The following was submitted by one of our missionaries about the work in Liberia.
The team arrived on Saturday in San Jose and stayed overnight at Hotel Brilla Sol, near the airport. We left the next morning for Liberia, making a necessary stop at El Jardin and, of course, checked out the souvenirs. We arrived in Liberia in time for lunch at a typical restaurant in the downtown district. The natural fruit drinks and home cooked food were a hit. We made our way on to The Best Western for prayer walk training and orientation. That evening we attended church at a local church, where the pastor told his flock that they had been given a free gift that they needed to pass on to others. He explained that all are told to "go" and that there are no acceptable excuses for not going at least for a few hours while the team from the United States was working in town. Although the sermon was in Spanish, all of the volunteers understood the word "excusas" heard many times. As a result we had 11 people from the church show up on-time to help us each day we were there. What a blessing to work with these sweet brothers and sisters in Christ!
We spent Monday prayer walking in central Liberia and returned to distribute Gospels of John on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Everyone learned how to say "Upe!" and became bold in going right up to the door with the word of God. We sensed the Holy Spirit working through us. Bob and Wendy were walking down a dirt road off the main street, when a gentleman appeared out of nowhere. He showed them his legs, which appeared to be leprous. They laid their hands on him and prayed for God to heal him. They turned to leave and the man had disappeared.
On Tuesday evening, Dwayne and Adam went to the hotel bar…………to talk to the bartender. As they began to share what we were doing in Liberia, he began to share that his life was a mess and he was ready to do something about it. One by one, customers finished their drinks and left the bar--leaving the three alone to talk. The bartender accepted Christ that evening. As Dwayne said, "a bar was turned into a sanctuary." The next evening the bartender came out to our devotional circle and told all of us how Jesus had changed his life and lifted a burden off his shoulders.
Another special moment was when F prayed the sinner's prayer in Spanish, as tears rolled down her cheeks. When she received a copy of the Bible, she clutched it to her breast.
When another woman said she wanted to study the Bible, N, a sweet young girl from the church asked her when, and she said, "tomorrow at noon." There were several appointments set up to begin Bible study right away. We had asked God to prepare the hearts of the people and He did. Why were we surprised that people accepted Christ when we came to the door? It is always a blessing to see a salvation and a blessing to be in the center of where God is at work.
Although a few individuals refused the free Gospels, one man thanked Bob for what we were doing in his city. He was a successful businessman who stated that there is nothing more powerful that we could do than give people the Word of God. How right he is.
Most of the people in Liberia claim to be Catholic, but few say that they read or study the Bible at home or in church. H shared that he had been born Catholic, but had chosen to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. "It grieves my heart that many well-meaning individuals can be locked into a lifetime of religious activity and miss God's greatest gift of salvation through knowing and accepting Jesus as the one and only way to salvation and into God's family."
