Greetings from Liberia

Well I arrived safely last night around 6:35 (1:35 CST). Everything went smoothly traveling over here... just a long trip. I slept some on the Liberian leg of the trip, so I felt ok, probably a little excited to be here too. The airport is completely different then the last time we were here. Much more "modernized" - but still somewhat chaotic. Got my luggage and proceeded to go outside only to find noone with that friendly "AoH" sign waiting for me. I had no phone and no number to call - so not exactly the situation I was hoping for. There were mobs of people behind barracades with a few uniformed men keeping order. So i certainly didn't want to cross that line looking for anyone. So someone asked who I was looking for and asked for a number, while another guy went looking for them. I had forgot that Kim gave me a number of Julie Redmans friend Mark, so the only numbers I had were the 2 from the AoH website that I put on my Liberian visa application. So he called one, I got an answer and they said they would try to get someone over to the airport, but just then the other man returned to say he had found them. So that was the extent of my excitement. The drive to the guest house seemed like it took an hour and fifteen. Just looked around and took in everything.

Got to the Shepherd's house around 8:15. Met David Felando (my missionary host), Julie Redman, Mark Nimely, and Teddy (Julie's son). They were all very welcoming and great to meet and see. The electricity was out when I arrived so no fans and no internet. So i borrowed Julie's phone for a 2 minute call to Kim to let her know I made it. I visited for a while, took a much needed shower and headed to bed by 9:15.

By 2am I was wide awake. So I got up, tried the internet again, and no luck. So I figured I might as well get some work done on the computer. Around 3am the dogs started barking and man walked right past the windows of our second story flat. It was the night watchment. The AoH compounds are all "gated communities" and they have 24/7 watchmen the "guard" the place. So I met the night watchment. Anyways I worked for 3 hours until 5am before I forced myself to go back to bed. Slept another 4 hours so I'm feeling very refreshed. Today they are going to bring Gabriella over so very much looking forward to that. We are going to head to some local markets today and are trying to plan a trip to the beach tomorrow or sometime while i'm here. Met Claudia Felando and a couple of the Liberian's who help at the guest house.

Other than that AoH sent me the DHL tracking number for the DNA and it should arrive in Liberia Monday. I will pray to that end. Looking forward to sharing much more of my experience of the next couple days.