Ebola and YFC Liberia

I'm sure most of you know already about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.  Ebola is a deadly disease that is spread through contact of bodily fluids of an infected, symptomatic person.  Ebola kills 80% of those infected.  Liberia is one of the hardest hit West African countries.  With Liberia reporting 6619 cases and 2766 deaths as of November 4, 2014. Those numbers are frightening and very disheartening.  The situation in Liberia is far worse then those numbers relate.  Typhoid, malaria, and other tropical diseases share some of the same symptoms of Ebola and are all prevalent in Liberia.  Medical centers are over run and are far under staffed, thus leaving people with these  treatable conditions to suffer and die.  To make matters worse many people are ill and unable to work there for making them unable to provide for their families, leaving many to starve.  The economy has taken are hard hit which increases the cost of living.  In some cases the cost of rice (a staple food) has gone up 150%.  The threat of civil unrest is always present, combined with these unimaginable conditions the situation feels bleak.  Yet, my friends at YFC Liberia are emailing me all the time about Gods greatness.  For every story of horror I hear it seems to be followed by a story of Gods grace or mercy.  Just the other day I received a very upsetting email about a number of children whose parents had died from Ebola and now they were out of the streets.  No orphanages were able to take them in due to financial constraints. It was not even a day later that a someone approached me with the finances needed to support those children and place them in a safe home. It is stories like this that give me hope.  The staff and volunteers at YFC Liberia are working with the Liberian people supporting those in need, children who are orphaned, and providing hope for the hopeless.  Even though our team this year had to post pone our travels to Liberia God has given us an opportunity here to financially and spiritually support our friends and YFC staff there.  We are working to raise awareness for a country that most people did not even know existed 6 months ago.  Please pray for my Liberian friends and spread the word about what is happening in Liberia.