We are all spirits on a journey. We are all in the chapter of existence known as human. Human is a chapter of learning - A chapter of listening - A chapter of trial and error, lots and lots of error. But there is hope. Our God is a loving, forgiving and merciful God. But we must not disobey his will… we must live for him. Striving everyday to continuously better our journey. Will we take part in the journey? Will we start RUNNING towards the arms of a father more wise, more compassionate, more loving and merciful than anyone will ever begin to fathom? ...

But that being said, our God is serious. He wants his people for himself – he doesn’t want to share us with the false Gods (Money, Power, Materialism). Will we accept him? Will we strive to rise to the challenge? Will we follow his lead on the road of life? Or will we ignore God’s calling – falling deeper and deeper into the sinkholes of this world: stress, fear, anger, lust, greed, jealously, selfishness, hate, etc. until we are lost in complacency -and instead of rising, either float into nothingness, or live backwards. To LIVE backwards is exactly how it is spelled backwards, E-V-I-L, EVIL. We are human in nature, and that nature is one of mistakes, sin – and plenty of it. So will we let our father teach us? Will we pay attention to the signs in this classroom of life? Will we follow the road, the journey he’s laid out for each and every one of us? We all have different paths – will we follow the one he’s laid out for us?

- entry from my notes… 12:00 am 9/8/2008

But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.

- Wisdom 3:1-3

WE are all fools – all far away from what is real or of real importance

That verse is how i feel about this trip…

To a lot of people i know, coming to Africa was foolish. “What can you do there anyway? Why now? What will you do with your life? Why won’t you be like everyone and just go to class, stay in college, and get your degree – make some money – get ready for life?What are you gonna do there that you couldn’t do here?”…

The honest answer is i felt like “sobering” up… haha…i was tired of living in college…i felt that instead of swimming or sinking, i was floating…

i felt like sobering up to life. i wanted that waking up, that realization, that revelation of what was real in this life. i was, am, and will continue to be a fool, but i hope in my foolishness i can try to get closer to reality. Now i know “it could have been just as easy to do that in our own back yard”, and i agree to a certain extent…but i thought that if i stayed at home i’d miss out on getting the real and true view. (“don’t stay home” 311)

“Life in one big road with lots of signs. So when you’re riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake up and live.”

- Bob Marley

i was learning things from my friends, from the people i met, and the situations i was living in…and i don’t regret a single one of them, i’m thankful for them – especially my friends, after all we’re always right where we need to be, and those things got me to today…

i was learning what i wanted to be, and what i didn’t want to be…but something was missing - i was still only taking that inside view - i hadn’t taken that look from the outside in… and that is why i had to make my pilgrimage to the “motherland”. i needed to step out of my own skin of convenience, and take a look at the life i was living from the otherside - the side of the majority of the world - the view of those outside of the convenience most don’t ever get the pleasure of being numbed by. And as i’m continuing on the adventure i embarked on, i’m learning more and more of my desire to take a stand, to no longer live in that convenience i was raised in, but try and dig out the scar tissue left by the leprosy on my soul, the numbness from reality brought about by blindness to what is true. It will be hard, it will be a struggle – i don’t know how many times i’ll fall, but i want to give it a shot.

“Scar tissue that i wish you saw

Sarcastic mr. know-it-all

Close your eyes and i’ll kiss you ‘cause

With the birds i share….

With the birds i share this lonely view”

- “Scar Tissue” The Red Hot Chili Peppers

So this is just an idea of what a day in the life of a volunteer at Liberia Mission might be….

As 6:15 rolls around i start to stir. i usually wake up to laughing from the kids outside drawing water from the well or Jerome walking by our room asking in what should-have-been-whispered- yet-screamed manner “BOSS YOU UP?!” With a smile i roll over, tell my roommate, John good morning and say a quick “Thank you” to the big man and step out of the bed.

Immediately as i open my door, i’m greeted with usually more than 15 “ELLO - GOOD MORNING UNCLE MAC!”s (for some reason when they shorten it from matthew they call me mac? But i think i like it better like that anyways Haha). My morning is automatically started off with a smile. “Good morning! How was the night?!” is my usual response. And their’s is always the same… “Thank God. Good!”…

By this time i’ve gotten to the end of the corridor and am turning into the kitchen to share an always-interesting morning coffee with John and Jerome. After a second cup, i leave the twosome and get my nourishment for the day. i go and grab my daily book and post shop on the front steps to read the daily readings and a meditation while watching the sunrise…always a wonderfully peaceful way to start off the day.

Around 7:30 you can hear the school bell ring from the campus down the road. All the boys come running out of the dining hall from their breakfast (cassava) in their uniforms and take off towards campus…usually chasing one another haha…

They join up with all the other students and line up in front of the school for the morning assembly. During the assembly they sing songs of praise, hear the gospel and a little word from Benjamin (who doesn’t attend the school), and then announcements and what not from Mr. Glee, the school principal.

Somewhere in between Ben’s reading and the announcements i usually try to sneak around from behind the students and to the side of the school as to not distract them from what they should be hearing…This 100% of the time never works…I am always noticed by at least fifteen 5-12 year olds who find it much more amusing to make funny faces at me rather than pay attention (this sometimes ends with one of the teachers chasing them with a stick – seriously)…

So i get to my corner on the school and wait…

Mr. Glee finishes his announcements and then the gates are released…

My class, K-2, sprints at full speed towards me to see who will be the line-leader for the day, almost always Marcus wins this foot race – followed either by Rufus or Merci. We usually start the day of with their favorite game… “SIMON SAYS HANDS ON SHOULDERS….SIMON SAYS MARCH! LLLEEFFFFTT. LEEFFFTTT. LLLEEFFTTT– RIGHT – LEFT.” i would be lying if i said we looked orderly, and it would be an even further stretch from the truth if I were to say we made a decent line, but hey, it gets us to the classroom (which we are blessed to have in the back of the church).

The classroom is a war zone – and in the war, i am losing. Haha. These kids are crazy! Great kids, but crazy… First of all, i’m pretty sure 85% of them have ADHD. Secondly, you have to realize this is a different culture than in the states…

In the states, school is our job, it’s just accepted – its what you do, and everyone does it. Chores are not fun, but they’re something we have to do – work that we think is unnecessary but our parents tell us is a good thing for us…

In Liberia, WORKING is your job, even as a child– labor, pulling water, working the field, brick making, selling in the market, whatever – it’s just what you have to do. School is to them what chores are to us (especially since education is not required, and a vass majority of the country is illiterate). To them, work is just life. They will NEVER mind - i take that back - they LOVE “chores” like going to pull water so we can wet the rag to erase the chalkboard, or cleaning the room, or taking out the trash…but when it comes time to actually learning numbers or words…that is, the true “chore” for them, my whiners, complainers and mumble-ers come out. It is something we tell them will benefit them, but they have no desire in doing it. This factor usually accumulates some behavior issues, but we can get into that later…

..We have a much-needed recess break for 45 min, which is almost always spent laying down or trying to get more caffeine into my system. Haha..

After recess, i’m usually pretty burnt out from the war on learning, so that is usually when we have story time or arts and crafts…Yesterday we read the Jungle Book and i had the “Bare Necessities” song stuck in my head ALL day.

The school day comes to an end at 12:15, and everyday i walk out with a greater and greater appreciation for elementary school teachers…

After school, there is a break and lunch. Lunch starts at 1, and then at 2 we head into the field. In the field we tend the crops, which are a huge supply of the food we eat. We water, harvest, make lines, plant, weed, dig water holes, “hook”, and always sing in the field. Do you remember that song from SpaceJam? You know that “I believe I can fly..” song? Haha well that is one of the kids’ favorite, along with every Bob Marley and Akon song you can think of…

We leave the field at 5 sweating and smiling, and a lot of the kids leave laughing at me and saying that they have become like me because of the white complexion they’ve obtained due to jumping in the clay-filled waterholes they’ve just dug in the bush.

After work comes play. Soccer is played every day on the “field” behind the house for an hour. Now when i say field, think of an unleveled gravel parking lot with about only ¼ of the gravel…that is our field…and most of the kids play with either one shoe (sandal) or barefoot (one day i tried to play barefoot with them and my feet were sore for a week). i get the joy of playing with these kids, and let me tell you, they are unbelievable. For some reason i always get picked to play, but i really don’t know why because i’m honestly probably the worst on the field…i think it’s either because i’m the biggest or just plain sympathy…i’m leaning towards sympathy. A quick thank you to Mr. Chip for all the soccer balls, we are using them! The bush (thorns from the bush) has eaten 7 of soccer balls since I’ve been here and we are currently on number 8 (Daniel we’re using your ball! Thanks man!).

After soccer everyone takes their bucket bath that i’ve described because we don’t have running water and then goes back to the dining hall to get in line for dinner.

Our wonderful cooks, Marta and YA serve dinner around 6:30 and then the boys have time to eat and head to prayer…Prayer is a beautiful 30 minutes of singing, drums, dancing, a liturgy reading, and a little talk…my favorite part of the dayJ

After prayer we have study hall in the dining room until 9…then most of the kids start heading towards bed, getting much needed rest in order to be up at 5 to start their chores and do it all over again…

“(God’s) love for us led Christ to Gethsemane and to Calvary. Sin did it, our sin and the sins of the world. Sin still does it…God is not being loved and honored as he should by the race he has elevated to the sublime dignity of adopted sons. There is a gap, and God is looking for someone to stand in the gap before him on behalf of this race and beg that he may not destroy it… We do all that we can do just to make God forget the ingratitude of man in return for his boundless love and to make him remember his mercies. He hangs before us on the cross crying out, “I thirst.” It is to quench the thirst of this divine Lord that Missionaries of Charity do all that seems madness to the world. We are truly blessed in having a little share in the following of the cross.

See the compassion of Christ toward Judas, the man who received so much love, and yet betrayed his own Master, the Master who kept the sacred silence and would not betray him to his companions. Jesus could have easily spoken in public and told the hidden intentions and deeds of Judas to the others, but he did not do so. He rather showed mercy and charity; instead of condemning him, he called him a friend. If Judas had only looked into the eyes of Jesus as Peter did, today Judas would have been the friend of God’s mercy. Jesus always had compassion”

- Momma T … Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1997)

More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and (the) sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead

- Philippians 3:8-11

Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.

- John 12:26

“The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.”

- St. Basil

Did you know that there is more money being spent on boob jobs and Viagra than alzheimer’s…shows what we find important - Haha one’s imagination can only fathom what kind or society we are setting up

There are some days where i dread going to teach class – some days where i feel like hiding from the African sun or staying in from the fields – some days when i miss the value menu at Wendy’s – but every day i learn something new about this life, about the world, about myself. Every day is different, and every day brings something new, a new lesson, something good. I learn something new from my kids and their culture. I learn something new from the village across the road. I learn something new from working in the fields. I learn something new from walking the crowded and worn down streets of Redlight and Monrovia. It’s a different world here.

So yea i am foolish - i left my ac. i left my family, my friends, my girlfriend. i left the cold water from the fridge and started pulling it from a well - i left a hot shower for a bucket and a bowl. i’m foolish to go to a place where i’ve developed ricing sores. i’m foolish to leave a couch to go plow cassava in the African heat. i’m foolish to leave the comforts of fitting in, to being the minority, and to be judged (and rightfully so) when i walk through the crowded markets of Redlight or Monrovia. My life was much easier back home, and yes i am definitely foolish to leave it. i may be a fool, i may be silly, i may not make sense, but i am in peace, and i am more happy and fulfilled than i have ever been before.

No words, or pictures or stories will ever begin to give due justice to the experiences i’m having while i’m here – the lives i’m witnessing – the culture these people are showing me – the love and peace i’m feeling

Like always, i hope all of you are well! i hope the road of life has got you right where you need to be, and i pray that we all have the patience, and understanding to be thankful for whatever we’re going through.

Pray for patience, understanding, mercy, compassion, joy, generosity, love and peace… for all of us!

Life, Love and Peace

uncle matthew