Riots & Rain…and Sophie Elaine

In the middle of the night, we heard gunshots, people shouting, and running up and down the street outside of our compound. Nancy got up to watch, but I just rolled over in bed and figured it would be over by morning. I guess I’m getting used to Liberia.

By 7:00 AM, there was still commotion as we attempted to leave, and our guards wouldn’t open our gate. They said it wasn’t safe to go outside. People were throwing rocks, and the riot police were blocking the roads. “You shouldn’t leave unless you want your car smashed,” they told us. So we put the car in reverse and backed up into our parking space. We asked our guards to notify us if things calmed down. An hour later, they knocked on our front door and told us they thought we could leave. We had a brief window to sneak away from the violence. We made it safely to Harbel, an hour and half away, and had a great zone conference with the Harbel, Buchanan and LAC missionaries.

By the time we returned that evening, the roads were open, though rocks littered the streets and burned tires scarred the road. The police had mostly left. The whole incident started at 4:00 AM when a drug raid was being made near the campaign headquarters of the past president. Some locals thought the new government was raiding the campaign headquarters, so they awoke to fight off the drug enforcement authorities and police, and it erupted into a riot and a massive misunderstanding. So we were told.

The next morning, we headed to Greenville. Greenville is a couple hundred miles away, and if the roads were paved it would take only about four to five hours to drive there. However, this is Liberia, and this is rainy season. We didn’t want to go, but we desperately needed to change the Greenville Branch leadership because the current branch president had been away since May.

Leaving at 6:00 AM, we hit the dirt roads by 8:00 AM. From there on, it was a bumpy Disneyland ride that you couldn’t get off. Once you are on that road, you are committed. There is no turning back. Sometimes we had to wait for stuck trucks, and sometimes we had to dig ourselves out or find a tractor that we could pay to pull us through the mud. Our driver, Morris, did an amazing job of getting us through, and by about 11:00 PM we arrived in Greenville. He is an amazing driver and protector. (A short video is below.)

In Greenville, it was a sweet experience to be with Elder Mcopela (from Zimbabwe), Elder Nkongolo (from the DRC), Elder Duncan (from the US), and Elder Yamauchi (from Hawaii).  Such amazing missionaries! We attended the baptism of Hamilton, Matthew and AB, and went teaching and visiting with the elders. While there, I conducted interviews and then called and set apart a new branch presidency. Because there was no hotel or guest room available, the missionaries let us use one of their rooms for the weekend, and Nancy brought and prepared food for all of us, which the missionaries appreciated because of the limited food choices they have.

Sunday night, we received a video call from Dallin and Annie. They had their baby girl, and all went well! They named her Sophie Elaine. We are so excited to meet Sophie when we get home next summer. Thank heavens for Facetime so we can see how beautiful our grandbabies are while we are away! We miss every one of our twelve grandchildren! And one more is coming in January with Aaron and Kayla expecting their first!

On Monday morning, we decided to get on the road early, hoping we could avoid traffic jams on the muddy roads. We left at 4:00 AM, and we made it until 7:30 AM before we hit the first blockage. It turns out the road had been blocked for two days. They used massive yellow tractors, all pulling together to try and dislodge the stuck trucks, but they were unsuccessful after many attempts. Finally, they brought in truckloads of dirt and made a small side road for the smaller vehicles to get around the trucks…and we were moving again.

It was a muddy, bumpy ride the rest of the way home. We had one flat tire and had to replace our toasted brakes, but we made it back to civilization and home by 10:00 PM. 

Miraculously, every time we thought we were stuck, the way opened up for us, and we squeezed through. I’m convinced we had divine help on this trip. I’m grateful we were able to call new leadership and strengthen the branch in Greenville. It is still amazing to me to see the Lord’s hand in this work.

The week finished with the official creation of the Tubmanburg branch and its annexation by the Virginia stake. This will greatly strengthen this branch and reduce our mission branches to 21.

Sacrament meeting for the newly created Tubmanburg Branch.