For the Love of Liberia

AFAA Mission Day 1-
A restful night we didn't get. I underestimated the humidity, the discomfort of sleeping on a child's bunkbed, and how little I sleep when all I have to use for a pillow is a rolled up bedsheet, but amazingly none of that matters. The lack of sleep was quickly changed to a motivation to get up when our first official day involved so much work and started in the best way possible. At 6:30 our team was awakened by the children of the AFAA house singing praises before breakfast. By 7 AM the entire team was up and moving, most of them were already getting to work on something. By 7:15 the extra workers we had hired were arriving. At 7:30 the Liberian roofing crew we paid to take off and redo the roof was on the job. The children were quickly quarantined to their bedroom for the day to keep them safe. Part of the team went to work on organizing the tools, luggage, diapers, and equipment we had brought. The Liberian workers were partnered with American team members and everyone was focused on the task at hand. The first day was purely chaotic but none of us could have predicted or planned the amount of work that was accomplished in just one day. With the exception of breaking for a brief breakfast, very quick lunch, and simple dinner the team was working. My job quickly became to keep the team ready with supplies, to purchase what we needed, and to make sure the Liberian workers were on task with their teammates. Since we didn't have everything we needed on hand and needed to purchase some supplies and tools at City Builders a few of the Liberian workers were put to the task of scraping the house front walls and the large block wall around the orphanage compound. By 5 PM the team had worked extremely hard. They were all rewarded with a cold pop and popsicle. I was a little concerned that everyone would burn out and it was time to rest so I shut off the generator and called it a day. My uncle quickly looked at me and said, "There is still daylight and we have work to do. Turn it back on." That's when I learned this team was focused, willing, dedicated, and committed, but more importantly this team was being led by God and His power, not by me. By the end of the first day we weren't just unpacked. The front of the house had been scraped and repainted, half the house had new electrical, 1/3 of the roof had been torn off and replaced, the plumbing had been assessed and septic side 1 and 2 had been cleaned, tables and chairs had been rebuilt, the special needs equipment had been put back together, the storage room had been organized, and plans for the playground had been layed out for the coming days. At 8 PM half the team was asleep, the other half was playing with the kids or chatting with workers or team members. Finally, around 1130 PM we had shut down for the night and were ready to sweat in our sleep till morning. It's humbling to know that most of the rest of the world faces this heat and unthinkable conditions every night. Surely we could survive it as well!