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.
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