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NOTE: You can left-click on any picture to enlarge it for better viewing..Yes, we're back! In fact, we got back to Denver the middle of August, just when the school year here in Colorado was starting to "gear up". So I've been busy the last couple of weeks getting my science classes underway at Belleview Christian School (here in Westminster where I teach) and writing up a formal report of our trip for Pillar Missions..
The primary purpose of our five-week trip to Liberia this summer was to move PROJECT BUCHANAN forward by putting together a comprehensive plan for its development over the next few years. On this trip our work was to include a study of the property’s topography, the creation of a possible campus layout, the development of a phase-by-phase building plan, and the structuring of a project management team.
Certainly we were hoping that our extended time in Liberia would also allow us to reconnect with our friends and be an encouragement to them. We wanted to become better acquainted with their needs and try to understand, in particular, the postwar challenges of the Christian school ministry in Buchanan.
As a science teacher, I felt that one way I could help the school in Buchanan was to take over some simple science lab equipment and show the science teachers in Buchanan how it could be used to enhance their classes. Finally ...
I knew that I would likely be asked to be the special speaker at several churches on the Sundays we would be in Liberia. I hoped to be able to use my knowledge of “Liberian English” and the Bassa language to connect with young people who might be wondering how God could use them to help Liberia.
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Our five weeks in Liberia went by so quickly, but a lot was accomplished. In my next few posts to this blog, I want to bring you up to date on PROJECT BUCHANAN and the progress that has been made toward getting building construction started on the new land. Liberia is currently in the heaviest part of the rainy season along the West African coast, but by November the dry season will be returning and outdoor work will need to begin in earnest.
Not so long ago, just about everyone still had a "full screen" TV--you know, the kind with the bulging glass tube and the squarish 4:3 (width-to-length) picture. I can remember when I would carefully avoid purchasing "widescreen" videos, because I did not want to give up any part of my full-screen picture to those horizontal black bars above and below the picture!
Today most of us are happy that technology has taken a giant leap forward and given us "wide screen"--flat screen, plasma, and LCD TVs--with the picture in high definition and much larger than the old cathode ray tube could have ever hoped to produce! But alas, I now have a different problem! If my favorite DVDs are in the old 4:3 "full-screen" format (and most of the Gaither DVDs are!), I must make a choice. I can distort the picture horizontally so that it does fill the screen--and also make everyone look fat!--or I must endure those two vertical black bars on either side of the so-called full-screen picture!
I suspect that "widescreen" is here to stay, simply because it matches reality better! It's not just the way we prefer to watch TV, it's the way we view the world! While reading the Bible, I noticed that Paul, that great and passionate missionary of the New Testament, also had a "widescreen" view of his world. And--get this!--it actually can be viewed in 16:9--I Corinthians 16:9, that is! There Paul wrote: "...a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries" (NASB). He recognized what every missionary since his time has discovered to be true. On the one hand, there is unbelievable opportunity and we must do what we can; but on the other, there is unbelievable opposition and we must depend on God to do the part we cannot.
A few weeks ago Paula and I took the cog railway to the top of Pike's Peak. At 14,110 feet, we certainly had a "wide-screen" view of Colorado! Tomorrow evening we will be in Liberia where we will have, not just a wider view of the real world, but also "a wide door for effective service."
Here in Colorado, it is already 2 AM! In just a few hours, Paula and I will be heading for the airport with our heavy suitcases, and then we will be lifting off to begin our much anticipated five-week visit to Liberia! Our passion is to see an expanded Christian school established in Buchanan. In a country emerging from war, the opportunity to meet a need by giving education to its young people seems so obvious!
We certainly want to thank all our friends who have rallied behind us in recent weeks--and even in these last few days, I might add--and have made our trip financially possible! We also want to thank all of you in advance for your prayers as we go, because only God sees the opposition that is invisible to us and knows what to do about it!
Last week I was in New Jersey for the annual Pillar Church "camp meeting". I was appearing with the New Grace Quartet, a Colorado-based gospel music group that has been involved in prison ministry in Colorado for many years, and this spring had been invited to provide music at the four-day camp meeting. I also had several opportunities to speak to the conference about PROJECT BUCHANAN and our soon-to-happen summer trip to Liberia. (Paula and I leave in less than a week!)
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As planned, our priority for this 5-week trip is a careful on-site study of the new land in Buchanan, where a new school campus is to be developed. We want to sit down with our Liberian friends and finalize a phase-by-phase plan for building and construction over the next few years. In future posts to this blog, I will be sharing the details of this development plan with you.
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But this is the middle of the wet season in Liberia, and there are likely to be days with nonstop heavy rain when we will not be able to get out. July and August are also Liberia's "summer break" between school years. Therefore I am also going on this trip prepared to conduct lab-based seminars with the science teacher(s) and any interested students at the school. I am taking two microscopes as well as lab apparatus to conduct basic demonstrations in physics. Hopefully the students (who don't even have textbooks) will benefit from these sessions and the teachers will be able to use the microscopes and lab equipment in their science classes next year!
Yesterday and today, it was my privilege to be a guest with Pastor John Wiersma on radio KPOF's morning and afternoon drive-time shows here in Denver. (John Wiersma is pastor of the Pillar's Belleview Community Chapel here in Westminster, Colorado.) We were on the air to talk about "Building Hope in Liberia," our latest fund-raising effort for PROJECT BUCHANAN.
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John has been both a missionary in Africa and a Boston Marathon runner! Combining his interest in missions with his passion for running, he is calling on runners in Colorado (and even where you live perhaps!) to join him on October 18th for the Denver Marathon, a 42-km race in which he hopes $42,000 can be raised for PROJECT BUCHANAN in Liberia! For details see http://www.buildinghopeinliberia.com/. (By the way, this website was specially designed for this event and set up for us by Erick Bolanos, a former student and friend of mine!)
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Pillar Missions in New Jersey has already raised $41,500 towards PROJECT BUCHANAN. Now we here in Colorado are hoping to match that figure! We estimate that the total combined amount will be enough a) to cover the cost of the trip Paula and I are making to Liberia next month to set up the project and b) to fund the first sizable construction phase, which we hope will get started at the end of the year!
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John envisions 42 runners "coming on board", each one with sponsorships averaging $1000 in contributions toward PROJECT BUCHANAN. Ten runners have already signed up, and though the marathon is not until October, $5400 has already been given! In addition, another donor has promised to match, dollar for dollar, the next $10,000 that comes in!
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If you are a runner, or you know a runner who might like to participate, check out the website! There you will find a link to the Denver Marathon and information for contacting my friend John Wiersma, the "Building Hope in Liberia" coordinator, about signing up.
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If you're not a runner but would maybe like to sponsor a runner, or you know someone you think might be interested in sponsoring a runner, check out the website! There you will find information on how contributions can be made, either by check or online using PayPal. All gifts are tax-deductible and will go in their entirety to PROJECT BUCHANAN!
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If you are new to this blog, read my earlier posts to find out what PROJECT BUCHANAN is all about! I am convinced that as the country of Liberia emerges from civil war, one of its most urgent needs is for quality education. PROJECT BUCHANAN is our opportunity to develop a new Christian school campus in Buchanan, so that a good but overcrowded school, already in operation in that city, can become even better! Today we can build hope in Liberia by helping to provide the quality educational foundation that Liberia needs for a peaceful and prosperous tomorrow. Together we can do it!
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A big thanks from me to all of you for helping!
Last Tuesday (as I reported in my last post) Paula and I sent off for the visas we would need for our upcoming trip to Liberia this summer. The website of the Liberian Consulate in New York had indicated that we should allow at least 5 working days for our visas to be processed. However, we were very pleased on Friday (just 3 days later) to receive by express return mail a package containing our returned passports with the visas stamped inside! Our thanks to the Liberian Consulate for such great service... and, of course, to the US Postal Service as well!
The primary purpose of our five-week trip to Liberia this summer was to move PROJECT BUCHANAN forward by putting together a comprehensive plan for its development over the next few years. On this trip our work was to include a study of the property’s topography, the creation of a possible campus layout, the development of a phase-by-phase building plan, and the structuring of a project management team.
Certainly we were hoping that our extended time in Liberia would also allow us to reconnect with our friends and be an encouragement to them. We wanted to become better acquainted with their needs and try to understand, in particular, the postwar challenges of the Christian school ministry in Buchanan.
As a science teacher, I felt that one way I could help the school in Buchanan was to take over some simple science lab equipment and show the science teachers in Buchanan how it could be used to enhance their classes. Finally ...
I knew that I would likely be asked to be the special speaker at several churches on the Sundays we would be in Liberia. I hoped to be able to use my knowledge of “Liberian English” and the Bassa language to connect with young people who might be wondering how God could use them to help Liberia.
