Jldenid

Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa

January, 1975

Dear Christian Friends,

Happy New Year from Liberia. We pray that 1975 will be a happy and prosperous year for you and that the Lord will
supply your every need.
I t would seem that now that school is out and summer vacation

here in Liberia is in full swing, we would not be so busy, but

that is not the case. There has been continual traffic

through our front door by prospective students wanting infor mation and application forms for the next school year. The 'popularity of Christian High School has increased considerably * because of the good results our students received onl the
National Exam.

The second week of December was' a particularly memorable week

for a l l of us. We were invited to attend the annual convention

of the World-Wide.Missions of Liberia held in a village named Doedin deep in the interior of Liberia about 100 miles inland from Buchanan. The World-Wide is the strongest supporter of Liberia Christian College among the churches here in Liberia.

The only uncomfortable part of the entire trip was getting there and coming back. Actually Doedin is only 90 or so miles from Buchanan as the crow flies, but to get there by road we made a circular route covering almost 300 miles. The first 100 miles was pleasant enough paved road, but the remainder
was continous washboard,dust and heat. When we arrived after twelve hours on the road, we were all shook down and covered with a liberal coat of dust and grime. The trip back was the same in reverse with a punetured gas tank and rear-end trouble thrown in. We still haven't got the car put back in good shape.

The remainder of our week in Doedin was pure joy. The town is located in one of the unspoiled areas of Liberia where the i

high forest, towering 150 to 200 feet above the jungle trails,
still stands undisturbed by the lumberman's saw.

There were about 500 people in the village for the World-Wide
Mission conference. We were invited to attend and Greta and

1 were to teach the youth and men's classes respectively. classes, sermons and -levtional messages were to follow the
theme.

The

general theme of the conference was Stewardship, and all the

We soon discovered that not only the forest was unspoiled by civilization, but the people themselves are the "real Liberia",

They are eager to learn and to accept the Gospel. Doedin and
the surrounding district has been one of the resistant areas of Liberia to the Christan message until recent years. On one occasion a white missionary was publicly beaten and run out of the territory, but the World-Wide people have been able to make contact with the people through more acceptable tribal methods of change and decision making. Previous missions had just moved in without consulting the tribal leadership and

began to preach and teach change, reaching mainly the youth.^

When these young people wanted to become Christian and forsalce

Our house in Doedin. The kitchen is on the right (called a palaver hut) and the bath house in the background.

the old customs and traditions, the elders blamed the mission

aries for teaching the youth not to respect their elders.

The

World-Wide people first went to the elders of the district and

with all the chiefs and leaders present, asked permission to come and establish a mission with a church and elementary
school. When they were thus consulted and were satisfied that

their authority was not being ignored, these leaders readily gave permission for the mission to come in and operate. The
chiefs and elders recogize the value of the education their

young people will receive and also that the Christian message improves the life of their people. Paramount Chief Joe McCrately
is not a Christian, but he has given his fuli^support to the World-Wide Mission in Doedin. It has been mainly through his help that the church, school, dormitory and pastor's house (the last three built in the last year) have been built on the mis sion campus. The buildings,constructed of mud and sticks,were built by workers from the town that he had released from gov ernment work to help the mission. Only the zinc roofing was supplied by the mission headquarters in Buchanan. Max Ward Randall has outlined this method of evangelizing the
African tribes in his book Profile for Victory in Zambia. It is extremely interesting that the African Christian, when he i's not interfered with by Western culture, readily under

stands this and is putting it into practice among his own j)eople. Brother Abba Karnga, the most able leader of this group, had not read Brother Randall's book until recently.

I.L

if

Wayne's Men's Bible class.

and when I gave i t to him, he was quite pleased that some mis sionaries are beginning to understand his people and are

trying to reach them with the Christian message guided by

that understanding,

The results of the Doedin Conference are also impressive. In addition to all the teaching on stewardship, which is vital to the ultimate independence of the African Churchy there were nine confessions of faith in Christ, twenty-five baptisms
twenty-eight evangelists and preachers sent out, and an offer ing of over $800 was received. Add to that the fact these people are not directed by foreign missionaries, but are a completely national movement and these figures are more im

pressive.

The Meeces were there with Doug Rader as Bible

Esther Howard from World-Wide Missions
the work f i r s t hand.

teachers and Mrs.

teach and to see

International, who sends some financial aid, was there to

I have also been impressed by the Biblical stand these people

have taken. They have given up old demonimational traditions We Believe

and doctrines for the Bible alone, and are trying to make
Biblical Christianity real to their own culture.
encourage them to continue.

they have started in the right direction and only want to

The mission campus.

the background.

The village of Doedin is over the hill in

The remainder of December was spent in preparation for and en

joyment of the Christmas season. This Christmas was a bit different from past Christmas seasons in Siberia. It seems that the economic situation with high inflation had its effect. It is a commentary on Western influence when Christmas is so

much a commercial matter.

Buchanan.

Personally we had an enjoyable

Christmas with the usual exchanges of gifts and a nice dinner with an American family who is with a flour mill here in It is still hat and dry here; there has been TTo rain for four

weeks and little rain since early December.

heat more this time than beforer

We are feeling the

The dry winds from the

Sahara Desert (call Hamarton) have been with us for a month or more and the air is filled with dust which sometimes blocks

the sun for an hour or so in the morning and evening. The dust itself gets all over everything and keeps Greua and
Beverly busy dusting.

This week Wayne will be going on another bush trip, this time
with a youth group from the African Gospel League here in Buchanan. There will be about 200 young people in the camp 'and Wayne will take two of the college students along with
'him to teach bible clases. This is the first time that

fj
Inside the church during one of the services. Notice the men on one side and women on the other. Many people are on the outside
a t windows and doors.

V7ayne has taken a team from the college out on such a program.
Next month we can tell you all about it.

Again we send all our best to you for the New Year. We thank everyone for the many cards and gifts that were sent during
Christmas. We will try to respond to each one personally as soon as possible.

Love in Christ,

The Meeces

Liberia Christian College Financial Report November 1974 January 1975

Disbursements

SLCC Books Linn Tech Newsletters

59.63 65.00

American Express purchase 29.0 3 Mark Twain Bank Living Exp. Car pmt 950.00 Off. Exp. Postage, Shipping, Misc. 30.00 American Express Delayed flight chg.1,022.89 Office Exp Postage, Sunday school mt. 2p_.00 Mark Twain Bank Living Exp Educ. 1,000.00
SLCMA Blue Cross 94.04

American Exp. Delayed flight chg. F. Douglas shipping & travel exp. Office Exp. Postage and Misc.
Support
Alverda Christian Church

467.90 10.17 20.00

50.00

G. Ashley P. Aubrey
Colchester Christian Church Christview Christian Church

5.00 10.00
75.00 60.00

F. Douglas
D. Field

5.00
25.00

Fourth Christian Chapel

10.00

First Chris^an (Carnegie, Pa.) First Christian (Gillespie, 111)

M/M H. Hamm Halls Ferry Christian Church
Jeromesville Church of Christ

72.00 327.14 50.00 1,525.50

12.60

Annonymous
Modesto Christian Church Memorial Christian Church L. McCormick M. J. McGraw N. Tacoma Christian Church Oklahoma Church of Christ

20.00
385.00 30.00 25.00 3.00 136.00 45.00

Park Village Christian Church Slate Valley Christian Church

Tower Hill Christian Church Weston Church of Christ

135.50 6 0.00
10.00 60.00

jUd&ica^ ^iuvLUiM/
Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa
MARCH

Dear Christian Friends,

We are really sorry that we did not get out the letter for February. We have just been swamped with work, and something had to go. These last two months have been the hardest we have spent in Liberia as far
as the work is concerned. We are alone here now and the entire burden of the work falls on Greta and me.

In addition to all the school work, i t seems that the churches are

really opening up to us and Wayne has had more opportunities to work with the churches this dry season than ever before. More and more we get the feeling that a genuine "back to the Bible" movement is under way here.

Late in January Wayne went to a youth camp in a town called Gbornee,

about 15 miles drive and one hour walk from Buchanan. There were

about 35 young people there from many parts of the county. The camp itself was much like any youth camp, but the thrilling part of it was the two young men Wayne took with him to help with the teaching. Rougee Morris and Paul Tarr have both studied at Liberia Christian College and have expressed interest in Christian work. Rougee has definitely decided to enter the ministry. These two young men per formed in a way that makes all the hard work worth while. Both Rougee and Paul have studied at the college and'Rougee has definitely

decided to prepare himself for the Christian Ministry. He is now the youth leader in his church and has been put in charge of the English speaking part of the church's two worship services each Sunday. Paul is also a fine Christian boy and is presently waiting for a scholar ship to a medical school so that he can study medicine. He wants to be a doctor for his own people. These two boys and others like them have a wonderful future ahead of them especially since they both have
deep Christian convictions.

In January we also began work on the canpus to get ready to move there with the student body when school began in March. The students clean ed the campus and cut grass and trees and grubbed brush to make room

for a playground.

This kept us very busy carrying supplies to them

There were twenty-one of them and they

and food to feed them lunch.

ate about 100 lbs. of rice every week.

cooked for them.

One of our teachers, Julia Morgan,

In addition to the cleaning and clearing work, the students made and stored about 2,000 mud blocks which will be used in building sometime in the future. The block making method is much akin to that which Hebrews used while in exile in Egypt. In fact the students often referred to this while stomping in mud to their knees. Those students who work for us in the 'summer' months are given free tuition to the school as pay
for their work. We were also able to use the Liberian male teachers as

'foremen' for this work. Most of Wayne's time was occupied with getting supplies such as cement, lumber, etc. for the carpenters to finish the school building before school began. As i t has now turned out, we had to move into the building still unfinished, but have been able to con tinue work around the school schedule. Now we should have everything
done by the end of March.

Several opportunities to work with the various sented in the last two months. In addition to taught in a one-week church conference here in days in a minister's training conference about

churches have been pre the youth camp, Wayne has Buchanan and taught three 25 miles inland.

Perhaps one of the most critical needs of the churches of Liberia is training for their ministers. Many of them cannot read at all, and

those who can have had little or no training of any kind to prepare them for their work. It is not possible for those who live deep into the interior to come to the city for many of the classes that might be made available for them. There is a great ministry open here to anyone who would be willing to give himself to these lonely cuid imlearned servants of God who hunger for more knowledge of Him who 'saves, keeps and satis
fies. '

Greta has had a

one-week Bible school with the World-Wide church the

week before school started. She trained the teachers and they did all the classes themselves. It tobk a lot of work, and almost didn't happen
but when i t got started i t worked out well. At the end of the week here

more than 80 young people coming every day and were begging them to con

tinue for another week. Greta has also helped start two Sunday schools this dry season. She trains the teachers and helps them with the mater
ials for the lessons and then lets
.venture.

them continue on their own.

The used

material that people have sent us has been a particular blessing in this
Few Liberians have seen such material before and no Liberian

teachers know how to use it.

Greta feels that she has been very success

ful in training them to use the material.

One young man, William Dean,

a graduate of the high school last year, came by one day to get material to teach in a church-school at Zondo where he will be a teacher this year. Such young men who come through our school are an answer to our prayers

and dreams to prepare leaders that can both teach school and work with
the church in some interior town or village.

School got under way the 3rd of March, but the story of the month before school began would make a large book. The second Monday in February we gave an entrance test to more than 100 high school students. Out of that number, we were able to enroll less than 40. The competition for the 10th grade class was keenest. There were 41 applicants who took the test, and out of the 21 who actually passed the test we had room for only 10. Many of the others we had to turn away left crying because they wanted to attend LCHS so badly. All kinds of pressures were put on us to get students into the school, political,emotional, social and even monitary. One man offered Greta money to take his daughter into the school. Our problem is classrooms and teachers, we just do not have
enough to meet the need.

The response of students to the college program this semester has been particularly encouraging also. To date we have 22 students in the college this year, the largest number in three years. Our teacher sit uation has also improved a little since last semester, and we are able to offer more variety in the curriculum. The Lord has supplied our teacher needs again...two weeks before school
was to begin we did not know if we could have school; there were not enough teachers to begin school. Peace Corps could promise us only one

teacher to replace the two who finished their terms last year. As school began we had three. One of the three is not permanently assigned to us,

but it looks like we will be able to keep him. Peace Corps has been a great blessing to our high school, and if some of
them had not pitched in to help us with the entrance tests and other work this dry season, we just would not have gotten i t all done. One night this week Greta was reading a missionary manual and read the following sentence to us all, "Life on the mission field can get to be dull and monotonous." We all had a good laugh. The following are some
of the reasons:

1.

During Februai^ and early March, our doorbell rang an average of

fifteen times a day with students wanting application forms etc. 2. We have had a "rogue" (thief) twice since the first of the year, one in the house New Year's Eve and the other took our car February 26th. The first one took our portable radio and tape recorder. The second got away with our car, but we recovered i t the same day only slightly damag ed. The battery and tools were gone. 3. One night recently Greta was bitten by a centipede about five inches long. She spent the next two hours in serious pain and was upset the rest of the night. 4. Two weeks ago Timothy had a bicycle accident and was banged up a bit. Nothing was broken but his pride and skin, but he has to go to the

hospital to have his knee dressed every two days and isn't completely
healed up yet. 5. Our cat has four kittens.

6. Our neighbor just delivered her baby; one of the children just came in to tell us. Recently one woman delivered her baby on the ground in the night outside our bathroom window. She didn't make i t home from a
v i s i t somewhere.

7.
8.

Wayne has an infection in his leg and will see the doctor about i t
We had a house guest, Mr. Conley Silsby with the Traveling

tomorrow (looks like a boil of some kind.)

Christian College, for three days this week.

We would sure like to have you visit us some time. We do not have

much around Buchanan to "do" as we Americans talk about it, but we promise you that there will not be a dull moment.
LOVE in Christ

The Meeces

--.^1

 I RI <

if'
The house in the background .a Morgan of Zondo,

oCd&icO'
April
Dear Christian Friends, of the last letter I

^oKc^
sent and try to start from there.

Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa

Newsletter writing time usually finds me, as I am now, sitting here with the typewriter running, trying to fig ure out how to begin. I usually wind up reading a copy So, to begin where I left off last time, we are happy to report that we are all pretty well^recovered from a rather hectic rash of scrapes, bites and sores last month. Greta's ear problem continues to flare up from time to time, but a recent visit to the doctor has improved the condition. We are determined to keep at i t until she gets rid of the problem completely.

We have completed five weeks of school and will be giving the first period tests soon. Test time always means ex tra work in grading papers and making out report cards. Fortunateily we-have a school secretary to help with much
of this paper work.

Although we have moved to the new campus this year, i t is still not completely finished. We have a lot of trouble getting the carpenters to work regularly espec
ially since they must now cchr^oimhnf^ ule. The classrooms still do not have electricity so

our college night classes must use the old Alladin lamps that we used the first year the school was in operation (1971). Some of the floors still need to be finished. The Liberian carpenters put down a rough floor first and then when all the rough work is done they top it off
with a smooth useable surface. some pliimbing to be done. There is painting and

We have house guests again. Th"seems to be the normal routine around the Meece household. On Wayne'e birthcfey, March 24th, we were surprised by the unannounced arrival
of Mrs. Lilliam Martin and her adopted daughter Jin Ling.

They had sent us a telegram, but it did not arrive until they
had been here three days.
inications).

(Not unusual for West African comm-

Mrs. Martin is a veteran missionary, having spent the past

twelve years in Taiwan, Nationalist China. Feeling a need to change her field of labor, and especially feeling a call for Africa, Mrs. Martin made a tour of Africa in 1973, visiting
mission stations being served by missionaries from the Chris
tian Church and Churches of Christ.
come to Liberia.

Through what she says

on that trip, and with the Lord's leading, she decided to

So, Greta had baked a cake, made ice cream and djivited sev eral people in for a little party to celebrate the passing of another year. In the midst of all this, just before the
ice cream and cake, Mrs. Martin and Jin Ling arrived. It would have been nice if all the party had been only for her, but we couldn't convince her that we knew she was coming and

nad 5aked a cake. SHe was still puzzling over ^^y we did not meet her at the airport. Lillian and Jin Ling will be living with the Meeces until their house is ready for them
to move in.

Wayne had a new experience recently. He was invited to help with the baptism of several people from the World-Wide Church here in Buchanan. For the most part we have tried to keep to Paul's and Jesus' example in the matter of baptism by letting the others do it. In this casfi_-Le candidates were
all young people, many of them our students, and we could

find no good reason to refuse.

So Wayne had the privilege

to burry eleven young believers with their Lord. One of the young men who came along to assist was Rougee Morris, a student at LCC who is preparing for the ministry. Wayne took the oppoy-hijiri-hy -Hq b i m gom^ point

ers about baptizing people and suggested that perhaps he

could do the baptizing the next time.

Recently we have been having a problem with our electricity.

Since the first of the year we have been without electrical power for more than 200 hours. These blackouts have been

coming with disturbing regularity lately; almost once a

week we are without electrical power for several hours.
These blackouts often last from 12 to 24 hours. The result has been that we have lost a lot of food stored in our freezer, or we have had to take some of our food to friends

at Lamco Mining Company who still have electrical power

supplied by the company. We have also been reluctant to

buy meat, fish, etc. in large quantities because we are not sure of being able to keep i t very long. This has caused food expenses to go higher since we are not able to buy food in large quantities to save. To solve this problem, Wayne and Mr. Click, our forwarding agent, have been talking about buying a portable generator to suppy electricity in such emergencies. Such a generator could also be portable enough to be taken into the interior to show pictures and filmstrips to the churches there. A very effective method of teaching and evangelizing. It would also be useful at the school when the power is off.
A generator to meet this need would cost about $800. In order to pay for i t we will have to dip into reserves that we are building up for travel back home at the end of our term and funds set aside for emergencies. If some of our friends would like to help us with this as a special project i t would be deeply appreciated. - _

As always we are thankful for all the interest and suppo^

of our many friends

support.

A day never passes but what we gi\^

thanks for you all, often by name, for your prayerful

Yours in His Service,

The Meeces

Sorry, no pictures this month.

order.

Wayne's camera is out of

JUd&ica^ ^^vtiUieui
Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa
June, 1975
Dear Christian Friends,

The typical Liberian greeting between two persons who have notseen each other for a time trans lates roughly as, "Hello!" "How are you?" and the third question is almost always, "What is the news?" The answer is almost always, "No bad news." I always want to ask if there is any good news, but they never seem to understand. I guess they feel that if the news isn't bad, it must be good or no news at all. Well, we have some not so good news and some very good news
this month.

Friday, May 30, was a day that will be long remembered in all of Liberia . For us here at L.C .C. it started as a good, beautiful, and historic day. It was the day set as our annual Gala Day, the anniversary of the founding of the school, the day the school was official!/ recognized by the Liberian government. The day was to be celebrated with an impressive program with a speaker and all the trimmings in the morning; soccer, basketball games, and other sports competition with the College of West Africa in the afternoon; and a variety show in the evening. There was also to be a parade through the streets of Buchanan with a band, the school queen in her "royal robes" and all the students sharply dressed in their school unifonns marching in African style military formation an interesting combination of marching and dancing. The program and the parade all went well. The weather was cooperating and the sun was shining even though we are now in the beginning of the rainy season. But then things began to happen. First, the visiting soccer and basketball teams were late, and it began to look like rain. When the visiting school arrived, it was decided to cancel all the games but soccer and basketball. These two games were to be played at the same time, but the basketball game got under way first and was about half way through the first time period when the blow fell. A tropical storm of almost unknown strength hit all of Liberia at the same time with near hurricane force winds and

drenching rain. Needless to say, that sudden downpour finished our Gala Day, but before the
storm was over, tragedy had struck with frightening suddenness.

In additionto our Gala Day, there had been a Youth Festival intown, and all the school children had been turned out to march through the streets. After this was all over, it was just natural

that they would almost all join the crowd of spectators at the games between L.C .C . and C.W .A .
So when the storm hit, there were hundreds of school children of all ages on the streets and around the football and basketball games. The Catholic Mission has the only public sports facilities in town, so we were using these for the games. As the storm struck, many people took

refuge under the porches and eves of the mission school rooms. That would have been all right if everybody had stayed put, but when trees began to fall and parts of the mission roof began to
blow off, some of the little ones began to run.

A large section of the mission roof fell on two small boys who had just ducked out from under the porch they were standing under. They were two brothers and both were seriously injured. At this writing they are still in the hospital at Lamco in serious condition but slightly improved. Charles and Pat Boatman will remember the little boys who are Roland's brothers. They live near the World Wide Church where we held classes for four years before moving to the new campus
this last March.

The storni wasrather widespread and covered all of Liberia and muchof neighboring West Africa. Winds here in Buchanan were measured at seventy-five miles per hour, very unusual for this part of Africa. Housing, and especially roofing, is not built to stand that much wind force. Trees here are very brittle, and the root systems are near the top of the ground, so you can imagine what happened. Few houses were destroyed, but almost every house In town suffered some roof damage. We lost the roof off our front porch, but the rest of the house remained undisturbed. We did get some water blown in through the windows and doors. The schoolrooms at the new campus was a different story. About one third of the roof was blown off or damaged, and all of the new classrooms had holes in the roof. The total damage was in excess of $300 to the roof alone. That is quite a bit when you consider that most of that was

material, because labor is very inexpensive . We missed two days of school while it was being
repaired.

Even so, we feel fortunate because many people lostmuch more. Some houses had the roof blown off, and then everything in the house was doused with about two inches of torrential, wind

blown rain that wet everything through. In the whole country at least six people were killed, including two American Peace Corps girls who were hit by a falling tree as they were traveling by taxi on one of the interior roads. Several small fishing boats along the seacoast were blown
to sea, and some of them were surely lost and drowned. A few were found later, blown several

miles up the coast by the strong winds that were blowing up the coast and almost directly out to sea. Many people were injured by falling tree limbs and flying pieces of metal roofing. Many power lines were torn down, and we were without electricity for three days. Some parts of Buchanan are still without lights. Activity at the school did not return to normal until Friday,
June 6. Many students were out because of one problem or another, and some of the teachers

v/ere also away. Needless to say, the storm will generate a wealth of stories and tales, both true and untrue, that will be told, altered, and retold as such stories always are for many years to come. We heard one tale that blamed the storm on L.C.C . The story goes that we brought the storm on by some kind of "medicine" because we were losing the ballgame. Do you think I
could get into the rain-making business?

There is some better news. Greta, who has had a bout with what we believe to be malaria, is much better now and almost back to full strength again. Fora few days it looked as if she would have to go into the hospital for a complete check-up and bedrest. Yesterday, June 5, was her

best day so far, and she says she is almost as strong as ever again. All the rest of us are in good
health. For the most part, we have had fewer problems with health this terni than we did the
first.

Friday, June 6, was theclosing program for thechildren at the Lamco International School. They all passed, so now James is promoted to 6th grade, Beverly to 8th, and Tim to 10th. This was Tim's last year at the Lamco school, and he will now study by correspondence and will take as many classes as he can at Liberia Christian High School. Tim is a good student and works well by himself, so we are confident that he will beable to enter the 12th gradeand finish highschool with no problems when we return to the States after two more years (according to present plans). We are proud of all of the children in their school work this past year; we can see improvements in them all. They have many outside activities in which they take part. Jamesand Beverly have continued with their music (trombone and flute), and Tim has now taken an interest in guitar. They are not straight "A" students, but they do well enough for us to be proud of them.
Our school work is still running smoothly this year. Our main problem continues to be personnel,
but there has been good news about recruits in recent weeks. We had a letter from Mr. William

Ayers, a retired school teacher from the Christian Church in Youngstown, Ohio, who plans to join us here in Liberia soon. Mr. Ayers is a Liberlan by birth, but has spent more than fifty years in the States. He says that he wants to spend his last years with his own people helping in what ways he can. If all goes well for him, he will join us by the end of the year.
Mr. and Mrs. Ken Vogel have also planned to join us by the end of this year. Ken is a graduate of St. Louis Christian College and presently the minister of the Christian Church in Brighton, Illinois. Their plans are yet incomplete, but they tell us that they are waiting until after the arrival of their baby.
We thank the Lord for all of these whom He has led to an Interest in the work here in Liberia .

There is so much to be done and so few to do the work. Please continue to pray with us that the Lord of the Harvest will provide the way for these who are willing to enter into His harvest.

We all send our greetings to our many friends with many thanks for your continued prayers and support. We continue to be both yours and His in love .
The Meeces

Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family

Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

10345 Castle Drive

St. Louis, Miisouri 63136

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road Florissant, Missouri 63033

The High School Gala Day Queen

Miss Gloria Caulcrlck

4""

fcJ o H a-

'tJ y- 'S
i-H

The Gala Day Parade

3
fc

3
<v

o
o

to

ra

n:

o? o
K-I

o
c

C3

Some of the storm damage

oCc^eniO' ^>^niU(Av
Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa
July, 1975
Dear Christian Friends,

The Meeces celebrated two anniversaries this past week; we have passed

the one-year mark o oiir second term in Liberia, and Greta and I have been
married now 17 years as o July 18. Two o our children are teen-agers, I

found a gray hair in my head, and life moves too quickly doesn't it? Through
it all we are well and happy and thank the Lord that he continues to be with us
and provide every need.

Julymarks the mid-term break for our school, but it alsomenas semester

tests and piles of papers to grade and cards to fiU out andaverages to bemade.
We will have two weeks school vacation, but muchof it will be used up in other
activities.

Wayne has planned another bush trip which will take him back to the same

general area where the whole family went in this past January. It will involve
the same 300 mile, 12 to 14 hour drive over rough roads now probably turned muddy from the heavy rains of the season that is now upon us. After the car
ride there will be a two to three hour walk to the village where the annual min

ister's training conference of the World-Wide church will be held. Wayne will have an opportunity to teach Biblical Christianity to ministers and church
leaders, many of whom cannot read and write. These are sincere, God-fearu^
men who want to do the best they can in the service of the Lord. They have

ein sunazing capacity to memorize and repeat what they have learned; so what we say will be repeated time and time dgain. to bush churches where f e>y if any
foreign missionaries have and will ever go.

James will go with Wayne on this trip, but Tim and Beverly will stay in
Buchanan with Greta. Tim says that the road is too rough. They will be gou^

with Mr. Abba Kamga in his VW bus that will carry only nine people, so we
don't want to take up all the available space.

Timothy is getting ready to enter school again as soon as the new semester

begins. He will be taking some classes at Liberia Christian High School with some special tutoring from some of our Peace Corps teachers and also some correspondence courses to supplement that. Tim is a good student and should
be able to keep up so that he will be on schedule or perhaps a little ahead when
we come home at the end of this term. He is anxious to get started and is

looking forward to wearing a school uniform with the rest of his Liberian
friends. He will be the second non-Liberian student inL.C.H.S. We now have

a 10th grade student from Lebanon with us.

We are all excited about the prospects of Bro. Abba Karnga returning to

the states in late August to continue his education. If all goes well and the

Lord provides, Bro. Karnga will spend at least one semester at Fuller Theological Seminary in CaliEomia, and then, hopefully, one semester at
Lincoln Christian Seminary, Lincoln, Illinois. Many of you will remember Bro.

Karnga as a dynamic personality and very humble and devout Christian from
his visit to the states last year. We hope that he will also be able to meet

many of you at the missionary convention in St. Louis this year. Please pray for Bro. Karnga that all this might become a reality for him. There are many

problems for him. He willbeleaving behind not only his family of nine children, the latest just born last week, but his responsibilities in the Lord's work here
are too numerous to even try to mention. We find it very difficult to think

about trying to get along without him even for one school year. His further
education will be one giant step in the direction of Liberianization of the work here as quickly as the Lord will make it possible.
We have learned that the Lord does provide, and usually just in time (His own time and not ahead of time). Bro. Karnga's leaving was going to put a gap in our teaching staff until we learned this week that Tom Kern of Pleasant Plains, Illinois will join us on July 29, for a short term of service as a teacher. At the same time we were granted a new Peace Corps Volunteer who wiU be

teaching for us for perhaps two years. This will give Wayne more freedom to
offer more Bible subjects in the college.

We also had more news from Mr. William Ayers this month. He is making

plans and raising support to join us by September or October of this year. Bro.

Kamga and Wayne went to Monrovia this week to get started on the paperwork
for his visa.

We continue to hear from Wayne and Anna Shaw who are home on extended leave because of Anna's health. Anna still has not fully recovered from her illness and certainly needs prayer. Wayne Shaw is in school at Joplin, Missouri

and, according to recent plans, Lincoln, Illinois this next September. Their plans are to return to Liberia, if Anna's health will permit, in another year.
Ronald Ayers is still attending Lincoln Christian Seminary and plans to re
turn to Liberia after he finishes his studies there.

There hais been no recent news from the Vogels, but they still plan to come to Liberia soon. All these people need our prayers constantly. We aU continually thank God for you, your support, concern, letters,

packages, and certainly your prayers. Without your help. We could not be here. The Lord is using you as well as us in his service. Thankyou all again. God bless.
Yours for Christ in Liberia

The Meeces

Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

Liberian wash da\

c.^ H t-'
o rj
xZ' H-

A typical Buchanan street scene

3
% n

r^ V,
O ft? D (T*
jr-

W 2!

H~XJ '3
'a

CD o
W

cO

ti'

C"5

A. visitor speaks to a school assembly

Jj&eniAi
August, 1975
Dear Christian Friends,

(^<d(e^
^
minutes in the past two weeks. We had a week of very

Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa

If fe^

It has rained for forty-four of the past forty-eight hours, briefly only once for a few

*' >

call "Middle Dry"^ here in Liberia. Needless to say.

beautiful sunny weather the week of July 20, which we

In July we have a two-week, mid-semesterbreakinschool which is usually taken up with church activities. As we mentioned in the July letter, Wayne was invited to take

part in the annual ministers' training conference of the

World-Wide Church. The conference was held in Nagbo-

town, a village in the same area as Doeden, where we

went last December for the annual convention. It was the same twelve hour drive with a twoand one-half hour walk tacked on the end of it. The drive this time was not nearly

James Morgan, Abba Kamga (left to dusty or rough . The rains took care of the dust, and the right) and Wayne at the Nagbotown .^ads had been graded recently. On the return trip we conference. first experience at walking through the bush in

tht rain. Itonly rained about a half hour, but the trees in the high forest dripped for the most of the trip. The rain turned the [ungle path into a muddy, slippery mess with the water often half knee deep. At the end of the trek a hot bath and a dry, warm bed surely felt good after
o hot supper.

The theme of this conference was Christian leadership, with a special emphasison the Biblical qualities of a good leader. The leaders of most of the denominational churches here tend to be "lords" of the flock rather than leaders and shepherds. 1 Peter 5:1 -5 was a particularly useful te^. Other topics used were: "Speaking theTruth in Love" Eph. 4:15, "TheCommon

People Heard Him Gladly" Mark 12:37, "Avoid Vain Disputes" Titus 1:10, and "A Mind to
Work" Nehemiah 4:1-6.

Each of these conferences continues to confirm our growing faith in the fact that many of the

people here are open to the plea to return to New Testament Christianity without the creeds

and party spirit of denomlnationalism. These people have already been "burned" by the
colonialism of many missionaries and have In their own way revolted against it. The fact that we have not tried to establish churches of our own "denomination" (whatever you may think of that word notwithstanding) has opened doors to us that would have remained forever closed
otherwise.

The church at Nagbotown. Mud and sticks with

a zinc roof.

church. The man said to Wayne, "You are

the first missionary that has come to us that

is willing to teach just the Bibleand not try to take our preachersaway from the churches that
need them mostWhat better ministry than teaching New Testament Christianity to those

willing to listen and sending them back to their own people. Thissame mancommented further that he was aware that they had mademanymistakes in their doctrine but had no one they could
trust to teach them the truth .

There are many of these independent groups here in Liberia, and I am convinced all over the world, who are open to New Testament Christianity from someone who is not out to line them up in some denominational camp. It seems that the inheritors of the Restoration Plea have forgotten that our forefathers were content to pursue the truth where they were (It is no acci dent that Campbell's first paper was called the Christian Baptist.) until they were kicked out by their own denominations. We prayand preachthat God can do itagain in our day, but we
refuse to make the sacrifice in pride that is necessary to get the job done . "Preaching Christ to the Denominations" might not fit too well on a revival poster or make acceptable printing for the accepted national church organizations.

Last January, you will remember, we wrote with particular enthusiasm about the performance of two young men Wayne took with him to youthcamp. At that time he suggested to them that they consider organizing such a camp for their own youth group, not then considering how seriously they might take the suggestion. Well, during the July semester school break they asked for use of the L.C .C . campus to hold their first World-Wide Youth Camp. There were

about seventy young people from many different areas In attendance . One group of five walked
two days to reach Buchanan. Lilltan Martin and Tom Kern were the regular teachers while James Morgan, Abba Karnga, Wayne, and others spoke for special programs. It turned out to

be a great week. Our own children en|oyed the camp, especially Jnmesand Beverly who had
never been to Christian Service Camp before.

interested in lining it up so that we can

. control it ortake thecreditfor the workthey

iHUn^npi^ro i
elected by the compers.

vSl^W

We are happy to report that Tom Kern, our

The leaders of .the World-Wtde Youth Comp,

hossafelyorrived andhas been

teaching in camp the next day after he arrived. We did not give him time to recover from "jet lag ." The Liberians have a favorite parable, "The late warrior is not spottedThe idea is that a warrior who arrives late for the

battle does not have time to go through the ceremony of dancing and painting himself with war paint, but must join the fight "un-spottedWe have plenty to do here, and anyone who offers to help usually finds himself at work without much "to do" about It, as my grandmother
used to say.

The Lord is answering our prayers and providing for us here . We can begin to see the fruits

of our labors and are encouraged. We are in good physical health and happy in the Lord.
God bless you all for caring and sharing .

Yours In Christ,

The Meeces

l/

Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

Financial Report January to August, 1975

Alverda Christian Church
K. Book

$ 50 .00
5 .00

C. Blakenship
HALLS FERRYCHRISTIAN CHURCH
Colchester Christian Church Christview Christian Church

25 .00
225 .00 225 .00

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

First Christian Church (Carnegie) First Christian Church (Gillespie)

J. Guerront

240 .00 806 .90

50 .00

Halls Ferry Christian Church

Jeromesville Church of Christ Memorial Christian Church Modesto Christian Church

5103.00
17 .25 60 .00 580 .00

Sale of Car (Used on furlough)

North Tacoma Christian Church Pontoon Beach Church of Christ Pleasant Hill Christian Church

475 .00
156 .00 240 .00 27 .00

Palmyra Christian Church Park Village Christian Church

Pine Flats Christian Church A. Stahl

296 .29 153 .00

75 .00 10 .00

Slate Valley Christian Church

Tower Hi11 Christian Church (Senior Youth)
R.Wilson Westwood Christian Church
B. Zuck

75 .00
60 .00
50 .00
100 .00 35 .00

Weston Church of Christ (Ladies Mission Soc ^120 .00

Support Total
O V CV

$9,259 .44

'X>

-i

Portable Power Generator Fund

2. t-'

Halls Ferry Christian Church Shelby County Christian Assy.

Dee Pet Clinic Generator Fund Total

$313.00
169.00 50.00

'i
O

\
*^3

w-

$532.00

fi
v.:'' -'J

z
o o (D
-

ui
cn

I- 3. 5 Z~ o 2 o S. 5
<> S5 O

^3

(/>

^ 3 (D =

C^niUim
Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa
September, October, 1975
Dear Christian Friends,

The past few days have been a prime example of some of the frustrations of working in a country where many people do not have the same values in relation to time, public service, dependability and integrity as we have so long demanded and often taken for granted from laborers, merchants, and public officials in the States. Whenevera new missionary comes to work with us, there is always a lot of government red tape to go through in order to get visas and residencepemnits in proper order. In this processwe have to deal with no less than four departments of government: Justice, Finance, Education, and Immigration, and must get signatures from seveial high officials in these departments inc luding the Minister of Educationand the Commissioner of Immigration. Tom Kern has been in Liberia two months now, and we still do not have all the paper work done. Wayne and Tom have now made three trips to Monrovia in the past five days working on these papers. At present the process is hung up in the Ministry of Education where the man whose signature we need is "not in," and we are to "come back tomorrow." It is expensive to make the 200-mile round trip to Monrovia and wastes time that could be well spent here in Buchanan working on projects in the school and church programs that need our attention. Before these mattersare finalized we will have to make at least one or perhaps two more trips to Monrovia. So, the next time you walk into an office and a smiling secretary says to you, "May I help you, please?" count your blessings, or the next time you are confronted with a long line of people ahead of you at the doctor's office where the door is marked, "Doctor is out," remember you are not alone in your suffering.
The best news we have at this time is that we now havemore highschool teachers than ever before. The arrival of Tom Kern in July and the more recent return of one of our Peace Corps Volunteers who was home on sick leave, have released Wayne from some highschool classes and will allow moreattention to be given to the college and church work as well as some building projects in progress. More work still needs to be done on the present buildings and a small house given to us by the government is now being remodeled.

The^college program ts stil

students' this semester

ouRTEACHERS: OUR TEACHERS:

2nd 2nd Row, Row, L.to L. to R. R. Wa^e Meec*, Meece, Russell Powell Powell (Peace (Peace Corpt), Tom Karn, Karn, David David

Qttd Will begroduoted in Decem-

1l> lit Row, Row, L.toR. L.toR. Rougae Rougee Morris, Morris, Abba Abba Karngo, Karnga, Wilmot WilmoF Kadyu, Kodyu, David Dgvtd Zowu, Zgwu, Joffiej Jomes Morgan Morgon

ber, but others hove just I lost ^ i I T 1/

interest. With Tom Kern here
,1.1.

No) Pictured: Grelo Meece and June Eichner (Peace Corpi who wot on tick leave)

Dohmuj (P.C.), Augustus Dohmus(P .C Augustus Jaeploe Joeploe No) Pictured: Grelo Meece and June Eichner (Peace Corpi who wot on tick leave)

tohelpand the strong possibility

of one or perhaps two new missionaries by next year, the prospects for the future ore
much better. We will lose two Peace Corps Volunteers in December when their terms end, but we can expect to have at least one replacement. Tom Kern hasbeen mentionedseveral times now, so perhaps he should be more forma My introduced. Tom is a native of Springfield, Illinois, where his home church is the West SideChristian Church. He is a graduate of the Universityof Illinois and Lincoln

Christian Seminary. Before coming to Liberia he was Youth Minister for the South
Side Church of Christ, Danville, Illinois. Tom has followed the work here from the

beginning through Brother Gerald Gibson and the Christian Campus House at the University of Illinois. Tom's teaching duties include Bible and World History to the high school and the Book of Romans in the college. Since he arrived he has taught in one youth camp and is active in several youth groups in the Buchanan churches
where he takes part in two or three programs each week.

y^e feel that an important step toward total Liberianization of the work here was taken
when Brother Abba Karnga went to the U.S. in Septemberfor more education. There

is noway thata man like Brother Karnga canbeproperly trained for the future leader ship of Liberia Christian College here in Liberia alone. Therefore, he and one or
two.others like him must be sent elsewhere for this training .

We realize that there is some danger in sending mission nationaIs to the U.S. or

Europe for long periods of time. The big problem is that they are often spoiled by the high standard of living and do not want to return to their home, thus destroying the
reason for training them . Brother Karnga, however, wi 11 only be in the U.S. for

one school year or three semesters at the most. While he is there, he is separated from hiswife and nine children here in Liberia; hisrootsare here. But more important, he sees his time away from home and family as a sacrifice he must make in order to help his own people. He has turned down several good government jobs with higher pay in order to stay with the mission and do more to bring his people to a knowledge
of Christ.

We have one more man of the same caliber, James W. Morgan, who is teaching Math in the high school while he attends the college. Brother Morgan hopes, to be able to goto the U.S . after Brother Karnga returns. With men like these properly trained, there will be no need of missionaries at Liberia Christian College.

In late Augustwe enjoyed the visit of Brother Richard Hostetter from our sister school in Accra, Ghana. The Hostetters have been in Africa for over ten years, first in Rhodesia and for the past eight years at Ghana Christian College. We were able to share many common problems and ideas about the future. Not many missionaries are able to talk with someone who has an understanding of mission problems.

We aregettinga lot of thunder and lightning with our rains now, signaling thecoming end of the rainy season. The hot, dry months of December through March are soon to be on us. The usual ceremonies of the end of school are to be planned along with all that ceremony.

We appreciate the response we have had to our appeal for funds for a portable generator. We will soon have enough to buy this. In the last week we had two blackouts lasting about twelve hours each, but electric service has been much
better for three months now.

We are all in good health and are enjoying our work. The children are all doing well in school. Together we send our greetings and much love .
Yours in Christian service,

Qtv. -ir Ot>The Meeces

P.S . A Matter of Prayer: One of James Morgan's children is in the hospital. The
doctors suspect T.B. Please pray.

Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

PRESENTING

12105 Old Halls Ferry Rood

Florissant, Missouri 63033

The Ken Vogel fomily plans fo go to Liberia in midFebruary, 1976. To be able to share in the work with L'beria ChristianCollege and to work with a people who have desired to restore His church, is their goal.
Ken was born October 12, 1951, at Milwaukee, Wis consin . Having been converted to Christ after his graduation from high school in St. James, Missouri, he entered St. Louis Christian College in 1969. Therethe challenge of themission of Liberia entreated his attention. During college, Ken served as youth minister at Capital City Christian Church In Jefferson City, Missouri, and at Pontoon Beach Church of Christ in Granite City, Illinois. He graduated from St. Louis ChristianCollege with a B.A. degree in 1973. Ken has ministered with the Brighton Christian Church in Brighton, Illinois, for over four years. Carolyn (Hill) Vogel was born December 13, 1952, at Wichita, Kansas. Her family moved to Houston, Missouri, where she attended and graduated from HoustonHigh School.

Slje^was baptized Into Christ in September of 1961. Since

c. .rj
f-t.

..

her coVl'^reion, she has been concerned with the work of the church and, thus, entered St. Louis Christian College in
1970. She married Ken on March 6,1971. She also allowed

>-- ti.

O ZZ
o

"K ?: fF"
n >

}- t : J

the call of the Liberlans for help to be heeded in her iife. Carolyn has served with Ken intheir mlnlstrywlth the church at Brighton, Illinois. They have two children: JeremyHeath Vogel, born February 4, 1973, at Houston, Missouri; and Nathan David Vogel, born June 16, 1975, at Houston,
Missouri.

3. ^ / jrji *? 5+ I
o -

^ o^i (D 2., ^ c j / : N <

: o .

While In Liberia, Mr. and Mrs. Danrell HIII, Route 1, Box25a, Mt. Olive, Illinois 62069 will be the Vogels' for warding agents. Ken and Carolyn come recommended by WayneMeece, current missionaryat LiberiaChristianCollege; and by Charles Boatman, post missionary at Liberia Christian College and present professorat St. Louis Christian Coilege.

\ \ \ i o*
\ \ ^3

-4f^ i I i. i