‘Into the Bush’ of Africa
I am going to have to post out of order here. I have two blog posts typed on my computer about incredible experiences from yesterday, but could not get to an internet connection to post them. So I am typing this one on my blackberry – yes it is working here – and will post the others tomorrow hopefully.
Today we took our first real trip into the deep interior of the country or ‘the bush’ as many call it. We visited 1 church that was so far off the main path, you could have left me there and I am confident I would have never got home! Still, there are so many people that live in so many villages back there. It was unbelievable. The church we visited was impressive – even if I couldn’t imagine americans sitting on benches made of 2 bamboo logs tied together for worship. I will post pictures later.
Most impressive, though was driving an hour into the interior where we saw no other vehicles – none – on our way in. When we got there, we walked across a log bridge (not a bridge made of logs, but a single log) and walked up to a very inspiring farm. A church planting group here is working on ways to both reach more people and also assist with medical care and economic development.
They have just opened their medical clinic where the nearest hospital is 2 hours away. And yes, they had to hand carry all the building materials across the log to build it!
Most impressive, though, was the rubber tree farm they are putting in. It would be impossible to describe the hearts of these people and the hard work of these people. They need our help, but they don’t want to be dependent on our help long-term. So, they are developing a stable economic model for giving people jobs and planting new churches by investing in Liberia’s major resource and export. The rubber trees they have planted over the last 4 years will begin producing sap in 3 more years and will provide economic stability for 25-30 years in the future.
I could write about this for a long time, but I will leave it at that for know. It is becoming easier to see how Suncrest’s Jesus Mission investment could serve to plant churches and genuinely help people’s wellbeing for many many years to come.
.Real.Greg.Lee. 