We had a good variety of stuff this week

This is an above average cafeteria at a public school.  The government supplies the ingredients for the meal and the PTA prepares it

This is the stove. You can see the wood for the Heat on the right

These are the volunteer cafeteria workers. The students are lining up for the meal with their own bowls.

The menu today was pea soup over rice.  Changes in the type of soup that goes over the rice is the only variety each day.  Meat is never included.

Hand washing station. This is needed because most of the students don't have eating utensils.

After the meal they use the hand pump to clean their bowls and to fill their water bottles.

Our project at this school is to expand the size of the kitchen and to create a covered eating area to protect from the sun and the rain.  We were at the school to get our contract signed so we can commence work.

We were invited to participate in vocational training graduation of a project that we funded.  The young women in the project are all unwed mothers with children under two. They all live in the largest slum in the country. The project gave them vocational training and also assisted them with proper medical care and preventative treatment for their child.

There were four areas of training. One area was helping them to become a seamstress. This will allow them to open their own business to do tailoring and also to create clothing for the market. Those who completed the program were given a manual sewing machine, coal heated irons and other necessary items to help them to start their business.

Those who were trained in cosmology were given basic Beauty Supplies. The pastry chefs were given a small oven and other needed pastry supplies and food products. They will sell their items on the street and at small markets. There was also training given in business skills for office workers and small business entrepreneurs.

This is the second year of this project. The first year also had a successful graduation. The end result is to give the women Independence so that they can live on their own and have enough to provide for themselves and their child. It's worked so well that we are planning on funding them for a third year.

The graduation was just what we expected. It was in the city hall which way overstates what the building actually was. It was very, very hot. I was asked to speak and the power went out so I had to yell in the dark.  I kept it short.

The closest Temple to Liberia is in Ghana. It is a distance of about 1,000 MI that takes about 3 days each way driving. The roads are very bad and few vehicles make the trip. Church members are desirous to make the trip so that they can be sealed for eternity together as a family. Air travel cost is prohibitive for all but a very few.

To overcome this the church has a program where the church will pay for visas, airfare and accommodation for the entire family while they are in Ghana.  Cheryl and I have been asked to accompany one of the groups. To prepare for this we had to go to the Ghana Embassy in Monrovia and get a Visa.  This is the Ghana Embassy. The group we will accompany will probably have about 25 people in it. We're not sure when it will be. There's a lot of details that have to take place first such as marriage and birth certificates, visas for everyone, vaccinations, Etc. It's a big deal. The temple is very important to us. For most of these people it will be the only time in their lives where they are on an airplane and when they leave the country.

On Sunday we drove to our usual building but it was all closed up and no one was there. We knew they were building a new building down the street so we kept on going and to our delight the new building was open. We were excited because we knew this building would have electricity, ceiling fans and bathrooms.

Here is the chapel. It just has a concrete floor. You can see from the picture all of the fans. We sat next to a window and below a fan. It was much better than the old building.

That morning the branch president texted us and asked if we could accompany them on ministering visits after church. Since we were the only ones with a vehicle we drove. Some of the road was only foot trail but somehow we made it to our different stops.

One of the visits was to the house of a member of the branch presidency who is in the white shirt on the left. He lives here with his mother and siblings and some of their children. His younger brother is on a mission Benin, Africa.  He's a contractor who currently is out of work. His sisters bake pastries and sell them. The mother runs a small store out of the home. Somehow they get by. They have no electricity or running water.

We visited the house of a couple who have been members of the church for about a year. They have four children. She is a stay-at-home mom and he is a tailor. Unfortunately he doesn't have a sewing machine so we have to borrow one when it's needed. They also have no electricity or running water. Even though they've been members for only a year she is the young woman's president and he is the Sunday School president.