Back from Nimba County

Matty in Nimba County with one of his favorite people, Pastor Richards :-)



We just returned from a quick trip to Nimba County. It was a great trip and we are thankful to God for taking us and bringing us back safely! I will update more on the trip soon.

Margibi Project with IDEFOCS (Initiative for the development of former child soldiers

Beautiful Mount Gibi

Last year we met a couple of guys from a group called IDEFOCS. They are former child soldiers working toward the rehabilitation and reintigration of former child soldiers. We have been priviledged to partner with them and sponsor an agricultural project in Margibi County, an area known as Peterstown. We will be doing many more projects with them including spiritual counseling with the former child soldiers that they are working with.

We had the pleasure of taking a trip last year to see their agricultural sites and put together a plan for a peanut project. The farm is underway and we will be taking a few more trips out to Peterstown soon and doing some additional work in the community there.

One of our staff members, Mark Koffa, is from Peterstown. This project has been close to his heart. He is so happy to see that he is able to be a part of helping the community he is from, and where much of his family including his mother and father are still living.

The area is beautiful! After leaving the main road you drive for about an hour (depending on the road conditions at the time) through a rubber plantation. The backdrop is a beautiful view of Mt. Gibi.

This area is a source of serious spiritual stronghold. There is a lot of spiritism practiced here in Africa, and this area of Margibi has a notorious reputation for this.


The road leading us through the rubber plantation. Beautiful.


A VERY rough spot in the road. We had to all get down from the car and walk to the bottom while Mark slid the car down this very muddy trench!


Group picture with some of the staff from IDEFOCS and a couple of local motorcyclists who were leading us to the right road.


Walking in the bush to see the farm site.


Mark and I with Mr. Printher, the agricultural specialist who is managing the farm and also teaching agriculture to the former child soldiers.


Gathering to discuss the farm project.


Some local cuties finishing our gatorade :-)

Walking our things into the village. Notice the pack-n-play the kid is carrying on his head! I am sure Matty is not the only baby who has had someone carry his bed into the bush on their head!

Mark graciously carried Matty all the way to the village for me.....about a 20 minute walk! This is too cute.

Greetings from some of the kids! I visited them here last year when I was pregnant with Matty and now they got to meet him!

A local woman with Matty. This little white baby is always a curiosity for people.
Some young girls in the village who are going through some initiation into the secret society. Very sad.....



Marks dad holding Matty. There is a myth here that white people can't/don't breastfeed their babies.....Matty and I have been able to help dispel that myth throughout Liberia!

The house where Matty and I help slept. My first time sleeping in a village, I have to say I LOVED it!

Artwork on the wall inside the room where I slept.



IDEFOCS has been accepted into a special program where they have the opportunity to travel to Colorado for some special training. They have to raise the funds for the trip within the next 27 days or so to qualify. Please check out their website and support them if you are led! Thank you!

IDEFOCS.org

Introducing our new boss!

Let me clarify :-) We don't actually have a new "Boss", but we have a new baby in the family. He has been named Gregory in honor of my husband (Boss)! Congratulations to Shad and Gayduo Flumo on the birth of their new son! He was born February 7th. Mom and baby are doing GREAT! Please pray for this young family as they raise their 2 sons in the fear and admonition of the LORD!



Me holding baby Greg, Gayduo on the right.

What a sweetie!

Orphanage pics.

I know it has taken me a long time to post the orphange pics. Even now, I am only going to post a few. Our internet service is slow!

The visit at the orphanage with the kids was such a blast! They were so happy and the gifts and the party were awesome. Thank you all for being a part of making this happen!

We also received a gift to help them finish their girls dormitory and it is now complete! We are so happy for them. We would like to raise the funds to help them get bunkbeds and mattresses for the kids this year. Contact us if you are interested in being a part of that project.


Some of the kids receiving their gifts.



Pst. Richards giving out popcorn and juice!
Pst. and Mrs. Valentine with Me and Matty.

Praising God for the rain!

While we are trying to raise the funds for drilling the well deeper, God is FAITHFUL!!!! We are in the midst of dry season which is the reason that the shallow well we have at the house is now dry. Response has been great to our need for drilling our well deeper, but we are not quite there. God is so amazing in His provision for us! As I am writing this to you all, the rain is heavily falling and this is the second day in a row of rain. This is bringing the water level up and our water situation will be MUCH improved!

Praising God in the rain,

The Bogdans

The Well Is Dry

As most of you who read this blog know, our family settled in Liberia back in August of 2009. We moved into Spirit Liberia's missions house/office and things for the most part have been very good. We recently had a church partner with us with support for a larger generator for the house which will be such a blessing!

I (Greg) am currently in the States. When talking to Vanessa yesterday she informed me that the well at the house has run dry. There is no more water! Thankfully we get our drinking water from a different source, but this means that there is no water running to the house. Cleaning dishes, cooking water, washing clothes, general cleaning...are all now effected by this. It is obviously a major, immediate need.

We need to dig the well at the house deeper. This is going to cost $3,000.00US. I am writing this today asking you to please consider helping. As you can imagine this is a significant hurdle for us to overcome, and we need to do it quickly.

Please pray for us and help us financially in any way you can. To donate, please CLICK HERE and give through Paypal. If you have questions or need to discuss this, please feel free to e-mail me as well (Click Here).

Thank you for your prayers as we try and deal with this difficult situation!

In Christ,
Greg

Tubmanburg Central Prison

We have had some great things happening here. I know the blog has not been updated regularly, but that does not mean that we have not been busy! In fact, the exact opposite. We have been soooo very busy and things are going so well. We visited about 4 prisons at Christmas with gifts and ministry, delivered gifts to the orphanage and now in January have gotten 5 new agricultural projects started, done a lot of evangelism, helped organize a pastoral workshop for Pastor Kris and the guys from Fresh Start Fellowship in Oklahoma just to name a few!

During a recent visit to the Tubmanburg Central Prison (located in Bomi County) something interesting and exciting was discovered! The words from the inner part of our Liberian English Gospel tract were painted on the wall inside one of the cells. We were so excited and encouraged by this.

I will do my best to get the orphanage Christmas pictures up here soon. Thank you Dax for getting the internet back up and running again! I will try to upload a few pics......

Kris grilling his specialty.....Fajitas! He bought and prepared a special Fajita dinner for our family and our staff. It was awesome! The grilling was done on our coal pot/grill. Our son Elijah is pictured here with him.


This is the wall inside a cell in Tubmanburg Central Prison. These words are taken from the tract we designed and printed. How cool!