Leaving Liberia

I will soon be leaving Liberia. The more I spend here the more I miss home but also the more I know I will miss Liberia. I have had a chance to spend more time this trip living and being with the locals. I have been living on a compound of about 40 people mostly children ranging for ages 9 months to 23 years old. I have enjoyed this experience greatly. I have gotten to know some young girls and women that will cherish forever. It is now Tuesday afternoon and we will be leaving Wednesday evening. I pray that when I return all of these people will still remain here safe and healthy. My work here is coming to an end. I am still at the office waiting for a man named Victor to bring me some information I requested last week. After that I believe my survey will be complete. Once I return home the work will be on me to compose the application and pray for funding of the first clinic.
If you are reading this from the States you will appreciate this: last week I had my toothbrush inside a travel holder and inside a closed ziplock bag and came in my room later that afternoon to find it still covered in ants. I was smart enough to pack extra toothbrushes this time because to buy a toothbrush at supermarket in Monrovia is about 8 US dollars. How do the ants know how to get into a closed ziplock bag I do not know, but they must be smart. It seems as if the rain is coming sooner than usual this year. I pray that the carpenters and door makers are able to get enough lumber cut before the rain comes. I don't know if you know that Liberia only has two seasons, six months of rain and six months of dry. Imagine that! I am sitting here with my friend Satta, and she says you have 4 seasons and we only have two. She came to bring me fresh fried plaintains and cold coke. I will miss her greatly.
Now about the clinic, Sarah and I were in contact with the people of Mt Barclay and were able to get a good survey of the area. Our only problem at this time is obtaining a map of the area. They only have maps of the counties. Which this county is very large which when they showed me a map it was like looking for Spencer on an Indiana map. So the men at NIMAC is going to have to land survey and draw us a map. Due to the census they can not provide it to me for another couple of weeks. I am planning on visiting another clinic that is being sponsored by FAME here in Monrovia on the way to the airport. I pray that that goes well and I am able to get a better idea of what they are trying to provide.
I want to thank all of you for your encouragement and prayers while I was here. I hope that you will continue this journey with me in prayer and continue to read updates as we proceed.

Liberia, Liberia

Well, the work here in Liberia is exhausting at times. I am enjoying the conversations I am able to have with the women of Liberia. They are so intelligent and have great knowledge of the word. Of course, in Liberia when you are not feeling well only time will tell if it due to heat, food, water, or lack of sleep. I was awaken last night with stomach pain that did subside, but I am left with nausea. I have only eaten a banana today so we will see how things turn out. Continue to pray for health. Sarah and I have been working on the application and information that I have come here for. Another bump in our road has been that the man that was preparing some of the information for us has left the area to work on the census. They are paying around 50 US dollars for the two weeks to help with the census and they can't turn down that money. I want to thank you all for the comments of encouragement and prayers. I also want to say thanks for you that have taken care of and checked in on my husband, Ryan. The last request I have today is for courage and safety of me driving in Liberia. I will have to take our vehicle with Sarah and go to the clinic area tomorrow. Only Phil has been driving and he will be in a meeting during this time, so to expand our time here I need to suck it up and drive like the Africans. Thank God for all the blessings here.

Arrived in Liberia

Hello Everyone! Welcomes from the hot and sunny Liberia. It is definitely fun and sun in Liberia, where the sun is hot, the mosquitos are hungry, and the people are happy. Both myself and Phil and Karen had interesting trips in Brussels where we met. We have both decided that we are going to avoid Amsterdam in the future! It is a nightmare. My flight out of Indy was delayed due to a girl on the plane sick. After sitting on the runway for an hour they decided to turn around and take her back to the terminal where the paramedics met us. So then we were an hour late getting to Detroit, which was fine for me because I still had 3 hours there. Of course it was like a blizzard in Detroit, so once we did leave it took them over an hour to de-ice the plane. The problem then began with the fact that I only had an hour in Amsterdam before my plane left. So was pretty sure I was going to miss my flight. We did make up some time but we didn't arrive in Amsterdam until 6:30am and my flight was leaving at 7:00am. Once I got through customs, my termial was at the opposite end of the airport. I began to run, and I heard on the intercom Joni Woodlee you are holding up your flight to Brussels. Over and over they announced this until I finally arrived they had to bus me out to the plane. What fun huh? Once I met up with Phil and Karen in Brussels I came to find out that they had a very similar experience in Amsterdam as well. But Thank God we are here. The Kangar's have been very gracious to host me and take care of me so far. We have found some bumps in our road where the government here is conducting a census. They are asking everyone to return to your original village and country to conduct the census. Of course, this doesn't make sense to anyone, but we are trying to deal with it. We are just not sure how accurate we are being at this point due to people scattering. Please continue to pray for us here. We doing great things here, but are feeling the power of the warfare. Satan does not like that we are trying to further the Kingdom here. Pray for strength and courage, and health. I will keep you updated as I am able to here. Thank you all for your comments. It helps me to stay encouraged.

Leaving for Liberia

Hello everyone!! As some of you know I am leaving this morning for my journey back to Africa. I am very excited to get there. I am ready for some warm weather and to get away from this ice and snow. I will be working with Sarah Kangar, our Liberia Medical team leader, for the next two weeks. I ask that you pray that things go smoothly and we are able to get all the work done needed. I also just ask that you pray for health, courage, and smoothly travel for me and Karen & Phil Eckart. I will try and post as often as I can from there, so Keep Checking over the next two weeks.
Joni Woodlee