It felt so weird since today did NOT feel like New Years Eve. I guess most holidays here have not felt “normal” by our standards. Then again, nothing here feels normal.
In an effort to celebrate New Year Eve, we went down to waterside market to do some shopping. A tailor came by in the morning to show us some Liberia clothes. The girls wanted dresses and the tailor told them if they got fabric he could make them dresses. So, it was a fabric shopping day for the girls for sure. We got down to the market and stopped at the first fabric shop. The guys had about a 3 second attention span and wanted to go do something else. So they went off and the girls, Dad and Rodney stayed together. We shopped for a couple hours and got fabric for purses and dresses. We also got jewelry and I got hounded by some guy trying to sell me some monkeys. I did get some fabric even though I fought getting it. I gave in so I could get a purse made. When we walked back to the cars, the guys said we were super easy to pick out in the distance, I wonder why.
We got back, sucked down lunch, and headed to an NGO party at the Chapman’s house. The Chapmans are a family who was working on Mercy Ships which is a medical ship that provides medical assistance to West Africa. They settled down in Liberia 2 years ago and work at the hospital in ELWA as a dentist/ oral surgeon. At the party there were a large number of missionaries. We just walked around and talked to them about their lives and their missions in Liberia. Every couple had such an amazing story of being called by God or just always having a heart of missions. There was no sense or regret or doubt. They love what they do and they love the people they are helping which was very encouraging to us. They also kept telling us how encouraged they were to see such young people taking the time to come and do mission in Liberia. We all left there hearing stories that would touch our lives for eternity and some even with a sense of being called to missions someday.
Afterwards we all headed down to the beach and had a BLAST! The beach was beautiful and the water felt great. We took some rather fun photos on some ocks which provided much entertainment. It was fun watching Dad trying to juggle 3 or 4 cameras while standing in the surf while trying to time the picture just right so the wave would hit us. It was a fun painful experience.
We all got home that night covered in sand but feeling good and tired. We had a time of planning and then went off and prayed in pairs over what we want differently from the New Year. We then had the “ball drop” courtesy of Jeremiah and a hacky sack. We had a feast of crackers, trail mix, and verity of other things we could find in our suitcases. We definitely brought the New Year in right. Then all passed out before 1am.
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