“Faith in Every Footstep – Sisters’ Conference”

Most of the young African sister missionaries know very little about the history of the Church. We decided to focus our quarterly Sisters’ conference on teaching them about the early pioneers and the beginning of the Church in these latter days.

The senior sisters, all from the U.S., shared stories of their ancestors crossing the plains and the hardships they overcame. We taught the younger girls that the pioneers laid the foundation, but it is up to their generation to do the work now. These young sister missionaries are the pioneers in Africa, and as missionaries must demonstrate great faith, courage and endurance, relying on their faith in Jesus Christ.  They are blazing the trail for many generations to come and, one day, their posterity will be sharing their stories.

As part of the conference, Sister Montoya painted all of our toenails. It was an artsy, fun, bonding moment, and keeping in the theme of “Faith in every FOOTstep.” 😉

I love this quote from President M. Russell Ballard: “We are the inheritors of a tremendous heritage. Now it is our privilege and responsibility to be part of the Restoration’s continuing drama, and there are great and heroic stories of faith to be written in our day. It will require every bit of our strength, wisdom, and energy to overcome the obstacles that will confront us. But even that will not be enough. We will learn, as did our pioneer ancestors, that it is only in faith—real faith, whole-souled, tested and tried—that we will find safety and confidence as we walk our own perilous pathways through life.”

We also enjoyed making fried bread and eating it with the butter we made from cream. The STL’s (sister trainer leaders) taught a wonderful lesson about having faith in every footstep. We also taught the girls the Virginia Reel, a pioneer folk dance. It was a remarkable day.

“Official New Branches – the Growth Continues”

Recently two new branches (church congregations) have been established in Liberia — one in LAC and one in Bong Mine, both in small villages way out in the bush. Because there are no addresses in Liberia, it has taken over 15 months to get the many members located, pinned, and recorded. It was not an easy task, but we are excited that these units are strong enough to begin operating more independently. We look forward to seeing their growth in the future. That brings us to 21 mission branches with one more in the works, in addition to the 6 stakes in Liberia.

 
“The Beating” 

It is not uncommon for leaders to state during a church meeting, “Husbands don’t beat your wives. Wives don’t beat your children.” Beating a child or another person is not uncommon in many parts of the culture here. Often, members come into the Church, bringing old habits and behaviors.  We are trying to teach them better ways and encourage change. It is amazing to see what gospel understanding does to improve behaviors, but there are so many that never get these teachings.

While Jeff was interviewing people for leadership positions for the new branch in LAC, I stayed in the hall and talked to many of the church members. At one point, I heard a young child screaming in pain from across the road.  I tried to ignore the cries as I knew it was not my business, but after five minutes, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I looked out the window and saw a little boy wearing nothing but boxer shorts, thrashing around on the ground in serious pain. I was stunned to see that members, neighbors, and people walking down the road paid no attention to him. 

I asked Aaron, an 18-year-old member, if he would come with me to help the child. We walked to the boy across the street. He was covered in dirt, screaming, and holding his side and back. I knelt down and held and comforted him. He quickly stopped crying, most likely because of the shock of a white woman coming to his aid. (White women are rarely, if ever, seen in these remote villages.) The boy’s mother was not ten feet away, busy, pounding her casava leaves to make dinner. She said, “He’s angry because he got beat.” The boy continued to shake in pain, grabbing his back and kidneys where he had been hit. Aaron and I stayed with him until we knew he was going to be okay. 

The following week we went back to LAC to officially install the new branch leadership in place. The first person to greet me when getting out of the car was this little boy. He saw me and ran across the dirt road to give me a hug. I realized we are never too busy to be nice. I am sure he will never forget the experience of being comforted by a ‘white woman,’ and neither will I. 

Big Legs, Huge Veins?

My new friend Aaron and I bonded over helping the young child who had been beaten. We returned to the church building where Jeff was still doing interviews. I asked Aaron to tell me about what he was learning in school. He told me he was learning map skills. He took me into one of the classrooms and started drawing a detailed map on the whiteboard. He said he needed to reduce it by half. For many minutes, he explained the process of shrinking the map while still being true to the map key and scale.  After he successfully completed the assignment, I asked him what other classes he was taking. He wrote down Biology, Math, Geography, Reading and English. Because I could barely understand him, I was curious about English. “So, tell me what you are learning in English,” I said.  Aaron replied, “We are learning how to write an essay.” 

He grabbed a marker and wrote in big letters on the white board: Topic, Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2, Paragraph 3, Conclusion. I was impressed. I said, “Tell me more.” Next to Topic, Aaron wrote, ‘Sister Thomas’; next to Paragraph 1 – ‘Health’; next to Paragraph 2 – ‘Work’; next to Paragraph 3 – ‘Morphology’. It didn’t take me long to realize he was going to write an essay about me. I was okay with that until I asked, “What do you mean by Morphology?” Aaron said, “Physical morphology,” and then he began looking me over, inch by inch. It was very uncomfortable having an 18-year-old boy checking me out, as I know Liberians have no filters and call it like it is. If you are ‘fleshy’ they say, “You fat.” If you are ‘thin’ they say, “You dry.” 

What words would Aaron use to describe me? It started out okay, ‘white woman, brown eyes, long soft hair.’  He continued to study my ‘morphology’ and it went downhill from there: ‘big legs, huge veins.’ This was getting very uncomfortable, so I tried to diffuse the scrutiny of describing my body parts, and so I said, “and super fun!” He misheard me and wrote ‘super fat.’  By this time, we had gathered a crowd of young adult boys curious about Sister Thomas. I said “Fun! Not fat!” 🤣 He reluctantly changed it to ‘Fun.’ Haha. Under Health, Aaron wrote ‘Strong woman’ and under Work he wrote ‘Missionary.’ I told him, I was much more than a missionary. I took the marker from him and wrote ‘wife, mother, grandmother,’ and then listed the things I love — ‘piano, skiing, tennis, boating, biking, hiking, decorating…’ in big letters. Aaron took the pen back and wrote ‘Very Active’ and then said, “You are very active for an O’MA” (old mother).” I went away from that lesson with very mixed emotions. On the one hand, I am grateful that I live in a culture where I can enjoy all that life has to offer. On the other hand, I realized I am an ‘old fat woman with big legs and huge veins.’ 🤣

The Dentist

The night before we were leaving to Cote D’Ivoire for some leadership training, one of Jeff’s tooth fillings came out. Of the seven dentists in Liberia, the only one we know and trust is a fine Christian man, named Simon, from England. He and his wife came here seven years ago and set up a dental clinic. They both fix teeth and train Liberians how to do dentistry. Simon told us he did a similar thing years ago in Ethiopia. He said he’s been blessed in life and wants to share his passions of his faith and help people with his dentistry.   We feel lucky to have someone with his skill and goodness here in Liberia! Such people are inspiring.

Because it cost $20 to make an appointment, most Liberians choose to come early and wait in a long line, hoping to be seen by the dentist. Most have never been to a dentist before, so Jeff and I were a little intrigued when the Liberian office manager came out to address the crowd of potential patients. He first pointed to where the washrooms were and said, “The ladies are on the left, the men are on the right. Do not stand ON the commode, you sit on the commode. There is a spray so it will not smell. Do not carry (take) away the spray, it stays in the washroom.” It was another realization that most Liberians do not have indoor plumbing so using a traditional toilet is a new experience for them.

The manager continued, “How many of you have heard that if you have a tooth pulled you will die?” A surprisingly large number raised their hands. He continued, “That is false. If the dentist needs to pull a tooth, your brains will not come out. You will not die. If you are pregnant and you need a tooth pulled, your baby will not die. How many of you have heard that your baby will die if your tooth is pulled?” Many again raised their hands. He said, “That is false.” He went on with a few more strange scenarios. 

When we finally met with the dentist, I asked him what all that was about. Simon said “They believe if you pull out a molar their brain leaks out and they will die. We have to prepare them ahead of time, so they don’t panic when I pull their tooth.” Most Africans have beautiful smiles, wide mouths and straight white teeth, but sadly, they use their back teeth to chew on sugarcane causing their molars to spoil. They also chew on bones causing good virgin teeth to crack. When that happens, the only option is to pull their teeth. Simon is obviously a seasoned dentist and tries to be proactive, letting patients know what to expect. 

Cote D’Ivoire and Bonus Visitors

We visited another African country in late April, Cote D’Ivoire, also known as the Ivory Coast. We were impressed with how modern the city of Abidjan is (at least compared to Liberia) — orderly roads, streetlights, hotels, modern buildings, and a delicious chocolate crepe restaurant in one of the malls. We didn’t know some of these more progressive places existed in West Africa.  We had excellent training with all the Africa West Area leaders, and we even visited the under-construction Abidjan temple site. This was a final meeting for many of the leaders, as they will be returning home from their assignments, including the Nielsens and the Klebingats of the Africa West Area presidency, and other mission presidents.  They will be so missed! 

Prior to visiting Cote D’Ivoire, we were blessed with some bonus visitors. Our dear friend, David Wade, from the Mission Department came and stayed with us for a few days. We traveled the area, counseled together and received some wonderful training. Brother Wade has such great global experience, not only in crisis management, but in practical aspects of being a mission leader.

In addition, we had Dr. Kimball Mellor and his wife, Sue, stay with us and tour several of our hospitals and clinics. We visited health care facilities out in the bush, maternity wards in the city, eye clinics and other services. We’re hoping with the recent improvements in Liberia’s medical care, we can be upgraded in our status from “poor” to “good.” We’re far from “excellent,” but we feel it is a reasonably safe place for a relatively healthy person to serve a mission. The Mellors are stationed in Ghana and are the AMA (Area Medical Advisors) for our mission. They have literally been life savers for our missionaries. As the pseudo-Mission Nurse, I call Dr. Mellor whenever I need medical advice or require assistance beyond my abilities – consequently, I call him many times each week to consult about missionary ailments or how to address diseases or crises that arise. I love his sense of humor as we deal with crazy ailments and situations. The Mellors have become very good friends. On one of our trips to Ghana, the Mellors took us to “80/20”…the closest thing we’ve had to a “Five Guys” burger in over two years! That upped their friend status even more!

Goings and Comings – we especially love the comings!

It is always sad when missionaries return home, especially senior couples. The Ericksons and Hanks left us this past quarter, but were thrilled to have the Norths and the Allreds arrive to serve with us. The Norths will be in the office, and the Allreds will be serving as Member Leader Support in Kakata. We feel so blessed they are willing to come help in this work!

Favorite Missionary Moments

Here are some photos — the best part of why we are here!