ABC University Chapel is COMPLETE!

October marked the month for the final ABC team of the year to come and fully complete the Chapel! I have been waiting for this day all year- seeing the chapel come together bit by bit... and wondering how the finished product would look. I was not disappointed. Being the focal point of the campus, it is the most impressive Chapel in Liberia that I have seen!

Here are a few images from mounting the temporary cross on the building.

After the cross was hung, the end of the day came and the workers scattered. A handful of students entered the chapel to prepare for the next day's chapel service. They began to sing a Liberian song...

"Give God the Glory. Give God the honor. For you are worthy, and we Praise your name."

I couldn't help but get emotional as I thought back over the last year and a half, watching this campus be transformed physically, but also spiritually. Not only has this campus been filled with hungry Christian students, but the workers that Samaritan's Purse has been working with have been and continue to be transformed spiritually.

"Give God the Glory. Oh Lord we thank you, Oh Lord we thank you

and we praise your name"

The wonderful group of workers at ABC University!

The very first chapel service held in the completed building.

I feel so privelaged to be a part of the transformation at African Bible College University.

Thanksgiving in Liberia

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all of you! I really hope that you were all able to take a step back and look at all the Blessings that God has showered on you. Every day I realize how blessed I am, with not only what He has given me, but where He chose for me to grow up. There are days when I am riding a motorbike up country, on the way to our projects. As I pass the mud huts that hug the dirt road, I see a woman my age, pounding rice in a mortor in order to feed her family that night. I think about how if God had chosen me to grow up here, instead of with my family in Iowa, how drastically different life would be. Would I know what a healthy, loving marriage looks like? Would I have been one of the very lucky girls to actually go to school? Would I ever leave my home village or have any idea what kind of amazing world God has created for me to live in? Would I even be alive after growing up in a malaria infested country? Would I be a Christian?

Often these thoughts bring some guilt- just knowing that I grew up in a completely safe and wealthy environment, where I was able to be a kid, not having to haul water on my head every day in order to survive. Guilt for all that I have been blessed with. But at the same time, I have learned that God places us all where we can be used for Him best. He has a plan for all of us.

I'm thankful for where God placed me in this world. I'm thankful for this amazing job that allows me to experience so much more of His world and His people, and to be a part of his growing and expanding Kingdom.

I will admit, it was tough to be away from family this year at Thanksgiving, but at the same time, I know that I am where I need to be. And I am thankful for that.