Mission Office

I noticed that our picture of the Mission Office from our 2013 blog post has disappeared.  The Mission Office is on the first floor (the second level).  Temporal Affairs (Humanitarian, Liberia Facility Manager, CES, PEF, Records etc.) are all on the ground floor (first level).

The building is currently having what appears to be a new floor added.  In reality it is a new room.  They will put "zinc" on the slanted rafters on top.  This eliminate the constant leaking from the flat cement roof.  It will also protect the A/C units that will then be moved to the roof and give us some water again.  By putting the 1,000 gallon water tanks back on the roof we get water in the office bathrooms by "gravity feed."  While they have been working on the roof they moved the water tanks to our level on a patio roof outside.  No gravity feed + pump and generator not big enough to pump water up = NO WATER.



I do not have a proper desk but sit at a table next to a window.  This is my view out the window - I do not want a desk!

Shower Power

We moved into our apartment and I took a shower and did not notice until after I got out that there was a wall plug IN the shower! 

Elder Hezseltine used the voltage sensor that Jeff Abeyta  gave us to use to Africa (Elder Hezseltine uses it ALL the time) and surprise - the plug was LIVE!

What makes this bathroom even more fun is the fact that the light switch for the bathroom is in the other room behind a door.  I guess I could always plug in a light to shower by!!!

Pumpkin Season

They do not celebrate Halloween here (thank goodness) so the only thing to do with these pumpkins is to eat them!  They are more like a butternut squash than a pumpkin. They make great soup and are good smashed with butter and salt.  We are coming into pineapple season and are so excited.  The only thing better than pineapple season is mango season (which we missed)!

Rainy Season

We are still in the "rainy season."  Which means it rains almost everyday.  Sometimes for days and days. We think it has rained more in the last 5 weeks that we have been here than it did the whole 18 months we were here before!   It doesn't rain "cats and dogs" or even "elephants and rhino's."  It has been raining "dinosaurs!"  I have never experienced such intense rain, even in Scotland.  It is like the heavens are pouring buckets of water down on us.  Maybe a better analogy is, it is like a dam broke in heaven!  We are told that the rainy season will be over October 17th.  How they know this I don't know.  We will wait and see.  Then we will move right into the "dry season" which means dry heat instead of wet heat.

We went to church in Harbel and Kakata today.  Of course it was raining.  In some areas the standing water was 6-8 inches deep. I saw a man trying to retrieve some things that were floating in the water on the side of the road.  He was standing in water up to his waist.  There are so many "pot holes" on the roads that when it rains you have to go really slow because you have no idea how big the hole really is when it is filled with water.  Sometimes the small taxi's will wait for us to go through first (we are in a 4 wheel drive truck) to judge if they can make it or not.

We went to the apartment complex where the new couples will be staying and in front of an apartment were these chairs.  Only in Liberia could they get away with this.  In America they would have to be removed or the owners would be sued!  I love these chairs!!!

Heading Home

Heading home from one of the apartments at dusk.

Flooding

It is still rainy season (6 months, April thru October).  This year has been exceptionally wet with much flooding.   The rains are heavy tropical rains that can last for hours and sometimes days.  I have heard they can receive up to 700 inches of rain in a single rainy season.

Ebola Check Point

This is an Ebola check point just outside of Kakata.  The green barrel contains Clorox water to wash your hands and then they take your temperature at the shed.  Sister Hezseltine walking up the bank, left side of the picture.  Most of the check points are now closed.  This check point remains open and is on the main road that comes from Guinea.  Liberia was declared Ebola free again a couple of weeks ago.

First Aid

This sister fell and we suspect fractured her wrist.  This is her homemade splint.  It will work just as well as the one you and I would get from the emergency room.  The difference would be the price!

Kakata

Pres. Harmon and Sister Hezseltine.  The families on either side of Pres. Harmon's home were lost to ebola.  He and his family are safe.

Breath

We have been here for one month I believe.  It has been so busy. We have opened up 10 apartments and now have 36 missionaries back in the country.  We will have another couple coming next month and a humanitarian couple coming in November.  It will be great to have the humanitarian work continue.  We still do not have a permanent residence for ourselves.  Now that we have housing for everyone else may be we will work on getting our housing taken care of.

How Long Have We Been Here?

Well it's been 5 hectic days.  At times it seems like a month, only we are still getting over jetlag.  We arrived Tuesday evening as scheduled, just that one bag did not.  It went to Amsterdam on a side trip and arrived 2 days later.  Many people were not aware we were coming.  Some of the expressions on peoples face have been priceless.  They really did not expect to ever see us again when we left last July.

Will write more and add pictures once we get our feet under us a little more.

Our Return to Liberia

We have been called back to Liberia on a short-term assignment.  We will be helping reopen the mission after it was closed just over a year ago due to the Ebola outbreak.  We depart Monday Aug. 24th and anticipate returning around January 2016.

We are excited to see our Liberian brothers and sisters again.