Liberian Evangelistic Mission

September 4, 2006

Buegar Family/ Liberian Ministry Update
Liberia, West Africa

Dear Christian Friends:

Greetings. Since we communicated with you via our Newsletter about a month ago, a lot of developments have taken place and we wanted to send you an update at this time on Church/Mission, Family and National Issues. We hope this letter finds you in good health.

On July 17-23, we sponsored our mid-year conference in Buchanan City. Buchanan Christian Church was the host, and they did extremely well in accommodating close to 70 delegates from our local Christian Churches. Our teaching focused primarily on “Music in Worship.” In Liberia, music in worship has taken on new forms, and there seems to be some confusion about what may or may not be acceptable. What we are witnessing here is that music and dancing cannot easily be separated, as more and more churches and Christian groups are leaning towards the Pentecostal Style of Worship. Most churches, including some of our own Christian Congregations seem to be losing their identity. This is not to suggest though, that we are against the Pentecostal Style of Worship or Music and Dancing. In our minds, so long this worship style does not seek to shift attention, where man becomes the focus of attention, as opposed to God being the center of our worship; we have no problem with it. Our worship must glorify God, not man. To make this point clear was the purpose of our 2006 Mid-Year Conference. So our Mission Leadership asked James Morgan, Dan and others to address the issue at that Conference. The goal of the conference was accomplished, and many of the participants felt the teaching was helpful. We did not only teach and discuss at the conference; we worshiped too. Many persons came forward in response to the Gospel Message. Among them was a gentleman who accepted Jesus Christ. We had one baptism.

We have two other conferences coming up. In October Wayzohn Christian Church (a new work) will host our leadership training conference. Many of our leaders and church members have expressed their desire to attend. Preparations are underway in Gbar Town for our Annual Convention. This week, Dan, James Morgan, Freeman Wesseh, Maxwell Saywon and Solomon Gargar were supposed to travel to the area to assist the young church (Gbar Town Christian Church) sketch a structure to be built there. The structure will serve as our meeting place for the one week convention. Later, the church will complete the structure, and it will then become their church building. But the trip has been postponed due to heavy rain pour.

Buchanan Christian Church is just about ready to put on the roof for their sanctuary. Most of the building materials, including the zinc (16 bundles) are on hand now. A main hold-up is gathering the builders who are supposed to do the work. Also, we need to buy rafters for this phase of the work. Arrangements have been made for the BCC building committee to get as many rafters as are needed.

Monrovia United Christian Church (MUCC) continues to meet for Bible Study, Prayer and Worship. The Rainy Season amazingly has not stopped people from attending worship services. Last Sunday, we had 153 persons in worship service. We continue to have new additions as well as people coming forward to request for Christian Baptism. In our last newsletter we mentioned that MUCC had three main needs: (1) A Baptistery to be built outside the tarpaulin-type structure that we use as our meeting place. Every time we have a candidate for baptism, we postpone time of baptism because we have no place to baptize people. There is a body of water nearby, but it is too dirty to be used for that purpose. Two weeks before our mid-year conference a gentlemen came forward to be baptized. But we had to ask him to travel to Buchanan City with us. There we were able to baptize him. (2) There is a need to build a restroom facility. Every Lord’s Day close to 150 worshipers come to MUCC, but we don’t have restroom facilities. So we send them to nearby homes to ask our neighbors to use their facilities. The situation is embarrassing. Therefore, it is important that we have our own restroom facility. (3) The Tarpaulin structure we use as meeting place cannot withstand the rain pour. So we plan to put/plant concrete pillows in the key sections of the structure and roof it with zinc. Then on a gradual basis we can mold cement blocks to raise the walls. We need about 15 Bundles of Zinc for the roof. These needs still exist. Please pray for the Lord to speak to the hearts of His many people so that they may respond in ways that will bless the MUCC Ministry.

Our family is well. It is vacation time in Liberia, so the children are staying home and resting. However, we thought it wise to keep tutoring classes going for them. They all did well in school. Danny was promoted to the 8th grade, Linnell 6th and Keziah K-5 (she will be in the 1st grade next year, Lord willing). We all traveled to Buchanan and participated in the mid-year conference that was held there. Danny and Linnell sang in the English Choir, with Keziah assisting at times. James Morgan, Solomon Gargar, Bea and Dan were pretty busy teaching, preaching, counseling and working with the different groups of leaders. We all enjoyed every aspect of the conference, especially the time we spent together as a family outside of Monrovia.

On the national level, we praise God for our female President, Ellen J. Sirleaf. She has good intentions, it seems, but there are countless obstacles to overcome. Quite recently while she was enjoying the company of other West African heads of State, an unknown person or group of persons deliberately set the entire 4th Floor of the Executive Mansion on fire. The President’s office was totally burned. Currently she is using part of the Foreign Ministry Building as her office. Not only that, but some of her newly appointees have constantly been attacked by those who claim to be armed robbers. In our neighborhood an armed robber went on the rampage, shooting in the air here and there, with no one capable of capturing him. He managed to get away. This happened around 5:30 am. Dan heard the shooting and went outside to find out what was going on. Within minutes, over 300 community men, women and children were out, converging around a bush they thought the armed robber was using as a hiding place. Everyone was scared to death, but later on calm was restored. Crime rates are on the increase in Liberia, especially Monrovia. Because of the unending armed robber activities, the government of Liberia has approved the creation of vigilante groups in the various communities. Continue to pray for us. Pray especially for our safety and peace in the country.

July 26 was our 159th Independence Day. It was our first celebration in 14 years, so we had nearly forgotten details of the celebration. Soon church members, friends and relatives started calling or coming by our house before or on Independence Day saying, “My 26th or our 26th is on you. This is their way of asking for Independence Day presents or gifts. The same thing is done on Christmas Day. We managed to throw a “Snack Party” at MUCC in the afternoon. Over 100 kids from the church and community came to the Independence Day Party. About two dozens of adults were there too. We all loved it.

We wish to thank all of you for choosing to partner with us. Your prayer and financial support have been a real blessing. Without this kind of support, we would be unable to do Ministry in our homeland.

Yours for His Kingdom,

Dan and Bea