Greetings from Liberia!!

It is now our second day in LIB and I (Kelsie) am feeling better by the hour. As my mom mentioned in the last entry, our travel day(s) was 34 hours, hours that do not go by quickly or easily. Our first full day included a brief visit to the school and reuniting (for me it was introductions as opposed to reunions, ha!) with our Liberian friends. I know so much about them and vice versa about me, that it just feels as if I know them already. Yesterday also included a nap, lots of blank stares, sweat, and ended the day with melatonin to help get a full night of sleep.

Yesterday was a challenge. I think when you plan for and travel to a country such as Liberia, there is a general understanding that it will be challenging, that I will have to adapt and get used to the vastly different life. Traveling internationally is hard in itself, so one of the challenges we faced was just being tired and flipping our internal clock to the eight hour time change. Liberia is hot and very humid, so that is also an adjustment. Even after being here for only one day, I am extremely grateful for what I have at home. One thing that we do not often think about is the gift of transportation. This is my mom’s first trip here without a car. I feel like an ungrateful American when I say that this was really hard for me, after literally one day. I lived in Italy for 4 months and I walked EVERYWHERE. This is just different.

I started the day yesterday by journaling and spending time in the quiet (something both my mom and I really value). The things I wrote down as I prayed were that I would be open to the the ways God will use me and transform me, for strength and adaptation, to be a blessing, to practice radical kindness, to have words of wisdom and to be an outpouring of the love of Christ. As we went through the day, facing challenges, I came back to the prayer I started my day with. I told my mom when we came back to the house to rest, I feel like my faith is already being tested. This was really hard. Why am I here? It’s so different and overwhelming. God, how are you going to use me?

For those of you who don’t know I have had some major toe issues over the years. It may sound silly, but not until your toes are in so much pain they feel like they are going to fall off do you realize how much of an impact your toes have on your movement. My mom asked the people with whom we are sharing the guest house to borrow some nail clippers, explaining to Ben my toe issues and the struggle with transportation and his response was, “You must be doing something right.” When things are hard, this is not God saying that you should not be where you are or do what you are doing. When things are hard, the enemy sneaks into to get you to believe the lies that you shouldn’t be here or shouldn’t be doing what you are doing. I know that there is a reason that God has led me here.

In my personal blog that I started right before my semester abroad, I remember mentioning that it felt that at every step of the way, something went wrong or it was just always hard. Something I consistently saw during this time was the faithfulness of God. Why would he lead me this far and leave me? Why would he call me here and not be present? God has promised. God has delivered. If God has promised to use me here, he will use me. If God promised for me to be a blessing, I will be a blessing. I pray that whatever you may be going through, you look to the promises of God. In your walk with God, if things are hard, you must be doing something right.

Prayer requests:
Health and wellness
Patience with the schedule and pace of life
The land purchase will be finalized in the next few days (we are going to check it out tomorrow and hopefully have a celebration service next week)
Encouragement and peace when we are hot and tired and anxious