Here's a video of the Liberians singing one of their traditional songs and then singing a song Jonathan taught them (Sorry but I couldn't help but sing along so you'll hear me too loud!). It may take a while to load so be patient!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
LTUTP Video
Here is a video of one of the small group times during the LTUTP. Most would go outside and stand for the entire time of the small group. We didn't count off since there were different dialects and we let them choose on their own. Consequently, we had some very small groups and some rather large groups. But they seemed very engaged in the discussion and just like small groups here got off track a little!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Photos
Well, I'm finally back home and able to use my laptop. I'm not sure what the problem was but the flight home must have 'cured' it so now it works and I can upload photos from our trip.
This
first photo is Betty, who was our meal hostess at the UMC Compound in Monrovia our first and last nights in Liberia. Betty is a missionary to Liberia from the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Next, is a photo of one of the meals at the UMC Compound in Monrovia
Here we have a photo of Dean Young receiving the gift of a laptop from Tabor UMC in
Woxall, PA. Dean Young had a terrible case of sciatica and was incapacitated most of the time we were there so she had been laying on the floor when the delegation went to present the gift to her. Shown with Dean Young is Rich Fetzer from Tabor UMC.
Here are our cooks and meal preparers at the Gbarnga School of Theology (GST) Guest House. In the photo are (from left) Dean Young's daughter, Joyce and Kaigee (not sure I remember that spelling correctly - pronounced Ki-gee - hard g), Roger's sister. All on the team except Lynn Norman (who stayed with Dean Young) and Doug Miller and Jonathan Dow (who slept in a room in the building with the library) stayed at this guest house. We all took our meals here.
.
Many more photos with descriptions can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnbillman. You can preview photos without descriptions (and in a random order) here:
This
first photo is Betty, who was our meal hostess at the UMC Compound in Monrovia our first and last nights in Liberia. Betty is a missionary to Liberia from the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Next, is a photo of one of the meals at the UMC Compound in Monrovia
Here we have a photo of Dean Young receiving the gift of a laptop from Tabor UMC in
Woxall, PA. Dean Young had a terrible case of sciatica and was incapacitated most of the time we were there so she had been laying on the floor when the delegation went to present the gift to her. Shown with Dean Young is Rich Fetzer from Tabor UMC.
Here are our cooks and meal preparers at the Gbarnga School of Theology (GST) Guest House. In the photo are (from left) Dean Young's daughter, Joyce and Kaigee (not sure I remember that spelling correctly - pronounced Ki-gee - hard g), Roger's sister. All on the team except Lynn Norman (who stayed with Dean Young) and Doug Miller and Jonathan Dow (who slept in a room in the building with the library) stayed at this guest house. We all took our meals here.
.Many more photos with descriptions can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnbillman. You can preview photos without descriptions (and in a random order) here:
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
On our way home!
Well, I can finally post something! We all arrived in Brussels this morning around 5:30 am their time. Doug Miller immediately headed to his gate as his plane left at 6:45 for the states. Everyone else went to two different terminals to catch their planes - some heading to Munich then to the States.
Frank, Jonathan, Lynn Norman and I are waiting for our flight at noon to DC then Jonathan, Frank & I head to Nashville and home!
The event was wonderful and very well received. There are too many highlights to mention in this short at time span but I will post more when I get home and can also add photos to show you the event!
This was Jonathan's first international event and I can say he was passionate in his sharing! And, the people were very engaged with him!
They loved the streamers we passed out.
Many responded to the forgiveness interaction where they were asked if they still held unforgiveness towards their enemies.
There were about 8 who never knew their fathers and responded very positively to a Father interaction where I had them stand if they never knew their father then had fathers over 40 go to them and repeat over and over (touching or hugging if appropirate) "you are loved". One woman was visibly touched by the interaction.
The translation was not a problem and flowed well.
Yesterday and today we had a tour of UM sites in Monrovia, visiting the campus of the UM University. We visited First UMC Liberia - which REALLY is the FIRST UMC of Liberia - a beautiful building with chandeliers, stained glass windows, etc. We visited JFK Hospital where our host, Roger Domah is administrative assistant to the Hospital administrator. It was a very clean facility. We had opportunity to pray over the bed of a patient who was a friend of Roger's. He was in surgery at the time. We prayed for the others in the room also. We visited an orphanage near the airport on our way to catch our plane where there are 63 orphans.
Please pray for Liberia as they had a long way to go still in repairing the infrastructure of the country. Much was destroyed during the war. There are 3.5 million people in Liberia and 1/3 of them live in Monrovia. Also, pray for Roger. His wife was to come to the school last Friday to meet us and she never showed up. The last he spoke to her was last Thursday then he couldn't reach her cell. As of the time we left he still had not heard from her. Family members of his were trying to find her. He continued to stay with us and care for us even though he didn't know her whereabouts. He's trusting the Lord - pray for Eunice's safe return to family!
That's it for now! I need to let others use this computer but will post more when I arrive home!
Frank, Jonathan, Lynn Norman and I are waiting for our flight at noon to DC then Jonathan, Frank & I head to Nashville and home!
The event was wonderful and very well received. There are too many highlights to mention in this short at time span but I will post more when I get home and can also add photos to show you the event!
This was Jonathan's first international event and I can say he was passionate in his sharing! And, the people were very engaged with him!
They loved the streamers we passed out.
Many responded to the forgiveness interaction where they were asked if they still held unforgiveness towards their enemies.
There were about 8 who never knew their fathers and responded very positively to a Father interaction where I had them stand if they never knew their father then had fathers over 40 go to them and repeat over and over (touching or hugging if appropirate) "you are loved". One woman was visibly touched by the interaction.
The translation was not a problem and flowed well.
Yesterday and today we had a tour of UM sites in Monrovia, visiting the campus of the UM University. We visited First UMC Liberia - which REALLY is the FIRST UMC of Liberia - a beautiful building with chandeliers, stained glass windows, etc. We visited JFK Hospital where our host, Roger Domah is administrative assistant to the Hospital administrator. It was a very clean facility. We had opportunity to pray over the bed of a patient who was a friend of Roger's. He was in surgery at the time. We prayed for the others in the room also. We visited an orphanage near the airport on our way to catch our plane where there are 63 orphans.
Please pray for Liberia as they had a long way to go still in repairing the infrastructure of the country. Much was destroyed during the war. There are 3.5 million people in Liberia and 1/3 of them live in Monrovia. Also, pray for Roger. His wife was to come to the school last Friday to meet us and she never showed up. The last he spoke to her was last Thursday then he couldn't reach her cell. As of the time we left he still had not heard from her. Family members of his were trying to find her. He continued to stay with us and care for us even though he didn't know her whereabouts. He's trusting the Lord - pray for Eunice's safe return to family!
That's it for now! I need to let others use this computer but will post more when I arrive home!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 25th
I just received a few texts from Peggi. The LISS (Life in the Spirit Seminar) finished earlier today and ended well with great testimonies and a closing ceremony. The team is now back in Monrovia at the UMC compound. They enjoyed a dinner in the home of a Liberian family this evening. (It's 4pm CT as I'm writing this and that makes it about 9pm in Liberia).
Tomorrow the team will have time to shop and tour Methodist sites. They will begin the journey home around 8:30pm (Liberian time, which is 3:30pm Central time). I believe once they get to Brussels, the team will be going their separate ways to airports close to their homes. Jonathan and the Billmans will be flying through Washington Dulles and are due back in Nashville Thursday evening about 6pm. It is my understanding that Doug Miller is flying back through Munich and then into Charlotte. Here is a link to his blog: http://dmill911.blogspot.com/ (You may need to cut and paste or type this into your browser.)
Please pray for the team to make all of their connections.
Posted by Pam Dow
Tomorrow the team will have time to shop and tour Methodist sites. They will begin the journey home around 8:30pm (Liberian time, which is 3:30pm Central time). I believe once they get to Brussels, the team will be going their separate ways to airports close to their homes. Jonathan and the Billmans will be flying through Washington Dulles and are due back in Nashville Thursday evening about 6pm. It is my understanding that Doug Miller is flying back through Munich and then into Charlotte. Here is a link to his blog: http://dmill911.blogspot.com/ (You may need to cut and paste or type this into your browser.)
Please pray for the team to make all of their connections.
Posted by Pam Dow
Monday, May 24, 2010
Peggi says that the LISS (Life in the Spirit Seminar) is going great! All of the team members are doing fine. Jonathan and a few of the others preached in Liberian churches yesterday for Pentecost. Tomorrow (Tuesday, May 25th)they will conclude the LISS and depart Gbarnga for Monrovia. The team will tour Monrovia & UMC ministries there on Wednesday. Please continue to pray.
Pam Dow posting for Peggi Billman.
Pam Dow posting for Peggi Billman.
Friday, May 21, 2010
May 20-21
May 20th
The LTUTP continued today. We determined that we needed a translator since the three dialects could understand English but we spoke rather fast and some things did not come across. SO, our talks needed to be condensed because the translator was translating into two of the three dialects. Plus, he described himself as a Zulu preacher – which having seen him in action meant a fired-up Pentecostal type preacher!
We did not have ministry time since we will be doing that during the WIST and LISS. Even without that we had to cut some talks BUT you know, God is SO GOOD. The people were engaged and sat for a long time, only taking stretch breaks, not our typical 15 minutes breaks. We did do the commissioning service. I had 6 teams because that’s all the oil we had (our luggage had still not arrived so we had a limited supply from those who carried theirs on!). Frank gave a brief teaching on anointing with oil and I (Peggi) directed the people up to a team to try and keep some order and not have them pressing into the teams too much. We then closed with a prayer or blessing tunnel at the back of the church and just blessed them as they left tonight.
Lynn Norman is staying at Dean Young’s home so Frank and I walked her home after dinner to check on Yatta. She is feeling better but still can’t sit without pain. She shared some wonderful stories of her life here in Liberia, stories of the school, needs of the students. To go to school here there’s a $25 registration fee then $12/credit for courses. That’s US money. In Liberian money the registration fee is approximately $1500 and a 3 credit course would be around $2160.
Yatta also shared with us that one of her District Superintendents (who translated for us) stopped by yesterday to tell her what this seminar meant to his pastors and how they were enjoying it. In the group there are 3 female pastors. There is still a problem with women pastors here even though they did everything when the men disappeared during the war or went into hiding. There were some strong woman pastors who had some very fruitful ministries during that time. That opened the door but there are still those who don’t think they should minister. Yatta feels her ministry is to young women so they can grow up knowing they can go into ministry. We’re grateful we have Rev. Maryanne Ditter on our team as an example of a Spirit-filled UM female pastor!
Since our time for teaching is now shortened we were all working on cutting down our WIST talks for tomorrow when our luggage arrived!!! It was like Christmas in the guest house (without the bills). We were so excited – we have clean clothes for tomorrow, toiletries we’ve done without and snacks, gifts, etc. that were packed to bring.
May 21st - we began the Worship in Spirit and Truth seminar today and so far it is going very well. Our translators have not been as "long winded" as the one yesterday as I think they're only translating into one dialect. Jonathan taught them all a song "O Give Thanks Unto the Lord"; Sue sang "Oh How He Loves you and Me". All was well received including the talks! Some participants said they missed the small group experiences we had in the LTUTP but times of stretching, singing (as a group and to one another) were worked in today. After I've posted this I will return late for the afternoon teachings. Tomorrow night we will have a night of worship at the church here on campus with some American worship style and some Liberian. It should be great!!
I am having difficulty uploading images to the blog and will try to determine another method I can use but it will most likely not be until Monday when the High School is open again that I can try!
The LTUTP continued today. We determined that we needed a translator since the three dialects could understand English but we spoke rather fast and some things did not come across. SO, our talks needed to be condensed because the translator was translating into two of the three dialects. Plus, he described himself as a Zulu preacher – which having seen him in action meant a fired-up Pentecostal type preacher!
We did not have ministry time since we will be doing that during the WIST and LISS. Even without that we had to cut some talks BUT you know, God is SO GOOD. The people were engaged and sat for a long time, only taking stretch breaks, not our typical 15 minutes breaks. We did do the commissioning service. I had 6 teams because that’s all the oil we had (our luggage had still not arrived so we had a limited supply from those who carried theirs on!). Frank gave a brief teaching on anointing with oil and I (Peggi) directed the people up to a team to try and keep some order and not have them pressing into the teams too much. We then closed with a prayer or blessing tunnel at the back of the church and just blessed them as they left tonight.
Lynn Norman is staying at Dean Young’s home so Frank and I walked her home after dinner to check on Yatta. She is feeling better but still can’t sit without pain. She shared some wonderful stories of her life here in Liberia, stories of the school, needs of the students. To go to school here there’s a $25 registration fee then $12/credit for courses. That’s US money. In Liberian money the registration fee is approximately $1500 and a 3 credit course would be around $2160.
Yatta also shared with us that one of her District Superintendents (who translated for us) stopped by yesterday to tell her what this seminar meant to his pastors and how they were enjoying it. In the group there are 3 female pastors. There is still a problem with women pastors here even though they did everything when the men disappeared during the war or went into hiding. There were some strong woman pastors who had some very fruitful ministries during that time. That opened the door but there are still those who don’t think they should minister. Yatta feels her ministry is to young women so they can grow up knowing they can go into ministry. We’re grateful we have Rev. Maryanne Ditter on our team as an example of a Spirit-filled UM female pastor!
Since our time for teaching is now shortened we were all working on cutting down our WIST talks for tomorrow when our luggage arrived!!! It was like Christmas in the guest house (without the bills). We were so excited – we have clean clothes for tomorrow, toiletries we’ve done without and snacks, gifts, etc. that were packed to bring.
May 21st - we began the Worship in Spirit and Truth seminar today and so far it is going very well. Our translators have not been as "long winded" as the one yesterday as I think they're only translating into one dialect. Jonathan taught them all a song "O Give Thanks Unto the Lord"; Sue sang "Oh How He Loves you and Me". All was well received including the talks! Some participants said they missed the small group experiences we had in the LTUTP but times of stretching, singing (as a group and to one another) were worked in today. After I've posted this I will return late for the afternoon teachings. Tomorrow night we will have a night of worship at the church here on campus with some American worship style and some Liberian. It should be great!!
I am having difficulty uploading images to the blog and will try to determine another method I can use but it will most likely not be until Monday when the High School is open again that I can try!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Well, it is May 19th and this is the first time I've had to get on the Internet so no time to post pictures! Just know we all arrived safely but all our luggage did not! Jonathan is the only one who received ALL his luggage! Our flight to Frankfurt from Chicago was delayed so much so that we ALMOST missed our flight to Brussels. They had to transport us on 3 different buses to get to our plane which was way out on the tarmac.
Our drive to Gbarnga (pronouned Baahnga) The G is silent and the "r" is pronounced like a Southern saying it!! 11 of us were in a van with luggage (air conditioned van) and 2 were in a taxi with the boxes of manuals (not air conditioned). The taxi had a flat and all the men had to assess it before changing (our men included). Then they transferred some of the manuals to the van and some lighter luggage to the taxi. Fine - we're on our way. THEN we stopped to have the spare fixed so they weren't without a spare. Interesting "tire repair center" - they use every tire available to cut patches and fix broken tires. We finally arrived at Gbarnga School of Theology (GST) at 6pm - we were supposed to be here at 12 noon but "not to worry!"
Today we began the LTUTP and it is going very well. Except we discovered there are 3 dialects here who do not understand English so we're having a lot of "summaries" of talks. Please pray for Dean Yatta Young who suffered a back injury Sunday night and is in a tremendous amount of pain. Some women went to pray for her this morning and I know she would appreciate your covering her in prayer also. She was SO LOOKING forward to this event and feels like she is really missing out on what she planned on so long!
I guess that's it for the time I have to share now! Hopefully I can put more on another time with pictures. Of course, the things we need are in our luggage and it is supposed to arrive this evening here at the school so that's another prayer concern. The converters to plug things in; the longer life batteries for computers and cameras - not to mention CLOTHES and toiletries! It's good we love each other!!!
In His GRIP in Liberia-
Peggi and team
Our drive to Gbarnga (pronouned Baahnga) The G is silent and the "r" is pronounced like a Southern saying it!! 11 of us were in a van with luggage (air conditioned van) and 2 were in a taxi with the boxes of manuals (not air conditioned). The taxi had a flat and all the men had to assess it before changing (our men included). Then they transferred some of the manuals to the van and some lighter luggage to the taxi. Fine - we're on our way. THEN we stopped to have the spare fixed so they weren't without a spare. Interesting "tire repair center" - they use every tire available to cut patches and fix broken tires. We finally arrived at Gbarnga School of Theology (GST) at 6pm - we were supposed to be here at 12 noon but "not to worry!"
Today we began the LTUTP and it is going very well. Except we discovered there are 3 dialects here who do not understand English so we're having a lot of "summaries" of talks. Please pray for Dean Yatta Young who suffered a back injury Sunday night and is in a tremendous amount of pain. Some women went to pray for her this morning and I know she would appreciate your covering her in prayer also. She was SO LOOKING forward to this event and feels like she is really missing out on what she planned on so long!
I guess that's it for the time I have to share now! Hopefully I can put more on another time with pictures. Of course, the things we need are in our luggage and it is supposed to arrive this evening here at the school so that's another prayer concern. The converters to plug things in; the longer life batteries for computers and cameras - not to mention CLOTHES and toiletries! It's good we love each other!!!
In His GRIP in Liberia-
Peggi and team
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Well, we all arrived at Chicago Int'l airport fine. Some were able to print boarding passes from home and some were not. Our flight WAS to leave at 3:40 and those of us without passes were told to come back at 2:00 to check-in. We did and then some of us were told we were on stand-by! God took care of that and we all received boarding passes through to Monrovia.
BUT, now our flight is delayed an hour which shortens our time to catch the flight to Brussels in Frankfurt. Be praying for smooth transition to that flight and the ability to then catch our flight to Monrovia.
Everyone is well except Lynn Denges who has a cold - pray for complete healing. She expects it - complete healing, that is!!
Lynn Norman's eyesight is getting worse and she has a membrane growing inside her eye (again - removed 2 yrs ago - has grown back). I'm praying she's healed on this trip and needs to cancel her surgery when she gets home.
The flight is completely full (actually overbooked!). All couples are next to each other except Frank and I (Peggi!). We are not even in the same row so I guess I shouldn't lean my head over on the shoulder next to me!!
That's all for now - pray for our flights to go smooth from now on!
BUT, now our flight is delayed an hour which shortens our time to catch the flight to Brussels in Frankfurt. Be praying for smooth transition to that flight and the ability to then catch our flight to Monrovia.
Everyone is well except Lynn Denges who has a cold - pray for complete healing. She expects it - complete healing, that is!!
Lynn Norman's eyesight is getting worse and she has a membrane growing inside her eye (again - removed 2 yrs ago - has grown back). I'm praying she's healed on this trip and needs to cancel her surgery when she gets home.
The flight is completely full (actually overbooked!). All couples are next to each other except Frank and I (Peggi!). We are not even in the same row so I guess I shouldn't lean my head over on the shoulder next to me!!
That's all for now - pray for our flights to go smooth from now on!
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