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

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