Merry Christmas!

A second consecutive Christmas season in Liberia brings mixed feelings. I love living in Liberia, and I'm so appreciative of both my close friends here and the opportunity to be doing what I am, but its never easy being away from my NA friends and family over the holidays. It doesn't exactly feel like Christmas eve, but a few close friends have gathered over at a friends house to prepare for tomorrow's big Christmas celebration.

A recent query from a friend here who asked me why I'm interested in development work brought out a longer sting of conversations that began in the late nights of Santo Domingo with my friend Dan while spending a few months in the Dominican Republic, that progressed with my peeps at the international student hostel during the fall of 07's semester in Ghana, and is continuing to come to fruition here in LIB. I feel so blessed to be where I am now and I can't begin to take credit for a shred of what I've been blessed with. My 07' Ghana folks will be familiar with this line, but as a 24 year old caucasian Canadian/American male who grew up with a brother, sister and two great parents in a protected middle class society, who attended private schools and was given all of the benefits that go along with all that, I can't begin to appreciate how I've been given a 'leg up' over my Liberian young adult counterparts. I feel so blessed to be where I am, I thank God for the opportunity to serve, and I can only hope that I'll be able to humbly continue to be able to do so.

Admittedly, I'm rushing a bit on this blog post, but I really wanted to reach out of all of you and thank you for all you've done since I first decided to take on this venture. On that note, I'm happy to announce that I'm now kickin' it with 5 new tires on the jeep! Proper sized tires mean the jeep is riding about two inches taller, and I'm not getting flats! The jeep even rides straight down the road without any fighting at the steering wheel. I was overwhelmed by your desire to get the LEAD jeep in good condition and I can't thank you all enough for the Christmas gift!

Ahhh, much better!

Anyways, I'm catching flack from everyone over here at my friends' house for being anti-social, so I should get going. Thank you all for everything you've done, and I hope that - wherever you are - you're having a great time with friends or family.