A love for Africa and its people drew Charles and Nelda Thomas together. Each had volunteered for mission work there before they met &045;&045; she in Liberia and he in Zimbabwe.

They fell in love in 2000, married in 2001 and now have returned for their second trip together to a small community in Liberia, where they arrived last week and will remain for three weeks working with the United Methodist Volunteer Mission near Ganta.

&uot;We met at the balloon festival in 2000,&uot; Charles said, referring to the annual Great Mississippi River Balloon Festival held each October in Natchez. &uot;She was getting ready to go to Africa; I had already been. It was like a magnet that drew us together.&uot;

Before setting off on the long journey, the couple took time at their home church, Jefferson Street United Methodist, to show the huge boxes of medicines, vitamins, eyeglasses, bandages, colored paper and pencils donated by church members to make the journey with the Thomases.

Liberia, the country founded in 1822 by freed American slaves, is rich in natural resources but is recovering from a civil war and oppressive dictator, Nelda said. &uot;In 2003, it was too unsettled for us to go to the mission there,&uot; she said.

Evidence of a once-modern country is everywhere, Charles said. &uot;Before 1990, they were a modern country. You can see evidence of telephones and electricity that are no longer there,&uot; he said. &uot;They had logging, diamonds and Firestone had the biggest rubber plantation in the world there.&uot;

Nelda, a physical therapist, works with patients who have injuries dating to the war time, helping to fit them for prostheses; and she works with children who have disabilities because of birth defects or poor health

care. She also teaches.

&uot;The compound is about 3,000 acres, including a church, school, nursing school, orthopedic clinic and orthopedic workshop,&uot; she said.

Remembering the patients as she showed photographs of them, she described the types of cases she found, such as one who had stepped on a land mine and had lost a leg. She was a refugee from Guinea. &uot;Her greatest desire was to walk on two legs and be able to carry her babies,&uot; Nelda said. &uot;We fitted her, and she learned to do it.&uot;

Another patient had crushed his leg when he jumped out of a building during the civil war. Another was a baby with clubfoot. One was a 9-year-old girl with brittle-bone disease. &uot;She had never walked. We made crutches for her.&uot;

Tools with which mission volunteers work are crude, both in the orthopedic clinic and workshop and in the shop central to work Charles does while at the mission.

&uot;We modified their water tower and rebuilt the tank on top last time. We worked with crude equipment, making pulleys out of old wheel chair parts,&uot; he said. &uot;This trip we want to help rebuild the hospital. I’ll help with the plumbing and getting some bathrooms built.&uot;

Retired from International Paper, Charles worked for 39 years in maintenance at the Natchez mill, performing welding, pipe fitting, iron work, carpentry and building. For the 2004 trip, he hoped to take along some of his own tools, as he did not know what to expect when he arrived there.

Their church, including Sunday school classes, has helped to sponsor the trip. However, the Thomases will bear most of the expenses of the trip themselves, having set aside money for it in the past two years.

Their will to help in Liberia is strong, both said. &uot;You feel so close to the Lord when you’re there,&uot; Nelda said. &uot;The people are so appreciative, and you get to witness to so many.

The whole thing is about God. We are the vehicle through which God is doing awesome things.&uot;