So my sandals are a lot more worn in..
My legs have received more ant bites in a week than I have the rest of my life...
My days are longer...
I now take a bath by using a bowl to scoop water from a 4 gallon bucket we fill at the well in our "garden"..

I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER!

I would be lying if I started off this first post by saying I have slept perfectly the first week..but that's mainly just because I'm not yet fully used to sleeping in 85 degree heat or part of my ceiling and mosquito net falling on my face at 2 in the morning..haha...but it's so worth it..

Now what you really want to hear about... The children...
From the moment I arrived I immediately fell in LOVE with these children and this beautiful country. Let me preface by saying that almost all of these kids was hand selected to receive this opportunity to higher their education and one day be a leader in a country that is is dire need of it. These kids were pulled from villages deep inside the forest, living in mud huts, or from places where the women still walk around naked...Yea- think like the specials you see on the History Channel or National Geographic. This country has been corrupted by evil dictators and war that has ruined the country. On my way to use this computer we passed a hotel where brainwashed children soldiers and rebels stormed in and opened fire with machine guns killing over 200 men women and children less than 5 years ago. Every single one of these children has SEEN death. And most have watched or heard family members or close friends being murdered....

But for some extraordinary reason..They don't act like you think they would with those haunting experiences only a few years past.

Our mission houses, feeds, educates, provides for spiritual growth, and teaches agriculture skills to 96 boys and 25 girls... beyond the that, they provide soley education for an additional 85+ making for a total 200+ children involved in the system

The Liberian Government called the mission I work at the best mission in Liberia a couple years ago, and these kids know it.

These children wake up at 5 every morning, do chores, have prayer, and eat. From 7:30-12:30 they go to school and receive an education that had they not been selected from their villages, they would have never gotten the opportunity to have (Most of these kids went to great measures to get into the mission). After school is spent working in the "garden" - a 20+ acre farm where we grow everything I can think of from peppers to pineapple to corn (which I might add is quite often frequented by the only snakes around the area..Cobra and Black Mamba..haha sorry mom..) and the children, water, plow, hook,harvest and tend to every day year round

At 5 the boys stop working in the garden and usually play soccer on a "feild" that I would more like to refer to as a mixture between dust plenty of rocks and bush..and 3 bamboo poles as goals..haha the tops fall off almost every 30 minutes.

At 7 we have prayer. Ok, now any notion you would ever have about a "prayer service", throw it away right now..NOW. haha.. This is not a quiet bible study or dicussion but the cramming of 96 boys into a 25x30 ft room or sauna in which there is nothing but bongo drums, Joyous singing, Dancing, praise, and liturgy. Probably the coolest, and spiritually fulfilling thing I have ever been able to partake in..and I get to do it every night...

I cannot express in words how amazing this first week has been. I have bonded and worked side by side with these children all week and I feel very much like they are my family...which make what they call me extremely suitable.. "Uncle Matthew"
From the moment I stepped out of the truck I was greated with Love.
I wish I could describe in words the effect and impact they have already instilled in my but I've been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to and it just cannot be done..

These kids have shown me the meaning to my life, the calling in which God has instilled in my heart..and above all, a great appreciation for EVERY SINGLE blessing He has put into my life - especially the struggles.

I will try to write again as soon as possible...I hope everyone is well and I wish you could see, feel , touch, and comprehend all that Is going on in this beautiful place..

"They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them,"If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." Taking a child He placed it in their midst, and putting His arms around it He said to them, "Whoever receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me."
-Mark 9:34-37

"Practical prayer is harder on the soles of your shoes than on the knees of your trousers."
-Austin O'Malley