Photo Gallery for Pastor Richards

Pastor Joseph Richards
Field Coordinator
Spirit Liberia


Pastor and his beautiful wife Musu



Pastor Richards meeting with a church in Nimba County.

Pastor's wife, Musu.

Pastor smiling for the camera during a group dinner at The Golden Beach, a restaurant in Monrovia.

Pastor Richards going beyond the call of duty and helping me try to get my 9 month old son to "pee in a cup" for his Visa medical exam at ELWA hospital. This is a DEDICATED employee!

Pastor waiting to begin the day in the lobby of The Cape Hotel, Mamba
Point. He is sporting his new Spirit Liberia employee ID tag!

Pastors family: Left to Right

Charlotte, their "spiritual daughter", Rochelle, their daughter, Musu, Rufus their son, and Edith their adopted daughter. I am not sure where Rueben was off to!

Vanessa, Kylee (my daughter who was in Liberia with me), Maxwell and Musu at the Market in Waterside. Thanks for taking us shopping Musu!

We love you!

Kylee, Edith and Rufus near the beach.

Pastor Richards helping dig the car out of the mud. We were stuck here in Margibi for 3 hours!

Get Personal with our staff!

We want to take some time and introduce you to our staff in a more personal way. They are an amazing group of men. Our hearts are truly knit together in love. Please keep them and their families in prayer. Liberia is a hard place to live. They need God's protection in a mighty way.
I will start with the man who oversees our accounting, driving and vehicle management. His name is Shad Flumo. Shad is currently attending the University of Liberia studying accounting. He does very well in school and has high standards in all areas of his life. Shad is getting married this month to the love of his life Gayduo. We look forward with great anticipation to this milestone event in their lives. We will post pictures of their wedding after it takes place.
Shad is meticulous with record keeping and overall management and maintenance of our car. He goes beyond the call of duty in any area where there is need. He personally does repairs on our car, digs it out of the mud with his bare hands, holds a baby if that is what we need and even made excellent coffee for Vanessa while she was there :) He is a man of upright character and integrity. We are honored to call him employee, brother and friend. Thank you Shad for the amazing job you do and the exemplary model you are to all of us. We love you!

Check out pictures of Shad below!

Pictures of Shad

Shad T. Flumo
Field Coordinator
Spirit Liberia


Shad and his wife-to-be! You can't tell he is in love can you?????

Vanessa and Shad in front of "The Spirit" (our car). We were visiting with a church in Ghanta.

Shad helping Kylee with baby care while Vanessa was taking care of adoption business.

Shad overseeing repairs at the garage in Red Light.

Shad changing our tire in Red Light.

Shad, Vanessa, Kylee and Maxwell at ELWA.

Bamboo Worms

OK, so I have heard some pretty disgusting stories before in regards to the things eaten in Liberia. When I was there last month, I literally heard dogs being slaughtered for food. I thought that was bad. I even heard that they ate monkey which I think is pretty close to the limit for me (and I will try anything once).


But the picture below depicts what I perceive to be the most disgusting thing I have ever imagined putting in my mouth - and many Liberians (at least in the bush) consider it a wonderful treat. They are called Bamboo worms. They eat them raw, they eat them fried, they eat them fat and juicy. Well, as Forest Gump would say, "I think that is all I have to say about that".

Vanessa heads to the bush

Tomorrow Vanessa will be heading to Nimba and Lofa county on a four day journey to the "bush" of Liberia. Along with Shad, Brother Richards, and Mark (our Field Coordinators for Spirit Liberia), Vanessa will be visiting several churches and agricultural sites that we will be working on in the next few weeks.

The agricultural projects have had an absolutely wonderful start over the past few weeks. We were able to get almost 100 shovels, hoes, machettes, wheel barrows, water boots, and other tools for our project sites to share while breaking ground and managing the sites while the produce is growing throughout the season.

Most of the agricultural sites we will be working on this year will be church land that has not been even tilled in many, many years. The pastors are working closely with our Field Coordinators to oversee the project. At the end of the season, they will give back a portion of the monies made at market with the produce. This will allow us to pay for organizational costs, tools, and other costs associated with the projects.

We have also had the blessing of working with some individuals in Lofa County on a 250 acre property that we will begin renting in larger portions over the next few years. This land will be land managed completely by Spirit Liberia - utilizing local help to develop this land. We hope this year to be able to plant about 30 acres if possible. It is not easy as they do not have tractors or any large equipment. Every piece of grass and weed are cut by hand. Every sapling pulled or dug out. Every tree that needs to be moved dug by hand. It is tedious and difficult work. But the beauty is that Spirit Liberia will be able to give many people the opportunity to work and learn and begin down the road to self-sustainability!

Keep Vanessa and the guys in their prayers as she goes out...

Greg

Greg is back in Liberia

Greg is back in Liberia! He is there meeting with churches and taking care of some administrative issues. Things are going well and we will be giving an update on projects etc. when he returns. Please keep Spirit Liberia in your prayers as we forge our way through some difficult situations in Liberia. God is paving the way!

The Spirit Liberia worship CD is now available! Click on the link to make your gift of $25 or more and you will recieve the CD as our "Thank you" for your support. We have had a lot of very positive feedback on the CD. For those of you who have adopted Liberian kids, it is a great way to keep Liberia in your kids hearts and minds. For those who have never been to Liberia it is a great way to get connected with the culture and people who you are helping through Spirit Liberia.

Monthly Partner Program Announced

We had an exciting week last week. We finalized our monthly partners program and were able to send our first letter out to all of our current donors as well as quite a few others who have expressed interest in Spirit Liberia. A sample is shown above. For anyone that did not get a copy of the letter that would like one sent to them please e-mail us at bogdans@spiritliberia.org and we will get one out to you.

We ask all of you to prayerfully consider becoming a monthly donor. All of the project and daily tasks do not come without a price. For only $30 a month, you can be a part of revitalizing the Liberian church through church planting, fresh water well projects, agriculture and sustainability projects, and much more. Be a part of what is happening!

We are so excited about the future and know that God's hand is truly going before us. We have had some wonderful meetings with organizations as well as individuals in the past month and have several others scheduled that are really showing people are interesting in coming beside Spirit Liberia and helping the needy people in Liberia. Please consider becoming a partner and spread the word to others.

Anyone interested in getting information to pass out at your church or to other family and friends please let us know. We will be happy to put together some packets for you to display or hand out.

And for those of you who have missed it somehow, our CD will be in hand next week!!! THIS KIND GOD, Worship Sounds of Liberia, is going to be such a blessing to all of you. Be sure to get your copy!