Brother Doe came home today.
Don and Augustine , the nurse, went to the airport to get him and Feima. They came
back with them and Izaak Morrison. Which was a surprise. Izaak has been working on
the Ghana end of this whole ordeal. Brother Doe and Izaak's wife served a mission
together in Nigeria and then later Brother Doe and Izaak served in the MTC in Ghana
together as missionaries.
President Sesay built Sahr a metal ramp to get him into his home today. It is very nice.
He and 4 of his employees were here and they brought a generator and all the tools
they would need and they took measurements. They needed 1.6 million Leones for the
materials and the labor was donated. They went and purchased the material and later
came back and made the ramp. They finished making it about half an hour before the
Doe's arrived. When they were finished about a half-a-dozen men got brooms (with no
handles, and they were all bent over) and swept the compound. John (one of Sahr's
loyal employees) got a bucket of soapy water and washed the ramp until it was
spotless. The place looked wonderful.
The airline would not let Brother Doe bring his bed on the plane. He has a special bed
that will help him not get bed sores. So when they refused to let him bring his bed,
they contacted Mustapha and Sister Clawson and between the two of them they found
a bed. It was delivered about an hour before the Doe's arrived. It was an old, archaic,
filthy thing that must have been in storage. A dozen men were trying to put the bed
together and to get the controls that raise and lower the bed to work when Don called.
I told him what was going on and he had a cow. He wanted to talk to John immediately.
Apparently the bed was wired for 110 and not 220 and they were trying to get it to run
on 220. Don told John not to do anything with the bed until he got here. In the
meantime, I got a bucket of water with disinfectant in it and started to clean the
mattress and bed. John came over and took the rag from me and Amenetta (a 17 year
old girl) wanted to help so I gave her a rag and the two went to work on that bed. They
had it looking really good but then Mr. Davis appeared with a bucket of hot soapy water
and washed it some more. It looked wonderful when he got done with it. Everyone
wanted to be of service.
Oh Brother Doe looks rough. His lips and hands are swollen and he has lost weight
(which he did not have to lose). But he was happy to be home and when the
compound gates opened and he saw all the people here waiting for his arrival, he wept.
Brother Doe is well loved by many people of all classes. He has the compassion of
Christ and a love for all people. He has employees that are exceptionally loyal to him.
His son, Bob, was standing next to me and when I saw the compound door open, I
pointed to the car coming in and asked him what he saw. He jumped up and down and
yelled "my mother". I held on to him until the car stopped. Then he ran and she
opened the door and he flew into her arms. There were way too many people here and
they all wanted to help. Brother Doe was exhausted from the long day but he was so
kind to everyone. While he was greeting everyone, Don and a dozen other men went
to work on that bed. They could not get it to work. They are going to use it until Izaak
can go back to Ghana and ship Sahr's bed.
After they got Brother Doe fed and into bed, Don told the crowd they could visit
Brother Doe one person at a time for a few minutes. John stood sentinel outside his
bedroom door and followed the orders - he being the last to visit.
I spent the day cooking. I made dinner for the Doe's. I made cookies and made enough
to give to the workers who were finishing up the remodeling of the bathroom and for
the few early-arrived people. I made my first batch of ground-nut stew and rice by
myself. It turned out really good. This is a "comfort food" for the Africans. I made a
pot of chili for Don and me. It is the first pot of chili I have made from scratch that did
not turn out tasting like beans in water. It actually tasted good. I was glad I made it
because there were a lot of people to feed. Fortunately only a few ate. I wasn't
planning on feeding a host of people. I just wanted the Doe's to have dinner waiting
after traveling all day.
I cannot end this days writings without adding this. Bob was at the other end of the
compound and two missionaries were competing on who could do the most push-ups.
Elder Samchee did 15 and Elder Anku did 6. Bob wanted in on the action so they let
him participate. Bob did 17. The Elders were laughing and declared Bob the winner
and gave him 1,000 Leones (.16 cents). Bob was so excited he came running to me and
showed me his 1,000 leone bill and was dancing around saying "I'm going to buy
something!" I asked him who gave it to him and why. He told me about the contest
and told me he was the winner so Elder Samchee gave him the money. I had serious
doubts that Bob knew what a push-up was. So I asked him to show me. He said "no,
you will laugh at me. The Elders laughed." I promised him I would not laugh. So he got
down in the proper push-up stance and immediately pushed his butt way into the air
and then lowered it to the ground and then back up and back down 17 times. I lied! I
burst out laughing. I asked him if that is how the Elders did push-ups. He said, "no they
did it different."
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