the patients to walk more easily. It was a powerful morning for me. I saw a baby who was 7 months old suffering from TB and severely malnourished, a 26 year old girl with an unknown diagnosis that the doctors could not find out what she was suffering from but her abdomen was enlarged and distended, I saw a 12 year old boy suffering from Leprosy, and I saw many men and women with arms and legs that no longer had fingers and toes, yet they shake your hand with excitement and love, not ashamed of their physical appearance but happy to be in the healing process!

The material I bought in the market a few weeks ago I gave to one of the Leprosy patients to sew me an African Dress. I am so excited to wear it!!

There have been some hard things going on here as well. Please pray for me. A 9-year-old boy Richardson who arrived at the orphanage 2 months ago, severely malnourished, the size of a 1 or 2 year old, died on Friday. When he arrived his body was severely swollen from the shift of fluid due to the lack of nutrition and since he arrived at Hope Village he has been improving and the fluid in his body has shifted back into his cells causing his extra skin to peel creating open sores all over his body. With the open sores the flies swarm around him. He was not doing well on Monday morning, he was lethargic, did not have the strength to sit up, would not eat anything, had been having diarrhea all night, and was breathing with shallow respirations. We prayed hard that the Lord would heal him for a long time. I decided that they should bring him to the hospital for tube and IV feedings and re-hydration. He was doing much better on Wednesday and came home from the hospital and the most EXCITING thing was that his mother, who is a young girl who was not able to care for the child while he was growing up, came to the hospital to see him. At the hospital, when Richardson was feeling better, he told his mom that he wanted to go home with her and so she took him home. I found out yesterday that Richardson died on Friday and I have to tell you that it has been so hard for me. The Lords ways are not are ways. Please pray for healing for the family and that the restoration between the mother and her child that happened God would use for His glory in her life.

I play with the kids at Hope Orphanage every day! I have been bringing my guitar and singing children’s songs such as, Jesus Loves the Little Children, Every Move I Make I Make in You, My God is so BIG, Lord I Lift Your Name on High, and many more. They have been teaching me many songs as well! It is so fun to learn African songs and African dances! On Saturdays I have been singing while the women are washing cloths and fixing the food to distract the children. I truly feel like I have a whole bunch of children of my own!

I have been working out of Ganta this last week, focusing on the Equip Clinic in Ganta by helping assess and treat patients that come into the clinic as well as working on clinic protocols and tools to place in each clinic. I have been assessing two new RNs that Equip has hired to work in two of the clinics going through the BPH Accreditation process. I went through the baseline assessment of their clinics with each of them and I think it was helpful in giving them vision of the areas their clinics need to go to meet the Accreditation standards. It has been a joy to work with them, get to know them, and share information and knowledge with them. Today I sat and talked to them and wanted to hear their testimonies. It was a powerful afternoon. It is hard to imagine living through a war like they did and trying to continue their education at the same time running for their life when war broke out, going 3 weeks without eating, watching their friends die, caring for their siblings as often their parents split their children up and ran on alone. Boys fearing that they would be caught and forced to be soldiers, women raped and beaten.

Tuesday and Thursday is Big Belly Day at the Equip clinic. That means all the pregnant women come to get their check ups!!! It is so fun!! Women laying on all the benches, trying to sleep or get comfortable, stomachs of all different sizes, all different ages. Health talks are performed on the prevention of malaria, dehydration, and malnutrition for the mothers. I asked them if there was other information they would like to learn about and all the women said, “Gas!” So I guess I will be preparing a GAS talk for women during pregnancy!!! Hahhahah!! It has to do with their diet here so maybe I can give them some knowledge to make their pregnancies more comfortable!

I love the Women’s Soccer team I am able to play with when I have time. Ganta Women’s Sports Association started in August of this year, the first time ever that the women in Ganta have had any type of organized sports league available to them. It is so fun to be playing with them and meeting the women in Ganta. Pray that I will be able to have many great talks about the love and provision of Jesus with them.

I went to a women’s Bible Study/Pray group on Monday afternoon that was a powerful time of fellowship with women who desire to call out to Jesus that the Holy Spirit would fall on Liberia. The women have quickly welcomed me in and prayed over me. I thank the Lord for this opportunity to worship Jesus with the mighty body of Christ in Liberia.

I have been trying a lot of new foods, which has been a lot of fun!! There are these peanut/cassava/sesame seed cups that are so good. I will hopefully learn how to make them. I bought roasted cassava, which is just like a large dense baked potato, roasted corn on the cob, cucumbers, grapefruit, and oranges off the street! I cannot wait to buy a pumpkin next and make cooked pumpkin! Papaya is almost ripe so that will be fun to eat as well!

The Lord has been so faithful to meet with me and draw near to me as I have been seeking His face and His heart in the morning and throughout the day! I rely on Him for my strength! I pray that I will continue to be His fragrance, saturated with Him and Him alone, to be the Aroma of God. I daily want to leave myself at home and walk in His steps. Thanks for your prayers and support! God is so good and I am blessed to be able to be in Liberia sharing the Love of Jesus with the people here.