JUdeniO'

Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa

January, 1973
Dear Christian Friends,

Greetings and best wishes from all of us in Liberia to you and yours for the new year. The Lord was good to us In 1972, and we lool< forward to what the new year will bring.
December was a full and exciting month for us. The second full term for L.C .C . ended on the 15th. All but three of our fifty-nine junior high and high school students were promoted, and two students were graduated from the 12th grade. They had failed the national exam last year and had studied and attended make-up classes in order to pass the exam this year. Five students have now received diplomas from our high school. Next year we will have our first full class ready forgraduation. The college year was also ended with satisfacticrti. Seventeen students completed the year's work and, for the most pet, with good morks.

After school closed we began our preparation for a "green" Christmas. The hot, dry days of the dry season make j't difficult to get info the Christmas spirit, but we did the best we could. We had plenty of help also. The World-Wide church held their annual conference the week beforeChristmas and osked us to help by teaching the BIbie classes. I taught the men; Greta, the ladies; and the Shows, the youth. Added to this we had house guests for more than a week before Christmas. First there was Dr. Basil Miller, Director of World-Wide Missions International from Pasadena, California. He stayed with us three days and then went to the Shows to make room for more people at our house. After he left.

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Dr. Olaf Bjorgags, his wife, Kari, and their two children Per and Hanna, from Norway came to stay
with us until Christmas Day. Dr. Bjorgaas is the medical director for World-Widp Missions and has been a medical missionaryto Taiwan for eighteen years. It was a busy and interesting weekwhen we climaxed

with a Norwegian Christmas Eve dinner prepared by Mrs. Bjorgaas and shared with our missions group.
According to Norwegian tradition we opened part of our presents Christmas Eve, but we did save a few

for Christmas Day. Per and Hanna were about the same age as our children, and they loved to play together. Christmas is a time of sharing, and we enjoyed sharing ours this year. We have much to be
thankful for.

Perhaps I should tell you more about the World-Wide conference. Most church conferences here are much like our conventions without many of the trimmings. The people gather from all over Liberia to

one town or village for Christian fellowship, preaching, and witnessing. Bible classes aretaight each morning followed bya preaching service. There is a business session inthe afternoon and an evangelistic program in the evening . Following the conference this year, twenty-two people were boptized. The climax of this year's conference was the dedication of the new church building. L.C .C . has been hold ing classes in the education wing of this building. We celebrated the NewYear with several (seventeen) American missionary and PeaceCorps friends at our house for a sort of pot-luck dinner. We have a big house and enjoy having company. We were able to use the radio to get many of our friends in touch with their families back home.

Recently we have received large bundles of used Sunday School material from Lamar, Missouri, Halls Ferry, Modesto, Illinois, and Pine Flats, Pennsylvania. We havebeen using much of this material in classes we teach and distributing it among the various churches and youth groups in town. We are
able to use all that is sent, and every piece is greatly appreciated by people who hove little of what
most folks back home take for granted and often waste.

This past week we mixed business with pleasure and made a trip to Monrovia and spent most of four days camping, shopping, sight-seeing, and relaxing. We camped on the grounds of Camp Lawana
at EIWA Radio Village near Monrovia. We did some shopping and sight-seeing in Monrovia, visiting Providence Island where the first settlers from America landed in Liberia. We also enjoyed the camp and the ELWA beach. Radio ELWA is the powerful radio voice of the Sudan Interior Mission, broadcasting the Gospel in forty languages to Africa, Europe, and South America.

Yesterday I had the rare privilege of meeting the new U.S^ Ambassador to Liberia, Melvin
Manfull. The Ambassador was the guest of Senator Joshua Harmon, Senator from Grand Bassa County.

Wayne Shaw and I, along with several other Americans as well as Liberians, were invited to meet the
Ambassador. Mr. Manfull is a striking personality and does seem to be serious about his job as the

official representative of the U .5, in Liberia . He is visiting many of the outlying areas of the country, spreading good will wherever he goes. Most Ambassadors do not get far from the capital. 1 was proud
to find such an energetic man representing my country.

In our next letter we will tell you about our coming youth camp in the bush. Wayne Shaw, Ron Ayers, and I will leave Sunday (January 14) to help teach Bible classes in a youth camp near Palm Boy, located about thirty miles inland from Bucharwn. We will be there for eight days. This is a new ex
perience for us; we need your prayers.

We greatly appreciate all the gifts, cords, and letters we have received from home during the holidays. We are still enjoying them. God bless you. Thank you for your continued prayer and support.
Pictures this month:

1 . Greta working with o small part of her sewing class. The class often hadOS many as eighteen. 2. Greta explaining some Sunday School material to Chauncy Karngo, a Sunday School teacher and
educotion director for the World-Wide Church.

3. Camping out at ELWA

4. Dr. Bjorgaas and family

In His service.

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Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family

Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

10345 Castle Drive

St. Louis, Missouri 63136

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

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Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa
February, 1973 Dear Christian Friends,

Greetings from hot, dry, dusty Liberia in the dry season. While you are enjoying the cool refreshing breezes of winter, we are suffering in the sun. Last night we had our first "rain" in
almost two months; it just did lay the dust, February and. March are the most uncomfortable

months for us here. The rainy season is a bit unhandy sometimes; but it is much cooler.
The Meeces are all fine. We are enjoying the "summer" vacation, but preparations for the next school year have kept us busy. The children, of course, are still in school at Lamco, follow ing the U. S. -European schedule. The only common school vacations they have with the Liberians
are Christmas and Easter.

As we promised you last month, we will use the most o this letter to tell you of the youth camp. Wayne Shaw, Ron Ayers, and I were invited to teach Bible for the Gospel League Youth
Camp at Debbah Town, January 15-21.
Debbah Town is about forty-five minutes drive into the interior from Buchanan and is located near Palm Bay, a Palm oil plantation operated by the Paul Getty Company. It is a typical Liberian village with about thirty houses and a population of about 200. About the only signs of civilization

are a tailor, blacksmith shop, two tiny general stores, and a bus that passes two or three times a day to carry people through the plantation. Taxis are not allowed to pass through the plantation. The houses were all made of mud plastered over a stick frame or sun-dried m\id blocks. Most had zinc roofs, but there were a few with thatch. Our home for the week belonged to the town chief.
Old Man Debbah, a descendent of the old Bassa warrior-chief for whom the town was named.

There were about one hundred young people who attended the camp. A large part or them were from stations in the deep interior and some walked most of two days to get to the camp. About one-third of the campers spoke no English at all, and many who did, spoke and understood so little that we needed an interpreter to teach. Ron and I had less difficulty communicating

than did Wayne Shaw who has not beenhere so long. I considered it a high compliment when two of
my classes sent away the interpreter saying they understood me well.

The camp was conducted much as are Christian Service Camps in the U.S. except for the

setting. We had Bible classes in the morning, recreation in the afternoon, and special'programs
in the evening. Classes were held in an old colatree grove where they had cleared away the under
brush. It was a cool and enjoyable setting except for a tree snake or two that kept falling out of
the tree into one of my classes.

The most enjoyable part of the camp to me was the music. The campers used drums, gourdrattles and other instruments to accompany the singing. Even though I could not understand the

words of the native songs and hymns, I often found myself carried away by the joy of the singers* expression and the throbbing beat of the rhythm. The best drummer in the camp was a young girl named Mary. The rhythm of her playingseemed to comefrom every part of her. She was completely imhibited and gave herself over completely to the music she was playing. It was an experience to
watch her play.

Our mornir^ devotions and the evening services were held in an improvised "church. " The largest kitchen in the village had been cleared of the cook-fires and kitchen equipment, decorated with palm fronds, and filled with benches to make a meeting place. Thekitchen was about twenty
feet square and has a zinc roof. There was a two-foot wall aroimd the outside that kept small
animals and children out of the kitchen. The loft of the kitchen is enclosed and used for storing

tools and food. The cooking is done over an open fire in large black iron kettles. As an improvised
"church" the kitchen would accommodate about sixty people. Others had to stand around outside.

Our food dxiring the camp was excellent. We had rice at least two times a day. Rice is usu^ly served with a topping of meat, gravy or greens. We also had cassava in various forms: diunboy, fufu, boiled, or fried. To make a dumboy, the cassava is boiled and then beaten into a pasty form, not unlike mashed potatoes but sticky. You must wet the spoon before you dig into
it or it will stick to the spoon. Fufu is much the same, only it is aged for a few days before it is cooked. Both are eaten with a meat soup made with beef, deer, goat, fish, or a combination of
these. Cassava has no destinctive taste of its own; the taste comes from the soup which is usually liberally seasoned with hot pepper.

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To siAmmarize, it was an enjoyable week and we enjoyed teaching the youi*^ pcopls. Tlvay are

very respectful and eager to learn. The teaching job is nnuch easier with students like them. To bring you up to date on other events, February 5th we gave entrance examinations for the high school and college. There were about seventy to take the high school-junior h%h exams. Of
those we were able to accept about fifty. We have roomfor only twenty in each class. Our total

enrollment in the high school and junior high school this year will be about one hundred. We gave an entrance examination to the college students for the first time this year. Many o the students we were getting were not capable of college work; therefore, we gave the test to
find out what each student could do. Those who were deficient in math, science, or English will

be required to take pre-college classes in those subjects. So far there have been twelve who hsve
taken the test, and only four of them were without some deficiency.

Some of our teacher shortage has been made up by two Peace Corps teachers who have been assigned to our school. They are George Bergeman and Dawn Hares, both math teachers. We feel very fortunate to have them; our teaching situation would be impossible without them. We will be telling you more about them as we learn more about them. Other Peace Corps Volxmteers are interested in helping with the college math and science classes, but that has not yet been approved.

Our most urgent request is that you pray with us about the teacher situation. Pray that there will be enough teachers; pray that there will be someone to replace us in July.
This month's pictures

1, Most of the campers posing in front of the

"kitchen-church."

2. The house where we stayed.

are whitewash.

The white spots

It makes a nice decoration.

3. A class under the trees.

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4. Eating the American way.

5. The Liberian way.

Thank you for your continuing support. God be with you.

The Meeces

Mtsslonanes: Wayne Meece Family Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

10345 Castle Drive

FINANCIAL REPORT

November 14, 1972 February 27, 1973

Colchester Christian Church Anonymous Alverda Christian Church 75.00 225.00 75.00

St. Louis, Missouri 63136

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

M/M J. Aubrey
M/MC. Boatman
Christview Christian Church

10.00115.00
90.00

Gillespie Christian Church M/M P.G. Click 1st Christian Ch, Florissant

100, 00 20.00 50. 00

1st Christian Ch, Carnegi^ Pa.

91. 00

1st Christian Ch, Havre De Grace 15. 00 Daisey Field 25. 00

1st Christian Ch, Bridgeport

132.00

M/MJ. Hendrix

115.00

M/MH. Hamm 75.00 Halls Ferry Christian Church 2131.14

Modesto Christian Church
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177.00 30.00

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Memorial Christian Church

M/MJ.E. McDonald
M/MG. Parker
Pine Flats Christian Church

20.00
60.00
60.00

North Tacoma Christian Church 160. 00

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Pontoon Beach Church o Christ 130.00

Sailor Spriiigs Christian Church 150.00

Spanish Lake Church o Christ 362. 10
75. 00 Walltown Christian Church
Travel Fund

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Watson Chapel Christian Church 100. 00 MacGomery Christian Men's Fellowship

Pleasant Hill Christian Church

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75.00

(Young Adults)
Modesto Christian Church

22.00
204, 65

Total Amount in Travel Fund

476. 65

JldmO/ dimiUiM
Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa
April, 1973 Dear Christian Friends,

The Lord is able to provide in more ways

^han we can dream or imagine. For months we have been praying for teachers to help us with

the increasing load of work. This year we have

more classes and students to teach, and until now, less teachers to do the work. The Lord has

provided beyond 6ur hopes and dreams. When

school began, we had two full-time Peace Corps teachers joinour staff and two others volunteered to help us in the evening with the college classes. These teachers were assigned to us through the efforts of another Peace Corps friend and the Supervisor of Schools, Joseph Gbadyu. They will be teaching classes in Math, Science, English, and History, leaving us more free to
teach the Bible classes.

George Bergeman has a Master Degree

in Moth and is teaching three high school and one college class. Dawn Hares is also a Math major and teaches math and science .in the college. William Hares is teaching one college class in African History, and Pat Reilly, a pre-college class in English. William and Pat have full,-^ime assign ments inother schools during the morning, but out of the goodness of their hearts are volunteering to tielp us in the evening. School actually began on March 5th after spending most of the month of February in preparation. We gave entrance examinations for both the high school and college this year. It was the first time for the college . We did this to raise

A Liberian devil dancer.

the quality of students in our college program and had to install a program of precollege classes for those who did not pass the tests. There are eighty-five students in the highschooljunior highschool classesand twenty-five in the college classes.

UnderLiberian leadership, the junior high isexpanding thisyear also. James Morgan, the teacher last year, is now attending the University of Liberia, planning to complete his education and return to teach for us in the future. In his place, the Christian Education Foundation has placed Abba Karnga in charge of the junior

high program and hired Wilmot Kadyu as o teacher.

On the personal side, the Meeces are all doing well except for a few minor complaints. The children are attending school regularly at Lamco International
School and are enjoying it very much.

The ole' swimming hole.

"Under the spreading Halm tree, the village smithy."

The biggest matter on our minds at this time is coming home. Our plans at this time are to leave Liberia about the middle of July and take a short vacation in Europe visiting Greta's brother in the service and some missionary friends. We will be arriving in the States about the middle of August. We would like to take a ship from Liberia to somewhere in Europe and then rent a camper to travel about. There is much to be done and lots more detailed planning to do, but the dates of leaving Liberia and arriving in the U ,S. are pretty definite .

The vilfage general store-dried fish anyone?

Soccer Liberia's national sport

Plans for the future are still incomplete. We are asking you to pray with us about this. We certainly want to do the Lord's will about this matter. We have several problems to workout about this and hopefully we can make a definite announcement about future plans by next month. We are certainly encouraged about the way our support has been coming in recently. We are still feeling the effects of the devaluation of the dollar here. Many prices have increased fifteen to twenty percent within the last two or three
months. A few new supporters have been added, and our old faithfuls hpve stood firmly behind us. At this time we do not have pictures of our new teachers or students
and prayers.
The Meeces ^

We

will try to have those next issue. In the meantime, thanks for yourcontinuing support

Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family

Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G , Click

10345 Castle Drive

FINANCIAL REPORT

February 27 to April 2, 1973

St. Louis, Missouri 63136

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Anonymous
Alverda Christian Church Christview Christian Church

15.00
50.00 30.00

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

1st Christian Church (Florissant)

5.09

1st Christian Church (Carnegie, Pa.) 1st Christian Church (Holiday, Fl.)

56.00 10.00

1st Christian Church (Greenville, Ml.) 14.00 1st Christian Church (Havre DeGrace,Md.) 17.50

Halls Ferry'Christian Church

Chuck Lykfc
Modesto Christian Church Memorial Christian Church

1251 .13
10.00
225.00 10.00

Palmyra Christian Church

Pontoon Beach Church of Christ

21 .23
100.00

Sailor Springs Christian Church Spanish Lake Church of Christ

50.00 100.00

Slate Valley Christian Church

First Christian Church (Belleville)
travel fund
C4

100.00
14.00

MacGomery Men's Fellowship St. Louis Area Youth Rally

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50.00 100.00 626.65

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Total Amount in Travel Fund

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Jldenieif
May, 1973
Dear Christian Friends,

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Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa

We are coming home in August, but If the Lord wills, we will return to Liberia for
another term after a year's furlough .

We have delayed this letter for several

weeks sothat we could make thisannounce-

would give us a written statement to the

. M- k and Guinea in Nimba.
The Meeces at the border between Liberia

effect that other children from any new

recruits wi
it

a so be admitted to the school.

Ji. i.l

Our plans are to leave here by ship sometime about the middle of July. The date Is not definite yet, because there is no scheduled ship that operates out of Buchanan. We will get one of the ore ships that carries ore for Lamco and take it to Europe. In Europe we will visit some missionary friends and, if we can find him, Greta's brother who Is with the U.S. Army In Germany. On the 15th of August we will fly from Brussels, Belgium, to New York, While in Europe we also plan to attend Christian Service Camp In Lugano, Switzerland, where Guy Mayfleld Is working with the
Christian Military Fellowship.

Our reasons for wanting to return to Liberia now are simple. The work is not finished
here now and needs much more effort before It can be self sufficient. Although there

Is growing new Interest In the work here, we have no one else definitely committed

to the work. Ron Ayers will return to the States in December leaving the Shaws to

handle the workalone. We also want to return now while our children ore young and
still in elementary school. There is no high school for them here.
In viewof this, we are askingall churches

and individuals who possibly can tocontirue

their support of our work. While weore in

the States we will be wanting to report to all oursupporterspersoncilyand bringthem

up to date on what is being done here and our plans for the future . Those who would

like for us to come for a speaking date should contact our forwarding agent. He
Tim and Beverly look over a dump truck at the mine on Mt. Mimba . Would you believe
100-tons capacity?

will keep a record of all requests and will

clear them with us and confirm them.

luu-tons capacity!'

The work here has been keeping us very

busy as usual. The students were all excited last month when the Ladies Auxiliary of Lamco granted $420.00 for student scholarships. We tried to make the money go as
for OS possible. We gave four full-scholarships to the best student and six half-

scholarships togood students who needed financial assistance . Our students pay $50.00 per year tuition. Thisallows us to buy books and to pay teachers that we need to help us. We also buy equipment such as desks, tables and bookshelves, duplicating supplies, etc . When the scholarships were granted Lamco sent their public relations director to take pictures and interview the students. The picture and the story were
printed in the Liberian Star, our national daily paper. For our Easter vacatronthis year the family, along with RonAyers, went to Nimba for a short but very enjoyable vacation. We took our cor this time and went overland in order to see the country. Last year we went to Nimba by rail bus from Lamco. It is about 250 miles by rood from Buchanan to Yekepa, Nimba County. About 130 miles
of the rood is unpaved. Yekepa is the Swedish name for the town that has been built around the iron ore mine operated by Lamco. We enjoyed our trip very much. Along the way we passed through towns with names like Kakato, Totota, Suakoko, Gbanko, and Sanokole. Most of these towns with their unpaved streets and store fronts remind us very much of what the Old West may have been like in the U .S 100 years ago. We spent four days in Nimba just relaxing, swimming, sightseeing, and enjoying the

fellowship of the Baptist missionary family there.

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We have all been in good health these last few months. We are very thankful for
that. The children will finish with their

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school on June 8th. They ore anxious for the vacation. Going to school so early almosteveryday they leave home before 7:00a.m. andalsohavingschool six days
a week has made them tired.

Wayneandtwo ladies from the Lamco Ladies

Auxiliary with the students who received

Time passes SOquickly, and August will be

here before we have too much time to think

scholarehips.

about it. We are anxious to come home

and see all our friends again, but we do feel that the Lord is leading us to continue what has beenstarted here. Please pray forus as we make readyto come home. There Is so much to be done. There is packing to do, crates to be made, things to be sold
or stored, and travel arrangements to be made along with all our school work to be done. We have madearrangements for a Peace Corps friend to live In our house while we are In the States. This will allow us to keep some of our furniture here and save us from buying or making it when we return.

We will be able to send one or two more newsletters before returning to the States
We will keep you up to date on all our return plans.
In Christian love.
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Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family

Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

10345 Castle Drive

St. Louis, Missouri 63136

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

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Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa
July, 1973
Dear Christian Friends,

This will be our last newsletter from Liberia. We nowhave eight more days in Liberia, and by the time you receive this, we will be well on our way home.

On our way home we will stop in Europe to visit some of our missionary frienos and perhaps some of our family. We will be with the Kirklands in Berlin for several days, and will camp with the Hickersons and other Christians in Europe at Lugano, Switzer land. We hope to be able to visit Greta's brother in Germany; she has not seen him in over three years and only once in eight. The remainder of the time we will see what we can see of the different countries of Europe. We will depart from Liberia on July 16 and arrive in New York on August 17.

These last few days here will be hectic. We are trying to get everything arranged so that we can come back to Liberia in about a year. We have arranged for a Peace Corps lady to live in our house whilewe are gone. That way we can store most of our
furniture that we want to keep without much expense. This lady, Mrs. Hendrixson, is a nurse and helpsoperate a baby clinic . She is over sixty-five yearsold and amazes

everyone with her energy and stamina . She has been here two years and has volun teered to stay another year. At present she is home for a month's vacation before returning to live in our houseand finish her extended term. We feel fortunate to have
such a person to help us keep our things here.

We will be leaving the work in the hands of the Shows who have eighteen months left
of their term. We have also asked one of the Liberion men, Abba Karnga, to assist

with the work. We hope that he can take over completely soon. He has many responsibilities and needs to free himself from some of them before he can enter fully
into the work of the college.

We are still trying to upgrade our program here. Just lost week Mr. Karnga and I visited the presidentof the Universityof Liberiaand discussed the relationship between our schools. We are hoping that within a year or two we can be recognized by the University of Liberia. This will greatly enhance our school and will probably attract
many more students.

On the personal side, we are all welland anxious to be on our way home. However,
we do have mixed emotions about coming home. This seems to affect the children

especially. They have so many friends among both the Liberian and European com munities herethat they don't know what to thinkabout leaving. They are also a little upset about having to give up their pets. At one time we had four cats and a dog; now we have only one of each and the last cat is supposed to be given away today. We are trying to arrange to have someone to keep the dog for us; he is a good watch dog and we hate to lose him. We had one attempted burglary last year, but we have had no problem with the dog here.

Speaking of thieves (called rogues here), therewas a big disturbance by our house this morning. Our neighbor dries fish to sell in the market. This morning about 6:00, he caught a rogue stealing some of his fish. He woke us all up chasing him around our house yelling to the top of his lungs. When they caught him, they took him to jail, all shouting "rogue, rogue." (When the Liberians say "rogue," it comes out "roo, roo.") I talked to my neighbor later, and he said that they gave him a good beating
before taking him to jail. The beating usually involves stripping them naked. As I write this, things continue to happen that I want to tell you about. We were all very happy this morning when Beverly confessed her faith in Jesus Christ and was baptized into Him. To me, the greatest joy of being a parent is seeing your children
grow up and begin to express their faith.
The Liberians are not making it any easier for us to leave. They are so expressive of

their thanks and appreciation for what you do for them. Last night the World-Wide Church gave us a farewell party and presented us with a small set of elephants as a token of appreciation. After a short program, they shared a fine meal of country "chop" with us, palm butter, rice, dumboy, fufu, and all the trimmings. Next Saturday, July 14, they will have a special farewell party sponsored by the Christian

Education Foundation. We have been told that the Superintendent of the county will be there. The party is to be held at the Memorial Pavilion, the "official" county
auditorium. We don't know what to expect then.

Several people have written already about speaking dates. Some dates have already been set. We are especially interested in visiting allour supporting churches. If you
have a special date that you are interested in our coming, you should contact our forwarding agent, Mr, Click. He will arrange our schedule until we arrive in the
States.

We are very anxious to see and talk with each of you. Your faithful support hasmode
our work here free of worries and much easier to concentrate on the problems here.

Thank you, and God bless you.

In Christ,

The Meeces
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Teacher John Hays and some of his students from a school forty miles Into
the interior.

Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family

Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

10345 Castle Drive

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St. Louis, Missouri 63136

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

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JUdciia^
Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa
September, 1973
Dear Fellow-workers,

Greetings from St. Louis, our home for the next year. We arrived he^^e August 24 to a rousing welcome from the Halls Ferry Church and many friends here in the area.
Ourtrip home through Europe was relaxing,
informative and inspiring. We mixed ouf
tourism with visits to various mission works in

Belgium and Germany. In Genk, Belgium, we were with Henki and Mary Esther Boonaerts and Dennis and Linda Messimer helping get

ready for the first service in a new church

building they have in Maasmechlin. We helped with last-minute preparations on the buildingand passed out invitations inseveral surrounding communities. The first service was attended by over 100 people, an en couraging victory for the workers there . By the way, Henki and Mary Esther are now in
I he Meeces

. J.I at .a t .1 party. decorated rare well

the States for Henki tocontinue his studies.

In Berlin we visited the Richard Kirkland family and helped them move to their new

location in southern Germany where they will join the Dean Hickersons and David Stitts working in the Basil, Switzerland, area. We helped carry their furniture down

ninety-two steps from their fifth-floor apartment. In Berlin we also met two other missionary families, the David DeVilders and the Dale Mallorys.
Just before flying home to the States, we spent a week camping with Christian
missionaries and U .S. servicemen from all over Europe in a beautiful setting near

Lugano, Switzerland. This week provided the rest, relaxation, and especially the spiritual uplift we needed before returning to the U.S. to get Involved in all the running around we will be doing. The Isolation of the mission field causes a physical,
emotional, and spiritual drain that needs to be replenished. The Bible classes and
Christian fellowship of Lugano did that for us.

Our European missionaries face a difficult, often misunderstood work among a people
that haveabandoned the Christian faithas anonswer tolife's problems. The traditional

formsof evangelism sosuccessful In the Mid-Western U.S. donot work, and those who
use them are branded as foolish religious fanatics. Most of the progress is painfully

slow by U.S. standards. The most successful work Is done by those who stay long
enough to gain the personal confidence of tlie people. These missionaries need our prayers, support, and particularly the encouragement of their supporters.

We are pretty well settled into our new home we hove rented here in St. Louis. Our forwarding agents, the Clicks, and the Halls Ferry Church had the house about ready
for us to move into when we arrived . The children started toschool this week. Timothy

Is in the eighth grade at Rivervlew Gardens Central Junior High with 1600 other
students. He likes it so for. Beverlyand James only have to cross the street to Lewis and Clark Elementary School, a newschool that isair-conditioned and haswa ll-to-wall carpet. They had no problems being admitted at thegrade levels they had reached in
Africa .

News from Liberia is good . Just after we left,

Gerald Gibson and Dennis Dazey visited. Wayne Shaw wrote that the visit wasa great
success. The training conference of the

World-Wide Church was in progressond they all took part. Dennis is a young man Inter
ested In mission work in Africa .

Wayne also wrote that some of the problems

with thechurches had been worked out since we left. The churches we work with most

closely all believe in baptism for the re mission of sins but often delay baptizing the
satisfactorily completes a baptismal class. We have been patiently trying tochange this through careful Bible teaching . Gerald Gibson added his voice to the plea during his visit and was satisfied to see a change in
Wayne rs mode an honorory Bassa chief.
candidate for weeks or even months until he

policy by the World-Wide Church . Now they baptize their candidates immediately
and teach theclcsses afterward . Wedo fee! that this is a great victory for the faithful
teaching and preaching of the Bible truth.

This victory was satisfactory In another way. We hove noticed that many missionaries In underdeveloped areas keep the nationals "in line" by making them dependent on the missionary foreither firrancesor leadershipauthority. Wehave contented ourselves with a teaching ministry, Ibelievlng that the Africancan and will follow the truth if he knows it. We do not need to worry that the Liberian churches will revert to their old ways after we are gone . They were not forced into a decision; it was their own de
cision made according to their own understanding of the Word of God and made at the time they felt it appropriate.

Wayne told the story in his letter. He, Dennis Dazey, and Gerald Gibson had been preaching and teaching in the conference toward the end of the week. Gibson had particularly stressed the subject of Baptism. Several people had responded to the
Gospel invitation. When they arrived at the conference Sunday morning, they found outoboutthechange In policyand that eleven people had been baptized that morning.

We will be on furlough in the U.S. for about eleven months, and we will return to Liberia, if the Lord wills, In late June or early July, 1974. We would like to see as

many of our supporters as possible to report and thank them for their support. Our
furlough address is: 10251 Prince, St. Louis, Missouri 63136, and the phone number (314) 869-9951. We would like to hear from each of you and will be glad to report
to the churches that wont to hear from us. Write or call any time.

Pray for us. Wayne will be traveling a lot. Pray also that we next year. Pray for the Shows and Ron Ayers In Liberia now. 1

i return to Liberia for new vrorkers.

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Yours for Christ In Liberia,

The Meeces

Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family

LIBERIA CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

10345 Castle Drive

FINANCIAL REPORT

April - September, 1973

St. Louis, Missouri 63136

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Anonymous
Alverdo Christian Church

50.00
50.00

African Mission Evang. (Expenses)

Colchester Christian Church

181.40
150.00

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033

Christian Church (Gillespte, III.)

Christvlew Christlon Church Edlna Christian Church

100.00
150.00 59.00

First Christian Church (Carnegie, Po .) First Christian Church (HavreDeGrace, Md .) First Christian Church (Florissant, Mo.)

154,00 42.50 23.26

Halls Ferry Christian Church M/MJ.HendrIx

Modesto Christian Church Memorial Christian Church

2,781.14 115.00
452.40 40.00

Mac-Gomery Christian Service Camp

North Tocomo Christian Church

314.00
138.00

Palmyra Christian Church M/M G. Parker

Pin.e Flats Christian Church
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92.54 75.00
90.00
250.00 15.81

Pontoon Beach Church of Christ Parkwood Christian Church

Soilor Springs Christian Church

TRAVEL FUND

272.00

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Mac-Gomery Christian Men's Fellowship

Pontoon Beach Church of Christ

100.00
50.00

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JldeniO/
October, 1973
Dear Christian Friends,

^cMe^

Buchanan, Liberia, West Africa

We have been home almost two months now but still find ourselves feeling strangely

out of placeat times. We miss our friendly Bassa neighbors, the busy school schedule, the the more leisurely pace of life in Liberia. In short, we are a bit homesick. The children feel the same way. Recently Beverly was almost in tears as she talked about Oretha, her playmate, and Buddy, our dog. We have discovered that there is such a thing as reverse culture shock. The best thing about being home is therenewed fellow ship with friends in the Lord. This was the one thing we missed most in Liberia, felJowship with those we love in the Lord. From now on we will have that problem
wherever we are. Here we miss our Liberianbrothers. It is a good feeling to be a part

of an ever expanding fellowship of Christian friends all over the world.

In the past few weeks we have been involved in two Faith-Promise Rallies. The first was at Gillespie, Illinois, where Michael Grimes is minister. The brethren there have supported ourwork in the past, andwe were happy to get thechance to report to them.
This was the first Faith-Promise Rally for the Gillespie congregation, and it was a

tremendous success. They more than tripled theirgoa Iwith promises exceeding $10,000.
Later last week we shared with the brethren in Florissant as they conducted their sixth annual Faith-Promise Rally. Charles Wingfield is the minister of this fast-growing

congregation which has been a pioneer in missions giving in the St. Louis area. Sunday Was Victory Day, and their promises exceeded $14,000.

November will bea busy month with Faith-Promise Ralliesat Lovington, NewMexico, and Kell, Illinois, and the National Missionary Convention at Oklahoma City. We

do need your prayers for our safety during all the long trips we will have to make.

The best news we have this month isthat we havea newrecruit for the work in Liberia.

He Is Harrison Rose from Urbana, Illinois, and a student at the University of Illinois. Gerald Gibson has recruited this young man to the Liberian work, and if all goes well/ he will be In Liberia soon after the first of the year to fill in for Ron Ayers, who

will be coming home In December. We have not had the opportunity to meet Harrison

yet, but he has been recommended by Gerald Gibson as a man who has qualities that
are needed In Liberia. He is now in the process of raising support and getting his

papers ready to get into the country. We have experienced some difficulties in this in the past because of the slowness of government process and red tape. Please pray
for Harrison Rose and pray that God will continue to lead us to men who are needed In the work in Liberia. We feel that new recruits are our greatest need at this time.

As we have already announced, our plans are to spend a year here in the States and
return to the work in Liberia in late June or early July of 1974. We felt that we

needed a year in the States for our health and the children's education, but we do not need a year's vacation. We also felt that we needed to report to our supporting
churches, butthat will not takea year to do either. With this in mind, we have been talking with the elders at the HallsFerry Church, our sponsoring elders, with the idea to find something to do when we are not traveling for the mission. We would prefer to lend a helping hand to our main supporting churches or help out in some way with church work in the St. Louis area, since most of our supportcomes from there . At this writing we are looking at the Spanish Lake Church of Christ which does not have a minister and is in need of help. This new church has supported our work from the be ginning even though it was a mission church needing financial help. We feel that we should try to make some contribution to our supporters while we are home. Such a work would mean that we will need the continuing support of the churches because we would not receive a salary from these churches. Many have objected to missionaries spending a year away from their work considering it a paid vacation. While this is not exactly true, traveling thousands of miles over the country is ha rdly a vacation, but
we feel that as missionaries wecan makea contribution to the evangelistic work of the church while we are home. In future letters we will keep you up on this project. Patrick and Belle Click have been our forwarding agents from the beginning, and we

are happy that they have agreed to continue. Pat has recently changed jobs and will be moving from St. Louis to Linn, Missouri. Beginning this month, all gifts should be sent directly to him at his new address: P.O. Box 437, Linn, Missouri 65051 .

This gives us an opportunity to express our thanks to the Clicks for their faithful work. A good forwarding agent is the secret of the success of independent missions. The

Clicks have done an outstanding |ob for us, and we are happy that they are going to continue. They have collectedqnd kept trackof our funds, published our newsletter,
spoken to numerous churches about our work, and performed numberless other tasks for us. Pat's new [ob in Linn will be teaching for Linn Technical School in the field of

heating and refrigeration. We dopray that God will blessthem intheir move. Again,
I remind you that all future gifts should be sent to their new address.

We alsoremind oursupporters that we would like to report to asmany of our contributors as possible. Write or call us If you would like for us to speak to your church or group.
Our furlough address is: 10251 Prince, St. Louis, Missouri 63136.

God be with you until next time.

The Meeces

Missionaries: Wayne Meece Family Forwarding Agents: M/M Patrick G . Click

P .O. Box 437

Linn, Missouri 65051

HALLS FERRY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

12105 Old Halls Ferry Road

Florissant, Missouri 63033
Downtown Buchanan

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A drygoods store where we often

trade.

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A church building where we have often worshiped.