LiberiaChristianCollege-1973-Liberia.pdf

7/28/2019 LiberiaChristianCollege-1973-Liberia.pdf

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JUdeniO'Buchanan , L ib er ia , W e st Afr ica

January, 1973

Dear Christian Friends,Greetings and best wishes from all of us in Liberia to you and yours for the new year. The Lordwas good to us In 1972, and we lool< forward to what the new year will bring.December was a full and exciting month for us. The second full term for L.C .C . ended on the15th. All but three of our fifty-nine junior highand high school studentswere promoted, and twostudentswere graduated from the 12th grade. They had failed the national exam last year and had studied andattended make-up classes in order to pass the exam this year. Fivestudents have now received diplomas

from our high school. Next year we will have our first full class ready forgraduation. The college yearwasalso ended with satisfacticrti. Seventeen students completed the year's workand, for the most pet,with good morks.After school closed we began our preparation for a "green" Christmas. The hot, dry days of thedry season make j't difficult to get info the Christmas spirit, but we did the best we could. We had

plenty of help also. TheWorld-Wide churchheld their annual conference the week beforeChristmas andosked us to help by teaching the BIbie classes. I taught the men; Greta, the ladies; and the Shows, theyouth. Added to this we had house guests for more than a week before Christmas. First there was Dr.Basil Miller, Director of World-Wide Missions International from Pasadena, California. He stayed withus three days and then went to the Shows to make room for more people at our house. After he left.

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Dr. Olaf Bjorgags, his wife, Kari, and their two children Per and Hanna, from Norway came to staywith us until Christmas Day. Dr. Bjorgaas is the medical director for World-Widp Missions and has beena medical missionaryto Taiwan for eighteen years. It was a busy and interesting weekwhen we climaxedwitha Norwegian Christmas Eve dinner prepared by Mrs. Bjorgaas and sharedwithour missions group.According to Norwegian tradition we opened part of our presents Christmas Eve, but we did save a fewfor Christmas Day. Per and Hanna were about the same age as our children, and they loved to playtogether. Christmas is a time of sharing, and we enjoyed sharing ours this year. We have much to bethankful for.

Perhaps I should tell youmore about the World-Wide conference. Most church conferences hereare much likeour conventions without many of the trimmings. Thepeople gather from all over Liberia toone town or village for Christian fellowship, preaching, and witnessing. Bible classes aretaight eachmorning followed bya preaching service. There is a business session inthe afternoon and an evangelisticprogram in the evening . Following the conference this year, twenty-two people were boptized. Theclimax of this year's conference was the dedication of the new church building. L.C .C . hasbeen holding classes in the education wing of this building.We celebrated theNewYear with several (seventeen) American missionary and PeaceCorps friendsat our house for a sort of pot-luck dinner. We have a big house and enjoy having company. We wereable to use the radio to get many of our friends in touch with their families back home.

Recently we have received large bundles of used Sunday School material from Lamar, Missouri,Halls Ferry, Modesto, Illinois, and Pine Flats, Pennsylvania. We havebeen using much of this materialin classes we teach and distributing it among the various churches and youth groups in town. We areable to use all that is sent, and every piece is greatly appreciated by people who hove little of whatmost folks back home take for granted and often waste.

This past week wemixed business with pleasureand made a trip to Monrovia and spent most offourdayscamping, shopping, sight-seeing, and relaxing. We camped on the grounds of Camp Lawanaat EIWA RadioVillage near Monrovia. We did some shopping and sight-seeing in Monrovia, visitingProvidence Island where the first settlers from America landed in Liberia. We also enjoyed the camp andthe ELWA beach. Radio ELWA is the powerful radio voice of the Sudan Interior Mission, broadcastingthe Gospel in forty languages to Africa, Europe, and South America.

Yesterday I had the rare privilege of meeting the new U.S^ Ambassador to Liberia, MelvinManfull. The Ambassador was the guest of Senator Joshua Harmon, Senator from Grand Bassa County.Wayne Shaw and I, along with several other Americans as well as Liberians, were invited to meet theAmbassador. Mr. Manfull is a striking personality and does seem to be serious about his job as the


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official representative of the U .5, in Liberia . He is visiting many of the outlying areas of the country,spreading good will wherever he goes. Most Ambassadors do not get far from the capital. 1was proudto find such an energetic man representing my country.

In our next letter we will tell you about our coming youth camp in the bush. Wayne Shaw, RonAyers, and I will leave Sunday (January 14) to help teach Bible classes in a youth camp near Palm Boy,located about thirty miles inland from Bucharwn. We will be there for eight days. This is a new experience for us; we need your prayers.We greatly appreciate all the gifts, cords, and letters we have received from home during theholidays. We are still enjoying them. God bless you. Thank you for your continued prayer and support.

Pictu res thi s month:1. Greta working with o small part of her sewingclass. The classoftenhadOS many as eighteen.

2. Greta explaining some Sunday Schoolmaterial toChauncy Karngo, a Sunday School teacher andeducot ion d i recto r fo r the World-Wide Church.

3. Camping out at ELWA

4. Dr. Bjorgaas and familyIn His service.

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oCd&Ua^Buchanan , L ib er ia , W e st Afr ica

February, 1973Dear Christ ian Friends,

Greetings f rom hot , dry, dusty Liberia in the dry season. While you are enjoying the coolrefreshing breezes of winter, we are suffering in th e sun. Last night we had our f i rst "rain" inalmost two months; i t just did lay the dust, February and. March a re the m ost uncomfortablemonths for us here. The rainy season is a bit unhandy sometimes; but i t is much cooler.

The Meeces are all fine. We are enjoying the "summer" vacat ion, but preparations for thenext school year have kept us busy. The children, of course, are stil l in school a t Lamco, following the U.S. -European schedule. The only common school vacations they have with the Liberiansa re C h ris tm a s and Ea s t e r .

As we promised you last month, we will use the most o this le t ter to tell you of the youthcamp. Wayne Shaw, Ron Ayers, and I were invited to teach Bible for the Gospel League YouthCamp a t Debbah Town, January 15-21.

Debbah Town is about for ty-f ive minutes drive into the inter ior from Buchanan and is locatednea r Palm Bay, a Palm oil plantation operated by the PaulGetty Company. I t is a typical Liberianvillage with about thirty houses and a population of about 200. About the only signs of civilizationare a tailor, blacksmith shop, two tiny general stores, and a bus that passes two or three timesa day to carry people through the plantation. Taxis are not allowed to pass through the plantation.The houses were all made of mud plastered over a s ti ck f rame or sun-dried m\id blocks. Most hadzinc roofs, but the re were a few with thatch. Our home for th e week belonged to the town chief.Old Man Debbah, a descendent of the old Bassa warrior-chief fo r whom the town was named.


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There were about one hundred young people who attended the camp. A large part or themwere from stations in the deep interior and some walkedmost of two days to get to the camp.About one-third of the campers spoke no English at all, and many who did, spoke and understoodso l it tl e tha t we needed an interpreter to teach. Ron and I had less difficulty communicatingthan didWayne Shaw who has not beenhere so long. I considered it a high compliment when two ofmy classes sent away the interpreter saying they understood me well.The campwas conducted much as are Christian Service Camps in the U.S. except for thesetting. We had Bible classes in themorning, recreation in the afternoon, and special'programsin the evening. Classeswere held in an old colatree grove where they had cleared away the underbrush. It was a cool and enjoyable setting except for a tree snake or two that kept falling out of

the t ree into one of my classes.The most enjoyable part of the camp to me was the music. The campers used drums, gourd-rattles and other instruments to accompany the singing. Even though I could not unders tand thewords of the native songs andhymns, I often found myself carried away by the joy of the singers*expression and the throbbing beat of the rhythm. The best drummer in the campwas a young girlnamed Mary. Therhythmof her playingseemed to comefrom everypart of her. She was completelyimhibited and gave herself over completely to the music she was playing. It was an experience to

watch her play.Ourmornir^ devotions and the evening services were held in an improvised "church. " Thelargest kitchen in the village had beencleared of the cook-fires and kitchen equipment, decoratedwith palmfronds, and filled with benches to make a meeting place. Thekitchen was about twentyfeet square and has a zinc roof. There was a two-foot wall aroimd the outside that kept small

animals and children out of the kitchen. The lof t of the kitchen is enclosed and used for storingtools and food. Thecooking is done over anopen fire in large black iron kettles. Asan improvised"church" the kitchen would accommodate about sixty people. Others had to stand around outside.

Our food dxiring the camp was excellent. We had rice at least two times a day. Rice isusu^ly served with a topping of meat , gravy or greens. We also had cassava in various forms:diunboy, fufu, boiled, or fried. To make a dumboy, the cassava is boiled and then beaten into apasty form, not unlikemashed potatoes but sticky. You must wet the spoon before you dig intoi t or it will stick to th e spoon. Fufu is much the same, only i t is aged for a few days before i t iscooked. Both are eaten with a meat soup made with beef, deer, goat, fish, or a combination ofthese. Cassava has no destinctive tas te of i ts own; the tas te comes from the soup which isusually liberally seasoned with hot pepper.

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To siAmmarize, i t was an enjoyable week and we enjoyed teaching th e youi*^ pcopls. Tlvay arevery respectful and eager to learn. The teaching job is nnuch easier with students like them.

To bring you up to date on other events, February 5th we gave entrance examinations for thehigh school and college. There were about seventy to take the high school-junior h%h exams. Ofthose we were able to accept about fif ty. We have roomfor only twenty in each class. Our totalenrollment in the high school and junior high school this year will be about one hundred.

We gave an entrance examination to the college students for the f irst time this year. Manyo th e students we were getting were not capable of college work; therefore, we gave the test tofind out wha t each student could do. Those who were deficient in math, science, or English willbe required to take pre-college classes in those subjects. So far there have been twelve who hsvet aken the tes t , and only four of them were wi thout some deficiency.

Some of our teacher shortage has been made up by two Peace Corps teachers who have beenassigned to our school . They are George Bergeman and Dawn Hares , bo th math teachers. We feelvery fortunate to have them; our teaching situation would be impossible without them. We willbe telling you more about them as we learn more about them. Other Peace Corps Volxmteers areinterested inhelping with th e college math and science classes, but that has not yet been approved.

Our most urgent request is that you pray with us about the teacher s itua tion . Pray thatthere will be enough teachers; pray that there will be someone to replace us in July.

This month's p ictures1, Most of the campers posing in front of th e

"k i t chen - chu r ch . "

2. The house whe re we stayed. The white spotsa re whi tewash . I t make s a nice decora t ion .

3 . A c l a s s unde r th e t r e e s .

4. Eating th e American way.5. The Liber ian way.

Thank you for your continuing support. God be with you.

T he M ee ce s

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Mtsslonanes: 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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JldmO/ dimiUiMBuchanan , L ib er ia , W e st Afr ica

April, 1973Dear Christian Friends,

The Lord is able to provide in more ways^han we can dream or imagine. For months wehave been praying for teachers to help us withthe increasing load of work. This year we havemore classes an d students to t each, an d untilnow, less teachers to do t he work. The Lord hasprovided beyond 6ur hopes and dreams. Whenschool began, we had two full-time Peace Corpsteachers joinour staff and two others volunteeredto help usin the evening with the college classes.These teachers were assigned to us through theefforts of another Peace Corps friend an d theSupervisor of Schools, Joseph Gbadyu. Theywill be teaching classes in Math, Science,English, and History, leaving us more free tot e a c h th e Bible c l a s s e s .

George Bergeman has a Master Degreein Moth and is teaching three high school andone college class. Dawn Hares is also a Math major and teaches math and science.in the college. William Hares is teaching one college class in African History, andPat Reilly, a pre-college class in English. William and Pat have full,-^ime assignments inother schools during the morning, but out of the goodness of their hearts ar evolunteering to tielp us in the evening.

School actually began on March 5th after spending most of the month ofFebruary in preparation. We gave entrance examinations for both the high schooland college this year. It was the first time for the college . We did this to raise

A L ib e ria n d e v i l d a n c e r .


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the quality of students in our college program and had to install a program of pre-college classes for those who did not pass the tests. There are eighty-five studentsin the highschooljunior highschool classesand twenty-five in the college classes.

UnderLiberian leadership, the junior high isexpanding thisyear also. JamesMorgan, the teacher last year, is nowattending the University of Liberia, planningto complete his education and return to teach for us in the future. In his place,the Christian Education Foundation has placed Abba Karnga in charge of the juniorhigh program and hired Wilmot Kadyu as o teacher.

On the personal side, the Meeces are all doing well except for a few minorcomplaints. The children are attending school regularly at Lamco InternationalSchool and are enjoying it very much.

The ole' swimming hole. "Under the spreading Halm tree, thevillage smithy."The biggest matter on our minds at this time is coming home. Our plans at

this time are to leave Liberia about the middle of July and take a short vacation inEurope visiting Greta's brother in the service and some missionary friends. We willbe arriving in the States about the middle of August. We would like to take a shipfrom Liberia to somewhere in Europe and then rent a camper to travel about. Thereis much to be done and lots more detailed planning to do, but the dates of leavingLiberia and arriving in the U ,S. are pretty definite .


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The vilfage general store-dried fishanyone? Soccer Liberia's national sport

Plans for the future are still incomplete. We are asking you to pray with usabout this. We certainly want to do the Lord's will about this matter. We haveseveral problems to workout about this and hopefully we can make a definiteannouncement about future plans by next month.We are certainly encouraged about the way our support has been coming inrecently. We are still feeling the effects of the devaluation of the dollar here.Many prices have increased fifteen to twenty percent within the last two or three

months. A few new supporters have been added, and our old faithfuls hpve stoodfirmly behind us.At this time we do not have pictures of our new teachers or students Wewill try to have those next issue. In the meantime, thanks for yourcontinuing support

and prayers.The Meeces ^


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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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Jldenieif ^olie^Buchanan , Libe r i a , Wes t Afr ica

May, 1973Dear Christian Friends,We are coming home in August, but If the Lord wills, we will return to Liberia foranother term after a year's furlough .

We have delayed this letter for severalweekssothat wecould make thisannounce-

would give usa written statement to theeffect that other children from any newThe Meeces at the border between Liberia it i i j Ji. i. l l i. M- k recruits wi a so be admit ted to the school.and Guinea in Nimba.

Our plans are to leave here by ship sometime about the middle of July. The date Isnot definite yet, because there is no scheduled ship that operates out of Buchanan.We will get one of the ore ships that carries ore for Lamco and take it to Europe. InEurope we will visit some missionary friends and, if we can find him, Greta's brotherwho Is with the U.S. Army In Germany. On the 15th of August we will fly fromBrussels, Belgium, to New York, While in Europe we also plan to attend ChristianService Camp In Lugano, Switzerland, where Guy Mayfleld Is working with theChristian Military Fellowship.Our reasons for wanting to return to Liberia noware simple. The work is not finishedhere now and needs much more effort before It can be self sufficient. Although thereIs growing new Interest In the work here, we have no one else definitely committed


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to the work. Ron Ayers will return to the States in December leaving the Shaws tohandle the workalone. We also want to return now while our children ore young andstill in elementary school. There is no high school for them here.In viewof this, we are askingall churchesand individualswho possibly can tocontiruetheir support of our work. While weore inthe States we will be wanting to report toall oursupporterspersoncilyand bringthemup to date on what is being done here andour plans for the future . Those who wouldlike for us to come for a speaking dateshould contact our forwarding agent. Hewill keep a record of all requests and willclear them with us and confirm them.Tim and Beverly look over a dump truck atthe mine onMt.Mimba . Would you believe

100-tons capacity?uu-tons capacity!' The work here has been keeping us verybusy as usual. The students were all excited last month when the Ladies Auxiliary ofLamco granted $420.00 for student scholarships. We tried to make the money goasfor OS possible. We gave four full-scholarships to the best student and six half-scholarships togood students who needed financial assistance . Our students pay $50.00per year tuition. Thisallows us to buy books and to pay teachers thatwe need to helpus. We also buy equipment such as desks, tables and bookshelves, duplicatingsupplies, etc . When the scholarships were granted Lamco sent their public relationsdirector to take pictures and interview the students. The picture and the story wereprinted in the Liberian Star, our national daily paper.For our Easter vacatronthis year the family, along with RonAyers, went to Nimba fora short but very enjoyable vacation. We took our cor this time and went overland inorder to see the country. Last year we went to Nimba by rail bus from Lamco. It isabout 250 miles by rood from Buchanan to Yekepa, Nimba County. About 130 milesof the rood is unpaved. Yekepa is the Swedish name for the town that has been builtaround the iron ore mine operated by Lamco. We enjoyed our trip very much. Alongthe way we passed through towns with names like Kakato, Totota, Suakoko, Gbanko,and Sanokole. Most of these towns with their unpaved streets and store fronts remindus very much of what the Old West may have been like in the U .S 100 years ago.We spent four days in Nimba just relaxing, swimming, sightseeing, and enjoying thefellowship of the Baptist missionary family there.


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We have all been in good health theselast few months. We are very thankful fort h a t . Th e c h i l d r e n w il l f in is h with th e irschool on June 8th. They ore anxious forthe vacation. Going to school so earlyalmosteveryday they leave home before7:00a.m. andalsohavingschool six daysa w e e k has m ad e th em t i r e d .

Wayneandtwo ladies from the Lamco Ladies Time passes SOquickly, and August will beAuxiliary with the students who received h e re b e fo r e we have too much tim e to thinkscholarehips. about it. We are anxious to come home

and see all our friends again, but we do feel that the Lord is leading us to continuewhat has beenstarted here. Please pray forus as we make readyto come home. ThereIs so much to be done. There is packing to do, crates to be made, things to be soldor stored, and travel arrangements to be made along with all our school work to bedone. We have madearrangements for a Peace Corps friend to live In our house whilewe ar e In the States. This will allow us to keep some of our furniture here and saveus from buying or making it when we return.We will be able to send one or two more newsletters before returning to the StatesWe will keep you up to date on all our return plans.

In Christian love.biujL

4^1ta ww

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Missionaries: Wayne Meece FamilyForwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click1 0 3 4 5 C a s t l e D r i ve

S t. Louis, Missouri 63136HALLS FERRY C H RI S TI A N C H UR C H12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

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jUd&ttci'Buchanan , L ib er ia , W e st Africa

July, 1973

Dear Christian Friends,This will be our last newsletter from Liberia. We nowhave eight more days in Liberia,and by the time you receive this, we will be well on our way home.On our way home we will stop in Europe to visit some of our missionary frienos andperhaps some of our family. We will be with the Kirklands in Berlin for several days,and will camp with the Hickersons and other Christians in Europe at Lugano, Switzerland. We hope to be able to visit Greta's brother in Germany; she has not seen himin over three years and only once in eight. The remainder of the time we will seewhat we can see of the different countries of Europe. We will depart from Liberia onJuly 16 and arrive in New York on August 17.These last few days here will be hectic. We are trying to get everything arranged sothat we can come back to Liberia in about a year. We have arranged for a PeaceCorps lady to live in our house whilewe are gone. That way we can store most of ourfurniture that we want to keep without much expense. This lady, Mrs. Hendrixson,is a nurse and helpsoperate a baby clinic . She is over sixty-fiveyearsold and amazeseveryone with her energyand stamina . She has been here two years and has volunteered to stay another year. At present she is home fora month's vacation beforereturning to live in our houseand finishher extended term. We feel fortunate to havesuch a person to help us keep our things here.We will be leaving the work in the hands of the Shows who have eighteen months leftof their term. We have also asked one of the Liberion men, Abba Karnga, to assistwith the work. We hope that he can take over completely soon. He has manyresponsibilities and needs to free himself from some of them before he can enter fullyinto the work of the college.


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Weare still trying to upgrade our program here. Just lost week Mr. Karnga and Ivisited the presidentof the Universityof Liberiaand discussed the relationship betweenour schools. We are hoping that within a year or two we can be recognized by theUniversity of Liberia. This will greatly enhance our school and will probably attractmany more students.On the personal side, we are all welland anxious to be on our way home. However,we do have mixed emotions about coming home. This seems to affect the childrenespecially. They have so many friends among both the Liberian and European communities herethat they don't know what to thinkabout leaving. They are also a littleupsetabout having to give up their pets. At one time we had four cats and a dog;now we have only one of each and the last cat is supposed to be given away today.Weare trying to arrange to have someone to keep the dog for us; he is a good watchdog and we hate to lose him. We had one attempted burglary last year, but we havehad no problem with the dog here.Speaking of thieves (called rogues here), therewas a big disturbance byour house thismorning. Our neighbor dries fish to sell in the market. This morning about 6:00, hecaught a rogue stealing some of his fish. He woke us all up chasing him around ourhouse yelling to the top of his lungs. When they caught him, they took him to jail,all shouting "rogue, rogue." (When the Liberians say "rogue," it comes out "roo,roo.") I talked to my neighbor later, and he said that they gave him a good beatingbefore taking him to jail. The beating usually involves stripping them naked.As I write this, things continue to happen that I want to tell you about. We were allvery happy this morning when Beverly confessed her faith in Jesus Christ and wasbaptized into Him. To me, the greatest joy of being a parent is seeing your childrengrow up and begin to express their faith.The Liberians are not making it any easier for us to leave. They are so expressive oftheir thanks and appreciation for what you do for them. Last night the World-WideChurch gave us a farewell party and presented us with a small set of elephants as atoken of appreciation. After a short program, they shared a fine meal of country"chop" with us, palm butter, rice, dumboy, fufu, and all the trimmings. NextSaturday, July 14, theywill have a special farewell party sponsored by the Christian


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Education Foundation. We have been told that the Superintendent of the county willbe there. The party is to be held at the Memorial Pavilion, the "official" countyauditorium. We don't know what to expect then.Several people have written already about speaking dates. Some dates have alreadybeen set. We are especially interested in visiting allour supporting churches. If youhave a special date that you are interested in our coming, you should contact ourforwarding agent, Mr, Click. He will arrange our schedule until we arrive in theSta tes .

We are very anxious to see and talk with each of you. Your faithful support hasmodeour work here free of worries and much easier to concentrate on the problems here.Thank you, and God bless you.

In Christ,

Teacher John Hays and some of hisstudents from a school forty miles Intothe inter ior .

The MeecesV- 9 C


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Missionaries: Wayne Meece FamilyForwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click10345 Castle Drive

St. Louis, Missouri 63136HALLS FERRYCHRISTIAN CHURCH12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

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JUdciia^Buchanan , Libe r i a , Wes t Afr ica

September, 1973Dear Fellow-workers,Greetings from St. Louis, our home for the next year. We arrived he^^e August 24 toa rousing welcome from the Halls Ferry Churchand many friends here in the area.

Ourtrip home through Europe was relaxing,informative and inspiring. We mixed ouftourism with visits to various mission works inBelgium and Germany. In Genk, Belgium,wewere with Henki and MaryEstherBoonaertsand Dennis and Linda Messimer helping getready for the first service in a new churchbuilding they have in Maasmechlin. Wehelped with last-minute preparations on thebuildingand passed out invitations inseveralsurrounding communities. The first servicewas attended by over 100 people, an encouraging victory for the workers there . Bythe way, Henki and Mary Esther are now in

. J.I . t .1 the States for Henki tocontinue his studies.Ihe Meece s decora ted at a rare well party.In Berlin we visited the Richard Kirkland family and helped them move to their newlocation in southern Germany where they will join the Dean Hickersons and DavidStitts working in the Basil, Switzerland, area. We helped carry their furniture downninety-two steps from their fifth-floor apartment. In Berlin we also met two othermissionary families, the David DeVilders and the Dale Mallorys.Just before flying home to the States, we spent a week camping with Christianmissionaries and U .S. servicemen from all over Europe in a beautiful setting near


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Lugano, Switzerland. This week provided the rest, relaxation, and especially thespiritual uplift we needed before returning to the U.S. to get Involved in all therunning around we will be doing. The Isolation of the mission field causes a physical,emotional, and spiritual drain that needs to be replenished. The Bible classes andChristian fellowship of Lugano did that for us.Our European missionaries face a difficult, often misunderstood work among a peoplethat haveabandoned the Christian faithas anonswer tolife's problems. The traditionalformsof evangelism sosuccessful In the Mid-Western U.S. donot work, and those whouse them are branded as foolish religious fanatics. Most of the progress is painfullyslow by U.S. standards. The most successful work Is done by those who stay longenough to gain the personal confidence of tlie people. These missionaries need ourprayers, support, and particularly the encouragement of their supporters.We are pretty well settled into our new home we hove rented here in St. Louis. Ourforwarding agents, the Clicks, and the Halls Ferry Church had the house about readyfor us to move into when wearrived . The childrenstarted toschool this week. TimothyIs in the eighth grade at Rivervlew Gardens Central Junior High with 1600 otherstudents. He likes it so for. Beverlyand James only have to cross the street to Lewisand Clark Elementary School, a newschool that isair-conditioned and haswa ll-to-wallcarpet. They had no problems being admitted at thegrade levels they had reached inAfrica .

News from Liberia is good . Just after we left,Gerald Gibson and Dennis Dazey visited.Wayne Shaw wrote that the visit wasa greatsuccess. The training conference of theWorld-Wide Churchwas in progressond theyall took part. Dennis is a youngman Interested In mission work in Africa .

Wayne rs mode an honorory Bassa chief.

Wayne also wrote that some of the problemswith thechurches had been worked out sincewe left . The churches we work with mostclosely al l believe in baptism for the remission of sins but often delay baptizing thecandidate fo r weeks or even months until hesatisfactorily completes a baptismal class.

We have been patient ly trying tochange this through careful Bible teaching . GeraldGibson added his voice to the plea during his visit and was satisfied to see a change in


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policy by the World-Wide Church . Now they baptize their candidates immediatelyand teach theclcsses afterward . Wedo fee! that this is a great victory for the faithfulteaching and preaching of the Bible truth.This victory was satisfactory In another way. We hove noticed that many missionariesIn underdeveloped areas keep the nationals "in line" by making them dependent onthe missionary foreither firrancesor leadershipauthority. Wehavecontented ourselveswith a teaching ministry, Ibelievlng that the Africancan and will follow the truth if heknows it. We do not need to worry that the Liberian churches will revert to their oldways after we are gone . They were not forced into a decision; it was their own decision made according to their own understanding of the Word of God and made at thetime they felt it appropriate.Wayne told the story in his letter. He, Dennis Dazey, and Gerald Gibson had beenpreaching and teaching in the conference toward the end of the week. Gibson hadparticularly stressed the subject of Baptism. Several people had responded to theGospel invitation. When they arrived at the conference Sunday morning, they foundoutoboutthechange Inpolicyand that eleven people hadbeen baptized that morning.We will be on furlough in the U.S. for about eleven months, and we will return toLiberia, if the Lord wills, In late June or early July, 1974. We would like to see asmany of our supporters as possible to report and thank them for their support. Ourfurlough address is: 10251 Prince, St. Louis, Missouri 63136, and the phone number(314) 869-9951. We would like to hear from each of you and will be glad to reportto the churches that wont to hear from us. Write or call any time.Pray for us. Wayne will be traveling a lot. Pray also that we i return to Liberianext year. Pray for the Shows and Ron Ayers In Liberia now. 1 for new vrorkers.

Yours for Christ In Liberia, er>

The Meeces


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

HALLS FERRYCHRISTIAN CHURCH12105 Old Halls Ferry RoadFlorissant, Missouri 63033

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LIBERIA CHRISTIAN COLLEGEFINANCIAL REPORT April - September, 1973

Anonymous 50.00Alverdo Christian Church 50.00African Mission Evang. (Expenses) 181.40Colchester Christian Church 150.00Christian Church (Gillespte, III.) 100.00Christvlew Christlon Church 150.00Edlna Christian Church 59.00First Christian Church (Carnegie, Po .) 154,00First Christian Church (HavreDeGrace, Md .) 42.50First Christian Church (Florissant, Mo.) 23.26Halls Ferry Christian Church 2,781.14M/MJ.HendrIx 115.00Modesto Christian Church 452.40Memorial Christian Church 40.00Mac-Gomery Christian Service Camp 314.00North Tocomo Christian Church 138.00Palmyra Christian Church 92.54M/M G. Parker 75.00Pin.e Flats Christian Church 90.00Pontoon Beach Church of Christ 250.00Parkwood Christ ian Church 15.81Soilor SpringsChristian Church 272.00TRAVEL FUNDMac-Gomery Christian Men's Fellowship 100.00Pontoon Beach Church of Christ 50.00


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JldeniO/ ^cMe^Buchanan , L iberia , West Africa

October, 1973

Dear Christian Friends,We have been home almost two months now but still find ourselves feeling strangelyout of placeat times. We miss our friendly Bassa neighbors, the busy school schedule,the the more leisurely paceof life in Liberia. In short, we are a bit homesick. Thechildren feel the same way. Recently Beverly was almost in tears as she talked aboutOretha, her playmate, and Buddy, ourdog. We have discovered that there is such athing as reverse culture shock. The best thing about being home isthe renewed fellowship with friends in the Lord. This was the one thing we missed most in Liberia,felJowship with those we love in the Lord. From now on we will have that problemwherever we are. Herewe miss our Liberianbrothers. It is a good feeling to be a partof an ever expanding fellowship of Christian friends all over the world.In the past few weeks we have been involved in two Faith-Promise Rallies. The firstwas at Gillespie, Illinois, where Michael Grimes is minister. The brethren there havesupported ourwork in thepast, andwe were happy to get thechance to report to them.This was the first Faith-Promise Rally for the Gillespie congregation, and it was atremendous success. They more than tripled theirgoa Iwith promises exceeding $10,000.Later last weekweshared with the brethren in Florissant as they conducted their sixthannual Faith-Promise Rally. Charles Wingfield is the minister of this fast-growingcongregation which has beena pioneer in missions giving inthe St. Louis area. SundayWas Victory Day, and their promises exceeded $14,000.November will bea busy month with Faith-Promise Ralliesat Lovington, NewMexico,and Kell, Illinois, and the National Missionary Convention at Oklahoma City. Wedo need your prayers for our safety during all the long trips we will have to make.


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The best newswe have this month isthat we havea newrecruit for the work in Liberia.He Is Harrison Rose from Urbana, Illinois, and a student at the University of Illinois.Gerald Gibson has recruited this young man to the Liberian work, and if all goeswell/ he will be InLiberia soon after the first of the year to fill in for Ron Ayers, whowill be coming home In December. We have not had theopportunity to meet Harrisonyet, but he has been recommended by Gerald Gibson as a man who has qualities thatare needed In Liberia. He is now in the process of raising support and getting hispapers ready to get into the country. We have experienced some difficulties in thisin the past because of the slowness of government process and red tape. Please prayfor Harrison Rose and pray that God will continue to lead us to men who are neededIn the work in Liberia. We feel that new recruits are our greatest need at this time.As we have already announced, our plans are to spend a year here in the States andreturn to the work in Liberia in late June or early July of 1974. We felt that weneeded a year in the States for our health and the children's education, but we donot need a year's vacation. We also felt that we needed to report to our supportingchurches, butthat will not takea year to do ei ther. With this in mind, we have beentalking with the elders at the HallsFerryChurch, our sponsoring elders, with the ideato find something to do when we are not traveling for the mission. We would preferto lend a helping hand to our main supporting churches or help out in some way withchurch work in the St. Louis area, since most of our supportcomes from there . At thiswriting we are looking at the Spanish Lake Church of Christ which does not have aminister and is in need of help. This new church has supported our work from the beginning even though it was a mission church needing financial help. We feel that weshould try to make some contribution to our supporters while we are home. Such awork would mean that we will need the continuing support of the churches because wewould not receive a salary from these churches. Many have objected to missionariesspending a year away from their work considering it a paid vacation. While this is notexactly true, traveling thousands of miles over the country is ha rdly a vacation, butwe feel that as missionaries wecan makea contribution to the evangelistic work of thechurch while we are home. In future letters we will keep you up on this project.Patrick and Belle Click have been our forwarding agents from the beginning, and weare happy that they have agreed to continue. Pat has recently changed jobs and willbe moving from St. Louis to Linn, Missouri. Beginning this month, all gifts should besent directly to him at his new address: P.O. Box 437, Linn, Missouri 65051 .


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This gives us an opportunity to express our thanks to the Clicks for their faithful work.A good forwarding agent is the secret of the success of independent missions. TheClicks have done an outstanding |ob for us, and we are happy that they are going tocontinue. They have collectedqnd kept trackof our funds, published our newsletter,spoken to numerous churches about our work, and performed numberless other tasks forus. Pat's new [ob in Linn will be teaching for Linn Technical School in the field ofheating and refrigeration. We dopray thatGod will blessthem intheir move. Again,I remind you that all future gifts should be sent to their newaddress.We alsoremind oursupporters thatwe would like to report to asmany of our contributorsas possible. Write orcall us If you would like for us to speak to your church or group.Our furlough address is: 10251 Prince, St. Louis, Missouri 63136.God be with you until next time.

The Meeces


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Missionaries: Wayne Meece FamilyForwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . ClickP .O . Bo x 4 3 7Linn, Missouri 65051

HALLS FERRYC H RI ST IA N C HU RC H12105 Old Halls Ferry RoadFlorissant, Missouri 63033

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Downtown Buchanan

A drygoods store where we oftent r a d e .

A church building where we haveoften worshiped.

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