August 5th : Sunday morning and time to go worship God! Had a horrible night's sleep with bugs and monkeys jumping on the roof so I couldn't get packed up fast enough! We dressed up (as much as we could) and headed back to Pastor Tashali's Church, Kale Heywet (Word of Life) Church. Pastor David was preaching this day on God's unchanging love. We sang our song then, once church was dismissed, headed over to another of his church plants. We sang our song again, "Our God", for them. Once this service was dismissed, we went back to the original church for lunch with the orphans and the Pastor and elders. We finished our meal and loaded up the vans to head back to Addis. Of course the ride was long but we made it back to Addis and checked into the Teagan Hotel. I finally got a wonderful HOT shower, was able to blow dry my hair and straighten it!! YEAH! Ahhhh....felt so much better, felt normal again. (I know, I'm dramatic) We went out this night for a traditional Ethiopian dinner. The restaurant had a strange smell to it but the music and dancing was very interesting for sure. Headed back to the Teagan for a great night's sleep!
August 6th : Headed home today! Woke up for breakfast with the group on the 2nd floor. We also had to preorder our lunch so it would be ready when we got back, and we weren't going to have much time before going to the Thomas Center to see the family reunion for the Porters. That morning we drove to Korah. This is an area of town where 80 years prior the town had put people with leprosy in their own area not to mingle with other people. Back then, they were afraid of these people and that they would also catch the disease so they were basically shunned far, far away. The funny thing is, that over the years, as the city has grown, it has grown up to and around Korah. So now Korah is surrounded by "the city". The lepers and their families, children and grandchildren, for years to come would have the same stigma and have to live in Korah also as an outsider. We went to meet the elders, those that the area were started because of. There was a horrible stench in the air in this town. Some women make beaded necklaces and some make baskets, which both we were able to purchase. We walked thru the village and the kids came out and walked with us. We stopped at the Alert Hospital that was built for Korah 80 years ago as well. We had some free time to buy a few things here from the hospital store. I met a young boy while sitting outside in the vans waiting to depart. His name is Sintayehu, he was getting ready to be a senior in high school and is one of only 350 kids that gets to attend a boarding school. This journey to Korah was such a sweet example of God's provision covering those that have been rejected.
We drove back to the Teagan for our quick lunch and then over to the Thomas Center to pick up Sintayehu and take him home as our 25th team member. What an amazing thing to witness this reunion, another eye witness to God's unfailing love and his provision over the helpless. God put this sweet little boy with the most amazing family! So completely humbled and privileged to have been given this opportunity to see this reunion. And what a way to end our trip!
Soon we drove in the vans back to the Teagen to get our bags piled up on the vans and head back to the airport for a long ride home. Before the airport we stopped and ate at the best pizza place ever! The flight home began at 11pm Ethiopian time with a stop in the Sudan and a change of planes in Frankfurt. We finally arrived home on Tuesday, August 7th in the early afternoon.
What an amazing trip but it was good to be home! I miss the people of Ethiopia everyday. Each day I think about them, pray for them, and would love the opportunity to go back and be with them again if God so chooses me.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Unwrapped- Part III
August 3rd : Time to pack up and leave the guest home and Addis. We headed to Woliso. Craig and Jamey Porter found out this gorgeous Friday morning that Sintayehu would be going home with them on Monday. Praise God!! His timing and allowing our whole group to witness this reunion is nothing short of a miracle!
We went out to hand out school supplies to the neighborhood kids before leaving; they were so excited to receive these things and we said our goodbyes. Loaded up the three vans along with our luggage and drove to Woliso which was a fairly long ride. Prior to arriving at the Negosh Lodge in Woliso, we went to the water well project. This is run by World Vision which is something Pantego is really involved in. This is to help bring clean water to the villages in order to prevent illnesses. They also showed us new latrines that had been built in the areas as they now have a no-defecation policy. Only 22 homes to date don't have latrines in their homes in this area. They also have an outdoor latrine for those people that are walking through their town, sort of like a rest stop. The school in this area holds 1200 students; 600 attend morning classes, the other 600 attend afternoon classes. They have 2 restrooms now in the school; one for girls and one for boys. Our tour of the town and their facilities had ended so we stood and prayed for the community and the project.
we walked back to the vans and headed to Nagosh Lodge for check-in and dinner. This place was interesting....Michaela and I had our own room with bathroom but it was like a bungalow. There were monkeys jumping from tree to tree, the biggest bees I had ever seen and mosquitoes, we needed to beware of. In Woliso, the mosquitoes that bite can be carrying Malaria. We had dinner with the group, watched a bit of the Olympics and then headed to our rooms.
August 4th : We woke up and went down to the restaurant for breakfast to meet the group. We heard a horrific story from the Daniels' about their overnight adventures with creatures. Ewww! We were warned that we may want to put all snacks in one bag and take them to the vans to leave them there. Michaela and I went back to our room, gathered the coffee bag and the snacks. Came out of our bungalow and five monkeys were sitting there waiting, then charged for us. Can't say that happens to us everyday. Ha! Ha! We ran back in our room and were trapped, called for the bellman to come grab our bags for us so the monkeys could chase him instead....not very kind of us, I know. Today is the day for the sports camp at Kale Heywet church run by Pastor Tashali. What a mighty man of God! He has the most gentle spirit and loves on his people of Woliso. We rode in the vans to the church and then took a ride and hiked up to the granddaughter church that had been started within the past year and a half. It was a beautiful (yet muddy) walk up the mountain. Once up there we met the man who donated land to the church so that they could build and have more room for more souls to be saved. They had spread the Gospel far but still had further to go up the mountain to more of the unreached. We went inside the church plant, sang and praised God with these people and met the elders. This was a very powerful experience just to see all God has done and is doing for these people!
We walked back down the mountain and rode back to the church. We broke up into groups and went out to half working at the sports camp for the kids and the other half going out in the vans for home visits. These homes consist of women with HIV and are being taken care of by the church. This is a wonderful program, if the mother dies from not taking the medication, then her children become orphans. So it is important to Pastor Tashali and his congregation to take care of these women so they can live and be mothers to their children. Michaela and I were split up into groups and we went out to do home visits first. The first home was a woman with HIV and her three kids did as well. The second home consisted of a woman with HIV but her 2 kids did not. We did interviews to find out their stories, their names, and to pray with them and for them. After these two homes, it was time for our group to head back and do the sports camp. Michaela and I paired up and started our group of kids with the "leading the blind" game then over to the "trust fall", "missing the mark", followed by the "globe" which tells that God created the whole world. Each game was followed by a spiritual truth. This was a bit difficult with the language barrier. We only had 8 leaders and 1 interpreter with about 100 children. The kids loved every minute of it, so it was all worth it! We walked through the orphanage right at the church and met the kids and housemothers. This was SO moving! The kids were so excited to show us where they sleep, their beds, and their home. Brought me tears!
This day had been pretty emotionally exhausting. We got back to the Negosh Lodge at 4'ish and rested up, ordered dinner and then met for dinner once it was ready. Pastor Tashali and his wife, Marta joined us for dinner. After a debrief of the day's events, we all headed to bed.
to be continued.....
We went out to hand out school supplies to the neighborhood kids before leaving; they were so excited to receive these things and we said our goodbyes. Loaded up the three vans along with our luggage and drove to Woliso which was a fairly long ride. Prior to arriving at the Negosh Lodge in Woliso, we went to the water well project. This is run by World Vision which is something Pantego is really involved in. This is to help bring clean water to the villages in order to prevent illnesses. They also showed us new latrines that had been built in the areas as they now have a no-defecation policy. Only 22 homes to date don't have latrines in their homes in this area. They also have an outdoor latrine for those people that are walking through their town, sort of like a rest stop. The school in this area holds 1200 students; 600 attend morning classes, the other 600 attend afternoon classes. They have 2 restrooms now in the school; one for girls and one for boys. Our tour of the town and their facilities had ended so we stood and prayed for the community and the project.
we walked back to the vans and headed to Nagosh Lodge for check-in and dinner. This place was interesting....Michaela and I had our own room with bathroom but it was like a bungalow. There were monkeys jumping from tree to tree, the biggest bees I had ever seen and mosquitoes, we needed to beware of. In Woliso, the mosquitoes that bite can be carrying Malaria. We had dinner with the group, watched a bit of the Olympics and then headed to our rooms.
August 4th : We woke up and went down to the restaurant for breakfast to meet the group. We heard a horrific story from the Daniels' about their overnight adventures with creatures. Ewww! We were warned that we may want to put all snacks in one bag and take them to the vans to leave them there. Michaela and I went back to our room, gathered the coffee bag and the snacks. Came out of our bungalow and five monkeys were sitting there waiting, then charged for us. Can't say that happens to us everyday. Ha! Ha! We ran back in our room and were trapped, called for the bellman to come grab our bags for us so the monkeys could chase him instead....not very kind of us, I know. Today is the day for the sports camp at Kale Heywet church run by Pastor Tashali. What a mighty man of God! He has the most gentle spirit and loves on his people of Woliso. We rode in the vans to the church and then took a ride and hiked up to the granddaughter church that had been started within the past year and a half. It was a beautiful (yet muddy) walk up the mountain. Once up there we met the man who donated land to the church so that they could build and have more room for more souls to be saved. They had spread the Gospel far but still had further to go up the mountain to more of the unreached. We went inside the church plant, sang and praised God with these people and met the elders. This was a very powerful experience just to see all God has done and is doing for these people!
We walked back down the mountain and rode back to the church. We broke up into groups and went out to half working at the sports camp for the kids and the other half going out in the vans for home visits. These homes consist of women with HIV and are being taken care of by the church. This is a wonderful program, if the mother dies from not taking the medication, then her children become orphans. So it is important to Pastor Tashali and his congregation to take care of these women so they can live and be mothers to their children. Michaela and I were split up into groups and we went out to do home visits first. The first home was a woman with HIV and her three kids did as well. The second home consisted of a woman with HIV but her 2 kids did not. We did interviews to find out their stories, their names, and to pray with them and for them. After these two homes, it was time for our group to head back and do the sports camp. Michaela and I paired up and started our group of kids with the "leading the blind" game then over to the "trust fall", "missing the mark", followed by the "globe" which tells that God created the whole world. Each game was followed by a spiritual truth. This was a bit difficult with the language barrier. We only had 8 leaders and 1 interpreter with about 100 children. The kids loved every minute of it, so it was all worth it! We walked through the orphanage right at the church and met the kids and housemothers. This was SO moving! The kids were so excited to show us where they sleep, their beds, and their home. Brought me tears!
This day had been pretty emotionally exhausting. We got back to the Negosh Lodge at 4'ish and rested up, ordered dinner and then met for dinner once it was ready. Pastor Tashali and his wife, Marta joined us for dinner. After a debrief of the day's events, we all headed to bed.
to be continued.....
Unwrapped- Part II
August 1st : Bad hair days everyday thus far but luckily this is not about me; its about God. Everyone gathered downstairs for breakfast, ate together, then loaded into our three vans to head to Bring Love In. The same people that started Drawn From Water which saved children from being drowned for being born different, Levi and Jessie. These children were born with issues and the village would feel they wee a curse and would drown them in the river. This project had to be shut down so now they created Bring Love In for the orphans that were considered by the government "unadoptable". The children are matched with a widow, two people in this big world....alone, are brought together to form a new family. Such a beautiful concept and organization! We took a short tour of the facility, learned what they do and then able to meet the kids. Painting fingernails of the little girls, making necklaces with the little boys....these kids are adorable. When it was time to go, it was rough for us all because we fell in love so quickly with them. We got in the vans and went back to the guest house for lunch then headed back to the Alem-Bank church where we were the day before. We broke into our same small groups and trekked out to the same areas as we were the day before. Our group again walking up the mountain to Jemo. This time we had less time, so were only able to reach one family which I shared the Gospel with and then a couple of young men which Michaela shared the Gospel with. The first home we went into, I got out my evangi-cube and as soon as I said "God", the man said no, shaking his head and hands and speaking Aramaic to the others in the room. After they exchanged words, Ephraim, our interpreter looked at me and told me to continue. I got through the entire evangecube and got to the decision to make Jesus their Lord and savior, I looked at Pastor David for "back-up" (lol) and he jumped in and began asking them questions. In the end, the disciple from Alem-Bank church showed the husband his Muslim card from where he was once a Muslim and now trusts Christ. That seemed to make a huge difference! The man couldn't believe it and studied the card to make sure it was real. He asked for the disciple's phone number; he wanted to read the Bible himself and study it and then he would call him. We left their house praying that God would give them both direction and that their lives would be forever changed. Further down the street Michaela was able to share the Gospel with two young men. She worked the evangecube really well, just needing help with a few words. She got towards the end and paused, she began crying. It was so touching that she was overwhelmed in the spirit! Many had gathered at that point; the original guy that she started speaking to had stepped back and a new one stepped forward. He was a bit cocky and I think was looking for a little debate. He was challenged by David on several point of Jesus' story. Towards the end of this encounter, the young man was stunned by what he learned and became a believer in Christ. Yeah God! Soon after this, another storm was rolling in so we headed back to the Center of Jemo Church, had a coffee ceremony, then headed back to the Alem-Bank church and had another coffee ceremony. Can I just say....Ethiopian coffee is the BEST IN THE WORLD! It is so delicious and you have these coffee ceremonies so many times a day that your a bit wired. LOL!
We left directly for dinner eating at Island Breeze. It was delicious American food, I was actually shocked at all of the restaurants that offer American food. After which we headed back to the guest house went to bed.
August 2nd : Slept in an extra hour this morning, 7am wake up to another bad hair day (yeah Jesus!). Yummy but extremely sweet cinnamon rolls for breakfast but I have really come to love our group breakfasts every morning. Such great conversations and love for one another around the table. About 9am or so, we all piled into the vans and headed to Entoto. This was a place where women who are diseased can come work and they sell the jewelry that they sit and make. Some made with metal and some is made with coffee beans. It was great jewelry! The women were lovely; they are all piled into a small 3 bedroom house and gathered around picnic tables making the jewelry. Such sweet spirits and they were so excited to have people visiting them and loving on them. The young girl that was there showing us around telling us about the program was a only 22 years old. She had left her home in the US and moved to Ethiopia right after college to work at the home. Unbelievable faith and trust in God!! We left Entoto and headed up a mountain to an Orthodox Church that was hundreds of years old. It was incredible all the paintings on the wall over a hundred years old. We also got to see where they worship and hear the instruments they used. One was a huge drum and the other was a bell that sounded like and portrayed Jesus being whipped. Roger and Aubrey both were called up to demonstrate the two instruments...that was quite comical. Ha! We ate lunch up on the hillside...such beautiful country! We had rice and bread and met a couple of families that were there for an extended period of time to wait for their adoptions processes. Then we went down the mountain and went shopping for souvenirs at the post office. We then went straight to dinner, a place called Makush which was dinner inside an art gallery. Gorgeous paintings of Ethiopian culture and familiar backgrounds. This was the end of the day, headed back to the guest house for sleep.
to be continued......
We left directly for dinner eating at Island Breeze. It was delicious American food, I was actually shocked at all of the restaurants that offer American food. After which we headed back to the guest house went to bed.
August 2nd : Slept in an extra hour this morning, 7am wake up to another bad hair day (yeah Jesus!). Yummy but extremely sweet cinnamon rolls for breakfast but I have really come to love our group breakfasts every morning. Such great conversations and love for one another around the table. About 9am or so, we all piled into the vans and headed to Entoto. This was a place where women who are diseased can come work and they sell the jewelry that they sit and make. Some made with metal and some is made with coffee beans. It was great jewelry! The women were lovely; they are all piled into a small 3 bedroom house and gathered around picnic tables making the jewelry. Such sweet spirits and they were so excited to have people visiting them and loving on them. The young girl that was there showing us around telling us about the program was a only 22 years old. She had left her home in the US and moved to Ethiopia right after college to work at the home. Unbelievable faith and trust in God!! We left Entoto and headed up a mountain to an Orthodox Church that was hundreds of years old. It was incredible all the paintings on the wall over a hundred years old. We also got to see where they worship and hear the instruments they used. One was a huge drum and the other was a bell that sounded like and portrayed Jesus being whipped. Roger and Aubrey both were called up to demonstrate the two instruments...that was quite comical. Ha! We ate lunch up on the hillside...such beautiful country! We had rice and bread and met a couple of families that were there for an extended period of time to wait for their adoptions processes. Then we went down the mountain and went shopping for souvenirs at the post office. We then went straight to dinner, a place called Makush which was dinner inside an art gallery. Gorgeous paintings of Ethiopian culture and familiar backgrounds. This was the end of the day, headed back to the guest house for sleep.
Unwrapped- Part I
Again time has got away from me. I was starting this blog to track my journey to and during the Ethiopia mission trip but we had very little internet connection while we were there so no way to blog electronically. I did keep a journal while I was there and had intended to share my journal in this blog, but have not had a chance. Everything works out for a reason. I have now had a chance to unwrap the mission trip and process everything I saw and the feelings that came from these things, so can more eloquently put it all in words.
July 29-30: We boarded the Lufthansa plane, headed for Frankfurt, Germany where we would have a change of planes and then were Addis Ababa bound, with a short stop in the Sudan. Wasn't sure during this time what to expect except that this is definitely a journey led by God. The nine hour flight to Germany wasn't quite as painful as I thought it would be; I didn't sleep a whole lot but watched movies and chatted a bit with the others on the trip. The flight to Addis I slept a majority of the way. I woke up and found out that sweet Cindi was sick and she kept fainting. That was scary not knowing what was happening to her and if she would be ok. I prayed the rest of the way for her safety and well being. We got to Sudan where the plane refueled for about an hour, then we arrived in Addis late in the evening. It was dark so we couldn't see much. Stepping out of the airport, I noticed right away the air was very thick and fairly stinky. There were many people standing out in the parking lot with cute little buses, cars (which was shocking). We piled into our three buses that we would have for the week, our team of 24 and all luggage went on top of the buses. Arriving at the guest house, 5 stories high, Michaela and I were assigned to a bedroom with two other women with three other bedrooms on our same floor all sharing one bathroom.
July 31st: Woke up to get into the shower for my scheduled time. The shower was different; it was a handle you have to hold but at the same time try and wash your hair and body. The toilets cannot have any paper products at all, so when you wipe, you have to put the toilet paper in the trash can. You cannot get any of the water in your mouth so you have to brush your teeth with bottled water and you have to keep your mouth closed in the shower. Everyone met downstairs for breakfast which was eggs, yummy bread, coffee and avocado juice. Thankfully, Cindi was up and moving around, feeling better. Praise God!! We trekked out into the street until E3 came over to the guest house to meet us. The local kids were out playing and more people walked up as we were out there. The people of Ethiopia are fascinated by "ferengi" which is "foreigners" in Amharic. They are so friendly and such beautiful, sweet smiles!
July 29-30: We boarded the Lufthansa plane, headed for Frankfurt, Germany where we would have a change of planes and then were Addis Ababa bound, with a short stop in the Sudan. Wasn't sure during this time what to expect except that this is definitely a journey led by God. The nine hour flight to Germany wasn't quite as painful as I thought it would be; I didn't sleep a whole lot but watched movies and chatted a bit with the others on the trip. The flight to Addis I slept a majority of the way. I woke up and found out that sweet Cindi was sick and she kept fainting. That was scary not knowing what was happening to her and if she would be ok. I prayed the rest of the way for her safety and well being. We got to Sudan where the plane refueled for about an hour, then we arrived in Addis late in the evening. It was dark so we couldn't see much. Stepping out of the airport, I noticed right away the air was very thick and fairly stinky. There were many people standing out in the parking lot with cute little buses, cars (which was shocking). We piled into our three buses that we would have for the week, our team of 24 and all luggage went on top of the buses. Arriving at the guest house, 5 stories high, Michaela and I were assigned to a bedroom with two other women with three other bedrooms on our same floor all sharing one bathroom.
July 31st: Woke up to get into the shower for my scheduled time. The shower was different; it was a handle you have to hold but at the same time try and wash your hair and body. The toilets cannot have any paper products at all, so when you wipe, you have to put the toilet paper in the trash can. You cannot get any of the water in your mouth so you have to brush your teeth with bottled water and you have to keep your mouth closed in the shower. Everyone met downstairs for breakfast which was eggs, yummy bread, coffee and avocado juice. Thankfully, Cindi was up and moving around, feeling better. Praise God!! We trekked out into the street until E3 came over to the guest house to meet us. The local kids were out playing and more people walked up as we were out there. The people of Ethiopia are fascinated by "ferengi" which is "foreigners" in Amharic. They are so friendly and such beautiful, sweet smiles!
E3 ministries: This organization helps believers spread the Gospel in their communities, provides training to the local churches and also helps establish new churches. The Mission Pastor from this organization came to the guest house to take us to the Alem-Bank church. We prayed prior to leaving, loaded up in the buses and headed out. This particular church in its origin has been in Africa for many, many years. We sat up there and waited until all the teams were made up. The two areas we were sent out to were Jemo and Wechecha. Michaela and I were teamed with Pastor David Daniels of our church, Pantego. We began walking up to Jemo with several other teams of 3 from Pantego, along with an interpreter and a couple discipleship people from the Alem-Bank church. Our interpreter's name walking with our team was Ephram. He was only 15 years old and so incredibly bright. He was on fire for God as were all the people we teamed with. SO neat to see!! Walking up to Jemo was up a mountain so quite a hike. We stopped at the church on the mountain that they considered in the middle of the town of Jemo. We sat there for a bit and the small kids came to that area seeming a bit curious and they were absolutely adorable! Our team of 3 set out further up the mountain. David shared the Gospel to several people while Michaela and I got a feel for how to begin and what to say. This was very interesting as a majority of the people we encountered were Orthodox. They believe in God but they worship Mary and believe that Mary is the way to the Father. There was a dark, looming storm coming closer and closer; we could hear the thunder and the rain coming up closer on top of the houses. Our disciples with us asked if we could come inside one particular home. The woman was so gracious and invited us all into her home, made coffee for us, and allowed us to speak with she and her husband about what we were doing there. She was also Orthodox but she was very sweet to listen. They were a little leary in what David was talking about but the team from the church will be following up with them. When we came out after the storm passed, we began walking back. I tried sharing the Gospel for the first time. It seems like no matter how much you practice, it doesn't come out like you planned. I began talking but talked too fast and forgot about the whole translator process. Ha! I tried slowing down a bit but wound up looking to Pastor for help because the two women were Orthodox and it really threw me off. After that we walked back to the Center of Jemo Church and had a coffee ceremony, then went back to Alem-Bank church. Next was dinner at Tivoli; an American food restaurant. Michaela had lasagna and choked on that (completely different story for another time) and I had the burger. Exhausting day for us all. Went back to the guest house and went to bed.
to be continued.....
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