we're half way there!

after a very intense monrovia airport experience and a somewhat tumultuous flight last night/this morning, we have made it to brussels. our last day in monrovia was just perfect. the weather was superb, we hung out and prayed at the clinic, and we got to say bye to the kids at the orphanage. words cannot express how much i enjoyed my time in liberia. i really do hope that i get to go back one day. in the mean time i have about a million pictures, which i will try to post when i get home and can't sleep. (the jetlag will be intense.) the pictures will have to suffice for now.

we will be in brussels until saturday when we'll make the rest of our journey back home to nashville. but tomorrow we're going to the chocolate museum! (can't go wrong when chocolate is involved.)

peace and love
julia.

so long, farewell

so while i've been here, i've been reading this book called blue clay people by william powers. he was here in liberia with a non-profit right in the middle of the 14 year civil war, and this book is essentially just his experience here, and it's unbelieveable. he references two people, and the quotes he mentions have just been haunting me during my stay here. so i'll share them with you:

"we have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. we have been wrong. we must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. and that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. we must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits. but even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never clearly understand it. we must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. we must recover the sense of the majesty of the creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. for it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it." - wendell berry

"there is no such thing as doing great things in this world. we can only do small things with great love." - mother theresa

i think those are good things to meditate over when you're in a place like liberia. the needs are so vast and great that it's hard to know where to start. but really, you do what you do best. for the chapmans, they opened up a dental clinic to care for people that were dying of infections in their mouths. for me, it meant that i played with a lot of adorable children while i was here. but the poverty is overwhelming, and the effects of the war are still so apparent. so to not be overwhelmed by the need for change and newness, i just kept remembering the latter quote. i'm just one person, but i have great love.

my prayer this week and a half has just over and over been that i'm so ready for things to be made right here on earth. that i want wholeness and newness for all of creation, especially for places like liberia. i also want to know how to continue to be an advocate for things like justice and peace. show me please.

today was the perfect end to our time here. the weather was just gorgeous. and we got to spend the afternoon with the kids at the orphanage we've been visiting this week. we brought them ice cream and then just played with them for a couple hours. and one of them said to me "you come back, yeah?" basically asking me when i was coming back to liberia. i found myself answering "yes, soon." i don't know why. hopefully i will come back here one day. but for now, this will do, and i'm so so so glad i got to spend time here with this wonderful family.

see you in brussels!

peace and love,
julia

see rock hill

time just keeps flying on by. we only have three more full days left here, and then we go back to brussels. weird. yesterday we went for a walk with ida, one of the local people here that works for kristin and keith. she took us into her neighborhood and to a place called rock hill. it was one of the most moving experiences i've had here. there were people everywhere, and the houses just seemed to be put in places that didn't really make sense. keep in mind that i use the term house very loosely. there were usually walls and sometimes roofs, but the roofs that they had were always leaky (not very fun for rainy season). and then at one point we were walking over a makeshift bridge, and there was a little girl, who looked so frightened by this strange group of white people, washing clothes in the very water that i was afraid to put my feet in.

then we made it to rock hill. it is called rock hill because for income there, people will literally take the big rocks and break them up in to carryable pieces. then they'll sit with those pieces and crush them until they are much smaller. then what they sell is just the buckets of rocks. i can't quite figure out who is buying the rocks, but i think people are using the rocks to make the roads gravel. a lot of them right now are just dirt... interesting way to make a living, but they only make a few dollars. that seems like a lot of work for not a lot of money.

i think the reason this walk was so moving to me was because it really brought to light the stark difference of situation for these people. there is still so much poverty. it reminded me of this book i'm reading that someone wrote about their experience in liberia. he said he came to liberia expecting to feel what it was like to be really, really poor. instead he came and felt what it was like to be really, really wealthy. i think we can resonate with that. there is definitely some serious need here, and i almost find myself wishing i could stay.

peace and love,

julia.

photos!

this is us just arriving. okay so i can't seem to get many of them uploaded, so the rest will have to wait til i get back.

peace and love
julia

why i came to liberia...

the experiences from today i think are just too close, so i think i will introduce you to my dear friends that we have come to see... i want ya'll at home to understand the full ministry (even though i don't think i will ever fully know) that they do here beyond what is done at the clinic. meet the chapmans:

first there is keith, aka daddy, aka dr. keith: not only is he the only licensed dentist at trinity, but he is also the main administrator for the clinic. and then at the end of the day he comes home to his family and is a wonderful father and husband, but then also has to be the caretaker of the house. (for instance today he discovered that there were a few leaks in his roof, which is never a good thing during rainy season.) but today i got to observe him essentially, in laymans terms, reconstructing the top row of this girl's teeth. the girl was one of the orphans from the orphanage, which is such a great way to give to them if you ask me. he was so good at explaining what he was doing and trying to keep her at ease, and despite her fussing he did a wonderful job and completely changed her teeth. but the job doesn't end when all the patients leave. he is in charge of all the books and keeping things in stock. i don't know how he does it.

but then there's kristin, aka mommy: if there were ever a woman who defined supermom, it would be kristin chapman. i feel like she has supersonic hearing. no matter what she is doing, she can still hear her kids saying "mommyyyy..." she is also excellent at driving and maneuvering through the downtown traffic that includes everything from cars that make up their own lanes, to people, to chickens, etc. it's really amazing. but she is also one of the most genuinely caring people that i have ever met. today when keith was working on that girl's teeth, she went to the girl, who was obviously terrified, and put her hands on this girl's hands and reassured her. on a typical day she is teaching her children but then also fielding questions from people around the campus. she is also really good at including everyone and making sure everyone's voice is heard.

taylor, aka tay, aka taywuh (if samuel is calling her name): taylor is the oldest of the three kids, and is so good at looking out for all of them. she is very compassionate and is quick to help out her brother or sister if they ask.

lauren: lauren is the silent helper. she always seems to be asking her mom if she needs help in the kitchen. she is so patient and genuine and has such a sweet heart. the girls are so good at playing with each other, and it's beautiful to see how true their friendship is.

samuel: samuel brings the laughter to the bunch. he's a lot like his dad. he has no fear, and with him what you see is what you get. half the time he is running around the house making light saber noises and singing the entire theme of star wars, yes the whole thing.

this family is incredible, and i feel blessed to know them. they are doing so much to be the church to the people of liberia. when nicole was talking to some of the other workers at the clinic the one thing they all had to say was that money here is put to good use. they are saving lives every day, and they wanted people back home to know that their money will not go to waste.

people at work kept asking me why i wanted to come all the way to liberia... this is it.

peace and love,
julia

rain rain, go away...

so apparently we decided to come to monrovia at the start of rainy season. we've been lucky and had mostly sunny weather up til last night. it's about 9:30 in the morning right now, and it has been raining ever since about 5:30 last night. doesn't show any signs of letting up any time soon. the chapmans have a tin roof, which sounds cool with the rain coming down. when it rains hard, though, it's really intense! hopefully it will let up soon because today is our day to venture to the market!

peace and love

julia

liberian history 101

let me just tell you how wonderful it is to wake up to what we woke up to today... a kitchen full of yummy waffles and fresh smoothies. and then of course there's the beach. did i mention that their house is across the path from the beach? the wind was blowing. the sun was up, and it was just gorgeous. (jealous much?)

we spent the morning at an orphanage that the chapmans have just started to get involved with. i don't really know what i was expecting, but that was definitely not it... there were a lot less children there than i had expected, only about 16. there was really just 1 woman who ran the orphanage, and she lived in the same building that the children did. the operation acted like one big family. (in our western terms: she was a single mom with 16 kids.) the older kids helped to care for the younger ones, etc. while we were there, kristin and another woman from trinity dental clinic taught some basic teeth-cleaning tips to the children, and the kids that need work will get to go to the clinic to get work on their teeth. what a great way to give and serve!

this afternoon we got a bit of a history lesson from kristin. we visited this old rundown hotel that was thriving before the civil war. (research it if you're interested. it's pretty fascinating.) the war lasted for about 14 years and only just ended in 2003. the effects of the war are still visibly present: there is still a un presence, but they are essentially just here to keep the status quo. and what had been an up and coming center for western africa was basically just put to a halt during the war. there is just so much poverty. city poverty looks different from country poverty too: in the country people still can grow vegetables , but in the city the people are left to beg for their survival. today on the road we saw a few boys that were missing arms or legs, casualties from the war. (p.s. the streets were insane! i thought that the baggage claim was chaotic, but i hadn't seen anything yet. driving is really just a game of "don't hit those people that are walking right there out in front of your car.")

buildings and walls still have bullet holes. and then there was this hotel that we went to today. in its prime it was an 8 story resort. then it just got destroyed during the war, and then even after the war, it was overrun by rogues and vagrants (3000 of them to be exact). the soldiers had to drive everyone out. one of the more haunting sights in the hotel was on one of the walls, there was spray painted "any vagrants here will be handled by the police violently." it was very chilling when posted right beside walls that were just decaying. marjie commented that it even looked like the titanic rotting at the bottom of the ocean. it was quite strange and hard to imagine 3000 people living there at one time. i'll try to post some pictures of that soon, but tomorrow should prove to be exciting too: we're going to the bead village!

peace and love,
julia

photos!

okay here are some pictures! there's a couple of our day in brussels. and then the rest are of us either on the way to the chapman's house or at their house. i had to make the file size so small so that it wouldn't take too long to load!

we're not in kansas anymore.

so we finally made it! after another 6 hours on a plane (totaling us to about 23 hours of travel time!) i cannot really even put into words how wonderful it felt to finally land on the ground here in monrovia. we finally got off the plane onto what looked like a glorified parking lot and then walked into the airport. we stood in line in a room that was probably the size of just one terminal at a typical airport in the states. i wish that i would’ve felt comfortable taking a picture because i have never seen anything like this… there were a bunch of people that were just standing around from what i could tell basically to look intimidating. the room was not very open but had tiles on the floors that very well could be kitchen tiles. just past the customs gates were little health inspector rooms, which i am so so glad we did not have to go in. i think horrible visions of dramatic hollywood movies would have flashed through my head non-stop. but thankfully we made it through, but then there was the utter chaos of baggage claim. again we were in a very small, over crowed room where people were scrambling for their luggage. eventually they let us out with our bags and we ventured out to see the wonderful smiling faces of the chapman family! they had all come to see us at the airport! we got all our bags in the car (and i think we almost started another civil war making sure everyone got tipped.)

the drive to their campus (which is where their clinic is and their home is) was incredible. everything was just so green! but there were people, dogs, chickens, etc. just walking everywhere along the streets. we passed a little village called smellnotaste where we got a nice little history lesson from nicole who told us that the village got its name during world war 2. some of the american soldiers were camped there for a while, and they would cook all this food that the locals could smell. the soldiers never shared their food so they could smell and not taste the food, which is how the village got its name. keith said he was not surprised because everything here is very literal. there are apparently birds that come only at christmas time that are called christmas birds. the trees that are used for telephone wires are called telephone trees. kinda cool.

when we got to their house, which is beautiful by the way, we unpacked and were told helpful things like which dogs we could not pet. we had a fabulous liberian dinner called jollof, which essentially consisted of rice, various vegetables, and beef. we also had our meal supplemented with some delicious pineapple. we discussed a few plans for the week, and i can’t wait to get into all of this. i’ll try and upload a picture or two tomorrow, but for now i’m getting too impatient with the slow connection (i’m so spoiled!)

but we’re here! we made it safely and so did our luggage (all 14 suitcases!)

peace and love
julia

a few photos of our arrival

here are some pictures of us just arriving in brussels yesterday.  we may look pretty rough because at this point we hadn't slept in quite a while.  we have an insane amount of luggage!

bonjour mes amis!

after about 17 total hours of travel time (including layover) we finally arrived in brussels this morning slash last night... depending on which part of the world you are in. because in our minds it was 1am by the time we got to the hotel (which is ever so conveniently located across the street from the airport), we decided to take a little power nap and then venture out so that we could get adjusted to the new time zone.

the city of brussels is so charming. the old buildings just seem to be so welcoming. unfortunately as soon as we got off the train we were greeted by some annoying misty rain. it was still such an enjoyable walk through the mismatched, cobbled streets. we finally found a place to sit and eat a good meal, and of course it stopped raining as soon as we went inside. but with some food in our systems we started to feel like human beings again. (nicole commented after only having slept for about an hour and a half that she felt like a cartoon version of herself. we were all definitely a little loopy when we were leaving the hotel!)

now we're all back at the hotel, willing ourselves to stay awake until the clock reaches a reasonable time for normal people to go to bed. our flight for liberia leaves in the morning, and i cannot wait to get there! see ya'll in monrovia!

peace and love
julia.

layover in chicago...

hello friends!

so as of right now i can't update the website, but hopefully we'll get it up and running soon. anyways, we've got a pretty big layover in chicago, but we've got a sweet deal thanks to john. we're hanging out in the admirals club with our lunch catered! here is a photo of us hanging out!

see ya'll in brussels!

peace and love
julia

here are some fun facts about our team!

john: 48 years, son of a pediatrician and a nurse, 4 brothers & sisters, including brother gary who was a full time, long term missionary for operation mobilization for many years. very happily married to natasha with two lovely, lovely daughters, nicole (19, sophomore at usc film school in la) and alexandra (16, junior at usn high school and master fiddle player). currently founder & ceo, southwind health partners, a physician practice management firm serving not-for-profit health systems ("at the intersection of the hospital/physician relationship). love music, art, movies, travel...

natasha: by profession, i am a cancer research scientist specializing in novel personalized treatment srategies for colon cancer and novel ways to image cancer aggressiveness. on the personal side, i'm dedicated to my very active family life, and to my church (st. b's since 1992). i love to garden, to cook, to play my mountain dulcimer (am a former 10 plus year founding member of the nashville dulcimer quartet).

marjie: i drove a mario andretti race car at 152 miles per hour. i worked as a journalist for over two decades, covered the entertainment beat and interviewed, among others, johnny cash, paul anka, tom jones, and sarah mclachlan. i also won first prize at a county fair for my first crop of potatoes grown on manitoulin island, ontario.

jerry: i just celebrated my 33rd anniversary of my ordination. i also just ran my first ever half marathon (time: 2hrs and 17mins). i used to play hockey and was led to Christ by a pro-hockey player when he was waterfront director at a summer hockey camp.

nicole: i'm a student at the school of cinematic arts at usc, and am unbelievably blessed to live an exciting life in los angeles with so many opportunities! in addition, i get to do cool stuff like go with my family and friends on this trip to liberia, where i'll be making a documentary. i like to cook, read, and go for walks. shoutout to the best friends in the world - miss you guys!

julia: i love to create: sewing, knitting, baking, coloring, etc. i’m hopelessly addicted to lost and the office. music is my favorite.

alexandra: i'm 16 years old and have been playing the fiddle for more than half my life. i spend most of my time playing music with my friend lizzie and otherwise whenever i can. i'm excited to help out at the dentist clinic and meet local people in the next couple weeks!

welcome!

we are just a few days out from take off, and words cannot explain all the emotions at least i am feeling right now... excited, nervous, anxious, happy, etc.  i could go on, but i won’t.  anyways, i just wanted to put this together to be able to keep you, our people at home, up to date with our adventures.  i should be able to update this pretty regularly, but just in case for some reason i can’t get it to cooperate, i’ve put together just a regular blogspot address that if i have to, i can just update from there...  liberiaadventure2009.blogspot.com  so if this site hasn’t been updated, then i would check that one.

i would ask of you, to those who are into that kind of thing, to keep us in your prayers.  this is a big adventure that we are all going on, and i for one have been a little intimidated by it the past few days.  when it comes down to it, i know we are in good hands, though, which is reassuring.  please pray that our trip is effective and beneficial, that we will be able to show love to everyone that we come in contact with.  pray for grace and safety for all of our travels.  the journey there is pretty intense: saturday morning go from nashville to chicago to london to brussels.  spend the night in brussels and then off to monrovia.  pray that all of our luggage makes it there with us.  we all also had to have a lot of shots, so pray that they will do what they are supposed to do.  pray also for our group dynamic.  our team is just wonderful, but pray for us to be loving and patient with each other.  finally i would also ask that you pray for peace for all of yourselves, our friends and families back home here, who might be a little apprehensive about a trip like this.  (you may have responded “you’re going where?!?” at some point.)  it is going to be such an exciting trip!

thank you in advance for your thoughts and prayers.  your support means so much!  see ya’ll in liberia!

peace and love,

julia