Monday in Freetown

As the group headed into Freetown today, Dr. O'Brien was able to spend a few minutes in an Internet cafe. He was able to send an update via email - which includes a bit more detail. I am so excited for how God is using our travelers to further His kingdom and how he is using the people in Sierra Leone to impact the lives of our travelers.

Dr. O'Brien writes:
"We finally had enough Internet access to be able to check email. Here is a brief report before we head off for Freetown this morning.

Our flight leaving London was delayed. We sat on the plane for a little over 2 hours prior to take off, so we got in very late. Immigration and customs were uneventful, thankfully, so we made it down to the water for the water taxi around 11:30, arriving at the Hope Center around 1:00 a.m.

We slept well Friday night and started off the day on Saturday with an orientation to the Hope Center by one of the couples who works here. Gabe and Sada Harrera are from FBC Arlington. He is a dentist and they use their medical/dental abilities to provide for physical needs but also to open doors for Kingdom work. After a lunch at the Hope Center, we went for a walk around the community with Paul Conteh and Mohammed Jalloh. These two college students really know the community well and have such a heart from the people. Both are strong believers who are committed to expanding the Kingdom. They told us about the challenges and work going on in the area. They also helped us to have access to a fishing company and we learned a lot about how the fishing boats are made, how they go out to the ocean for about 5 days at a time, the kinds of fish they catch and how they process and sell the fish.

They stayed and ate supper with us after the walking tour and we wrapped up the night with really good fellowship.

On Sunday, we went to a church up in the mountains called Miami Baptist Church. The church currently meets in a school building, but to be honest the building was little more than a cement shell broken into various rooms. There were probably 30 or 40 people in attendance. The music was lively and we had a good sermon from Donald Conteh, the director of the Hope Center who was filling in for the pastor who was away. Donald had asked me to read a passage from Luke and I did my best at reading it in Kreo, but I'm not sure the people really understood what I was saying. Hopefully the Spirit made it plain to their ears.

After church we drove over the mountain (very VERY rough roads) into Freetown. The scenery was beautiful and we passed some interesting people along the way. One man was working on the road, breaking up rocks to fill in the holes. He has actually been written up in newspapers in the US. I'm not sure how they learned about him, but evidently he was a big hit in the press. We also saw some kids who had made their own makeshift toll gate. They didn't try to demand money, but made it possible to give if people wanted to who were passing by. They were supposedly working on the road, too, and hoping to get some money for it. On the way back we gave them the food that we had left over from our lunch and they were very excited.

We had lunch across the street from Lomley Beach, made famous in the movie Blood Diamonds. Lunch was good. They had a variety of foods: pizza, fried rice, shrimp, sandwiches, etc. Donald told us more about the war and how he had survived in a couple of very trying situations. We stopped off at a supermarket on the way home and picked up some tea bags, cookies and other snacks that we had last night. When we got back to the Hope Center we went to work preparing for our workshop which starts on Tuesday. We took a break for dinner then finished up the planning session. Afterwards we had a very sweet time of fellowship with Christine, the accountant for GCPN who lives here at the Hope Center, and Chuck, who lives down the road. Chuck, an American from Georgia, works at the Hope Center but was sent here by Pioneers. Christine is from the Philippines and has worked here for about 1.5 years. Prior to being here she has also served in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after the tsunami. They both have such a passion for God and for the people here and are doing great work among the people. It was a late night, but very good.

Today we will go to Freetown to observe how commerce is conducted. We will go into stores as well as to markets on the street and see how they carry out their businesses. I'm excited for what we will learn.

I am so impressed with these students. Fred provided our devotional on Saturday and Kerry did today. What mature believers with great hearts for God. The entire group has been so easy to work with, willing to be flexible with times and activities, ready to jump in to work in whatever way is needed. We are praying that the work we do this week will be effective both for the Kingdom as well as in helping people learn how to start and run their businesses to provide for their families and the community."

It is wonderful to hear from our friends and to share in God's work.