A Blessed Birthday Celebration to Remember

How many of you have had a special birthday remembrance? Was it a special place, event or gift that made it so memorable? Was it a special date or holiday that it fell on? Was it a coincidence that it occurred on the same day as a family member or friend?  Was it on a Sunday and you celebrated it while attending church? Let me share with you my 40th birthday celebration which occurred 45 years ago on May 11, 1975. Our family, consisting of my wife Diane and our three children (Jennifer, Scott and Heather) had arrived in Liberia, West Africa, 17 months earlier on December 7, 1973. After going through 2 weeks of cultural orientation and then assisting in teaching literacy classes for 6 weeks at the University of Liberia, I then travelled up country to build our house in Belle Baloma, a village in the remote (no roads) rain forest of the Kuwaa Chiefdom. (That’s another story for another time.) For the next 14 months I worked along with Rev. Richard Thompson and our Kuwaa Bible Translation and Literacy team which included 5 Kuwaa/Liberian nationals: Forkpa, Francis, David, Chris and Rev. John Manawu of the Lutheran Church of Liberia (LCL). We worked together  on the Kuwaa New Testament translation and producing primers and readers in the newly created and written form of the Kuwaa language. A large portion of the time was spent in sharing the Gospel with the Kuwaa people in the two villages of Belle Baloma and Konjade (where. the Thompson family lived several miles from ours). Pastor Manawu would conduct Sunday church services in both towns. This brings me to May 11, 1975. After preaching and instruction in the Christian Faith for many months, many of  the Kuwaa  people were ready to turn their lives over to Christ, leave their old ways of idol worship/sacrifices  and be baptized into membership of the LCL.. Our two families (Thompson and Stelling) were present as was Bishop Roland Payne of the LCL who flew up from  Monrovia for the occasion. Both Bishop Payne and Pastor Manawu performed the baptismal ceremony using a large wash tub with water from the nearby creek. Slightly over 100 men, women and children were baptized on my birthday, one week before Pentecost Sunday, becoming my brothers and sisters in Christ. Truly, a birthday celebration to remember all these 45 years, especially knowing that we, the Kuwaa Mission,  have  provided the Kuwaa with fresh clean water wells in all the 16 villages, have built and/or supplied 2 medical clinics, trained evangelists/teachers   and have provided many self-help programs through the Kuwaa Mission supported by your prayers and financial gifts.

For this we are most thankful on behalf of the Kuwaa people. Na Mama O! –

Thank you. To God be the Glory,

Ed Stelling, Advisory Board Member

Your contributions to the Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our tax ID number is 27-5458111 Donations can be given in two ways:  A Check to the mission address or PayPal on our Website: 

Kuwaa Mission, PO Box 90513, Anchorage, AK 99509

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An interesting thing happened to me just a little while ago. I was sitting here at my desk, and I received an email from a long time missionary friend, John Duitsman.  He worked among the Krahn, a sister tribe to Ku?w??ó when he was in Liberia.  He was a Bible translator, but while in Liberia, he started doing helpful side ministries for the people, and the Lord prospered his labors.  When he finished in Liberia, he went  home to the US, but only for a short time. The next thing I knew about him and his wife Kathy, they were in East Africa helping another group of people to upgrade their living standard.  While he was there, he established a radio ministry, using that as a new way to reach the people.  Mission work can take many paths, while our goals are the same; the path we take is almost always influenced by the environment we work in.   John wrote the following, “The radio ministry is still going great with people from the villages in Ethiopia.  They tell us that they view our radio pastors are their personal pastors as they gather around the radio to worship. Three to five house gatherings call in every month to tell us that we need to visit to teach and baptize them.  It is amazing to see all of the communication technology is supporting this type of evangelism and church planting.   This got me thinking about our present situation with Coronavirus floating out there. I asked myself, “What can the Mission do with the uncertainty of the world situation? Can the cellular phones and antennas be a way God is giving us to win more people for Christ in the Ku?w??ó Chiefdom?” Maybe God is showing us another way of doing evangelism through the use of cellular phones. In many places around the world, people are being brought to Christ through technology, just like the people in Ethiopia are right now.  40 years ago we did the same thing for Ku?w??ó . A time was scheduled for them to hear the Gospel over short wave radio once a week. Many of the people were glad to hear the Word and accept Christ as their Savior. Many wanted to be baptized, and there were mass baptisms in several villages. The civil war disrupted the radio work for a time, but the Kuwaa Mission, maybe now, has a new opportunity to reach the people for Christ.   Dr. Jensen and I met together, and we were convinced by God that since their Chiefdom was almost totally destroyed during the civil war, the first thing we needed to do was show them that God still loved them. Thus the Kuwaa Mission was established. The first thing that the mission set out to do was to help the people rebuild their infrastructure.  Good water was supplied by new wells, schools were rebuilt and supplied with materials, Vacation Bible Schools were held, teacher training workshops were held, medical and school supplies were provided, and a full medical facility to serve half the Chiefdom was built. Scholarships were given for evangelists to be trained. The L.C.L. provided a pastor for them. He w served all 19 villages with the help of the evangelists.Recently a few villages have had cell phone towers constructed.  Maybe this is another opportunity for the Mission to help?  Pastor Paye could then use them to bring the saving news about Christ to more villages. Since he is the only pastor of 19 villages, it is a challenge to reach them all regularly.  The equipment would also be helpful if Coronavirus continues to prevent our missionaries from traveling to and fro. Is this what God wants us to do as our next project?   We need to pray about it, and seriously discuss the possibilities. Your brother in Christ, Rev. Dr. Dick Thompson, Founding member of the Kuwaa Mission

Your contributions to the Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our tax ID number is 27-5458111 Donations can be given in two ways:  A Check to the mission address or PayPal on our Website: 

Kuwaa Mission, PO Box 90513, Anchorage, AK 99509

www.kuwaamission.org                          Facebook: Kuwaa-Mission

Please subscribe to our mailing list if you want to receive our monthly update letter.  

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I again traveled to Liberia and Kuwaa Chiefdom in the Belle District in mid-January and returned home in early February.  This was a shorter trip than normal but I still feel that I accomplished a lot for the mission and the Kuwaa people. Rev. Dr. Daniel Seyenkulo, a founder of the KM and now the Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Liberia, accompanied me and his wife, Rev. Linda Seyenkulo to the village of Belle Yelleh.  Belle Yelleh was home for much of Liberia’s history as the location for a very notorious prison.  There was no road in and the only planes that went there were government planes carrying prisoners in, very few got out!  However today there are two car roads in and no airstrip!  The road we travelled required a river crossing in a hand powered ferry. This is the first village in the Belle District to receive a cell phone tower and phone connection to the rest of the world!! Solar powered cell phone tower with battery backup We had very productive meetings with the people in town and they recommitted themselves to helping the KM with wells and whatever else that we may request.  We then travelled back to Monrovia to allow the Bishop to complete a days’ worth of paperwork before we flew into another area of the Belle District curtesy of Samaritans Purse and their helicopter.  Here we visited with the people in Fassama, by far the largest village in the district, and then rode motorbikes to Belle Baloma for a visit there.  Fassama School class being address by the Bishop The only pastor for the Belle District and the Kuwaa Chiefdom lives in Belle Baloma and has been doing an excellent job.  During our visit the people spoke very highly of the Rev. Paye and all that he has done for the district. The only functioning night school is being conducted in Belle Baloma but there are hopes for a similar system in all the other villages  – we just need the solar system for each village.  This would be about $1200 per village; they have the student interest (usually older people who need to work during the day) and people who can teach.  Please consider talking with your congregations and friends to see if you can “adopt” a school and get them the badly needed solar system. Belle Baloma School with the Lutheran Church in the background Rev. Paye led the drive to get this school building rebuilt while maintaining the roof structure.  This 9 room school building is complete but still needs blackboards, additional doors, chairs, desks and the solar system.  Unfortunately most schools in the district are not near as nice as the ones in Belle Baloma and Fassama. The people in both Fassama and Belle Baloma were very receptive to the message from the bishop and also recommitted themselves to helping the KM as needed.  Both villages want to be connected to the phone system.  They volunteered, and said if it was possible to get the 30’ long 4” diameter steel pipe tower to Belle Yelleh, to carry it to their villages.  This is at least an 8 hour hike over two tall mountains, and it’s not an easy hike as I’ve done it!! Rev. Paye on the left being honored with the receipt of a “white chicken”.  This shows the towns deep appreciation for all he has done.  Unfortunately he recently lost his wife to cancer.  In her honor the entire district shut down for a day and people travelled across the district to come and pay their respects. So all in all it was a great trip.  This year we also conducted a Children’s Bible School for 130 kids as well as a Community Led Total Sanitation program both in Kondesu.  We conducted an health education class for young women in four villages for the Days for Girls program and distributed about 150 re-useable sanitary kits to young girls just beginning their menstrual periods. Thank you all for your continued support, Stan Olsen:  Acting CEO Your contributions to the Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our tax ID number is 27-5458111

Donations can be given in two ways:  A Check to the mission address or PayPal on our Website: 

Kuwaa Mission, PO Box 90513, Anchorage, AK 99509

www.kuwaamission.org                          Facebook: Kuwaa-Mission

Please subscribe to our mailing list if you want to receive our monthly update letter.  

Shop like you normally do on Amazon but make a small contribution to the Kuwaa Mission with every purchase.  Please consider adding the Kuwaa Mission.   

IF you have an interest in hearing about how we are helping Kuwaa women notify us on our website:

Download Images:

Coffee Clatch 1,  Coffee Clatch 2,  Wacky Cake

Submitted by: Stan Olsen

I had a long but uneventful flight to Liberia with a night layover in Ghana.  This way I ended up much more refreshed on arrival in Liberia than usual. A longtime friend and a driver from the Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCL) were on time to meet me and we had a good visit on the 30 mile drive to Monrovia.  The airport is an old US Air Force base constructed during our presence in Liberia during the Cold War. Voice of America had a very strong radio station at that time just outside of town.

The next two days were spent buying medicines, signing contracts, meetings with the Bishop of the LCL, the Right Reverend Doctor Daniel Jensen Seyenkulo, a good friend.  The days were also spent confirming the trip by road that starts on Friday (Jan. 24) to the village of Belle Yelleh.

Taking a hand powered ferry across the St. Paul river on the way to Belle Yelleh

Typical scene on the roads “upcountry” in Liberia.  We had to pull this pickup out before we could continue!

Our meetings with the people in Belle Yelleh were very successful thanks in large part to the roles played by the Bishop and our well contractor.  The village people were very thankful that we had travelled so far to meet them and fully agreed to meet all our requests that they fully help carry water, sand, and gravel as well as house and feed the workers.  It was a great meeting and all of us felt it was successful and worth the 8 hour trip over rough roads and a hand powered ferry crossing of the St. Paul River.

Rev. Dr. Daniel Bishop Seyenkulo with his wife Rev. Linda Seyenkulo

First cell phone tower in the Belle District of Liberia.  One can now call anywhere in the work from the “bush”.

The villages are in the process of getting cell phone coverage for the first time.  Belle Yelleh already has service and there are people trying to get coverage in Fassama and Belle Baloma.  Belle Yelleh received their tower and antennae by a vehicle from the cell phone company. Due to the poor condition of the road to Fassama the company is not willing to bring the tower (a 30’ long 4” diameter steel pipe).  The people in both Fassama and Baloma said they would carry the tower from Belle Yelleh to their villages – about a 6-8 hour walk. This is not a KM project but we are trying figure out how to assist logistically to accomplish this objective.  When I first came to Liberia there was not even a motorbike road between the villages and now they almost have phone coverage whereby they could call anywhere in the world!!!

After traveling back over the road and the repeat ferry crossing we arrived back in Monrovia the next day.  Two days later we flew into Fassama in Samaritan’s Purse helicopter for a meeting that day with the village representatives.  The following day we took motorbikes and met with the people in Belle Baloma. The people expressed their gratitude that we had come to see them, expressed their needs and also promised to help us fully with our work.  The meetings were very successful with all the people agreeing to fully cooperate with the Kuwaa Mission to help us meet our goals of meeting their needs.Classroom in Fassama

Well construction is well underway, the Children’s Bible School program in Kondesu attracted over 150 kids, the Community Led Sanitation Program was also conducted in Kondesu along with one Days for Girls program.  We also conducted a Days for Girls program in Gatema, Gorwoma and Gbeyanki.

New well in Belle Balloma

Happy baby in Belle Balloma

It was a wonderful trip, I got many things accomplished, met many old friends and reconfirmed that the work of the Kuwaa Mission is going strong and that the Kuwaa  people trust us and continue to look to us for assistance. It was great to hear them confirm their willingness to do their part in the programs.

Thank you all for your support that enables us to help all the people in the Kuwaa area.