Oct 31st & Nov 1st

Oct. 31
I went to JFK at 7am and had to ride with the children to school. There are no school buses so they pick up and drop off children and people all the way to town. Really different way. Found an incubator that looked like it might work so I found a cord (every thing that is considered bad they cut the cord off )found the lights to be working. UV started so I had it cleaned up and had to find wire send out, buy a plug, clean cord, attached plug, then plugged it in, start the UV and the transformer burns out then had to take it to a shop to have it rewound. I asked Dr. Julie how the baby is doing and is the UV light still needed in the morning when the lights first came on baby still needed it so after taking the transformer in then they called another Hospital to see if anyone had a UV bulb we could use for a short time and found that a whole unit was available, no one had asked. Best part by this time the condition of the baby has turned around and will not need it. PRAISE GOD!! This is the power of prayer and we will now have one more working unit. That turned into an all day project when getting a nut off with pliers in a small space leaves you to improvise, it takes a lot of time and effort. No tools. I’m suppose to get picked up at 4pm with the children. At 4:40 I called to see if there is something holding them up. No, they forgot me. They sent a car about 5:15 and got back about 6pm. I found it was wash day. Great, they washed everything but what I’m wearing. It stated raining this afternoon so I now have clean but very wet clothes as hanging them is the only way to dry them. Will see how this plays out. Was told now should get the container early next week. Here everything is later. Got to Mr. Snow’s home they fed me African gumbo with a yam base.This was good, not spicy! Now at 7pm they want to know if I want dinner oh boy, too full. Maybe some fruit later. Sharon Emailed me an update on the boxes. Now they say 1 left New Jersey on the 24th, 1 on the 26th, and 1 on the 29th. We will see if they ever arrive. It would be nice.

Nov. 1st
Pastor Sam & I went to the Rafiki Center today. When we arrived I was surprised to see how nice it was. It is away from the city, toward the airport and down a dirt road. Got to the gate explained who we were to the guard, he called and a Mr. Dave Veneman came and asked who we were. He said, "Paul Olsen, I read your name on a list here, come in. Once in side the compound, he and his wife Babs were new volunteers of 5 mouths, they directed us to the clinic. They have no staff for it yet, but the Medical Kits are a great start even for short term mission help. Took photos of them opening the cases then they showed us around and explained at this time they have 12 children.They only take true orphans no mother or father that are living and from 18 months to 5 years. One young man's story is that he was found on his dead mother's back who was trying to get to Seralion, a neighboring country. Someone took him there then someone else brought him back to Monrovia and he was found sitting on a street corner and was then advertised if he belonged to anyone. No one claimed him so he is now at Rafiki. Anyone who knew of him said he was called the survivor as he should have died many times from spending time on his mothers back after she died and all the way through his journey to Rafiki. Right now they have room for 90 children and will grow to 180. Only have staff for 30 right now. Each cottage will house 10 children and what is called a "Mother" must be 18 or older with no husband or children under 18. CHRISTIAN with a good church background. They have a guest house for short term missionaries and housing for the full time staff and missionaries. We met the director, her name is Joanne Colvin. She was very nice and asked if we would like to meet the children and house mothers. This was a GREAT day for everyone of us. This was the first step since I arrived that will truly touch lives and make a difference. I now know that I will ask the staff at JFK if there is any who may want to put some time out there once in awhile. God has shown me great things here and there is a long way to go. It stayed dry here today so I think most of my clothes are now dry so I will have something clean to wear to church tomorrow. I’m sure my time here is not wasted in God's eyes but to me it will only help if I can help others avoid some of the down time for things that should have been done 2 weeks before I arrived. Thank you for continuing to pray for me while I am over here.