A Silver Anniversary

This weekend was a fun, relaxing, and happy one. You have already heard about my Friday night... Saturday was wholly uneventful - we simply slept, ate, and read a LOT (currently reading "Until I Find You" by John Irving, courtesy of the Ricks Library). And that was really all we did!

Sunday however was more eventful! We went back to New Georgia Baptist church with the Menjays for the service commemorating the 25th anniversary of the church. What an event it was! After the bumpy 45 min drive, we arrived around 11am (although the service started at 10:30). We sang hymns, heard the choir perform, heard individual musicians, gave an offering, gave money toward replacing the church roof (it has asbestos, as many buildings do, and must by law be replaced... President Sirleaf herself sent a $1000 check to help!), read scripture, did responsive readings, heard a sermon, heard the history of the church, heard recognition of special guests... in the end, the service ended around 3:00!! That's 4 hours for us, 4.5 hours for the more prompt church-goers. Despite my butt being completely numb after 4 hours on a wooden pew, it really didn't feel like the service lasted for 4 hours. The energy of each person in the service, the earnestness with which they worshipped, and the feeling of community that surrounded us all made the service meaningful and inspiring. Oh, and I had a precious 2 year old (little Mia Mejnay) on my lap the whole time, mostly sleeping... something about the peace of a sleeping child in your arms makes the time pass quickly.

After the service, we were invited back to the home of Mrs. Francis Johnson, a deacon and long-time member of the church. Mrs. Johnson is also the chair of the anti-corruption commission (ACC - not a football reference!) here in Liberia - a pretty significant government position. Government corruption has been pretty rampant in the Liberian government for the past 30 years or more, so the commission has a sizeable task in their hands. She was also the chair of elections in the previous presidential election (when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected), and has held several other important positions. It was an honor to be invited to her home (via our "Menjay connection," of course), and I couldn't help but notice the Liberian seal on the wall, and a picture displayed of her with Jimmy Carter. Her home was lovely, a rather modest two story home by American standards, a very nice home by Liberian standards. We had a buffet style meal of various rice dishes, chicken, fish, potato-salad looking something or other, and some pineapple upside down cake. Yummm. It made my sweet tooth so happy. Also - her toilet flushed. It seemed somehow absurd to see a toilet flush for the first time in over 3 weeks. I laughed quietly in the bathroom as I watched it happen.

Sunday night was filled with a scramble to finish lesson plans and get ready for the week ahead! I hadn't planned for church to be such an all-day event, but it was well worth the time, and was a day I will remember fondly.