A Day in the Life…

Tuesday morning we gathered for a long ride out of the city to visit two schools birthed by churches and pastors in the area: I. L. Williams United Methodist School in Unification and the International School in Charlesville (more later about the schools in a separate blog entry). On the ride out, we all sat in the van – mostly in silence – enjoying the beauty of the countryside and the coolness of the breeze created by six open windows traveling at 60 mph. Very rarely was the silence broken. This is one of the blessings of the Liberian way – where “being” with one another, even in silence, is not awkward but instead is honored.

In one of the rare moments of discussion, Rev. Jerry Kulah, our host and the District Superintendent of the Monrovia District, shared a disturbing experience he had in the wee hours of the morning. At 2:00 am, he was awakened by his cell phone ringing. It was Pastor Lemeo George Ivy, the pastor at George Hne Doe United Methodist Church where I preached and Maddie attended on Sunday. Pastor Ivy frantically told Jerry that his wife was in the labor, and he had unsuccessfully spent the previous two hours trying to flag down a car to get her to the hospital. Jerry rushed to get dressed and drive out to the parsonage, only to find Pastor Ivy and his wife with just-born twins lying on the side of the road. Seeing that one of the babies was having difficulty breathing, Jerry rushed close by to the Mercy Ship to summon medical help. Through Jerry’s phenomenal persistence (which we have discussed early in our stories of trying to get into the soccer game on Sunday!), Jerry brought a nurse who was able to stabilize mother and babies.

A day in the life of a Liberian pastor – and a day in the life of a Liberian district superintendent… the real struggles of tending a flock and mending a nation stripped of what we simply expect as necessities.

In many ways, our struggles are as their struggles. But in others, well… we can only imagine…

Please pray for Pastor Ivy, his wife, and these two precious new children of God birthed today into their family – and ours.

Beth