LiberiaChristianCollege-1972-Liberia.pdf

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JldenUi^January, 1972 I

Buchanan , Libe r i a , Wes t Afr icaMissionaries: Charles Boatman Family

Forwarding Agents: Mr. & Mrs, Duane Garren1360 Grandview DriveFlorissant, Mo. 63033

Dear brethren, 'Today we had a pleasant reminder of America . About 9:30 a .m . , Air Force One touched down at Roberts International Airport, bringing Mrs. Nixon and her entourage as official representatives of the United States at the inauguration of PresidentWm. R. Tolbert. We unabashedly confess it brought a tear to the eye to see this tangible reminder of our homeland.^ .This is how Debbie described the event in a let ter to her grandparents: "I almost got to shake Mrs. Nixon's hand, but wewereon the wrong side of the fence. The plane was real pretty. Theyhad a real nice, red carpeted staircase for her andBillyGraham to come down, and then below that was a big platform witha pinkcarpet in front of it . After she stood onit while the bond played 'Star-Spangled Banner' and 'All Hail, Liberia, Hail,' President Tolbert led heraround the troopswhich,were standing at attention. Then the soldiers did some fancy stuff with their guns and turned around a few times.Then Mrs. Nixon came over and shook hands with the Americans. There were also some Liberion acrobats in weird costumeswith real fancy drummers, costumes, and also fancy drums. You should have seen Mrs. Nixon's face and eyes when she sawthem; she was really pretty!"Mrs. Nixon is the first wife of an incumbent president to visitthe continent ofAfrica. Inthe course of the trip she willalsovisit the neighboring states of Sierra Leone and Ghana. She wasaccompanied by Billy Graham, as Debbie mentioned.Mr. Graham is highly regarded as a Christian spokesman in Africa. He hod been invited to leada service of prayer thisafternoon in beholF of President Tolbert.

i By mid-December, we had finished the first yearofclasses of LCC .r You may recall that we had six students in grade twelve this past year.f All of them made passing grades in their classes, but that is notsuffft-^ cient for graduation in Liberia . It is also necessary to pass a national^ _ 4^ examgiven by the Deportment of Education. The examgrading systemstrongly weighted to limit the number who pass. Three of our students^ passed. On December 13, the college's first graduationexerciseswerey - held. The first picture in this month's letter is of our three graduates.\ They ore Henry Mehdeh, Thomas Haynes, and Jerry Toepoe, left to.\ ^ . - .w,-- right. The fancy ribbon banging from the gown has no significance.It Is just the standard decoration here in Liberia.. The second picture gives you an idea of what we hove done to "amuse"|^g||||^|^^g^|||||||||[||||||||||||Q|[[^ ourselves since the middle of the month. The Wayne Show family,

formerly of Fllppin, Arkansas, will be coming to assist us in the nearfuture, the Lord willing. By spending on building materialswhat Wayne would otherwise be paying for rent, and bydoing the construction work ourselves, we are hoping to hovefor his familya satisfactory dwelling soonafter they arrive later this month . To have a local contractor do the work wouldmultiply the cost many times, with no Increase In construction quality. This Is hotto be construed as vanity on our part.It Issimplya realistic analysis of the situation which exists here. "Professionals" in the building trade ore almost nonexistent in Buchanan . The picture shows the state of construction a few daysafter Christmas. The house is being built onthe college property. The Atlantic Ocean is about a mile behind the palm tree you see, and will be visible from the house.


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Constructionmethods here ore somewhat primitive, OS you will see in xthe third picture . This is Jerry, one of our graduates. He has carriedthe water about 100 yards from the well. Ayoung palm branch is jPT^twisted into a circle as Gcushion For the pole across his head . On ^^9 fiSthe next trip from the well, he had found another bucket and was ^carrying four full buckets of woterl We have mixed all the con-crete by hand, since there no concrete mixer available in Buchonan.About midway through the job of pouring the floor, we were wishingwe could go to the phone anddial for a load of reody-mixed concrete! HH IFortunotely,Abba Kornga volunteered the services of several of theboys


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oCdîiO'February/ 1972Brethren in Chri^^

Buchanan , Libe r i a , We s t Afr icaMissionaries: Charles Boatman Family

Forwarding Agents: Mr. & M rs . D ua ne Garren1360 G r o n d v i e w D r i v eFlorissant, Mo. 63033

We invite yoiiô take a trip into the "bush" with us this month. We ore including more pictures than usual so you may have aglimpl^^f^r trip to the village of Grand Kolla, where the Bible Faith Christian Church held its annual conference.To get to Grand Kollo wedrove twenty-five miles southeast from Bucharran. The first twomiles of road are paved, the restbe|^ rocks and dirt (mud in the rainy season). The road stops obruptly at a small village by the edge of the Kolla River. Asrhall shop run by a Lebanese man serves as a supply depot for scores of tiny villages further into the interior. The Lebaneseare the largest of the foreign national groups in Liberia, and are proprietors of most of the stores.AIthe river's edge we boarded a canoe carved from a log whivimming. It did not ^ther him, however, as he sat upon the highest pointof the canoe more than a foot out of the water,(Cheerfully encouraging us to sit still. We didiWebeganour hike on the other side of the river. This is the way youtravel In Liberia, once you hove left the very few motorroo^^ We passed through several small villages. In each, citizens cameout to wavea friendly greeting. At one village westopped for a..brief rest and consumed several bananas. They grow wildand in great profusion here. One very small child whowas broughtt^ to see us retreated in fear. She obviously l^d not seen many white people. We did not blame her, since weare also l>sglfwrT)g to think white people lookfunnyl Pole skin justdoesn't lookas healthy as the nice, dark "tan" most peoplewear here. (^ôtfciB'this-iespiecially at^his time of the year when relatives of the Swedes and Norwegians who work atLamco come here for a winter vacation. Those iare really white peoplel)After walking about t w hours, we approached our destination. The last few hundred feet of the trail entering the villageweredecorated with palm fronds, and all who were attending the conference were lined up on either side of the trail to greetus. It wasa very warm welcane, but we becanie tired of shaking hands before we reached the end of the line. (The standard"Liberion handshake consists of a regular handshake which is then completedby "dragging" the thumb and middlefinger as you pull the hands apart, tomake a loud snop. There is also a Christion handshake which starts in theregular fashion, then the thumbs ore interlocked, the hands are raised so thefingers wrap around the top of the other person's wrist , then bock to theformer position, and then usually the snapping of the fingers. If you hove

many people to greet, as in this case, it becomesa lengthy task.)We arrived on Wednesday, after the conference had been in session for twodays. Upon our arrival, weweretaken to the church building, where wewire briefly welcomed, and then taken to the home they had provided for us.The house was of mud and pole construction. Poles are stuck Into the ground,Hand then smaller poles are tied to these with vines, fonriingaattice-work.mud floor was covered with woven mats. Both of these' featunss were extraswas decorated inside and outside with whitewash put on the dark mud walls

meals of "colintry chop," tradltiotxil Liberian food . it usually consists of rice,to which is added yqripus kinds of soups, stews, and gravies. Sometimes rice


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, .repared, it has the consistency of bubble gum. One eats it without chewing,for to do so would result in it sticking to the tee th and the roof of the mouth.Its basic purpose in the diet is to provide a cheap, non-nutritional filler tofill the stomach when there is nothing better to eat. But the Liberions reallylike it! A number of chickens made the supreme sacrifice to the missionaryeffort, as did two goats which Deband Beverly Meece had befriended andnamed "Stripe" and "Beasty." We were rather surprised when the girls'appetites did not falter even though they knew "who" they were eating. TheGrand Kolla area has the sweetest grapefruit in Liberia, and Liberia is reputed to have the best pineapples in the world, and weenjoyed large quantitiesof both fruits.

I!'i There i s m u c h more to tell, but it would moke this letter too long to recite itall this month . We will share it with you in our next letter. But we must sayI that the week we spent in Grand Kollo was without doubt the highlight of ourI sojourn here. It was a combination of the best aspects of a revival meetingI and a week of family camp, and we enjoyed it immensely! We had ampleopportunity for teaching sessions, both formal and informal. Our teachingI is beginning to bear fruit with these people, as we will tell you next month.

Our Liberian brethren were very appreciative of our presence . They werepleased that we would bring our families Into the bush to share their humblemanner of life for a week. But we were glad to do this for the teaching oppor-B' tunities it afforded us. It really wasareat for uslHere is a description of the pictures in this letter:1. Pat, Deb, and Beverly Meece on the way across the Kolla River inthe dugout canoe. The Liberions pronounce it "ka-noo."2. A "junglesafari" heading through the bush . Insome placesthei trails are cleared toai d thof 10 feet, and in others, tall grossand bushes will brush against you.

3. The scourge of the t ra il is the driver ant. Here a thousand or moreore crossing the trail. Theyare small, but have a powerful bite.After passing through anarea like this, you must stomp your feet^ several times to shake them off your feet and legs.4. The church building at Grand Kollo.1 " 5. The house provided for us. The round pole structure at the rights a "palaver hut," the African equivalent of anAmericon patio.6. The "tool" withwhich the decorations were put on the house inpidture 5. This is the blossom of a plant which has been dried.The extremities ore cut off, and this is thendipped in whitevwshand slapped against the house.7. Some of the younger clHzens of Grand Kolla, who sper# much of

their time looking in the windov/s of our house to see how we lived.We were reminded of the proverbial goldfish bowl. But we enjoyedlooking at them, tool! February is the month for entrance examinations and registrations for the 1972chool year. Please pray that God will send to us the students who will helpto advance His kingdom in Liberia .Yours for a Christian Liberia,


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Xdtniei ^(snLUvMM arch, 1972

Deer friends.

Buchanan , L ib er ia , We s t Afr icaMissionaries: Charles Boatman FamilyForwarding Agents: Mr, & Mrs. Duane Garren

1 3 6 0 G r a n d v i e w D r i v eFlorissant, Mo. 63033This month we cortinue our story of our week in the "bush" at the onnuol conference of the Bible Faith Christian Church .Each doy provided uswith opportunity for formal teaching in doss, Inaddition to that which was done in Informal discussions .Pat had a daily class for the younger children (up to about age twelve). There weresixty or more In this group. Ron Ayerstaught the older young people, or "youth children" as the Llberlans say. Both groups met together in the palm-leaf "tent"for on opening session of chorus singing. Following the singing, Ron took his class down the hill about one-eighth of a mileto the lower vil lage, where they gathered In the shade of a large grapefruit tree . Pot's group stayed In the tent. TheLlberlans, children and adults alike, have a great appetite for Bible stories. Several adults usually sat in on the children'ssessions to he a r th e stor ie s.The adults were divided Into three groups. Women were taught by Greta Meece In the church building . The men Ingeneral and leaders In particular formed the other two groups. As It worked out there was considerable overlapping in thelatter two groups. Wayne Meece and Chorles taught these groups at different times In the day. We gave them a strongtreatment of basic Christian doctrine with particular emphasis on questions which trouble them.The Bible Faith Church Is a rather young group, ond has members who have been free from their various denominational backgrounds for only ten years at the most. Several doctrinal problems continue to "humbug" them, as Llberlans say. It Iseasy 'to take it for granted that the traditions Inwhich we have been raisedore based on divine revelation. For proof of this, weneed look nofurther than the divisions which plague our attempts at restoring the church in America. So we are sympatheticwith the Llberlans' plodding speed as they cometo new understanding of scripture. Theydo not wish to throw off one denominational tradition only to find themselves shackled by another. Wa were pleased to see that, like the Bereans InActs 17,theystudiedto see If whatwewere teaching them was so. In the free time betweenclasses, wewould see groups of menclustered together, reading Bible passages we had been discussing earlier. g expenses

High school andstudent body.

$ 25.00

2950.6950.0040.005.001.00

50.00130.00150.0025.00100.0025.005 .0015.00

640.5720.00185.00

5 .00160.00100 .00120.0025.005 .00

80 .00247 .2050.00100.00200.00

75.0010 .0015 .0035 .00

5627.85

4335.201292.65

10.70

$1303.35

. " .^ i t -junior high school


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Jld&UO'June, 1972

Dear fellow-laborers.

Buchanan , L ib er ia , Wes t AfricaMissionaries: Charles Boatman FamilyForwarding Agents: Mr. & Mrs. Duane Garren

1360 Grandvtew DriveFlorissant, Mo, 63033

Those of you who have been interested in our work from the beginning are fomiliar with the name of Byron Tarr.Byron was the Liberian student at the University of Illinois whom Bro. Gibson befriended in late 1968. It wasthrough him that we became acquainted with the Christian Education Foundation and received the Invitation tocome to Lli^eria . iByron, now Dr. Tarr, returned to Liberia this past month, after completing his doctor's degree in economics. Hehad received a very attractive job offer from one of the foreign-owned concessions in Liberia . He could havethus profited financiolly toa great degree. But the spirit of the man Is shown in the fact that he rejected thisoffer, to accept a position in government at a 6C% sacrifice in salary. He is now on the job asAssistant Ministerof Finance for Taxation. His Immediate superior Is a member of the Cabinet, aswell as being the President'sbrother. Brother Tarr accepted thisposition because of what it will enable him to do for his people.The tribal people of Liberia hove been shut out of government almost completely by the Americo-Llberians. For fa tribal man such as Byron to receive such a high-level appointment In national government isa tremendous honorand testimony to his characterYet, In spite of this, he remains the humble servant of Christ we have known himto be since we first met. In a recent church service soon after his return, he spoke with great humility of hisimportant position and asked the people for prayers in his behalf. We urge you to pray for him also, as he canhave a powerful Influence on the Lord's work in Liberia. Once again, we are reminded that God is blessing themovement here Inways'we could never have dreamed of four years ago.

We request your prayers for Joseph Gbadyu, one of our co- workers andCounty Supervisor of Education. He was seriously' Injured In an auto accident last month. He was thrownl through the windshield as the car overtyped, receiving ai concussion and severe lacerations of the'face, narrowly 2S ^ ^ avoiding damage to one eye. He Is recovering speedily and! A * Ijjfl should be back to work in a few weeks. Liberian highways^ are extremely dangerous. There are no more than 20,000 cars^ I in the country, but the accident rote is very high. Povertyprohibits proper maintenance of vehicles. Standards forlicensing drivers are low. Hardly a month goes by without a' 1^. serious accident on the road to Monrovia . Taxis and trucks/i: .QvvH m m stop in the middle of the road to pick up passengers andfreight, and sometimes park on the road at night without lights.If you have a vacant spot on your prayer list, the tjravel safety of the missionaries would make a worthy additionto th e list.Life is Interesting in Liberia Department: 1) One morning recently we stepped out the front door of the house to seea three-foot-long black cobra looking at us. Since we did not have the proverbial mongoose to fight him, we wentinto battle with what Is known locally as a cutlass. Residents of the U.S. Com Belt would recognize Itas a "cornknife." The snake went the way of all flesh. 2) The rainy season has come early this year. May brought us fiftyinches of rain. One night It rained nineteen inches! All is well, however, we have not yet needed to trade inth e car fo r a motorboat.


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Charles and Pat have both been teaching classes at Bible Faith Christian """*Church and World-Wide Missions Church this month. The eagerness with _which these people approach the study of the Bible is a delight to behold.Mark and Deb have just completed the school year at the Lamco Inter-national School. They received several awards at the closing program.Both children were given a new pen For their good penmanship. They didnot believe their father 's explanation that they have inherited that skillfrom him! Mark received the highest grades In hisclass. Deb, who is in fsixth grade, beat even the ninth graders in becoming the champion speller K jjr^ 1of the whole school. Mark t ied with three other students for second place .It Is only excessive humility that keeps the parents from disclosing their pride in their children!How about a short lesson in Liberlan English? In the following list, the first term is Liberian, and the second isits meaning in American idiom.

"Again," as In "I am ready again." "now""For you," as in "Is this book for you?" "Is it yours?""Carry," as In "Please carry me." "Give me a ride.""Cartoon," (although It is spelled carton) as In "Put it In a cartoon" "In a box.""Nevermind," in response to bad news "I'm sorry.""Book," as in "He knows book." ."He is literate.""Born-town," as In "Zorzor is my born- town." "birthplace""Chunk," as in "Don't chunk tha t rock. " "throw""Come," as in "I'm coming to go." "I am leaving now.""Onetime," as In "He did it one time "immediately""Ever since," as in "I have lived here ever since." "for a longtime.""Myself," as when one person says "I feel great today," his friend replies , "Myself ." "Me, too."Inaddition to many other such expressions, there are manyother English words which are spoken with such a strong

accent thwt It is very confusing the first time you hear them. One of the best examples: We often see a boywalking down the street with a box on his head, crying out,"Boyay/ boy ay!" He is speaking in the common pattern.

Pictures this month show some scenes from school. Numberone is Charles in one of the evening classes. Principles ofthe Basic Bible Doctrine class. Number three Isthe morning\ - assembly for devotions and announcements. The students are^ gathered inside the unfinished auditorium of the new World-were seated out of the picture to the right. Since there areno permanent seats in the auditorium yet, the boysall standduring this session.

As we close for this month, we request again that you be In prayer for workers. There will be need for severalmore missionaries by this time next year. God has promised to raise up the workers Ifwe will pray for them.Please place this burden on your heart.

Yours In His service.


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Buchanan , Libe r i a , Wes t Afr icaJuly, 1972

Dear Christian Friends,

We have just passed what has probably been our most trying time in Liberia,but the Lord has been with us and helped us through. Some of you know that Jamesand Beverlywere bitten bya rabid dog. This happened justafter our lastnewsletterwas mai led.

At that trme, we were uncertain about whether or not the dog actually hadrabies, so we had to begin giving the children the shots to be safe. Because thereare no testing facilities here, the dog's head had to be sent to Sweden. This tookseveral days, and the children had taken tenof the shotsbefore the test came back.The test was positive; the dog had rabies.

This gave us quite a shock as you can imagine, but the doctor assured us thatwe had begun the shots in plenty of time and that there was no great danger. Thechildren had taken enough of the shots for ys.tp be.sure, that they were not allergicto the vaccine. He also said that to be doubly safe, the series of shots should beextended to twenty-one rather than the normal fourteen.

Tomake a long story short, Beverly and James have finished all the twenty-one shots three weeks ago with litt le ill effect. The shots, taken in the abdomen,are somewhat painful but not nearly somuchasthey were a few years ago. We areproud of the children; theywere brave through the whole ordeal, hardlywhimperingand usually came away laughing after a sometimes painful stick.The doctorexplained that the vaccine is given in a mercurochrome base causing a burning sensation in the area of the injection not unlike putting a mild

antiseptic on a cut. The shot caused a red blotch about the size of a quarter, andsometimes caused a slight itching. This was the only uncomfortable effect thechildren complained of, and it soon went away.


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I am sorry if this sounds like a medical lecture, but when it gets close toyou, you feel a need to know all you can about it. Now that it is over, we feelfortunate and thankful that God was with us.

We are not alone in our trouble. Manyof our American Peace Corps friendshave been in the same situation. The doctor told us that he had given the shots toover one hundred people in the last year. He alsosaid that in his estimation rabieswas the most serious threat to life in this area of the world. Three Liberians havedied of rabies since we came eighteen months ago. I'll take lions, elephants, andsnakes any day; you can shoot them.

As if thiswasn't enough trouble, Greta comedown with Malaria in the middleof all this. It took two trips to the doctor and two series of blood tests to discoverthe problem. Then she took one series of medicine, had a relapse and hod to takeanother. She was in and out of bed for almost a month. At this writing she hasfully recovered but has learned that she must take it easier here in the heat.

As I said in the beginning, this has been a difficult time, but we are thankfulthat the Lx>rd has seen us through and allowed us to returnto being a normal familyagain.

The Wayne Show family has moved into their new house, leaving us aloneagain. They do not have electricity or running water and will not have for someweeks. The house is nice and roomy and will make a comfortable home.The Boatmans are to leave for the States on July 17. They will spend sometime in Europe on the way. Besides some tourism, Charles will spend some time at

UAbri Fellowship in Switzerland studying Philosophy under the well-known FransisA. Schawffer. To say the least, we are going to miss them.The biggest news here now is the impending visit of the President of Liberiato Basso County. While in the county. President William R. Tolbert will visit ourschool and take part in a special programon July 19. Asyou can imagine, we are

al l excited about his visit and are looking forward to it with just a bit of fear andtrembling; we are not used to rubbing shoulders with presidents.


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We are not sure what the visit of the president will mean to Liberia ChristianCollege or how it will affect its future, but the Liberians feel that the governmentwill be able to help the school in some (iiysical way, perhaps by supplying fundsfor the juniorand seniorhigh school. If so, this would be a great blessing to us,because it would leave us free to develop the college more fully. Whatever theresult, it will be a "Big Day" for us. We do ask that you pray especially for usduring that day. In our next letter we hope to have pictures and a full report ofthe event .

Weare thankfulthat oursupport continues to be regular and that it isgrowing.We cannotthankyou enough for your support and prayers for us. We praythat Godwill bless you as He has blessed us.Pictures in this issue:1. Beverly watching our neighbor children eating "fufu." The Liberians,especially children, eat out of the same potwith their fingers.2. James drawing water fromour well. The building behind is the neighbor'skitchen. The water drawing is only for the picture; we now have a handpump and a watertower, giving us running water in the house.3. Timothy and Douglas Shaw helping gather coconuts.

Your Christian servants in Liberia,


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Missionaries: Wayne Meece FamilyForwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click10345 Castle DriveSt. Louis, Missouri 63136

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH12105 Old Halls Ferry RoadFlorissant, Missouri 63033


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tMdenca^ C'(vUAtUuiBuchanan , L ib er ia , W e st Africa

Dear Christian Friends,I am "writing this in Nimba, about I65 miles inland from Buchanan onthe Liberia - Guinea border where the Lamco Mining Company is excavatinga mountain of iron ore and transporting i t by rail to Buchanan for treatment and shipment to the U. S., Europe, and Japan, We came here for ashort vacation between school semesters to relax and "get away from i tall." e are all back in good health now, the children have finishedwith all the rabies shots and boosters, and this being the only time inthe whole year (except Christmas) that we have a common school vacation,

we decided to take a short pleasure trip.We are staying in the Baptist Mission guest house, a nice three bed-roan house rented to missionaries on a short-term basis for about $5,00per day. We came here on the Lamco rail-bus which is free; so we thought

we cou ldn ' t miss .

We saw the Boatmans off for home by way of Europe on July I7, leavingus not a little lonesome and scamewhat shorthanded. We pray that they willhave a safe and enjoyable trip home. They are due to arrive in St. Louison August 17.

Plans are pretty well made for next semester. By the time you receivethis, we will be in full swing. Because the Boatmans have gone hone, therest of us will have to assume a much heavier teaching load. In additionto the two morning and one evening class, I will now teach two more eveningclasses. All of us will be sixteen or seventeen class hours each week.I t requires at least twice as much time for preparation and grading ofpapers outside of class as the actual classroom time. We are going to bebusy.

Augu s t . 1972


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Tolbert s visit to Bassa County was the big event it presnisedto be. The whole affaar turned out as a oanbination of a county faiTT' three-ri^ circus, and a political rally. There were parades, clowns'dancing in the streets, public demonstrations, and lots of speeches.On Wednesday afternoon. July 19, at five oliclock, PresidentTolbert cê to Lêria Christian College for the "offical" opening of

the school. The President was acccaipanied by the Chief Justice of theSupreme Court, The Resident pro tempore of the Senate, the Minister ofEducation, and ôut forty other important people fran Monrovia, Alsoon the iôgr^ from Bassa County were: County Superintendent (governor)Morgan, Senator Harmon, Supervisor of Schools Gbadyu, and Abba Karneathe leader of the Christian Education Foundation, 'T- the program was made up of speeches by the various officals.Joseph and Abba Kamga presented the program and needs of theschool to the President and his party. The President's speech was ashort congratulatory message and a thank-you to the missionaries. Hemade a donation of- $2,000 to the school on behalf of himself and thosewho were vath him. He did promise continued interest and support forthe school in the future, ^^ . H? us that perhaps government will be able tohelp the school, especially the junior high school program, by providingsane teachers. The visit of the President will draw attention to the^school and its needs,

^ 4.^ the President, shake his handnd talk vnth him briefly. He was kind and gracious in his personalthanlcs to us for what we were doing for his country and his peopleThroughout the program he showed a lively interest in what wS beiîg said.

, spGch showed that he had been listening. So, we know at leastwe have the ear of the President; how valuable that will be in the futureIS known only to the Lord.


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^ Before we close this letter, we want to thank everyone for the interestprayers,^d concern shown during Cretans bout with Ms^ia Sd tL cMldrents r^xes shots. We received a large number of leuSs e^es^nfprayer and concern which helped pull us through. expressingSchool ope^ August ^ for registration, and classes start on the 7thgivxng us plenty to keep us busy. With our increased work load we continueUntil next time, irre remain yours for Christ in Liberia,

The Meeces

i" - - , '

C^c^v-\-c^

Pictures in th is issue:1, Dr, William R, Tolbert speaking to the'offical" opening of Liberia ChristianCollege,2. The President and his party. Supt,Morgan and llrs, Victoria Tolbert dressedin white, Mrs. Morgan at the lef t of the

p ic tu r e ,3 The Hon. Joseph Gbadyu, Supervisor ofSchools for Grand Bassa county, speakingat the farewell program for the Boatmans,The Boatman*s and a ll their Africanfinery on Sunday before departing fromLiberia the following day.


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HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH12105 Old Halls Ferry Road Florissant, Missouri 63033


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jUdeniaBuchanan , Liber ia , Wes t Africa

September, 1972Dear Christian Friends,

The second semester of school has settled down to the regular routine, the children aresettled into the Lamco International School foranother year, and the rainy season is beginningto wind downtoward our third dry season in Liberia.Our life here continues to provide a continuousvariety of work, challenge, and problems.Within the past fewweeks we have had to cope witha "plague" of conjunctivitis (pink eye), asmall riot at the local theater when we went to see the "TenCommandments" (thankfullynoonewas hurt), and a rogue (thief) tried to break intoour house butmade enough noise to wake us upand I scared himoff before he took anything So, as you can see, life goes on as normal.For some time I have wanted to feature some of our work with the loc al c hurc he s in thenewsletter. This seemed a good time to do that. I trustthatyou willenjoy the following report.From the time we arrived, we have attempted to cultivate a good working relationshipwith the churches in Buchanan, especially those that are members of the Christian EducationFoundationandsupportthe college. Ourwork withtwo of these churcheshas beenencouraging

the World-Wide Missions of Liberia and the Bible Faith Christian Church.Among the churches that support the college, the World-Wide Church has been the mostfaithful. Bro. Abba Kamga is the leading figure in the World-Wide Church and is Chairman ofthe Christian Education Foundation. Whenwe first arrived in Januaryof 1971, Bro. Karnga cameby each Sunday (we had nocar then) and took us all to worship with the World-Wide Church.We were often called upon to preach or teach a class. Since then both Charles Boatman and Ihave taught several extended series of classes on such subjects as the church, salvation, and

worship. In addition to this, Greta has been teaching d sewing class in the World-Wide adultevening school for over a year. Recently Anna Shaw has been helping with the class. We continue to worship with this congregation regularly and are still called upon to preach and teach.The World-Wide Church is an independent, indigenous group that is strongly Biblical inboth doctrine and practice. Many ofthe leaders, including Bro. Kamga, have brokenaway froma particularly "hard shelled" Baptist group because theywere not given Biblical answers toquestionable doctrines and practices.They have established several mission and preaching stations in Monrovia, along majorhighways, and in the interior. At the present thieyare building a beautiful buildingto house theBuchanan congregation. From the beginning Liberia Christian College has held classes in onewingof the yet unfinished building. Some financial aid for this building hascomefrom the States,

butmuch of the work has been done bythe local congregation. Plctureswe are Including in this


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issue will illustrate the need of the World-Wide Church for this new building.Perhaps our most encouraging and fruitful work among the local churches has been with

the Bible Faith Christian Church which you will remember from previous stories we hove featuredin our letter. We thought you would enjoy hearing more.contact with the Bible FaithS-Christian Church was a few months after we hadbeen here, but our relationship with them hasgrown since then. Many of you will remember

111 in frhe story of our visit with these people at theirm^^SsSl annual conference this post January. That con-ference ot Grand Kola was probably our mostI ij 'HsS^^Ki enjoyable working experience here In Liberia.1^ _ . The spirit of Christian fellowship, the love for" ~ the word of the Lord, and the zeal for the winningof the lost displayed there Impressed us and encouraged us to work more closely with them.

Since then we have been worshiping with them as regularly as we can and hove conductedseveral classes with the leaders of the congregation on such subjects as church leaders, worship,the Lord's Supper, stewardship, the plan of salvation, and theChrlstianhome . While the Boatmanswere still here, Pot began teaching a Sunday School class for the young people at Bible Faithevery Sunday afternoon. Recently Greta and Anna have been working together with this class,teoching about fifty youngsters every week. They hove been using some of the old Sunday Schoolmaterial people hove been sending us to a great advantage in this class. The children love tolisten toBiblestories, sing, andespeciallyappreciate a small paperor Bible picture to take homewith them . Many have never had a Sunday School paper to take home before . Just before theBoatmans left, this group put ononeof the finest programs of songs, plays, recitations, readings,etc., that I have seen In a long time.

From the beginning we have found the Bible FaithChurch more closely related to the NewTestament pattern than most others here. Thereare only two matters that we have questionedabout their faith and practice the Infrequentobservanceof the Lord's Supper, anda tendencyto delay unduly the baptism of new converts.Through patient teaching we hove seen someprogress, especially In relation to the Lord's ' T-Supper which is now observed more frequently. Ijl jT" , mgnPfct

To the best of our knowledge, these peopleare completely indigenous, having no denominational ties and receiving no outside helpwhatever in the work they are doing. In fact,they told us that they had refused help from

several sources because it would involve a compromising of their faith. They have established


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several new congregations near Buchanan, in the interior, and recently in Monrovia. Theirbuilding, which they built on their own, is one of the nicest in town.The Bible Faith people have asked us to become "their missionaries," which we consider

to be a compliment, but we told them of our obligations to the college and encouraged them tosend their people to us so we could train them to do the needed work. They have done this, andat this time two of their leaders are faithfullyattending the Church Leaders Extension Class whereI am teaching the book of Acts this semester and taught the Gospel of John last semester. Wefeel that we can do them more good by training them to do their own work than if we actuallybecarfie ''their missionary" and did the work for them. Thus, we have seenthemgrowslowly, butis, is a growth that will last.

We have done some work with other churches in town, the Apostolic Faith Church, theAfrican Gospel League, and the United Methodist Church "B," but all of these have strong denominational ties and have been lesscooperative. However, we have always been free to preachthe truth as revealed in the Scriptures, which often goes contrary to the traditions of their denomination. Forinstance, last Easter I gave a sermon on "Baptismasa Picture of the Resurrection"after several people had been sprinkled in the Methodistchurch. Thepastorcame to me later andapologetically explained that he sprinkled the people because they had no other facilities forbaptism. (The Atlantic is less than a half mile from the church.) I have been invited to speakthere several times since then which would never happen back home.

Our present burden of workwith the college is so great that we have too liltle time to workwith the churches as we would like. Our greatest present need is more teachers to help lightenthe work load we now have so that wecan all doa better jobof teachingand be morefree to helpthe churches. Pray for usand ask the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into the field.Pictures in this issue:

1. The newbuilding for the World-Wide Church, still underconstruction. The college meets inthe wing to the left.2. World-Wide's present building.3. The Bible Faith Christian Church.4. Wayne preaching at a recent Bible Faith service.5. United Methodist Church "B"God bless each of you for your continued faithful prayers and support of our work.

Yours for Christ in Liberia,

4- %


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JldeniABuchanan , Libe r i a , Wes t Afr ica

November, 1972

THE MEECE REPORT

The Meeces: Wayne, Greta, Timothy, Beverly, and James.

The Work In Buchanan, Liberia


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The Shows: Wayne, Anna,Douqias, and Teresa.

Dear ChnsMan Friends,

Jlidi

GeorgeWacaserandRon Ayers.

Recently people have beenasking us, "Whenare youcomtng home?" We havebeenwaiting, studying,and praying for a satisfactory answer to thatquestion. We have finally reached a decision which we believeis in-line with our purpose and in keeping with the Lord's will. We will be staying in Liberia an additionalsix months. Our original plans were to return in December, 1972, but now we will return to the States ineither July or August, 1973. The reasons for this decision fall into two general groups: the increasing amountof work to be done here, and the need of personnel to do the work.

Our teoching program at Liberia Christian College is divided into four divisions: junior high, highschool, college, and extension school. In the first three divisions, anew class is being addedeach year untilwe have all the grades from seventh grade through college. We started last year with tenth grade and a freshman college class. This year we added eleventh grade and sophomore college plus the seventh grade. Asaresult, our teaching load was almost doubled, and next year the same additions must be made. An extensionschool has been added to benefit the semi-literate church leaders who cannot qualify for the college classes.The workcontinuestogrow far beyond what we hod dreamedit would be when we started. We can see progressfrom all these programs, and we just cannot see ourselves dropping such a work after only beginning.

The problem of increased workisfurthercomplicated by a lackof people to do the work. TheBoatmanshave returned to their teaching duties in the States, and George Wacaser will complete his two-year term inDecember and olso return home. TheShawscame last March to help fill the gap, but there is no replacementfor Geoige or the Meeces. Ron Ayers has agreed to stay with us for another year. Should we return home inDecember as planned, all the work would fall on the Shaws and Ron Ayers, an Impossible task. We have onefulMlme and one part-time Liberian teacher. James Morgan is teaching the seventh grade, and Abba Komgais helping me with the extension class.

We are hoping for some relief in the |uniorhigh-high school progrom through the Liberian government,


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but there have been noftrm promises as yet. When school begins next year we will need on eighth gradeteacher and a^high school French teacher. At this time we do not know how these will be provided.Such a burden has been placed upon us; such a need faces us; we cannot abandon our job when it isnot finished. The elders of the Halls Ferry Christian Church, Florissant, Missouri, our sponsors in this work,havegiven their permission and blessing for six months additional timespent in the work here.Only one thing remains to make our plans possible we need the continued support and prayers ofchurches and Individuals v4io have helped make these first two yeors possible. We are requesting that eachof you continue your support during this additional time. A door has been opened, we have walked insideonly oshort way; we cannot turn back until we seethe end of the matter is possible. When Igoto myeleventh

grade English class each day I see Bruce, who wept as the Boatmans were leaving, Daniel, Isaac, Ousley,and Samuel, all good students, I can help them only If 1 stay. In my extension class there is Brother PeterVah, a Methodist pastor who con hardly understand English. Every few days he begs me to help him learn toread (Mr. Kamga is now trying to help with this need). Each student hos his own need; our hearts must goou t to th em .

The local churches also need our help. We have plans to take part in camps, conferences, andnalliesOS much as time and opportunity will allow us this year during the school vacation. We have already beenInvited to the Bible Faith Christian Church Conference in January and a large youth rally the same month.We Would like to make several trips into the interior visiting as many churches as we can. Only time willtell how this will work out.

We are all ingood health and getting ready for the dry season and school vacation which Is at hand.The only problem is that while the Liberian schools are having vacation (December to early March), ourchildren are still attending the Internotional School at Lomco. This limits our ability to be away from homefor any long period of time.By the time you receive this letter we will have enjoyed one more new experience that our work herehas allowed. On November 11, we will go toMonrovia with Abba Kamga, leader of the Christion EducationFoundation, and Joseph Gbodyu, Supervisor ofSchools for Bassa County, for an interview about LiberiaChristian College on ELTV, the Liberian rrational TVstation.We do thank each one for your continued, faithful support. God has continued to meet ourneedsthrough your generous spirit. We praise Him os we express our thanks to you.

Your servants in Liberia, - i

n

0


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Missionaries: Wayne Meece FamilyForwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click10345 Castle Driv^St. Louis, Missouri 63136


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U(;)erlan Christian College Financial ReportJyne to November^ 1972

Alvprda Christian ChurchAnonyrnousChristvlew Christian ChurchColchester Christian ChurchIstChrlstion Ch, HovrePeGrace# Md.1stChpist|an Ch, Gillespie, III.tst CJhristlan Ch/ Florissant, Mo.HaltsFerryChristianChurchM/M H. Hamm^/M J. HendrixPersofKil GiftMemorial Chris tian ChurchModesto Christian ChurchNctionpl Missionary Convention-Pontoon Beach Church of ChristPine Flats Christian ChurchSpanish Loke Church of ChristTravel Fund (MqcGomery ChristianMen's Fellowship)Walltown Chris tian Church

$ 50.0040 .0030.0075 .0067 .50

125 .0050.00

2497.1550.0025.0025.0012.00

450.0037.03

160.00120.00108.00150.00125.00

As BrotherMeece statedinthis newsletter, your prayersand support are very much needed. Forthose whoarenot regularlysupporting this important mission work, aorie-timegift to the travel fund would be a great help.In Hi s e r v i c e .

Potrick G . Click, Sr.Forwarding Agent

LiberiaChristianCollege-1972-Liberia.pdf

Documents

Transcript of LiberiaChristianCollege-1972-Liberia.pdf