ready set...

Well, I guess it is going to be a go and if I get the visa in time I will be flying to Monrovia, Liberia on March 22nd.  I would be going with a nurse from our church and our pastor who both have been there before.  I just talked to our pastor and he was telling me what an answer from God this is especially since I have some experience with teaching.  It's not by accident that I have a part-time job right now that is easy to leave for 10 days and that this job in many ways prepared me for this mission trip.

Liberia as a whole is struggling for teachers and this year out of the whole country 0 students passed the entrance exams to get into their University.  The school our church mainly works with has one of the highest scores in the country but even that is not enough as none of their students passed the entrance exam either.  So their goal is to bring in teachers in the near future from the US but first they want someone to observe the situation and see what is needed.  So the people over there were really excited when they found out a teacher might be coming (talking about me). :) I guess I am a teacher now.  I tried to explain I'm just a sub with no teacher's training but they don't care.  And in a way I understand that anyone is more qualified than their 16 year old kids that are trying to teach 4-5 graders because they simply have no one else.  Of course, lack of books and materials is a huge deal too and there's no technology at this school, only one black board to write on.  So that makes everything hard and I don't even know where the teachers going there would start.  Plus there are so many unschooled children running around who don't even know colors and basic skills.  It makes your heart break for how much needs to be done and is the little drop in the ocean going to help?  But God is clearly calling us to go and help and everyone there is so grateful for every little thing our church is able to do for them.  I'm starting to get excited about this life changing experience and I feel so humbled that I would even be able to go and be part of it.

So I'm getting all my vaccines next week and then it's to apply for the visas and I need to work on my support letters which  I feel kind of bad about since it is so last minute but I know people can support this trip even after we go and are back here so it is not as time sensitive.  I pray that God will prepare me for this and that I give Him 100%.   

These 2 pictures are from different trips some people from our congregation have been on and we'll be in the same places.  Stacy is the one with all the kids around her and she's the nurse I'll be helping out.  Her main job will be to do health screenings for all the kids in the school and I hope I'm able to observe and help with some of the schooling part of it too.