My departure time to Liberia continues to come closer.  In two days I will meet most of my team for the first time and the next day we will arrive at Camphor Mission Station.  My friend, Abby, will be going on the trip, but the rest of the team I have either never met or only met briefly.  I am so excited to befriend my team members as well as grow closer together through this experience.  

One of the most important lessons learned on my last visit is that relationships with others matter.  Kathy, the Camphor missionary, emphasized throughout the entire trip that building relationships with Liberians plays a pivotal role to understanding and helping them.  Liberians, as well as all other human beings, want to be loved and prayed for.  By giving them love and prayer we are doing our job as servants of Christ.  This is not to say that building projects, hunger relief, and well digging projects should fall to the way side.  Rather, Kathy emphasizes building relationships before, during, and after these projects.  Everyone can share love, so everyone can be the hands of Christ.