Day 3 in Liberia

 

               Our third day in Liberia was just as busy as the last two! With the trip cut short 2 days we tried hard to pack everything into the limited time. Today we split up our day into two parts: Farm and Construction. We left in vans at 8:30am to make the hour and a half drive out to the farm. The farm is owned by Abide in the Vine Ministry. The trip took us out of the city and allowed us to experience a little bit of the rural side of Liberia. To get to the farm we took an extremely uneven dirt road a couple of miles into the jungle. Along the side of the road, we saw multiple houses. These houses were all made with wood and dirt and gave an even more extreme glimpse into the lack of resources and development in Liberia. We spent our time at the farm touring and learning about their operation. The farm grows Palm and Coco. The Palm trees they grow are different than many we are used to. They produce red nuts that, after harvested and processed, produce an oil. They take this oil to market to be sold either for cooking or to make soap. These nuts must all be harvested by hand which takes a lot of time and manpower. We then saw the school/church. Pastor Emmanuel was with us helping give the tour and he explained to us how the church was built for the workers of the farm, but it has grown as people from surrounding villages have come to know Jesus and now attend the church. “God is working here.”, said Pastor Emmanuel.

               We then went walking throughout the farm. First, we walked through the palm trees. It was cool to see the unique trees and try eating the palm nuts. To us the nuts were very grainy and did not have great flavor, but to the farmers they are a very common snack. Next, we walked through the Coco trees. We also got to try the raw coco. These seeds from inside the fruit were very slimy and bitter. After that, we walked past the fishponds where they grow fish for food, before heading up to our last stop of the tour which was the houses. These are the homes of the farmers and their families. These too were houses made of wood and dirt. 2 years ago, when we visited the farm, school was up there. Some of the classrooms were inside the huts and others were outside wherever they had room. It was cool to come back and see the upgrade in the school building in just 2 years.

               We ended our time at the farm by visiting the bridge. The bridge was constructed as a senior design project by former Dordt engineering students. The bridge is roughly 15 feet high and about 100 feet long. The bridge was built to help the farm easily move goods and equipment in and out of the farm. We learned that since the bridge was built, multiple new villages have popped up in the surrounding area because it allows for easier access into town. In these villages there is even a factory that supplies jobs to many Liberians but more importantly, people from these villages have started to attend the church at the farm and have given their life the Jesus. Coach Penner challenged the guys to start to think about world changing things they can do with the gifts God has blessed them with. He challenged them to think beyond just using their degree to earn a living, but to use that degree to do Kingdom work and make Christ known. It was very cool to see how these students used their gifts to supply a need for a farm and a church and even cooler to see how God shattered their expectations for that project and allowed for the project to have an even greater impact.

               We then made the trip back to Dunbar Farms for more construction. We continued the work we started the day before moving sand across campus to the construction site. This time we were able to use 4 new wheelbarrows. On one of our flights Coach Penner was talking to a man who was asking about our trip. After that conversation, the man pulled out $300 cash and gave it to Coach Penner to use for the trip. Coach Penner said he has been prayerfully considering how to use that money well and it was obvious the day before the church’s need for new wheelbarrows. Thankfully as a team, we were able to gift 4 new wheelbarrows to the church to use for the project. This cut down time immensely. It was again extremely live giving to work with these Liberian men and see the joy they have because they are working for the Lord!

               For dinner tonight we were treated to a meal at a nice restaurant. The man who treated us to this meal was a good friend of Pastor Emmanuel named John. John is a local businessman from Lebanon. He splits his time between the two countries and became very close friends with Pastor Emmanuel. He and Pastor Emmanuel became friends because John was looking for an honest pastor. John sat down with Pastor Emmanuel to learn about the church. After learning about their mission, John offered Pastor Emmanuel money to give to the church. Pastor Emmanuel’s response was to come to church on Sunday and put it in the offering plate. With that response John knew that he could trust Pastor Emmanuel. Trust, especially when it comes to money, is hard to find in Liberia. It was very special to hear them talk about their friendship and how the Lord brought them together.

               We ended the night once again debriefing our day. The big theme we talked about tonight was: How will this trip continue to impact our lives when we get home? This was a very convicting discussion. We have all had times in our lives where we have felt a spiritual high, but they often fade away quicker than we would like. Our goal is that this spiritual high has lasting impact on our lives.