Remaining Optimistic

We accomplish much though the process can be cumbersome. The days have been more frustrating at times than joyful. We keep trying to remain optimistic. The leadership at the mission is a blessing to work with. Paul Glaydor and Boyd Davies are moving this mission forward with great vision and practical ideas. We are grateful to be here with them at this time. Merry Christmas from the Camphor Mission. There is a hope here. Here are some of the reasons we are here.

A Good Day at Camphor Mission

It started while we were having breakfast and we noticed about 300 people digging and carrying dirt to backfill the missionary guest house construction. We are hosting the UMC district conference at the Camphor Mission. Over five hundred people have been challenged all week to participate and volunteer on the construction site. They came in mass. The men and women challenged each other who could fill a space first, the women won! They plan to come tomorrow morning to finish the backfilling. A huge blessing! The staff of teachers have been working all week to dig the septic. Another huge task, 8 feet deep and 15 x 15 feet wide with big rocks in the way. They are determined to finish it by Saturday when we burn a tire to make the rock brittle enough to break. TIA: This is Africa! This is the same staff who has not been paid since August, and they come in on their days off to volunteer.

The agriculture department is busy at work planting a student garden for feeding and selling. This is a photo of the nursery start and seedlings. Peppers, pineapples, and bitterballs will be the first things planted.

Kathy has been busy leading the bible study at the District Conference. A three day study on Jeremiah 23:1-6. "There is a hope" is the theme.

Danny has gotten out of the rock and sand procuring business and is busy with medicine again. But he is starting a brick making factory next week! The day ended with Danny doing true Emergency Medicine. A 17 year old unresponsive girl was brought in a bush ambulance (a rug tied under two large poles, like a hammock carried by family). After IV fluids, aspirin, and quinine she awoke and looks like she will survive the night.

Everything is so hard here. We are blessed to have one another, the prayers and support of our family and friends at home, and the optimism of the people here. There really is a hope.
Peace

Stay tuned for Lifewater and borehole updates!

Images and Video from Camphor

Pieces of Camphor Mission...

Annie Joe telling a story

A taste of life at Camphor. Here is Annie Joe telling a story for your enjoyment!

There are great things happening at Camphor that we wanted to share.

New superintendent Paul Glaydor, Sr. and principal Boyd Davies are qualified and exciting leaders.
Illinois Great River's Annual Conference came for an agriculture visit and gave some seeds.

A container from Mentor UMC arrived on the mission and a second is coming soon from Peoria.
Peoria is sending funding for future agriculture projects
We broke ground on UMVIM housing on the mission.
Executive and senior staff meetings are happening.
The leadership is looking realistically at staffing needs and where we can make adjustments and cuts.
Paul Glaydor, Sr. is being visionary about sustainability and helping themselves and not rely on donor support only.
Students are using the dining hall for meals.

Teacher training was held and initiated by the new principal.
Trinity UMC (Rocky Mountain) was just here for TBA training and Community Based Health Outreach program.
The Board of Church and Society and UMCOR have a desire to focus on the Camphor Clinic.
Peoria is planning a UMVIM trip in October 2010.
East Ohio is bringing 14 people to Camphor in January 2010, 16 others are going to Gbanga and Ganta.
Garfield UMC in East Ohio is talking about a January 2010 trip to do some work on the church or parsonage at Camphor.

Illinois Great River's Annual Conference may come again in January for an Agriculture visit.
Peoria UMC (Illinois Great Rivers) and Westlake UMC (East Ohio) are working together to bring local Liberian text books and curriculum to the mission.

The beginning of the Judy Olin UMVIM Housing!

A day in a missionary life . . .

We wake up before the sun rises as the noisy frogs go to sleep and the roosters sound the alarm. We run down dirt roads for exercise, shouting Bassa greetings to the expectant villagers. That starts the daily sweat that never ends. We head out to our jobs. Danny sees patients and teaches at the clinic when he is not procuring building supplies. The missionary housing has begun to be built and is moving quickly. Danny negotiates the price of sand and gravel with child labor in the village. Kathy heads to the office as business manager. It is easy to manage money when you have none. Trying to make sense of past financial records or lack of them is another thing. Kathy's office is right at the entrance of the school so her day is filled with kids too! We are both impressed by the new administration and their plans for revitalizing the Camphor Mission. It is an exciting time to be here. The task ahead is daunting but with prayer, new ideas, and continued relationships with donors anything is possible. It is a new day at Camphor!

The Container!

Well, the container arrived! It was last night, November 2 at 11:00 p.m. Such a story. It left Monrovia at 4:00 p.m. and took the 7 hours to drive to us. Ended up getting stuck in the mud on the campus. Many people were up until 4:00 a.m. trying to move it to do a drop. Liberians can be hard workers! Amazing. There was much debate about whether we were aloud to do a drop. The drivers of the truck tried to get us to unload it and then drop. Danny was not in favor of that! Anyway, The full moon was helpful. The rain that came in the early morning was not. People woke at 6 a.m. to, again, with daylight begin trying to get unstuck. Someone had the idea of going down the road to BRE a foreign owned development company to see if they could help us with a crane or something. They ended up sending a digging machine with much power. They pulled the container off of the stuck truck! I have it on video and will send it home to Alison for you to see on the blog. After the container came off in the mud and almost on it's side, the digging machine went to the site that our house is going to be built and cleared a few big trees and prepared the spot for us! A huge savings of energy and time. A big blessing! Now we are in town emailing and buying building supplies to begin work tomorrow. It has been a full day. We are tired, overwhelmed, and excited. Thanks for being a part of all of these blessings. We have NOT opened the container yet, that will be for another time and photo opportunity. We feel your prayers and presence with us. Thank you so much.