Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

Sorry this email is coming so late but I wanted to tell everyone Happy Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!! My Thanksgiving was unlike any Thanksgiving celebration I had ever had before but it was a day of thanksgiving all the same! I was the only American around, and to eat I had rice and peanut-butter soup! Interesting but good (it is one of my favorite Liberian dishes because it doesn’t have a lot of oil in it!)! On Saturday however, a few of my American friends got together and with the absence of turkey we had a beef stew and I made real mashed potatoes, squash, and a cucumber salad! I also bought watermelon for dessert! It was a large feast with great friends who I live near in the TB compound. I continued a family tradition of passing out corn kernels to everyone with each one representing something that you are thankful for then going around the circle placing your popcorn kernels inside a small dish as you say the things you are thankful to the Lord for! It made me feel like I was home!

Life has been great yet busy and after passing the three month mark I feel so much at home here and can’t even imagine leaving. I have made some great Liberian friends and have been able to do some exploring with them around Liberia.

Recent Adventures:
I encountered my first Rhinoceros Beetle this evening as I was coming home from working in the clinics all day deep in the bush! I screamed as it flew at me, but after I was told that they are harmless I watched it and, no joke, it looks exactly like the blue beetle from A Bugs Life. I just laughed to myself. They are huge and look just like a rhinoceros.

I tried my first Liberian Sweet Pear today! It looks slightly like a Mango in shape, size, and color both on the inside and the outside, but has a pine tree smell. The light orange flesh of the fruit is sweet yet bitter but the CRAZY thing about this fruit is the seed on the inside. In the middle of the fruit is a seed that has sharp spines protruding from it! The spines are sharper than any thorn or thistle bush I have ever seen. The thorns extend fairly far off the seed so after pealing the piece of fruit trying to cut pieces of it is difficult because of the thorns. I am thinking that if I eat these Sweet Pears enough I will one day miss them. It will definitely be an acquired enjoyment because of the work that goes into eating one piece!

There is a little lizard crawling on the mosquito net hanging on my bed! I guess I will have some company tonight!

I saw a Liberian FIRST the other day when I slept in the bush. I got up in the morning and went to sit outside the hut. This young girl passed me going to get water, she was holding onto a string with something on the end as she walked. At first it looked like it could be a stone on the end, as she was swinging the string out and then moving from the end as it came back to her. With closer observation I came to realize that the thing that was at the other end of her string was ALIVE and yes, it was a Cockroach!!! My first pet cockroach ever seen! This young girl had caught a cockroach and then had placed it on a string and was watching as the bug as it would fly back towards her as she tossed it away from her body in the air.

The market has been so enjoyable! I recently found watermelon and pineapple! It is so good and so fresh! I saw people selling bags and bags of snails! Bags and bags of snails!! I was offered my first snail soup and after much careful thought I decided to have a small nibble but then leave most on my plate for the hungry child that would come and eat my plate after me. Chewy.

God continues to challenge me every day. We were driving down the dirt road into the bush the other day and I was keenly aware to all the small trodden paths that divert from the main road. As I was looking down the trails as we passed as far as I could see with the thick brush all around I happened to see three children playing in a field, kicking around a makeshift ball, two small children with one older child. The older child was dragging his right leg behind him as he tried to race the small children to the “ball.” In that instant I became overwhelmed of all the many stories of the children, parents, and families that lived down each of these walking trails. The tears, the fears, the work, pain, and Joy that I cannot even see as I drive down the main dirt road. I immediately felt the Lord say to me, “Sarah, this is how BIG my LOVE is. I know each one of these children, adults, families, and I know each tear that is shed, each fear that is felt, and each ounce of Joy that is portrayed. I am that BIG!! There is no limit to my knowledge, no end to my Love, no boundary for my Joy, and no obstacle for my grace!”

It is a rare occasion to see an African child in cloths and if they are wearing cloths they are filled with wholes, zippers do not work, or the material has been cut to allow the piece of fabric to still fit the child. I was reading this morning in 2 Corinthians about how as believers in Jesus Christ we are awaiting the day to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling. I was thinking what a day that will be when we are clothed with the beauty of Christ, worshiping Him.

Well, it has been interesting to be celebrating the season in such a different climate! Warm weather, no snow, hot sun, no Christmas music playing, no lights, wreaths, or Christmas trees. I read the other day in a devotional book I have about a family who moved overseas to share the love of Jesus with others and as the mother went through her first Christmas in a different land she missed all the material decorations and had wished she would have brought her Christmas decorations with her. One morning it hit her how often material decorations, familiar songs, and common activities associated with Christmas can capture our attention and take it off the true meaning of Christmas and that is Jesus Christ! My attitude has changed as well and I am daily reminded that all I desire to do is celebrate the true meaning of the season and that is the birth of Jesus Christ! What a humble King we serve!!

I miss you all and love you tons and thank the Lord for your fellowship in the gospel! I daily desire to Shine for Jesus so that others may see Jesus through my actions and smile, to die daily to myself that I may walk in the strength of the Lord and not my own strength, and to be the aroma of Christ sharing His love and Joy with those whom I meet.
The clinic work is going well! I have been able to continue to do much clinical teaching with the staff on Emergency triage of patients that come into the clinic, universal precaution, assessment skills, implement organizational and structural protocols, and do preventative health teaching with nutrition and malaria. I love working with the clinic staff at each clinic and meet the people in the villages that they serve.

I read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 this morning and read it in a new light this morning! “Therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix out eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” What a great promise that no matter whatever the present circumstances one finds oneself we can fix our eyes on what is unseen not on what is seen! For what is seen is only temporary but what is unseen is eternal!

May the Lord bless you all this Holiday season and may your eyes be fixed on Jesus and the amazing and awesome birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and not on the material possessions and celebrations that often distract us.

Sarah Joy Carlson

PS. I want to testify to the goodness of the Lord and let you all know that God is providing for all my needs in unbelievable ways. I can testify to the provision of the Lord! Boxes are making it to my address in Liberia, so if you want, children are in need of school books of any kind, Sunday school materials with pictures to teach children, and black closed-toed shoes or sneakers for school (37 to 40 European sizes, girls and boys 14 to 18, larger sizes are always better because then they can grow into them if they need to). Anything you find that you think a child would love I am sure I will find a place for it.

My address again is

Equip Liberia,
Sarah Joy Carlson
PO Box 2499
14th Street Coleman Ave
Monrovia, Liberia
West Africa

#06-779-181