With God’s help, together with the correspondents of the ET3 show “True Scenarios”, journalist Mr. Aslanidis Nikolaos and cameraman Mr. Kapriniotis Christos, we travelled and stayed in Sierra Leone for ten days, on the one hand to see the progress of the missionary work and the development of the projects funded by our Brotherhood and on the other hand for the correspondents to take shots for their show. We had the honour and blessing to meet there the rector bishop, Monsignor Metropolitan Damaskinos of Accra, who came from Ghana, and the architect temple builder Mr. Fournaris with his wife Panagiota and Toufexi Vasiliki, a regular member of our Brotherhood. From our presence in the capital of Sierra Leone we found out:
α) The standard of living of the people is very low. Almost all of them are poor. Poverty is the general feature of the country. People roam the streets asking for help, looking for a piece of bread. b) The government of the country and the people have accepted and embraced Orthodoxy with great joy. In the short space of two years, Orthodoxy has made miraculous leaps by the grace of God. This is due first and foremost to the spirituality and genuineness of the Orthodox Church and the energy of the Holy Spirit and secondly to the superhuman efforts of the missionary Fr. Themistocles Adamopoulos with his love and selfless character, his sacrifices and his diligence. Young and old people, simple and illiterate, but also literate, teachers and professors and government officials accepted Orthodoxy and were baptized. The following incidents are indicative: The headmistress of the Orthodox school, who was a member of the Methodist “Church” stated:
“At first I was sceptical and opposed. I knew nothing about Orthodoxy. Slowly I found out that it is a serious Church. I read on the internet and saw that it is a universal Church. I was particularly impressed by the worship life. I decided to be baptized. After baptism I felt a spiritual change in me. I became a different person. Now I am an Orthodox believer and I work missionary among the teachers and students in the school. In our school we have a catechetical program and we see a change throughout the school in the students and teachers.”
A newly enlightened teacher at the school for the disabled said:
“I was a Pentecostal and decided to be baptized Orthodox, because in the Orthodox Church I liked the way you pray and that you give great importance to holiness. I wish to become a nun.”
The former deputy mayor of Freetown said:
“I was a Muslim and I never thought about changing my religion. Everyone in my family background was Christian. When Orthodoxy came and I met Fr. Themistocles, a feeling of ‘something will change in my life’ sprang from within me. Now I became Orthodox, took the name Maximos and thank God. I found myself”.
Two former Anglican “priests” left the Anglican “Church” and were baptized Orthodox. They took the names Eleftherios and Dionysios. Eleftherios was the “head chancellor” of the Anglican “Church” and taught ancient Greek and Hebrew in Anglican colleges. He stated: “I would rather be last and doorkeeper in the Kingdom of Heaven than an officer in hell. I want to be a simple Orthodox believer.” The country’s Interior Minister, a Muslim, whom we visited said:
“I know the long history of the Greek Orthodox Church and its activity. You are welcome in our country, work freely, but you have come too late.”
Why? To our request to give us land to build a school in Waterloo he replied:
“You will have it, not only that, but anything else you ask us for.”
c) The projects are progressing. There are difficulties, mainly due to the lack of craftsmen and know-how for the construction of Orthodox churches. In the village of the disabled we participated in the group baptisms of 35 newly-converted Orthodox. The photos are indicative of the activities we participated in and saw.
