I arrived back in Oregon on Resurrection Sunday morning from
my second visit to Liberia. I would like to share some observations and
experiences with you that come from this trip.
1. Traveling with Niki and Mark was a definite improvement
over the first visit. It was great to see Niki and Mark reacting to Liberia and
to be confirmed in our sense of call to begin working there with the Liberian Evangelical Mission (LEM).
2. Living in Liberia will take some adjustments on our part.
The food is different, driving has different rules (even from Bolivia) and the
lights and water might not be overly reliable for some time. Not to mention
that beautiful Liberian English and handshake which ends with a snap as your
hand is withdrawn from the hand of the other person. I was still struggling a
bit to get it down.
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| So which came first . . . the chicken or the egg or the auto parts? |
3. I feel at home in Liberia and take that as a confirmation
of God’s call on us to make a change of field.
4. The children of Liberia are delightful beyond words yet
many of them are truly needy. The plight of Liberia’s orphans is almost beyond
description. The 30 or so kids who live at the World Christian Heritage Home
orphanage live in sub-standard conditions but at least have a roof over their
head and a mattress underneath at night. And there is food every day. Still the
orphanage is without running water and bathroom facilities for these kids. Yet
the people running the home are caring for the children and have a good vision
to one day have a complete home for these kids. (I am not saying that all
orphans live in homes this sub-standard but for these kids this is their
reality.)
5. Fish heads can be eaten and really don’t taste all that
bad.
6. Participating in the receiving of the first ordained
elders into the LEM was a great occasion and privilege. I am excited about the
prospect of being a coworker with these very real men of God.
7. And now the story that many of you have been waiting for
concerning our return trip home. We boarded the plane in Monrovia on Friday
afternoon. We arrived in Accra, Ghana where some passengers deplaned and others
boarded. As passengers to JFK in New York we stayed on the plane. As we were
sitting there I began to feel light headed. This has happened to me before on
airplanes so I knew what was happening but even so it is a bit disconcerting. I
put my head down and told Niki that I was feeling like I was going to feint.
Then I realized that I needed to use the lavatory to relieve some intestinal
discomfort. I asked the flight attendant if I could use it. I guess in my
oxygen starved brain I was thinking that other passengers were boarding and
that I was not allowed to get up. After a trip to the little room I was fine
and the light-headedness had passed away. However, the flight attendant who
observed all this reported to the captain of the flight that I was a sick
passenger. I was told that the captain wanted to speak to me (although he never
did) and when I went forward I was told to step out of the plane and was then
informed that I was being removed from the flight. Both Niki and I tried to
talk them out of this decision and reassuring them that I was not sick but to
no avail. So Mark, Niki and I gathered up our carry one luggage and were
transported by ambulance from the plane to a small medical post inside the
airport. From there we were taken to a hotel where we spent the night and most
of the next day until the next flight to JFK. The airline never took us through
immigration and so we had no legal right to be in Ghana. Indeed, the following
night we had to be walked through immigration by Delta personnel since we had
nothing in our passports to show that we were legally in Ghana.
After all was said and done, it turned out okay. While I was
not very happy about being booted off of the flight I realized that the Ebola
epidemic in West Africa is a very serious thing and that the airline was being
overly cautious just in case I was a carrier.
9. I am thankful for the privilege of making this return
visit and would request your prayers for God’s continuing guidance in the days
ahead and as the mission makes a final decision concerning our place of future
service.
