Day Six - Initiation into Liberian Preaching

This morning we forgot it was Good Friday! We have been traveling and working so hard we forgot what day it was. So we went over to Eden Waters to talk about digging/drilling wells for us. Thankfully Gavin, the General Manager, was in the office and excited to see us.

I had spoken with Gavin before we came to Liberia. We had talked about the vision of Spirit Liberia and the desire we have to put a fresh water well at each of the church locations. He had expressed to me that he was a Christian as well and will be very willing to help us as much as he can.

Eden Waters is considered one of the premier well drilling companies in Liberia. Gavin and his family have been missionaries in Africa for many years. They build "prayer houses" all over Africa. These prayer houses are used for anyone to just come and pray before the Lord. It is a really neat project and it was very clear to see that he and his family are dynamic Christians and we are so excited to be working with them.

We discussed the need for some of the wells deep in the bush and he is going to be getting back to us on prices and possibilities as soon as he can.

We met up with Julie Redman and Dale Basten today to show them around Rock Hill. We had a wonderful time being able to see them (and talk "AMERICAN" english with someone after about a week of being here) and show them how devastated this Rock Hill area is. While we were walking, we came up on a huge pit in the ground with black smoke rising and filling the entire area. Pastor Charles told us that burning old tires on the rock helps "soften" the rock so they can crack it. I don't know whether it really "softens" it or not, but I know that they are breathing in some serious toxic fumes. It is really scarry to see things like this. They had probably about 10 tires in this one hole and it smelled absolutely terrible. As you look around, you can see them burning tires all around. It happens all the time and is really sad. Not only is the work hard, they are killing themselves in the process!

Tonight was one of the scariest and coolest nights I have ever had. Last night as I said, Pastor Charles told everyone that I would be preaching tonight. I stayed up last night and prayed and worked out my sermon but I was so nervous to preach in Liberia for the first time. For those of you who have not experienced Liberian style preaching, I urge you to find a way to. It is very pentecostal, but also it is (as Americans) sometimes even hard to understand because they talk so quickly and really get excited.

But I believed that if God was putting me in this place, he must have had a reason for it. So as the service started I had calmed myself down and was fairly ready to go. But then as they started singing and praising the Lord, the devil really began messing with my head and I got so nervous I almost wanted to run away and hide. I felt like I was going to completely ruin the spirit that was in the place.

But God was graceous. I did my preaching and it actually went over very well. I unfortunately went all little shorter than they were hoping but I had told Pastor Charles that I wanted him to finish the service with the alter call (that was out of my "expertise"). So he came up and did an alter call and we had three more people come to the saving knowledge of Christ!!! It was incredible.

Tomorrow night Pastor Vassellee will be doing the preaching. Last time I was here I was able to see him lead a devotional and he did excellent. I cannot wait to see him preach tomorrow night.

God is on the move in Liberia. People are so open to the calling. We all need to continue to pray that God will soften these beautiful peoples hearts and see their lives changed.

I am having some real problems getting pictures on this so I will update when we get back to the states. Sorry about that.

Greg