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.....
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