One Drop

This kid epitomizes Liberia for me.
Another day I saw him with his shirt off.
He has an extreme outie and will probably
die. His family now has
a working water system.
Hopefully, it is not too late.

I wish I could change the channel, so I could stop looking. As they say, “Out of sight, out of mind.” But this is not television. It’s reality. Not the fake kind manufactured by the networks. This is survival. It surrounds me. I can’t change the channel. I could go to another neighborhood, but it would more than likely be the same.

I see people who think they are sustaining themselves by eating cooked dirt they call chocolate. And nearly everyone is drinking water that is not safe. I see children with bloated bellies. They appear to receive enough nutrition, but they will die from waterborne diseases. A sure sign of  having one that is dangerous is a belly button pushed out. Think of an outie but one that pokes out one to two inches. It doesn’t matter whether you were born with an innie or outie; once the intestinal swelling starts to happen, the belly button is pushed out. The struggle of humanity surrounds me. I would weep if I could but here I am in the midst of it all.

I stand for a few minutes watching a soccer game as the team I am with is nearby training a family how to use a water filtration system we came over here to give to those in need. I can almost forget the pain and suffering. The community cheers. The players hustle and compete with one another. It’s just like back at home.

One drop.

When you think of household, don’t think of our houses and our families. Think extended. We just left a house with six rooms and a living room. Each of the six rooms houses a family consisting of five to nine people. Some of them, especially the younger ones, will probably be dead within a year. But maybe not in this house, as they will now have clean water. So the small house has somewhere around thirty-five to fifty people. Before that, I left a tiny house that housed fifteen. This house had two little kids that were scared of white people. And it had an electric box on the wall that once was used to provide electricity to the house. I took a picture of the outdated General Electric electric box with my General Electric camera. My camera was a cheap camera. It only cost me $80. We had forgotten to bring a camera on a vacation, so we bought an extra one. That money could feed these people for months and provide a water filtration system with some money left over.

Some kids watching the local soccer game.

Just a drop in the bucket. That’s all I feel like I am doing. I wish I had Bill Gates’ billions. I wish I could live here educating this post-civil war generation about how to have a better life. I wish I could help turn this sorrow into joy, death into life, despair into hope. God help us all. Those suffering and those too comfortable to help the suffering. We all need your help to be the people we were made to be.

Look closely and you can see rolls of
Liberian dirt. This dirt is cooked over
charcoal and then eaten. The
people in this neighborhood call
it chocolate.

I don’t want to paint too hopeless of a picture. These are good people. Hardworking. Friendly. Loving. This extreme poverty has brought out the best in humanity, although it does bring a set of vices all of its own. And as I look around, I see hope. I see people doing what it takes to survive. Enjoying a soccer game. Starting businesses. Living in community with one another. Building new homes. Growing food. Among the many tossed into the ashes by the few who fight for power, humanity strives on.

And I see other organizations here in Liberia besides Hope 2 Liberia. Many churches. A few secular organizations. More drops in the bucket. Another water system given. drip. A toy given to a kid who has absolutely nothing. drop. A Bible given. drip. A school started. drop. I wish I could do so much more. But together, I think we will fill this bucket one drop at a time.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Revelation 22:17 ESV).

That ball is out of bounds. How do you know?
You know when it crosses the out of bounds ditch.

The crowd at the soccer game.

The useless General Electric power box.

The view from the goalie. Note that it is not a net. Just a fence between two posts.

This is part of a series that I wrote showing the mission trip I took to Liberia.

I divided the subjects into individual pages, for ease of use.

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Economy

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Wilfred

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - A Few Notable Places

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Food

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Heart of Grace Elementary School

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - The Children

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Water

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Monrovia Hope Center

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Marshall Hope Center

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Leadership Training Institute

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Gifts

2012 - Liberian Mission Trip - Our Brothers and Sisters

Here are a few articles that I wrote upon my return:
One Drop

You Shall Love Your Neighbor As...

Sunrise in the Clouds over Europe

Who Will Be God's Ambassadors?

FAQ on Liberia trip from questions asked at an Indiana Tech Sociology class

Hands and Feet

Please Pray For My Trip To Liberia

Through the support of my friends and complete strangers all of the support I needed to meet my financial goal has been met. But what needs to be done in Liberia cannot be done with money alone. Please pray for me.

Preparations are going well. I now have experience with the water systems. I made some mud water and filtered it through to impress my kids. It’s amazing how just a little device can filter water and make it safe to drink. The great thing about these devices is that they really have no expiration date. The systems we provide on this trip will provide safe water for years to come and greatly improve the standard of living for those who we distribute them to.

I have all five of my lessons prepared for the conference. I will be teaching five different one and a half hour sessions two times each. I have some exciting interactive activities that I am excited to do with the Liberian people to help make them memorable.

If you would pray for John, David, Shane, and me each day, I would be extremely grateful. I have attached a schedule of the planned big activities. We have been prepped to be flexible because we don’t know what will really happen. On a previous trip, their car broke down in a little village and that is where they ministered for a full day. I pray that we will be flexible enough to be where God wants us to be so that we can do the work that He wants us to. I hope to not pick up any diseases (a real threat), to be safe (the UN has peacekeepers there and I will have guns pointed at me at times), but, most importantly, I hope to plant seeds for God’s kingdom that will last. The work that we want to accomplish cannot be done effectively without God being involved and changing people’s hearts.

February 25 – Travel from Indianapolis.
February 26 – Arrive in Liberia, settle in, and visit the church.
February 27 – Check on previous work that Hope 2 Liberia has paid to have done to make sure progress is being done. Train an individual on a larger water system in Marshall. Give away water systems in the capital of Monrovia.
February 28 – Give water systems away in Buchanan. Train a local worker on a water system for at the Burgess School.
February 29 – Conference begins. I will be teaching on God and the Church. It’s Eli’s birthday back home.
March 1 – Conference continues. I will be teaching on Repentance and the Lord’s Supper.
March 2 – Conference concludes. I will be teaching on the Mission of the Church. We intend to attend the Rotary meeting in Monrovia.
March 3 – Distribute and train on water systems. Wrap up unfinished business. Take the native missionary family (the Buegars) out for dinner.
March 4 – Preach the Sunday morning sermon at a Liberian church. Start trip back home later in the day.
March 5 – Arrive back home.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

Many of you may know me in real life, but some of you probably just know me through these articles I write here at Pulling Weeds out of Potholes. Whatever the case, I am thankful that you take time out to read what I have to say. Today's post is different. Today, I am writing to share with you a great opportunity that God has blessed me with and to ask you to partner with me in watering the thirsty.

Last summer, Riverside Christian Church put on the Rock 4 Water, a music festival in the Riverside Park in Antwerp, to raise funds for Hope 2 Liberia. When I originally had the idea to raise money through a concert to provide safe drinking water for people in Africa, I had no idea where that money would go to. Through the recommendation of friends, I eventually found myself sitting in an office in Muncie, Indiana, with two guys, Sam Wrisley and Dave Rawls, who have an amazing passion for our Lord and His work. They shared with me the idea behind Hope 2 Liberia.

It’s Hope 2 Liberia’s vision “to provide safe and living water for the nation of Liberia, resulting in better health, available education and stronger leaders; all culminating in a renewed sense of hope.” They do this through establishing Hope Centers. A Hope Center provides safe drinking water and a place for the local church to meet. If you are interesting in learning more, you can read about Hope 2 Liberia at their website.

This is where the opportunity that I have been blessed with comes in. I have been asked to go to Liberia and teach at a conference for the new church leaders in the area. The work that Hope 2 Liberia is doing is showing fruit, both spiritually and physically. People are receiving the Word of the Lord and receiving safe drinking water. What is being done right now will impact the Kingdom of God in Liberia for generations.

Liberia is a small country in West Africa with a population of 3.3 million. Each year over 65,000 Liberians die from malaria alone. Many more die from dysentery, cholera, typhoid and infectious hepatitis due to compromised water.

One out of four children under the age of five dies due to water-borne illnesses. Unsafe drinking water is the cause of the majority of disease in Liberia. Having recently emerged from a 14 year civil war, Liberia's infrastructure has been destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of its citizens were killed, maimed, and displaced due to this devastating conflict.

With little infrastructure in place, an unemployment rate over 85% and a lagging economy, the people of Liberia are in need of help. It is time to take a stand, make a choice, and help end the needless deaths of innocent Liberian People.

Although this is a trip that will include teaching at a conference of local church leaders, I will also spend the rest of my time serving to establish more safe sources of water for the people of Liberia.

Will you serve with me? Your help will assist in providing training for church leaders and safe drinking water to the people of Liberia. It might be cliché, but honestly, together, we can make a difference.

First, I ask that you would pray for me and the three other guys going on this trip. It is a small group with a focused mission. We plan on getting a lot done through the conference and working on providing additional sources of clean drinking water.

Second, I ask that you would consider supporting me financially. Without the help of people like you, I will not be able to afford to go and help the people of Liberia. Hope 2 Liberia is paying half of the costs for my trip because they want me to teach, but I have to raise $1900 on my own. If I raise more than that, it will just go to buy more water systems and increase the blessing. If you choose to financially support me, you can send me a check written to Riverside Christian Church to my address at Regan Clem, PO Box 256, Antwerp, OH, 45813. Riverside is providing financial oversight for my part of the trip. This allows you to make a tax exempt donation.The trip that I am going on is from February 25-March 5. If you would like to financially support me, please do so by as soon as possible. Together we can water the thirsty!

Also, if you have an extra Study Bible, the kind with chain reference and a concordance at the end, we would love to have it to give to the pastors over there. They don't have the resources and the technology that we have, so a Study Bible is an extremely beneficial tool for preparing sermons and lessons. If you drop your Study Bible off at the West Bend, they will make sure I get it and I will make sure that it gets to a pastor in Liberia who would appreciate it. FYI, they speak English over there.

Thank you for your time and may God bless you. If you have any questions, feel free to email me or ask them in the comments.