If home is where the heart is, then we are home – but only in part. Part of our hearts are truly with our brothers and sisters in Liberia with whom we will be forever connected in heart and in ministry. What an incredible time of ministry and fellowship with the pastors, laity, and churches there. The more we have time and space to process all that God did during the past month, we continue to be amazed and increasingly thankful.

Thanks to all of you in Liberia who received us and ministered to and with us during our time there. We are truly partners in ministry, and we can’t wait to hear how you continue to break ground for the seed of the Gospel in your churches. Let us know!

And thanks to all of you here in the States who made this time of ministry possible. Please know that you WERE and still ARE an important part of Plowpoint’s growing work in West Africa. We are already praying and planning for our next time of ministry there and the many ways you can partner with us – and hope to even take some of you there – as we continue to nurture and grow our ministry among and with the churches and church leaders in Liberia.

We have been slowly, but surely, settling back into our home and ministry here. Many days the “mind has been willing, but the bodies weak.” Our Plowpoint ministry team (both staff and board members), family and friends have made this re-entry so much easier because of your faithful tending to things here while we were there. We continually give God thanks for the incredible gifts we have in you!

James and Maddie will be making the first “presentation” about our work in Liberia with their youth group on Sunday… we hope this is only the first of many for all of us. We are very anxious to share with as many of you as possible. So, if you would like us to come and make a presentation to your church or group, please let us know!

We will continue to occasionally post updates on our ministry in Liberia, especially as we get reports of how God continues to work there! So, continue to check – and PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY for the pastors, church leaders, and churches in Liberia and Plowpoint’s partnership with them.

Much love, thanks, and blessings for all of you…

Beth, Kelly, and James, and Maddie

Our last day in Liberia was one of many special “farewells” and hopeful “see you soon”s which we are trusting God to bring to pass. So many dear friends came by to share words of thanks and prayers and praise together. We spent a wonderful afternoon with the Taylors (the International School from an earlier posting) at their home (on our way to the airport) as we sat on their beautiful front porch watching the rainy season set in and feasting on one last Liberian meal!

We did want to share about one particular farewell, too, that will always remind us of our precious relationships with our brothers and sisters in Liberia. Some of you may remember an earlier posting (A Day in the Life…) where we shared with you the story of Pastor Ivy from George Hne Doe United Methodist Church and his wife delivering twins (a boy and a girl) very unexpectedly on the side of the road early the next morning after I (Beth) preached there. Later that week, Pastor Ivy completed our training and shared with us that to honor our coming to Liberia and working with him, his family and his church, he and and his wife decided to name the twins after Kelly and me!

What an honor in the naming… just another precious connection with our family and spiritual home in Liberia. Thank you, Pastor and Mrs. Ivy!

Fare Thee Well, Liberia

By Maddie and Beth Crissman

It was almost one year ago

When God began the weaving

Our lives with those of Liberia

Brought together by believing.

Together we believed a bridge

Of faith God called us to build

With our brothers and sisters in the Church

Across the Atlantic our love would be sealed.

The bridge, at times, was long and hard

With financial and logistical lapse

But by His grace and with your help

God miraculously filled the gaps.

When ‘cross the bridge at last we came

We met with open hearts and minds

Through the teaching, meals, and fellowship

Our purpose and will did bind.

Together we committed ourselves

For wholeness and holiness to seek

For the family, Church, and country

Reaching the lowly and the meek.

By strengthening the leaders of the Church

Both the pastors and the laity

One by one we will see God raise her up

Liberia a new day will see.

A day where all are once again strong

In body, mind, and spirit

And when the Church says, “Praise the Lord!”

All of Liberia will hear it.

For now, together we break the ground

For the Gospel seed to be planted

We do the hard work of preparing the soil

By the grace that God has granted.

So, fare the well, Liberia

As we travel to distant shore

Hoping again that we will soon return

And clasp heart and hand once more.

Today we trained pastors and others in Todee which is about 2 hours east of Monrovia, and Jerry informed us that THIS is upcountry! Most of the trip was on dirt – actually MUD roads that were filled with extremely large holes, small ponds, and steep grades. This part of the country is breathtakingly beautiful… and the ride itself was pretty breathtaking, too. James, our faithful driver, has been astounding every time he is behind the wheel, but our brother out did himself today! Disney has nothing to rival the thrill and excitement we experienced not once but twice – and our ride sure lasted longer than 10 minutes!

The trip was worth it! When we arrived, we were greeted by over 40 pastors and other church leaders who were waiting, ready, and hungry for biblical training. It was so incredibly rich to be with them, and the dialogue was great. In fact, they were very animated in their discussions, and as we have found in every setting here, they were very open to share how their struggles in the church and family are so very similar to ours. One of the interesting dynamics we encountered today in Todee was that many of the people there did not speak English, so we were blessed to have one of the pastors who participated translate into Kpelleh, the local dialect spoken by most of the people present. It has always been a blessing to hear others teach Plowpoint’s materials – and get it! – But WOW, what a blessing to hear a “brand new student,” Isaac, teach it to other hungry church leaders in a tribal language of West Africa!

Thus we brought to a close our training to pastors and church leaders in Liberia – for this trip. And what a wonderful way to end – knowing that there are pastors and laity who are ready, willing and able to continue breaking ground for the seed of the Gospel throughout Liberia.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we begin packing and saying “goodbyes,” and Wednesday we will visit with the Taylors at the International School on our way to the airport as we leave Liberia…

We thank you continually for your support that has brought us here, sustained us here, and worked along beside us here. We wish you could see firsthand the difference you are making the lives of the churches and communities in Liberia.

Much love, appreciation, and blessings…

Beth and Kelly

As we have mentioned before, life in Liberia isn’t that cheap, and we are truly eating imported food.

Here is a list of the food and where it comes from and about how much it cost in US dollars. Remember, the average salary of a pastor is US$30 a month and 80% of Liberia’s population is still unemployed.

Instant Coffee          Cote d’Ivoire                       $2 a small can

Coffee-mate            Thailand                     $7

Fruit Jelly                    France                       $4

Smuckers Jelly          USA                             $4

Jif Peanut Butter       USA                             $5

Bottled Water           Lebanon                    $5 a case of 12

Sprite                          Algeria                       $.75 a can

=)Chips Ahoy                        USA                             $4

Fruit Juice                  Cyprus                        $2 a cartoon

Crackers                    United Arab Emirates          $1 a small package

Canned beans         Italy                            $1 a can

Butter                         Denmark                    $4 a 250g block

Rice                            Texas                           $20 for a 25 pound box

Now, we are eating some wonderful local food. The bananas are the sweetest I’ve ever eaten. The mangos and papaya are great. Pineapple is the best ever. I’ll never eat it out of a can again. These are ripe from the fields.

Also corn, peanuts, plantains, and chicken are locally grown. We’ve eaten great here. The cook, Ocelia is amazing with the limited resources available. We have eaten potato greens with chicken, cassava greens with chicken and even peanut butter sandwiches. One day we mentioned our enjoyment of peanut butter jelly sandwiches and even peanut butter and banana sandwiches. That evening, Ocelia made double-decker sandwiches with one layer of peanut butter and jelly and one layer of peanut butter and banana. Our new favorite snack is banana chips. Just like potato chips, but made from banana slices. Good!

Thank you for your prayers. We and the people of Liberia need them.

Due to no TV and little electricity, we have entertained ourselves with card games and reading. Lots of reading! So far I have completed 4 books which are listed below:

1.      Warriors ; Midnight by Erin Hunter

2.      Warriors; Moonrise by Erin Hunter

3.      The Clique by Lisi Harrison

4.      ½ of Stargirl (due to loss of interest) by Jerry Spinelli

5.      Twilight by Stephine Meyer

I am currently out of books because I have read so constantly and thoroughly. I’m sure I’ll find something!

We miss you guys and will see you soon!

Maddie

Amazingly and blessedly, the four of us have been here almost four weeks and not encountered any illness at all. Until Tuesday.

Beth picked up a cold, actually a flu-like cold. She was teaching and felt it coming on. Of course she continued until the end of the seminar and then we came home and she collapsed on the bed. After a night of not sleeping due to fevers, we went to the Mercy Ship docked in the Monrovia harbor. We had called our friend, Denise Miller whom we had met earlier in our visit, and she said to bring Beth in so she could be checked. A malaria test proved negative so it is just a bad cold.

Beth and Maddie stayed at the ship for the day Thursday so Beth could seek to keep the fevers down in the cool of air conditioning while James, and I came back to lead the seminar that afternoon. The day at the ship and the knowledge that it was not malaria helped Beth to feel better.

After teaching Saturday morning, we’re taking Saturday afternoon off to prepare for preaching on Sunday. Beth and James will be going to Harding Smythe UMC and Maddie and I will be at McGill UMC. On Monday, we will be doing one more full day of training with pastors some distance from Monrovia. Then on Tuesday, we will be doing some last minute visiting and packing for our preparation to leave on Wednesday. It’s been an amazing 3 1/2 weeks.

Thanks for your prayers for our ministry here, continued protection, and healing!

Kelly

The last day of training for the pastors and lay leaders in Monrovia was today, Saturday, June 14. Twenty-six pastors and 33 lay leaders attended the five hour workshop held at ST Nagbe UMC. It was a rainy Saturday morning and the church was busy with a funeral and a wedding. The training has been held in the fellowship hall underneath the sanctuary. It is so humbling to us and such an honor to see these church leaders make the trip, mostly by taxi or by walking or catching a ride with someone.

Beth presented the leading seminar on “Moving from Good Things to God-things.” This is our training that incorporates spiritual gifts, calling, joy and passion in helping us understand what God wants us to be about doing. People kept asking questions seeking more clarification on helping their churches move into ministry. One of the pictures included shows Kelly writing on the board the areas of ministry  needs that church members see around their churches. (You can also see a pastor’s daughter writing on the board also.)

Plowpoint has presented this seminar and training for hundreds of churches and we find that this list is almost the same everywhere we go. The churches in Liberia find the same opportunities for ministry around their churches as do churches all across the States. Though the church in Liberia does have to minister to those with what could be called Post Traumatic Stress from the war that just ended. Please continue to pray for the church of Liberia.

The training in Virginia finished today. This group of pastors serving a community about an hour outside of Monrovia is amazing in their commitment to the Word and to the Church. Many of them travelled up to an hour either walking or paying a taxi. The training we brought might be the only pastoral training they will receive this whole year. In fact, for many of these pastors, they have not completed high school, and yet they are very hungry, appreciative, AND enthusiastic about the training they receive.

What they do in terms of ministry and the work of the church with so little challenges us to do the same as pastors and ministers of the Gospel in the States. Often, they are the only ones with a Bible in their entire village. The Bibles they do have are either old cast-offs from a church in the States (often with chapters or entire books missing) or the Bible is a copy produced on cheap paper for mass distribution. A Bible on cheap paper does not stand up to the wear and tear of ministry in Liberia.

As you might imagine, ministering with these pastors the past few days has been a blessing – but has given us quite a burden. The need is so very great to equip and empower these pastors in the interior to take the much needed hope of the Gospel to the people in their area – most of whom are still unreached.

Thirty pastors attended who were able to come on short notice. We have learned that these are only a few of the near 2000 pastors in this three county area in northwest Liberia. Please pray for them, for their families, for their ministries, and their congregations as they seek to be faithful witnesses in applying that which they have learned this week. And please join us in praying that God will give increased wisdom and guidance for Plowpoint’s role to continue helping break ground for the seed of the Gospel in the interior of Liberia.

So, you think that I’m a tall guy in the States, well I’m a giant over here! I haven’t seen one guy (or gal) that is taller than I am. Always my first impression on people is, “Wow, he’s tall.” Just to prove it, look at this picture of Maddie, Rev. Gartei, and myself. Rev. Gartei is the senior past at the church where I preached on Sunday. People from the church gave Maddie and me a gift of an African dress and shirt.