print page

Personal Stories

Rev. Daniel Islalm—Retiree, Liberia, Africa

"You know, to do God’s way is not an easy task," says the Rev. Daniel Islalm, who joined the Liberia Annual Conference in 1951 and served rural parishes for most of his 31 years of ministry.

"The salary was very low, and sometimes I had to walk to get to different places to preach. Getting to the churches was very difficult," he says. "Sometimes I didn’t have nothing to eat, but I kept the faith and I fought the fight, and I won the prize."

Health concerns led Islalm to retire in 1982.

As an active pastor, his salary was $75 per month—when he was paid. Often he went unpaid and occasionally received his salary in rice and other food. "It wasn’t sufficient, but I had already given my mind to carry the good news, so I just had to get by," he says.

Islalm is grateful he can depend on his retirement income, which is distributed regularly every fourth months. In the past, this distribution was unreliable, but under the administration of Bishop John Innis, retirees receive their retirement income regularly.

The church also helps retirees with cash payments for medical care. In the absence of a health care system in this broken country, the assistance is vital to survival for pastors such as Islalm.

Still, he is just getting by. "The cost of living in our country is very, very hard, and I (have been sick) much of the time," says Islalm, a widower with seven adult children. "But the children, every now and then, they throw something my way."