esmaspäev, detsember 13, 2004
Dixons' Christmas Letter
This is from some Salvation Army officers from our home territory who are serving as missionaries in Liberia. They are African-Americans and we were acquainted with Hester's sister in our last appointment. One of our employees was from Liberia, so we have been praying for this country for some time now.
December 7, 2004
Dear Friends:
Even though we’ve been here a little over 2 months it feels like we’ve been here forever. We left New York on October 16th arriving in London on the 17th. We left London on the 20th at 5:30am and arrived in Monrovia at 6:30pm. We were welcomed at the Airport in Monrovia by a huge contingent of Army officers, soldiers, and young people who cheered as we came out of the terminal. They were a welcomed sight after such a long and audacious journey....
The water is not safe to drink as is, so we boil and filter water 3 to 4 times a day. Everything in Liberia is powered by generators, because the war destroyed the whole country's electrical gird. Our generators have to be turned off at 2:30pm to rest until 5:30 and then turned off again at 11:00pm until 5:00am the next morning. Even so, we have become quite resourceful and have managed to survive in the heat (90 degrees plus everyday). Trying to keep things cool and safe to eat is a chore in itself....
At the end of our second week in Liberia there was a riot. At least 5 churches and 4 Mosques were burned. Private homes were vandalized and destroyed, all the schools were closed and at least 18 people lost their lives. We felt trapped, powerless and fearful for our lives and the lives of the people whom God would soon give over to our care and safekeeping. At the height of our fear God spoke to our hearts, assuring us that we could trust him to be faithful to us and our people. We were infused with power, set free from the fear that gripped us like a vice and anxious to fight in the war against sin and the man of sin. We knew then and there that God didn’t bring us over 10,000 miles to a foreign land to leave us comfortless and alone. During that time of uncertainty and unrest we felt God the Holy Spirit enveloping us and the whole army in his arms of protection, peace and love. AWESOME!
Things have slowly returned to normal, as normal as they can be in Liberia. Our schools were allowed to reopen after 7 days, we are no long under martial law and the curfew that was imposed on the country for 3 weeks is now lifted.
We have seen and experienced many things in these last two months. I would like to share a few of them with you.
Yesterday while walking back from the local grocery store, I saw a little girl sitting on a log. She had something in her hands that vaguely resembled a doll. Someone had taken two pieces of wire, made a cross out of them, and put some straw at the top, trying to make it look like a baby doll with long flowing hair. As I watched, she gently stroked the straw hair and kissed the fake doll's imaginary face. My heart broke, because my youngest granddaughter owns at least 50 dolls. She has dolls that she’s never played with or taken from their packages. As I pondered on this I wished that I could fly back home to the USA, get just one of my granddaughter’s dolls, and give it to the little girl; instead I continued on my journey home, hardly seeing where I was going because of the tears falling from my eyes.
Just outside our CHQ building we’ve seen young boys rummaging through the garbage dump looking for plastic bottles. We often watch them attach bottle caps to the sides of the bottles making makeshift wheels. Some of the boys take string and tie it around the mouth of the bottle so that they can pull their homemade vehicles along the unpaved dusty road.
The girls play with dolls made of wire and straw and the boys make homemade trucks and cars to play with out of debris from the garbage dump....
We’re having a hard time getting use to this kind of stuff. The people here have been so abused by past atrocities that they have little hope of anything better happening to them. They accept everything that happens to them without saying a word. We are working and praying with our officers, trying to encourage and support them in the work that God has set before them.... This place has virtually driven us to our knees, not only for ourselves but for our people. We’re praying every day for wisdom and courage because we know that the battle is not ours but the Lord's.
In the past we’ve said that our God is an Awesome God; since coming to Liberia we KNOW that he is AWESOME. We’ve experienced his keeping power. We are recipients of His provincial care, and He is giving us Grace upon Grace upon Grace upon Grace.
We see on a daily basis the works of his almighty hand. The country of Liberia is beautiful in spite of 14 years of war. In the midst of broken and burned out buildings we see exotic plants and flowers blooming with abandonment....
We are going to have a Christmas program on the 23rd at our Monrovia City Corps. I have organized and have started training a group of young women from our Girls Hostel who will be dancing in celebration of the birth of the newborn king....
Jesus is “the Prince of Peace”. The people of Liberia and all over the world need peace. We’re counting on the Prince of Peace to come through for the country of Liberia.
We’ve only just begun our journey of faith here in Liberia, we don’t have a road map for the journey, all we have are the promises of God and the prayers of the saints. Please be assured of this, we are trusting God big time....
Keep on praying for us, we need your prayers more than anything else.
Please know that we love all of you and are praying for our home territory everyday. Like Paul, we thank our God upon every remembrance of you.
Sincerely yours in Jesus Name
Majors Bob and Hester Dixon
Command Leaders, Liberia West Africa Command
December 7, 2004
Dear Friends:
Even though we’ve been here a little over 2 months it feels like we’ve been here forever. We left New York on October 16th arriving in London on the 17th. We left London on the 20th at 5:30am and arrived in Monrovia at 6:30pm. We were welcomed at the Airport in Monrovia by a huge contingent of Army officers, soldiers, and young people who cheered as we came out of the terminal. They were a welcomed sight after such a long and audacious journey....
The water is not safe to drink as is, so we boil and filter water 3 to 4 times a day. Everything in Liberia is powered by generators, because the war destroyed the whole country's electrical gird. Our generators have to be turned off at 2:30pm to rest until 5:30 and then turned off again at 11:00pm until 5:00am the next morning. Even so, we have become quite resourceful and have managed to survive in the heat (90 degrees plus everyday). Trying to keep things cool and safe to eat is a chore in itself....
At the end of our second week in Liberia there was a riot. At least 5 churches and 4 Mosques were burned. Private homes were vandalized and destroyed, all the schools were closed and at least 18 people lost their lives. We felt trapped, powerless and fearful for our lives and the lives of the people whom God would soon give over to our care and safekeeping. At the height of our fear God spoke to our hearts, assuring us that we could trust him to be faithful to us and our people. We were infused with power, set free from the fear that gripped us like a vice and anxious to fight in the war against sin and the man of sin. We knew then and there that God didn’t bring us over 10,000 miles to a foreign land to leave us comfortless and alone. During that time of uncertainty and unrest we felt God the Holy Spirit enveloping us and the whole army in his arms of protection, peace and love. AWESOME!
Things have slowly returned to normal, as normal as they can be in Liberia. Our schools were allowed to reopen after 7 days, we are no long under martial law and the curfew that was imposed on the country for 3 weeks is now lifted.
We have seen and experienced many things in these last two months. I would like to share a few of them with you.
Yesterday while walking back from the local grocery store, I saw a little girl sitting on a log. She had something in her hands that vaguely resembled a doll. Someone had taken two pieces of wire, made a cross out of them, and put some straw at the top, trying to make it look like a baby doll with long flowing hair. As I watched, she gently stroked the straw hair and kissed the fake doll's imaginary face. My heart broke, because my youngest granddaughter owns at least 50 dolls. She has dolls that she’s never played with or taken from their packages. As I pondered on this I wished that I could fly back home to the USA, get just one of my granddaughter’s dolls, and give it to the little girl; instead I continued on my journey home, hardly seeing where I was going because of the tears falling from my eyes.
Just outside our CHQ building we’ve seen young boys rummaging through the garbage dump looking for plastic bottles. We often watch them attach bottle caps to the sides of the bottles making makeshift wheels. Some of the boys take string and tie it around the mouth of the bottle so that they can pull their homemade vehicles along the unpaved dusty road.
The girls play with dolls made of wire and straw and the boys make homemade trucks and cars to play with out of debris from the garbage dump....
We’re having a hard time getting use to this kind of stuff. The people here have been so abused by past atrocities that they have little hope of anything better happening to them. They accept everything that happens to them without saying a word. We are working and praying with our officers, trying to encourage and support them in the work that God has set before them.... This place has virtually driven us to our knees, not only for ourselves but for our people. We’re praying every day for wisdom and courage because we know that the battle is not ours but the Lord's.
In the past we’ve said that our God is an Awesome God; since coming to Liberia we KNOW that he is AWESOME. We’ve experienced his keeping power. We are recipients of His provincial care, and He is giving us Grace upon Grace upon Grace upon Grace.
We see on a daily basis the works of his almighty hand. The country of Liberia is beautiful in spite of 14 years of war. In the midst of broken and burned out buildings we see exotic plants and flowers blooming with abandonment....
We are going to have a Christmas program on the 23rd at our Monrovia City Corps. I have organized and have started training a group of young women from our Girls Hostel who will be dancing in celebration of the birth of the newborn king....
Jesus is “the Prince of Peace”. The people of Liberia and all over the world need peace. We’re counting on the Prince of Peace to come through for the country of Liberia.
We’ve only just begun our journey of faith here in Liberia, we don’t have a road map for the journey, all we have are the promises of God and the prayers of the saints. Please be assured of this, we are trusting God big time....
Keep on praying for us, we need your prayers more than anything else.
Please know that we love all of you and are praying for our home territory everyday. Like Paul, we thank our God upon every remembrance of you.
Sincerely yours in Jesus Name
Majors Bob and Hester Dixon
Command Leaders, Liberia West Africa Command
