Today in Liberia...I Need Thee Every Hour

Never know what a day will hold. . .

Today in Liberia. . .

So you don't get too confused I'll have to back up a couple of days to Wednesday morning. While having morning devotions one of our assistants, Henry, asked us to pray for a man he saw while walking to work that morning. He said this man was very sick, shaking with fever, just laying close to the road across from the hospital in the market place. Long story short, Dr. Keith took the land rover and went with Henry and Edward (another assistant) to carry this man to the ER. He was extremely sick, the only personal information we were able to get about him was when he said his name, "Anthony." The hospital staff somehow figured out he had been treated before for Tuberculosis and HIV but had stopped taking treatment. Due to lack of information, they were unable to contact any family and so the dental clinic (who carried him to the hospital) became responsible for his bills and performing the tasks family members would 'normally' do. Sadly, Friday morning when we went to check on Anthony he was much worse and after a difficult afternoon, passed away. The ER staff said we would need to bury the body as soon as possible. So this is how today broke down . . .
7AM - I met Edward and Sonkally at the hospital to begin the process of burying Anthony. These two Liberians are my big brothers, incredible Godly men who work at the hospital (Edward is a dental assistant and Sonkally works in the Pharmacy dept) and hang out with us when we're not working. We spoke briefly with the hospital staff who said the police needed to be involved before burial could be done. Sonkally had football practice so Edward and I started walking to the Police station.

7:30-9:30 Waiting at the station to inform the police of the incident, document the whole thing and receive permission to take and bury the body. The officer was very gracious, didn't require any payment and didn't send us into town to headquarters, just had us fill out the report and granted us permission.

9:30-11:30 Before getting the body we needed to purchase a burial plot. So we spent the next 2hours walking from neighborhood to neighborhood asking who had available space. In one of the neighborhoods, 4 big guys start whistling and calling to me, i ignore them and keep walking but turn to Edward and say, "you can protect me, right?!?" Half joking, half serious. He nods quickly and we keep walking. Finally, one of the neighborhood's council agreed to let us have a plot of ground, no coffin and no marker. . . back to the hospital. . .

12-1 Back at the hospital, Dr. Keith meets us with the car, the end is in sight. We tell the hospital, "Okay we have permission to carry the body and we have a grave site." They say, "Alright, do you have something to wrap the body?" . . .uh no! So again, long story short, we take care of that step, bring the body to the grave site, bury the body, have a few words & prayer.

1:30 Keith drops me off at home. While I've been away Jackie, my housemate, has been cleaning the house to prepare for our new roomate who arrives tomorrow. And our guard has taken care of our rabid dog whose been dying for over a week. But because there are people here who eat dogs...we have to burn the corpse. Alright, what do we have that's flammable?!? After searching the house, WD40 is the closest we've got. Where is my boyscout brother when i need him! I run down to Keith's to see if they have lighter fluid. . .negative. So we head up to the nearby market. First shop. . ."no fire lighter, try across the road!" Try two places 'across the road'...nothing. Okay. . .gas station here we come. I tell the old man at the gas station I just need a bottle of gasoline...but i didn't bring my own container...so I run into the nearby shack and buy a 1.5liter bottle of water and Jackie and I start guzzling it, because there's no point in wasting perfectly good water just to have an empty container. The old guy sees us and has a kid run and get an empty water bottle...nice. We stop drinking and i help him use a funnel to pour the gasoline from a 10 gallon drum into the empty water bottle...messy, but we get the fuel and head back home.

2:30 We get back home, make the bonfire. Wash the garage out where the dog has been all week. Whew that's done. Now Sonkally has a church youth meeting he's asked us to speak at, so we shower and head to the church.

4-5:30 Youth Meeting, Sonkally challenged the group to experience their divine destiny and Jackie shared a couple personal stories and verses to encourage the youth to make the most of every opportunity and encourage each other. I haven't had time to prepare anything so I just said a few words from the story of Esther.

6 Back home, grab an egg sandwich, quick conversation with our newest stalker who came up to the house, telling him not to waste his time and leave us alone, add more coal and dry mango leaves to the bonfire..not quite done.

6:30-9 Worship & prayer service at Keith's. Just what we needed to encourage and refocus our eyes on Jesus, the reason we're here. Have some great fellowship after the service and find out one of the guys who's here visiting from the states is preaching at a rural church tomorrow morning! We work out details and make plans to catch a ride in the morning, can't wait!!

9:30 Get home, eat a can of green beans, make tea and snack for the night guard, feed the dogs, check on the bonfire...just ashes, it's finished. Grab the computer whose internet has been working most frequently...internet is working so I start typing about my day and am now quite ready for bed. One of the songs we sang at the service this evening was the old hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour" as we sang it I ran over today in my head and just wholeheartedly agree. . .I need Him EVERY HOUR!!! Another day in Liberia.