RECENT EVENTS

RECENT EVENTS:
The 177th LIBERIAN ANNUAL CONFERENCE took place at the W.V.S Tubman High School and Gbargna Theological School of the United Methodist University in Gbanrga, Liberia. It was an event filled with hymns, praise, and good preaching along with committee and district reports. I enjoy listening these as I am usually in Ganta focusing on my work in the nursing school and not involved with the daily ongoings of the church so find them interesting.

The theme of the conference was “Following Jesus in this Present Age” Text 19:27-29“Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will inherit eternal life.”

Unfortunately, Bishop Innis who presides over the LAC has been in the US for medical reasons. In his place overseeing the conference was Bishop Arthur F. Kulah,the Acting Bishop of Nigeria and former Bishop of the Liberian Annual Conference. Although Bishop Innis couldn't attend, he was with us in spirit, and Bishop Kulal was well received and did a fine job with the proceedings.

There were many special events such as a ground breaking for a new library for the Gbarnga School of Theology which is located next to the Tubman School property and, as usual, there was the ordination of the new ministers.

REGISTRATION FOR SEMESTER II OF THE 2009-2010 ACADEMIC YEAR
Registration for the second semester was held on Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6. It is nice having the students back again. It is awfully quiet when they are not around! There will be 20 third year senior students eligible for graduation in July with their Associate Degree in Nursing, and 23 second year students for a total of 43 students. These students are serious and focused in their studies and I wish them all a good semester. (The first year students are still taking their prerequisite courses in Monrovia and they will be eligible to transfer to Ganta in September.)

What you won’t see during registration are any computers, credit cards to pay tuition, or other electronic processing. Everything is still hand done in triplicate. The registrar will take the information back to the main campus in Monrovia for data entry to the computer there. The system here is still tedious and full of errors. They are trying, however, and over the three years I’ve been here, there has been much improvement.

So, classes have started and the routine and rhythm of the school is in a nice flow. We have some new faculty and some returnees. I'll introduce you to them in a future blog. But all for now....