Liberia Mission Trip 2023

On Sunday July 23, the mission team gave a presentation to Woodlands Lutheran Church. Reporting back to the congregation concludes a mission trip. The link below is of the full service, where you can find the presentation (13:05). Click Here Thank you to mission team members for contributing photographs and thank you to all who followed along on our journey.

Going to the airport is a big deal for the kids, but there's not room for all 70 kids. So, it is a tradition at the orphanage that when someone leaves to go to the airport, a heads and tails game is played, where the winner gets to go to the airport.  Our team with Linda, of Hope and Care, at the Monrovia airport. We arrived safely in America Saturday night. Linda makes multiple trips to Liberia each year, as she says the need is great .  Although we are no longer in Liberia, we will still add to the blog until the end of this month.  The team members will present about our journey to our church on Sunday, July 23rd. 

In the morning, we attended the kindergarten graduation for the school. The graduation consisted of students and graduates showing their knowledge in various subjects like history and spelling. This included one student reciting the former presidents of Liberia and another talking about the branches of government. The nearly three hour ceremony included music, dancing, and noisemakers - it was a celebration of education.  The school gave Babita, who is a teacher in the US, the opportunity to hand out certificates to some students.  Presenting the kindergarten graduating class.

On Thursday, we toured the on-campus clinic. One of the doctors that works at the clinic donates his time. He works at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia, but works at the clinic on Fridays for free.  The clinic is open to the community, where nurses see many farm injuries and cases of malaria and other infectious diseases prominent in the area.  This is the Emergency Room.  Here are some photos of the Operating Room.   Another room we saw was the Delivery Room. Initially, there was no air conditioning in this room, but due to the room becoming very hot and uncomfortable, especially for the patient, an AC unit was installed. 

A group picture of all the children.    Everyone in VBS. We loved the past 2 weeks! Throughout the VBS days, the children worked on designing a quilt square. Each square attached to each other through buttons. The quilt showed unity.  The quilt being attached to a wall in the boys dormitory.  Pastor Bob presented Hope and Care Executive Director Linda Kurtz with an elephant mask. An endearing name given to Linda by the Liberian people is elephant because she, like an elephant, plows through any obstacles. 

On Tuesday evening, the mission team attended a dinner at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Pastor Bob and Kristi were recognized by the Lutheran elders for their service to Liberia. Many years ago Pastor Bob baptized Rev. Patrick Nanning as a boy, while establishing a Lutheran ministry in the remote Liberian mountain region.  

On Monday afternoon, the team visited a beach near Monrovia. We had dinner outside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  It was nice seeing the Atlantic from the other side. 

During the sport section, the children threw boomerangs. The boomerang’s change in direction when thrown relates to the days lesson about change.  The children built a lion mane in the crafts section in day four. Each day there is a Bible buddy, which helps reinforce the lesson. Day four’s Bible buddy was a lion.  Pastor Bob wearing a lion mane. Babita had students read from a children’s Bible.   

After dinner, Reverend Dr. Robert M. Roegner and Kristi Roegner announced that they are establishing an endowment that will donate 10% of their estate to Hope and Care Outreach once they are called to heaven. The funds will be used for scholarships to help educate future Liberians associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia Synod.  

The Rev. Patrick Nanning hosted a dinner for the Woodlands mission team on Sunday evening at his home.    We ate outside under a mango tree. Patricia Nanning, daughter of Rev. Patrick Nanning, who is a cook, actress, business major and soon to be married.  

On Sunday, we attended St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran church in Monrovia.  Pastor Bob gave the sermon about the Holy Spirit.  A deaf choir performed. They are an integral part of the the church.  Pastor Nanning presided and has been a gracious host throughout our stay here.  Before the service, adult Sunday school was held. The Sunday school teacher posed the question: which come first - sin or law. It was a great debate.  The inside of the church before the service. The choir was in green and yellow robes, the colors of the Lutheran churches in Liberia. In addition to the choir, a group of ladies performed in playing an instrument called a saasaa. This instrument is often played by women, unlike the drums which is performed by men. The sound of the saasaa comes from beads hitting a gourd.

On Saturday, adult conferences continued.  Kristi and Pam held a conference for the Liberian women discussing various topics such as home economics and evangelism.    Pastor Bob’s Bible study for the Liberian pastors also continued, with the book I Have Good News for You  as a reference. Babita and Karen also held a conference for Liberian teachers. Instructors discussed similar and different problems with students on both sides of the Atlantic. The American teachers talked about school safety and how that is an issue, and Liberian teachers talked about the issue of hunger. One Liberian teacher's solution to hunger in her classroom is to create a culture of sharing food among themselves, whether the students bring a lunch that day or not.