2025 Trip to Liberia Travel Log – Day 2
After breakfast we headed to Light of the World Chapel for church. The sanctuary was still under construction during our visit 2 years ago. It is beautiful and WAY beyond anything we could have imagined. If you are wondering, yes, that is a marble floor. Pictured above on the left is Younger, Pastor Sylvester's wife, and the choir director.
The service starts at 9:30 with a teaching service. Sometime between 10 and 10:30 they begin worshiping through music and song. Pastor Sylvester then delivered his message. After the message there was more worship through song. Our worship time lasted about 21/2 hours.
It is amazing to experience the joy, energy, and gratitude of the Liberian people as they worship. The congregation was welcoming and warmly expressed their thanks for those from Minnesota that have shared their time, talent and treasure.
Each year has a new theme. This year it is "Our Year of Productivity", which was addressed during the sermon. A recent year was declared "A Year for Rest", which seemed like a great idea to me. However, it was hard to detect anyone resting as the second building was completed in that year!
After the service we were invited to Pastor Sylvester's office for a traditional Liberian lunch of rice, chicken, fish and fried plantains, all covered in a cassava spiced sauce. The lunch was prepared by Pastor Sylvester's wife, Younger, at their home over an open charcoal fire. It was delicious! Younger dished up a very ample serving!
After lunch we went for a drive in "the country" and then headed back to the hotel.
We returned to the hotel and started assembling 400 small gift bags for the students. Depending on which grade, the gift bag might have crayons, pencils, a pencil sharpener, pens and candy. We look forward to the opportunity to meet each student as we deliver the goodies to the classrooms.