“I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.”

                                    - St. Francis of Assisi

…The only reason i can give as to why i have not already sent you this is plainly i was not ready…

 

From the beginning of February to the end of May, I lived, taught, served, was taught, and was served in the Mission Liberia compound in BlackTom Town, Liberia, West Africa.

 

My time is Liberia was totally and completely the most perspective-changing, eye-opening, life-living experience i have ever had the pleasure of having.

 

Being there - living a life of community with 125 orphans and 10 Liberian staff on our compound and interacting with the people in Redlight and Monrovia was the most fulfilled i have ever been…it was the most alive i have ever felt.

i was not ready write this until now because since my return, my entire world has been upside down. Before i left, i was blind to the level of poverty and oppression - blind to the quantity and realities of our broken and hurting brothers and sisters throughout the world. But after being placed out side my limited perspective and on the other side of the comforts i lived among… its hard to pretend i am blind to the numbing effect my comfortable life unknowingly placed me under.

 

i went into my experience not knowing how to handle what i “was not going to have”…and i’ve come out not knowing how to handle the complete and total excess that “I do have”. Haha my brain is about to be in meltdown mode.

 

I went from complaining about not having AC to thinking it’s too cold in my house if the AC is on. I went from not knowing what i would do without running water to missing my bucket baths of cold well water.

 

Everything is relative. Everyone’s opinion is based on a limited environmentally driven experience - Mine name is on the top of the list. But not realizing our own limitations to perceive what “is real or important” as opposed to what “is not” is ignorance – haha again my name is at the top of that list as well. That’s the second greatest lesson i learned from my experience, the first being LOVE.

 

My transition back into this world that i grew up in was and still has continued to be a challenge. After all the things i saw, it’s difficult to see the things i’m seeing now. It’s hard to walk through the grocery store after seeing kids on the street that haven’t eating in a few days. It’s difficult to see kids so mad at their parents when the kids i was with don’t have any. It’s hard to watch my friends complain about water quality of the pack of bottled water their drinking when i know they wouldn’t even bathe in the water my kids drink.

Fisheads. YUM:)

Above all, the only thing i can say is this has been and will continue to be a transition.

 

The longer i was in Liberia, the less and less I desired to come back to this life (minus visiting the friends and family part of course...and maybe a cheeseburger). I don’t look down, or think negatively of anyone living this life… my interest just isn’t being kept as well as it used to with it…call it ADD haha…

 

Friends and Family have definitely been helping the transition. We also took a trip to Honduras, and interacting with other Americans in that type of environment aided my transition process tremendously…it helps when you see God’s face in those you are working with!

 

But as of now, God’s words are “Wait.” So i’m going to try and wait as best i can - i’m going to be attending MTSU this fall, and i will be majoring in Organizational Communications (working with NGOs, Global studies, etc.). i will be helping coach football at Brentwood High and also helping to lead the lifeteen group at Holy Family, both of which i am pumped about… and who knows what else will come out of this time…

 

i want to thank ALL of you again for your prayers and support while i was in Liberia. It meant the world to me, and i can personally tell you it meant the world to the kids you helped to serve. With the donations we collected, we were able to:

 

-Purchase a submersible pump (so the kids can have one hose of running water for a couple hours while the generator is on)

-Take care of the entirety of the organization’s financials – all the food, gas for generator, staff and teacher salaries, and medical needs for 2 weeks (we had a bit of a crisis there at the beginning)

-Provide medical treatment of Malaria for our Cook Marta and a few of the children

-Set up a scholarship for 16 kids from the neighboring villages to attend school

-Set up a scholarship for 4 kids to come and live on the mission

- And many more miscellaneous Liberia Mission expenditures.

 

 

Thank You again…SO MUCH!

 

Life, Love and Peace

 

uncle matthew

“all around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don’t tiptoe.”

For the last couple of weeks Jerome and John have been joking with me a lot about how short my time was getting here…how soon i’ll be back in my "comforts"…

For a while i would just cordially smile and laugh a little and say ‘i don’t want to think about it’…but the last couple days – i’ve kinda had to…

i didn’t want to deal with the thought of leaving my new family. It’s hard to know how they live every day and to simultaneously know what i’m about to head back in to.
i didn’t want to deal with my fears of letting the world of materialism and self-importance numb down the beauty of simplicity and community God has shown me here.

Teddy giving Clarence a razorblade haircut

Beloved, Let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
- 1 John 4:7-10


The kids keep telling me they’re going to lay in front of the pickup so we can’t leave the compound…Momma, Marta and Ya keep telling me their going to miss their son…Monsignor Tikpor simply said “Go-come ya”.

Monsignor seems to always put me to ease. He always has some advice that really comforts me or at least helps put my doubts to rest. He’s helped me to realize that this adventure is not ending…it truly is merely beginning.
During his homily on Sunday that’s what he told the children. “I know we want to cry thinking this is Matthew’s last Sunday with us, but don’t. God has a purpose in his leaving. God is merely preparing him to better serve his kingdom – getting him ready to better serve his people. We will see him again.”

With a few words and a smile from Monsignor, my perception turned yet again. My fears of falling into my old routine in the states and anxiety of leaving those i loved turned… it turned straight into gratitude and eagerness.

All i could think about was how great our God truly is…How He led me to this place. How He put this love in my life. How he didn’t just bless me with new friends but enlarged my family from 7 to 138…i can’t even fathom what it would be like had i not come to Liberia.

you know - just sharing a mango

helping Ya serve lunch

This part of my adventure has been one of learning, of laughing, and a lot of loving. It has taught me that to live simply and in community is the most enjoyable way i can live my life. It’s taught me not only to look beyond the gray skies, but take comfort in knowing God is always right alongside me through them. It’s finally given me conformation in my vocation: to be a lover of Jesus and his people.

“Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love more.”
- Momma T


i don’t know if i’d say i’ve come away from this experience with a “plan-of-action” for my life and where it's going other than to have no plan. Jesus has wrecked all the “plans” i’ve made anyway…yea…it’s definitely time to let go and let God.
i can’t give you a five-year-plan…or even tell you what i’ll be doing a week from now - only God knows, and that’s the way its gonna stay.


We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brother. Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.
- 1 John 3:14-18


“Love is a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, but it is the only answer.”
-Robert Ellsberg,ed., Dorothy Day: Selected Writings (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis,1992),339.


All i know is now that as i’ve seen more of the 3rd world, and felt what love truly is…all i want to do is work for His people - my people - my brothers, my sisters. i know that i want my life to sing of the Glory of God. i want it to sing of love, my shortcomings, and his grace. i want to be a hand reaching for our brothers and sisters who were born into the 3rd world when we lucked into the 1st. i want to find and bring to light those things that won’t be gone as quickly as a pay check. i want to devote my life to trying to better understand The Way, The Truth, and The Life, as Jesus taught.

“Jesus never says to the poor, ‘Come find the church,’ but he says to those of us in the church, ‘Go into the world and find the poor, hungry, homeless, imprisoned,’ Jesus in his disguises.”
- Tony Campolo


i will stumble, and oh, will i fall… but from now on i want to stumble and fall running full steam. i want to bust on my face, just to get back up with a smile and start running again. i no longer want to just fall into what everyone else does…but i want to run the blind-folded race that God has set it store for me.


“Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality, as with the ordinary church member. Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier. Wisdom without love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary intellectual. But the one who has love, courage, and wisdom moves the world.”
- Ammon Hennacy (Catholic activist, 1893-1970)


The past three and a half months have been more than life changing. The people and my experiences have instilled in me a sense of being indescribably alive. It's taught me that stepping outside of your comfort zone - struggling a little - brings such a pleasure and reward in a knowledge and reality of what is truly important or petty; many "sacrifices" end up not being sacrifices at all - just enjoyable lack of complication…its taught me that we all fall, but you’ll never know if you can make the leap or not if you don’t find the courage to jump. So my challenge is this…Jump. Find something. Anything. Whatever and wherever your heart pulls you…but give love a chance….let love live. Get dirty. Go past your boundaries. Be uncomfortable. Be vulnerable. Be real. Be yourself. wake up alive.

Thank all of you for your support and prayers on my trip to Liberia; it would not have been the same without them… But know this is only the beginning. i don’t know where or what God has in store for me next…but i can promise it will just be another turn on this Great Adventure.



“We can do not great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it.”
- Momma T

“Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be.
I dare you to move. I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move like today never happened.
Maybe redemption is stories to tell
maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go? Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here.
I dare you to move.”

“Dare You to Move” -Switchfoot

i pray for courage, for wisdom, for love…patience, generosity, understanding, joy, hope, and peace…for all of us!



Life, Love and Peace

Slonti

“The truth is natural like the wind that blows,
follow its direction – no matter where it goes”

“Wake for Young Souls” –Third Eye Blind




Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

What really is reality?
Is it the routine we fall into every day? Or is it what we hold as visible?
Maybe it’s what we perceive as logical…
Might i dare to say that reality is whatever you want it to be…

Yea, that sounds right…Reality is whatever you make it.

It definitely could be staying in the present system we have in the states and getting a great job.
…It could also definitely be scrapping that completely and doing something off the map.


“I want out of the labels. I don’t want my whole life crammed into a single word. A story. I want to find something else, unknowable, some place to be that’s not on the map. A real adventure. A sphinx. A mystery. A blank. Unknown. Undefined.”
- Chuck Palahniuk



i was really into staying in that system for a while. i loved (and still love) college, and hanging out with my friends, and getting ready to look for a job that would hopefully set me up to be successful. i guess it just seemed like that’s what growing up was about. Everyone i knew went to school, got into the best college they could, then looked for the best job offer they could find. It just seemed like that’s how life went. It was what seemed realistic.


Africa has shown me something though…
Work is work – nothing more, nothing less.
It is a means to support. And anything beyond support will be a waste of time...ha, well at least to me

It’s shown me that no matter my occupation, employer, or title i’m just as human – just as small – as the man in slums pushing a wheelbarrow – the crippled, ex-rebel soldier that helps watch our pickup - the guy flipping burgers at Mc-y D’s – the man sleeping on the sidewalk.

“Commit yourselves wholly to God, come what may.”
- Saint Teresa of Avila

We live in Him, we walk in Him, we are in Him.

Acts 17:28

“Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society.”
- Jacques Ellul

It’s shown me that you can provide for a family and take care of them anywhere in the world; its taught me that providing is not excess but merely teaching, loving, and caring for those we love. It doesn’t have to be in the suburbs, or the city, or even in the country you’re familiar with.

“Joy is the immediate consequence of a certain fullness of life. For the individual this fullness consists above all in knowledge and Love.”
- St. Thomas

It’s shown me to remember how small we all are – to remember how big the world is, and how big the issues of her people are…to me, something worth fighting for – to me, something that seems to be of real worth.

Life is what you make of it. You are the characteristics, values, and actions you represent. Reality is merely the caution tape we put around the endless possibilities of our existence.

i pray that we might all realize that reality is only a word to describe the world we want to see as logical; the only person who can set that reality is ourselves. i pray that we might find the courage to be all that we can be – that we might realize the only boundaries in this world are our own self-imposed limitations. i pray we might find the strength to run, the courage to jump, and the grace to fly.

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

Fan into Flame the gifts God has given you…For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of Power, of Love, and of Strength.

2 Timothy 1:7

Life, Love, and Peace

uncle matthew

…so the other day this “bana” went to Redlight by himself…

in the midst of Redlight







since our truck was still in the shop from the incident on the way home from Grand Bassa, i walked to the highway and caught a car into Redlight.
I wish I could physically show you Redlight. Someone here described it to me as a more chaotic Manhattan. Haha. Traffic never stops, but there isn’t really a paved road. It is mostly mud and trash and people EVERYWHERE (John swears the density it more than Hong Kong) trying to sell anything and everything…from chickens to fresh produce…soap to rubber bands…used clothes to pirated DVDs, and stands to charge cell (most people don’t have access to electricity) phones or buy scratch cards...it is the underground economy of Africa and there is hardly any architecture in the town; there is absolutely no sense of permanence.















The trip into Redlight was completely fine, and honestly i was really enjoying being on my own.
Getting home, however, was not as easy. i tried to wave down a taxi for 30 minutes in the rain and got no bites except one guy who tried to charge me 12 times the normal price because i’m white (let’s just say i wished the man a good afternoon and said i would wait for the next car)…
i was struggling trying to find a ride.
Haha before i go any further i need to mention that one of the kids had put a green, yellow, and red sweatband on me before I left.
A man came up from behind me and asked if i liked reggae. i laughed and said of course. i asked if he liked Bob Marley…he turned around and he was wearing a Marley t-shirt...go figure…
He told me he’d seen my failed attempts at catching a taxi and that he could give me a ride if i needed one. He drove groups of people across country in a big 18-wheeler (businesses like this, buses, or helicopters are the only way to get around the country) for a living and was going my way on the highway…So like usual, i made a new friend...


We waited around Redlight for the rest of the passengers to show up. Hanging out with my new friend (Ismael) and his crew put me in no way in a sense of discomfort (even though Jerome kept calling me – freaking out and trying to get me to reassure him that he “wouldn’t have to call Steve and tell him his son died alone in Redlight”). i’d even say i felt more and more affluent with the people and culture that i’ve become so fond of. We talked, told jokes, and they even helped me when an ex-rebel hassled me for money… haha he was drunk and threatened to “eat my eyeball”...
We jumped in the truck and drove a little bit to get the fuel needed to make the trek to Lofa county and back. (15 hours there….15 hours back… and Ismael said he wasn’t planning on sleeping at all)

syphoning gas into the drums

loading the truck

i helped him and his crew load up the 16 50-gallon oil drums into the back of the truck, and the bond between me and my new friends grew. They told me they really appreciated that i didn’t mind getting dirty and working with them…haha i told them I appreciated them not letting the ex-rebel eat my eyeball. We all laughed and a man who had been watching us at the gas station walked up and started talking with us. He gave me the best complement i think i’ve ever received…he told me i was a real African. He said my skin may not show it, but my heart did… i cannot express the joy that that man gave me when he said that - And Jerome, John and Clarissa will tell you I’m still smiling...


So we were ready to go – i hopped in the front with Ismael and his crew, and they helped me to get home when i otherwise would have probably still been trying to find a taxi…. When they dropped me off at my stop on the highway they all got out and gave me a hug, we all exchanged numbers, i thanked them again and wished them a safe journey.

hahaha…whoever said you can’t trust a stanger? None of the other volunteers here say they have yet to figure out my strange affinity for Africa, and honestly, i don’t have a good answer for them except i just feel more fulfilled with every day i spend Her people, Her culture, Her life. God just keeps filling me up:)...


The other day was an awesome experience…definitely one i will never forget…"Thank God"





Life, Love, and Peace,



uncle matthew










a video clip of when we jumped into the truck to go get the fuel

Laugh and Love.

Happy the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding! For her profit is better than profit in silver, and better than gold is her revenue; She is more precious than corals, and none of your choice possessions can compare with her.
- 1 John 3:17-18


i remember the way i viewed the world just a few months ago… i remember what made me think i was distressed. i remember what i thought it was to hurt. i remember what i thought one could be justifiably fearful of…let’s just say my perception has found a new path. The best way i can try to describe the last 85 days is simply eye opening.

Marta,Me, and Ya with some of the boys

Meet Ya. She is always smiling:) And whenever you ask her how she is…the only response you will ever receive is “Thank God.”
Ya is one of our two wonderful cooks at Mission Liberia. She is a foster mother to ALL of our children, and to me – she’s an inspiration.
Ya’s time during the war was not extraordinarily different from many of the Liberians, but to me, hers was a story i could actually touch, something tangible as to how Love really conquers all…even in the face of death, destruction, and to us Americans – unfathomable odds.

Ya’s village, like most in Liberia and Sierra Leone, was plagued by rebels.
And when the rebels came, they were ruthless… Many of our children here at the mission watched their parent’s deaths… Ya was no exception. The rebels attacked her village at night when everyone was asleep. They tore into her hut, pulled her husband out of bed and cut his head off in front of her…
Ya now takes care of not only her 4 children with no father, but also 4 other children from her village who lost both parents that same night.


… i don’t share this story to mortify you, or to scare you. i share it not to try and get sympathy for her, because she wouldn’t want it. i’m sharing Ya’s story with you as an example of the type of trust and faith that can get us through anything. The wisdom that God is in control, and everything happens for a reason…and most importantly…He wouldn’t put us in a situation if He was not able to get us through it. That situation may be an inner struggle. It may be an addiction. It may be unemployment. It may be loneliness. It may be the loss of a loved one…


i say Ya is an inspiration not because of what she went through, but because of her strength to get back up – through unfathomable odds.
i say these kids show me love. They do. They show me that eyes that have seen the violence, destruction, and hurt of losing a parent…can still smile…can still laugh…can still LOVE…can still trust.

...so i was laying down on the ground... and the next thing i know i'm being carried away...and told i was going in the well

Ya made them put me down haha

Roland being his normal goofy self:)

When i first arrived, it was so hard for me to understand where this unrestrained joy that i was witnessing came from…i knew the history of the country, and i couldn’t fathom what was so wonderful as to let smiles of light shine though such a darkness…Ya’s story emancipated the answer for me…the freedom in letting go and letting God. Trust. Faith.

“Emancipate yourselves from inner slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”
- “Redemption Song”, Bob Marley

My time is winding down here. But every single day, my eyes are still being reopened. Every day is a new inspiration. Every day my perception of what is important and what is not shifts just a little more. These people have shown me that this life goes much deeper than the surface i saw back at home. It digs deeper than an F on a test or a bum back - lack of power or ac or running water. They have helped me not only to see the oppression or the effects of war, but to see the people that become the oppressed, the families that are torn apart…and realize that they are no less human than those who watch their “misfortune” on tv thousands of miles away…
They’ve shown me that if i want to help, “charity” goes above and beyond putting a few bucks in the collection basket. Everyday a restlessness continues to brew…a rage, if you will…that will no longer enable me to merely watch the infomercials or potential minute-long review on CNN of the poverty and destruction that is haunting our oppressed and marginalized brothers and sisters.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

- Matthew 16:25-26

“Our Lord has come to bring peace, good news and life to ALL men. Not only the rich, not only to the poor, not only to the wise, not only to the simple, but to EVERYONE, to the brother, for His brothers we are, children of the same father, God. So there is only One race, the race of the children of God. There is only One language which speaks to the heart and to the mind, without the noise of words, making us know God and Love One Another.”
- IBID, Christ is Passing By, 106

Thus says the Lord:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Nor the strong man glory in his strength,
Nor the rich man glory in his riches;
But rather, let him who glories, glory in this,
That in his prudence he knows me,
Knows that I, the Lord, bring about kindness,
Justice and uprightness on the earth;
For with such am I pleased, says the Lord.
-Jeremiah 9:22-23

“Cuz it is not a human right
To stare, not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes so blind
That we might find the mercy for the need.”
- “Solution”, Hillsong

i pray that we might be filled with compassion. That we would work towards being the hands and the feet of the One Body that we are. i pray that we would run for justice and reach for truth. i pray that we might know that the Saints are not those who never sinned, but are merely those who refused to lay down - those who always got up again. i pray that we might not dwell on what is bad with our situation but be thankful for what is good. i pray that we might Laugh and Love.


“She told him she’d rather fix her makeup
Than try to fix whats goin on
But the problem keeps on calling even with the cell phone gone.
She told him she believes in livin
Bigger than she’s living now
But her world keeps spinning backwards and upside down
Don’t say so long and throw your cell phone
Don’t spend your day away, cuz today will soon be…

Gone.
Like yesterday is gone
Like history is gone
Just try and prove me wrong and pretend like your immortal

She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every day we borrow brings us one step closer to the edge infinity
Where’s your treasure, where’s your hope
If you gain the world and you lose your soul
She pretends like, she pretends like she’s immortal

Don’t say so long you’re not that far gone
This could be your big chance to make up…today will soon be gone

Gone.
Like yesterday is gone
Like history is gone
The world keeps spinning on
Your going, going gone
Like summer break is gone
Like Saturday is gone
Just try and prove me wrong and pretend like your immortal

We are not infinite
we are not permanent
nothing is immediate
we’re so confident in our accomplishments
look at our decadence

gone.
Like frank Sinatra. Like elvis and his mom
Like al pacino’s cash, nothing lasts in this life
My high schools dreams are gone
My childhood streets are gone
Life is a day that doesn’t last for long
Life is more than money
Time was never money
Time was never cash life is still more than girls
Life is more than hundred dollar bills

Life is more than fame and rock all roll and thrills

We got information in the information age
But do we know what life is outside of our convenient lexus cages?
She said he said live like tomorrow”

- “Gone”, Switchfoot

Life, Love, and Peace.

uncle matthew

The crowd said to Jesus: “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

            So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

-       John 6:30-35

 

 

 

How often do we get those signs we ask for?

 

How often do we scream out, “God just SHOW me you’re there.”

 

…maybe i’m only speaking for myself, but at least the urge to do so comes quite frequently…

 

 

Tuesday morning Jerome, John, Uncle Harris, and myself set out for the new Mission being built in Grand Bassa. From our compound in BlackTom Town, the new site is roughly 110 miles away….the trip however, is never shorter than 4 hours…The roads are somewhat less than stellar and are made up of more potholes and bumps than you can imagine (we also caught some air a few times haha). Let’s just say John was unable to go 3 minutes without saying “OW CHIGLAGA!”

buying some bananas on the road

The trip is long, but always so worth it. i don’t know what it is about the place, but the times i’ve been there, i’ve felt eerily at home. The land is gorgeous, and the site of the mission under construction is a lot more secluded that the one i’m staying at in BlackTom Town. You really are in the African “Bush”.

sitting in the kitchen looking out into the land the new site has

Well the trip went smoothly. We met with the people we had to meet with. We also got to just walk around and take in the beauty of it all.

 

… We embarked on the journey home, and it seemed like we were just in for our normal long, bumpy ride.  As soon as we got out of Grand Bassa County though, The clutch system on our truck died. We pulled over to the side of the road, turned off the pick-up and prayed it would magically work when we turned it back on…No such luck…

We were stuck…over 2 hours away from the compound.

haha there we are. Right on the Margibi / Grand Bassa Border...Uncle Harris is still trying to find someone to come get us.

John and i decided to take advantage of what seemed more and more like our campground for the night – checking out how the river looked for swimming Haha. We were all just hanging around the road…well Jerome and Harris were searching through their phones looking for ANYONE they knew who might have a car or know someone who had a car and could come get us…No such luck again…Jerome called Clarissa, and she called Toyota to see if they could come tow us. Clarissa called back and told us they could, but it would be 6 the next morning before they got there…haha and that was on a Liberian watch, so it was looking like noon before we’d see anyone.

 

John and i were making bets on if i could hit different trees with rocks, Harris was pacing the road, and Jerome was saying to Clarissa, “I have no idea what we can do.”…And then one of those signs we always pray for showed up.

 

i was a little further down the road than the others, and this UN car passed me - i smiled and waved – he returned the favor…and then some.  He pulled over and asked us what was going on. We told him our truck was dead and we would be here for the night. He asked us where we lived because he was heading to Monrovia (our mission just so happens to be on the way to Monrovia).

John, our guardian angel and Uncle Harris hooking up the pick-up to be towed.

So this angel, John, as he called himself, just happened to have some things to tow our car a little way. He towed our car about 5 miles to a gas station (which was coincidently called “It takes two filling station” and motto just happened to be “Never Despair”) where we could leave the car so no one would steal it or strip it for parts.

Leaving the pick-up at the "IT Takes Two" filling station..haha motto: Never Despair.

 

We hopped in the UN truck with John, and headed towards the mission. Jerome and i looked at each other and simultaneously mouthed, “He was a God-send.” The further we got along the ride though, the more coincidences came out. John had just come from right up the road from where our new site was. He just so happened to be going to Monrovia. He and Jerome started talking in Spanish and He also happened to be Nicaraguan, one of the countries that borders Honduras (our mission is under Mission Honduras Inc. and the Mission sites in Honduras have more than a few kids from Nicaragua) when there are relatively hardly any Latin American UN representatives in Liberia right now.

 

We arrived home and hugged John. We thanked him more than a few times. We tried to get him to stay and hang out for a little while but he had to get ready to catch his flight he had in the morning.

 

The rest of the night, all we could think about, was how miraculous John’s showing up was and how perfectly it played out - How if we had left Grand Bassa just a little later than we did we would have still been sitting in the truck.

 

All we could think about was how Mighty to Save our God is.

 

Today i have a prayer of thanksgiving for our Nicaraguan Angel, Johnny Mua.

i pray that we might find the courage to trust in God completely – to trust that He will never abandon us – to trust that He is always by our side – To trust that He always has us right where we need to be.

Please pray for wisdom, courage, guidance, understanding, compassion, generosity, and Love…for all of us!

 

Hope all is well!

 

 

 

Life, Love, and Peace

 

uncle matthew

“…all us stumblers who believe Love rules.

Stand up and let it shine.”

Monday started off like any other day: children laughing at the well, Malaria pills, and as always, that interesting cup of coffee with John and Jerome. We headed towards class… like normal. We got into our lines…like normal. i guess the only irregular thing at the beginning of the day was the class size. Clarissa had to go into town with Jerome for some things, so her class joined up with mine.

My first thought of this super-sized class was a little fear. Haha…  but that quickly passed and the beginning of the day ran relatively smooth. We were all still smiling, and more importantly: the kids were paying attention and not bothering one another.

The kids were being really good. But it’s hard to give that many kids all the attention they need – especially with the now enlarged age gap (6yr-olds to 12-yr-olds). I was helping the kids with the math problems we had on the board, which looked a lot more like 9-12 kids encircling my chair, all trying to simultaneously show me their copy books. i got distracted…and a little overwhelmed…

The next thing i know, one of the kids was saying that Joshua and Merci were fighting. This whole concept of fighting isn’t completely foreign in our classroom, and usually revolves around a pencil, or one of the children writing the other’s name on their sheet of paper. It’s never too intense, but it is fighting, and that’s not exactly what we want to be allowing in school.

i stood up from my chair, parted the sea of children surrounding me, and started walking to break up what i thought was a routine tussle.

i put myself in-between the two and tried to calm them down. The next thing i know, Joshua is attacking me. He is 6, and i took the rebellion as if it was just a tantrum turned sour. He was scratching, pinching and biting me - whichever one, or all three of the options were available. i didn’t take a fond liking to this new form of affection, and Joshua and i went outside. i carried the 6 yr-old kicking, screaming, and fighting halfway between the school and the house.

He was freaking out.

i didn’t want to punish the kid. i mean don’t get me wrong, i didn’t like the fact that my neck was chicken-scratched, nor was i especially fond of the new tooth imprints on my shoulder, but the kid is 6.

So i plopped him down in the road. “Joshua, it’s ok. Calm down. i love you dude. Calm down.” i kept trying to relax him and ease a little of the screaming but nothing worked. It seemed as if the more I tried to give him a hug or tell him i wasn’t mad or i loved him – the louder he screamed and the more he fought.

So i tried giving him a little space for a minute. i sat him down, and walked away ten feet or so and sat down myself.

The screaming continued, but now it was becoming a slight bit fainter.

i thought the storm had started to die down, so after a couple of minutes i walked back over to him. “Joshua, it’s ok. i love you. Don’t worry. Everything’s ok.” i was trying to carefully coax him to calm down – scratching his back…speaking easy…

“Ok. Josh – it’s ok, i understand you’re upset, and that’s ok. i love you – i’m not mad - i don’t want to punish you. I don’t want to take you to Uncle Harris (the boy’s house father and acting disciplinarian). If you calm down, we can just go back to class.”

i made an attempt to pick him up and the screaming and fighting became worse than it was at the beginning. i put him back down, and told him i was going to count to 10 and then i wanted him to make a choice on what he wanted to do. If he told me he wanted to go back to class, we would go, but i wanted him to calm down enough to tell me.

Well i probably took 25 seconds counting…and there was no sign of the screaming ceasing. “Joshua, just tell me you want to go back and we can – but you have to calm down. What’s it going to be?” i waited, but there was no response – just continual screaming. “ok, i guess we’re going to Harris.” i picked him up, and the worst part of the fight was underway. He was flailing biting and scratching worse than before. He was biting me so hard, the gums above his teeth were bleeding. Marta and Ya came running from around the corner screaming. They were yelling at me to beat him. They watched me talk to him on the road, and they told me they didn’t know why i just didn’t punish him from the start. Ya grabbed him from me and started yelling at him for attacking me when i was trying to help him.

i was just standing there, stuck to that spot on the road, and I started to get the chills.

i suddenly was overtaken by guilt – “that’s what i do to God.” – was now the thought that had captured the entirety of my spectrum.

How often do i mess up or get into trouble, but in my independence, resist (kicking, screaming, and biting trying to get out of the mess on my own) the God who’s always right there to help. How often to i get into a bind, start scrambling, and force a throw only to end in an interception instead of just taking the sac. i know for me, its hard to admit when i’m wrong. It’s hard to admit i need help. It’s a hit to my pride for me to not be able to do it on my own - or admit when i’m struggling or need help. God just wants to help us, but we fight him off. He just wants to love us - to help us when we aren’t able to get it completely right.

 

The Lord will give you the bread you need

And the water for which you thirst.

No longer will your Teacher hide himself,

But with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,

While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:

“This is the way; walk in it.”

when you would turn to the right or to the left.

                                    - Isaiah 30: 20-21

 

 

“Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Bob, why are you resisting me?’ I said, ‘I’m not resisting you!’ He said, ‘You gonna follow me?’ I said, ‘I’ve never thought about that before!’ He said, ‘When you’re not following me, you’re resisting me.’ ”

-       Bob Dylan

 

God is love - Love in its total and complete fulfillment. He loves us so much that he gives us free will – the will to do whatever we want. He gives us that choice, “Hey I’m here if you want me, but if you want your space you can have that too, just know I’m always here.” But how often do we actually submit to that Love that He gives us? How often do we take the chance that His way might be better than ours…how often do we remain unloved? i was thinking of all the times i’ve fought God and rejected his help. Kicking, screaming, biting….Hammering the nails into His hands that He spread out of love for us. But when we try to fix everything ourselves… When we rely on our own notions…When we don’t expand into the possibilities that maybe we don’t have the full spectrum of right and wrong, good or bad (we only have our own - in whichever incomplete and environmentally-triggered version we may have) … we are incapable of making the best decisions or judgments. We become incapable of reaching our potential if we are incapable of seeing our limitations on knowledge of “what is” or “is not”…

“Most birds are created to fly; for them, being grounded is a limitation within their ability to fly. Living unloved is a limitation; it is as if our wings were clipped, as if we were grounded – as if we lost our ability to fly.”

-       The Shack

“An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His Children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.”

-       A. W. Tozer

 

“Openness to Christ, who as the Redeemer of the world fully ‘reveals man to himself,’ can only be achieved through an ever more mature reference to the Father and his love. Although God ‘dwells in unapproachable light,’ he speaks to man by means of the whole of the universe: ‘Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.’ This indirect and imperfect knowledge, achieved by the intellect seeking God by means of creatures through the visible world, falls short of ‘vision of the Father.’…This ‘making known’ reveals God in the most profound mystery of his bein, one and three, surrounded by ‘unapproachable light.’ Nevertheless, through this ‘making known’ by Christ we know God above all in his relationship of love for man: in his ‘philanthropy.’ It is precisely here that ‘his invisible nature’ becomes in a special way ‘visible,’ incomparably more visible than through all the other ‘things that have been made’: it becomes visible in Christ and through Christ, through his actions and his words, and finally through his death on the cross and his resurrection.

            In this way, in Christ and through Christ, God also becomes especially visible in his mercy; that is to say, there is emphasized that attribute of the divinity which the Old Testament, using various concepts and terms, already defined as ‘mercy’. Christ congers on the whole of the Old Testament tradition about God’s mercy a definitive meaning. Not only does he speak of it and explain it by the use of comparisons and parables, but above all he himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. He himself, in a certain sense, is mercy. To the person who sees it in him – and finds it in him – God becomes ‘visible’ in a particular way as the father ‘who is rich in mercy.’”

-       Pope John Paul II

 

Its crazy – i can be standing in the middle of Liberia, midday i might add, and get the chills…

Through the incident with Joshua, i learned a lot about my lack of faith. i learned a lot about how hard it is for me to let go and let God. i learned a lot about my stumbling self, and how i need to let go of my independence and keep looking to him to help me find my way home.

 

“Well sometimes I miss a step

I stumble here and there

Well im finding my way home

If im lost then ill admit

Sometimes I plain forget,

But im finding my way home

And you can try and stand in my way

Say what you gonna say

But im finding my way home”

-       Citizen Cope, “My Way Home”

 

i pray that WE may all continue to grow in faith. Faith is not a noun; faith is a verb. It is neither political nor social; Independent nor religion. It is a living, breathing, dialoguing relationship with God in Three persons. From this ongoing conversation, corresponding actions and submissive love are instinctively spurred from the realization of truths and importance.

Pray for understanding, patience, forgiveness, hope, joy, self-control, generosity, compassion, wisdom and love…for all of us!

 

Life, Love and Peace

uncle matthew

“Do not worry about your career. Concern yourself with your vocation, and that is to be lovers of Jesus.”

- Mother Teresa

the war on learning haha

Stern as death is Love, relentless as the nether world is devotion; its flames are a blazing fire. Deep waters cannot quench love, nor floods sweep it away.

- Song of Songs 8: 6b-7a

You know that common confusion that people go through when trying to figure out “what to do with their lives”?

Well it hit me really hard.

i don’t think a day went by that the thought escaped my mind. It was as if the pressure was going to make me explode. i wanted to do something meaningful, and i felt i had to do something that would make me “successful” - something that would allow me to have that house in the suburbs with the three kids and potential vacation house. i thought that success was derived from the money you made, the job you had, the car you drove, whether you were smart or athletic or technically savy…

i mean why not? That’s what i saw (or i thought i saw around me). When people told me that someone was successful, those were the characteristics that seemed to be coupled with the compliment…But there was something about that that just didn’t click with me.

“Well its Bitter-sweet symphony, this life.

Trying to make ends meet

You’re a slave to the money then you die

I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down

You know the one that takes you to the places where all the things begin”

- “Bitter-Sweet Sypmphony” The Verve

It was something that i can merely compare to hopelessness. It seemed as if that were the road i decided to take that my life would revolve around making money. My job would end up becoming my life. i’m not saying that that is wrong, or that anyone who has those things or that type of job is wrong or misled or searching in the wrong places – but for me, personally, it didn’t sound appealing as to the life i wanted to live. i was starting to want to drift away from the money and put my life into something i thought could be of more value in the end. That’s when everything i was thinking started scaring me.

“You guys are all into that born again thing, which is great. We do need to be born again, since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus. But if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, I can tell you that you have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy too…(he paused because of the awkward silence)… But I guess that’s why God invented highlighters, so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest.”

- Rich Mullins, Speech at Wheaton College

i knew i wanted to live a life that was meaningful in different ways. i knew i didn’t want to be a slave to my talents - to a job – to just making a check …but that was scary – because in this world, that’s what seems realistic. It seems silly or foolish or immature just to do what you love. It seems like you’re abandoning your “responsibilities” – like you’re just running away from everything.

So i was scared. i was nervous. i felt lonely. i was starting to get more into this Jesus thing. i was starting to be able to relate to, and understand what He meant when He said it would be harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven – and that was definitely far from a comforting realization. i like my SUV. i like my nice clothes. i liked being the high school quarterback or the homecoming king. i liked the thought of going to college and one day hoping to work with my dad in his Executive Recruiting firm. The more i was trying to get into my faith, the more i read more about Jesus – the more He seemed to be wrecking that life i had, or was heading towards.

The more i read, the more i prayed, the more i felt that those sort of “successes” didn’t really hold any value when it came down to my true happiness.

“The doors of normalcy and conformity are dead. The time has come to give up on the doors and find a window to climb through. It’s a little more dangerous and may get you into some trouble, but it is a heck of a lot more fun. And the people who have changed the world have always been the risk-takers who climb through windows while the rest of the world just walks in and out of the doors.”

- Shane Claiborne, Graduation speech at Eastern University, “Crawl through the Window”

So when i had a conversation with my dad over this past Christmas break about what i wanted to do, and what i needed to do to accomplish that – he helped me to see my window. i decided i was going to forget about college for a while…i decided i really felt that my passion was working with and for people who were oppressed and marginalized – so if that’s what i wanted to do with my life, i needed to learn about it and check it out…just like if i was going to get that degree to go into business with my pops. Ha, the only difference seemed to be i was going to get this “degree” or experience working at a mission in war-stricken Liberia instead of UGA.

And i was scared because going through that window led to a jump from “reality” or “normalcy” and comfort.

So i’m starting to make my way out of that window. i made the climb up to the window, i got on that plane that led me to this place. This place that is teaching me what truly is meaningful. It’s teaching me the priceless ness of a contagious smile you can’t fake. It’s teaching me how to be grateful for everything instead of bitter for what i lack. It’s been a harsh reality of the truth that someone who makes $1.50 for a 14 hour day laboring in the African heat can be, and in most cases is, happier and more fulfilled that those making 6 figures a year in the states working the 9 – 5.

It’s teaching me a new definition to the word success. No longer does making money or having those material things come anywhere close to what success means to me anymore. To me – in my heart, my success will be the impact i can have – what i can do for others. i want to be the arm reaching to those around the world who need it. i want to bring light to the importance of things that we, as Americans, take for granted... i no longer want to sit waiting for this world to change, nor do i want to try and predict what will have to happen for it to change…i want to be part of the change – because the change has to start in each and every one of us. The change works from the inside out.

Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy to find grace for timely help.

- Hebrews 4:14-16

So now i’ve found my window – and i’ve made the climb up, and I’m looking down at the jump. And honestly, i’m a little scared. i’m not scared about the jump – i want nothing more than to run a mission like this one or start my own 501c3 (Non-profit or NGO) - but i’m scared about when i go back home. Because i still do miss all the stuff and it will be just sitting there waiting for me when i return.

i want to make the jump; i’m going to make the jump. And in many ways, just the change of thought is a jump in itself - but its time to put the rubber to the road. Its time to live in this new found truth and avoid folding to the pressure of conforming back into the numbing normalcy we love to play it safe in. It’s time to look silly to some, foolish to most, and hopefully childlike to all.

zinnah caught in the act

“Bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism…This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all.”

- Martin Luther King Jr. “A Time to Break the Silence”

Pray for understanding, peace, patience, generosity, forgiveness, joy, compassion, wisdom, and LOVE… for all of us!

Life, Love, and Peace

uncle matthew

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.
- 1 John 4:7-12




“Its times like these you learn to live again
Its times like these you give and give again
Its times like these you learn to love again
Its times like these, time, and time again”
- “Times Like These” The Foo Fighters




There are mornings like Saturday when i wake up and am completely “vexed” – frustrated, confused, and angry with some situations and issues that are going on here that i don’t need to, nor am i going to talk about but will simply say they are not being handled in the right way…and i need to give my feelings up to God, and know that He has His reasons and He is in control. After all, i should just be thankful that He is there to be with me through them…haha… or that i am able to feel at all…So Thank God:)



So yea…everyone has those days like i had on Saturday morning…
But then there are also those days that are so beautifully wonderful that problems seem to fade somewhere in-between myth and nonexistence.



Sunday, April 12…yesterday…Easter…was probably one of the best days of my life…definitely the best Easter.
i honestly can’t explain it, but can only say that everything was beautiful.
First of all…haha… i don’t know how, but i managed to sleep in until 8:15.
i first woke up at 5:45 and thought I’d drift off for another couple minutes and then - almost as if under anesthesia - i awoke up from a heavy slumber, panicked (because i thought i’d be late for Easter Mass) and honestly confused as to how i managed to sleep that long.
Anyways, i guess the sleep did me some good or i was just in an attitude close to ecstasy simply because of gift of life…either way i was set for the day in a joyous mood i could neither fake nor alter.



This Easter, there were no chocolate rabbits. There were no flamboyant Polo’s or sun dresses. There were no Easter eggs stuffed with little candies (honestly i have to admit my mind wandered to jellybeans for a moment)…
…There was, however, Love, comraderie, joy, and celebration…
This Easter, i was fortunate enough to be apart of the baptism of 50 of our children and our wonderful cook, Marta.

The kids walking in for Easter Mass/getting baptized

Now i’ve been to all sorts of services in the states…beautiful services, dull services, reverent services, joyous services, celebratory services, long services, and short services (haha i just sounded like Dr. Suess)… But none compare to the one i attended this Easter.



The celebration was composed of spontaneous, unrestrained joy and a reverence of the truest meaning. The voices of the children were chilling as usual - gloriously triumphant with Christ’s victory over the grave. Their faces were joyous with the new burst of life from the children so eager to take the next step in their spiritual journey. As i stood there, all i could do was smile and thank God for the opportunity to witness such an event…
It was a bonfire of Love.



"Brothers and Sisters: Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
- 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8




“Bartender please
Fill my glass for me
With the wine you gave Jesus that set him free after 3 days in the ground.
I’m on bended knee, I pray. Bartender please
When I was young I never thought about it
And now I can’t get it out of my mind
I’m on bended knee – Father please”
- “Bartender” The Dave Matthew’s Band



So a little less than half of our kids were baptized, and Jerome, Clarissa, John and I became the proud Godparents of all of them

Two proud Godfathers with Zinnah Sackie as he's getting baptized

John and Clarissa during the ceremony

Teddy, myself, and one of my favorite new Godsons - Sam Sumo


After Mass we went back for our Easter dinner. It was plain, yet unforgettable. The friendship and spirit in that room will stay with me for a long time – we truly felt that we were not alone. It was an Easter to be cherished.

We weren’t celebrating our Easter with the normalcy of our families back at home. We didn’t have a ham or sweet potatoes or a table of deserts – no fine wines or cider.
We had bottled water, chicken breasts (a real treat), and rice with a wonderful cup of instant Nescafe Coffee coupled with conversation for desert. This was probably one of the most enjoyable meals i will ever have.

We sat around the table, and all of us were more than overjoyed for what we had. We were all just so happy to be a part of this place – to share this experience – to witness the love that is here.
As my grandmother would say… “if only the table could talk”, my would it have a story to tell.
Whatever you would think of as a “normal Easter” – we did not have it. We had something better. This Easter there was no need to look in my closest for my brightest shirt. There was no need to give up chocolate for lent so i wouldn’t feel bad stuffing my face Easter morning. There was no need to preheat the oven for the ham (probably because we don’t have an oven).
But we had much more than what we needed. We had people we love. We had happiness. We had a celebration of our Savior dying for our sins and then conquering the grave. We had a celebration of the children being baptized. We had a testimony to love.

Brothers and Sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

"For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus."
- Romans 6:3-11

God is Good – All the time. All the time – God is good.
Feelings are temporary. And it seems that i’m always having to remind myself that.
Feelings of sadness, anger, frustration, happiness and joy.
Feelings change with the wind, but God is fixed. God is Good, All the time.
He is our true north, from which all other latitudes and longitudes are determined

Sometimes i get down…for all different kinds of reasons…
And i can mope, or stay down, or sulk…but the only thing that ever gets me out of my funk is giving it up to God…And knowing that He is always with me. He is always good, and He always has me right where i need to be - learning the lesson i need to be learning. But i need those little reminders like Saturday and then Sunday - i need to remember to not be distracted or tormented by my feelings. i need to remember that my feelings are like a small piece of grass blowing in the wind – so quickly will they pass. i need to remember that maybe today i’m angry, tomorrow i might be sad, the next day i might be fearful and afterwards rejoiceful – but none of that matters if i can remember and hold on to the thought that God is with me. i know that the monologue of my frustration or depression gets me no where, and the only way for this blind man to move is to open up into dialogue, shut my own yapper and listen for a little bit to whatever God has is say… i just have to be still and know that He is God…and He leads me where i need to be.

"A great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks, bu the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Next came a blazing fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. But after the fire came a gentle whisper and thus the Lord spoke. "
- 1 Kings 19:11-13

…We hear those whispers in the people and places we least expect it…
I want to be a part of the new world that’s whispering. I want to be an instrument of peace in the choir that sings softly the songs of love, compassion and generosity with their lives.
I want to be a part of the movement that teaches how to survive blindness. That invokes the spirit to wrestle with its issues - To challenge, to question – to seek the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Musu right after she was baptized...hah you can tell a kid took the picture because of the finger in the way


"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, To announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn; To place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes, To give them oil of gladness in place of mourning, a glorious mantle instead of listless spirit. They will be called oaks of justice, plated by the Lord to show his glory. "
- Isaiah 61:1-3

I’m trying not to think of the kids telling me I’m not allowed to leave on May 20th, or the fact that Momma (the girl’s house mother) told me how much she’s going to miss me last night…haha i’m trying to listen to myself and not let these feelings get too deep…

i’m going to miss the feelings, emotions and truths these children and people give off…there is something special about them…something real…something you can’t fake. But i’m going to be glad i got to experience them at all, and that i still have 37 more days:)

Thank you for all of you who support and pray for us! You really do make an impact. i hope all of you are doing well as always, and know that you are all in my prayers. Pray for peace, for understanding, patience, compassion, generosity and Love…for all of us!

Life, Love, and Peace
uncle matthew