We are back!

Praise the Lord!  We made it home from Ethiopia today ~ Saturday, 17 April!  What an amazing adventure we have had!   I am sorry for not keeping up with the blog but I (Brita) got sick on Tuesday and then we did not have Internet access the rest of the week . . . bummer!  I promise to get you up to speed ASAP . . . I'm just a bit tired right now! The team would like to thank everyone for praying for us during the past two weeks.  Your prayers made our trip more successful than any of us will ever realize.  We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!   Peace and blessings to you this Saturday evening!   Love,   The Team   Life is too short and the planet is too big to stay in one place too long!

Monday

It is wonderful to wake up and realize you have been eaten alive at night by mosquitoes!  Thankfully we have a malaria medicine!  Let's hope it works!  The Ethiopian sounds of car horns and birds singing is a delightful alarm clock . . . providing you got enough sleep!  Rick gave today's Devotion based on Phil 3:14 . . . spiritual maturity and laying a strong, good foundation.  This tied in great to our visit to the construction site of the new Widows and Orphans Home.  It is wonderful how all of our devotions are tying in so easily to this Mission Trip! Today was a nice relaxing day at the Widows and Orphans Home.  We are busy holding babies, playing with bouncy balls and coloring in coloring book with the younger children.  What a great way to be Jesus to these children!   Life is too short and the planet is too big to stay in one place too long!

Misc Thoughts . . .

It's hot!  Blazing sun! Houses made of mud, scrap metal, any found material. Train tracks . . . but no trains!  How silly is that! Ethiopia is a land locked country so shipped goods come from a port in Djibouti . . . we have seen quite a few cargo containers so that is why we learned this fact. Brita's little friend, who could not be more than 2 years old, knows how to fold a plastic bag.  (The only way this could be possible is if she has seen her mother do this for years . . . how sad is that?!) Rick gave his Amharic Bible away to a young man. Doug was speaking to a group of men about this trip, and when he spoke of our helping the orphans the young men wanted to know what we were doing to help his family. It's a legitimate question, one we didn't have an answer to. Toothpicks are big here!  Life is too short and the planet is too big to stay in one place too long!

Shopping

Shopping Because today is Sunday, we were going to relax a bit and go to a shopping area.  Tezera took us to some shops where she knows the owners and they would give us a fair price . . . theoretically.  We bought fabric, cups, spoons made of goat bones, jewelry, cultural clothing and other neat things. Brita and Rick were a bit adventurous and went out to the back of the main street.  Brita made a new friend with a little girl who could not have been more than 2 and Rick made friends with young men by talking about Jesus.  It is funny how God leads you where you need to be.     Life is too short and the planet is too big to stay in one place too long!

After Church

When church was over, we met with the pastor and church leaders.  They shared with us the status of their church . . . they have 186 children in Sunday school but they have no teaching materials.  They rent this space and as we saw, it is pretty dilapidated.  Despite the situation, the church members are so joyful! After this meeting, we walked back to the Home and had lunch.  Once lunch was finished, we all loaded up in the van and headed to the new site of the Widows and Orphans Home.  They are busy building a new, bigger facility.  The new place is 15 minutes away from the current location.  The new site has a nice bit of land but there is a drainage problem . . . during the rainy season, which is 15 June – 15 Sept, the stream that runs through the back yard overflows, and it could overflow into the new house!  In order to fix this problem, the Home needs 40,000 US Dollars to build a retaining wall.  As you can imagine, this is an impossible amount of money for Tezera but she has faith that God will send the money somehow.    Life is too short and the planet is too big to stay in one place too long!

Church on Sunday

When Tezera's story was over, it was time to go to church.  The church was not far so it was neat to be able to walk the streets in Tezera's neighborhood.  As you can imagine, we were a sight for everyone to see!  The roads in Adama are just as bad as in Addis . . . large rocks that are not level and tiny rubble.  We wonder how many sprained ankles happen in one day here.  Thankfully, none of us has fallen . . . at least not too badly! When we approached the church, we could hear singing . . . loud singing!  People were shouting "Halleluiah!"  You could feel the energy coming out of the place!  We were ushered into the front rows and quickly took our seats.  There were approximately 500 people at church this morning.  There really aren't walls; it is simply the sides of the buildings next door.  The rafters were made of wood and the ceiling was made of scrap metal.  There are gaps where the scrap metal does not meet the walls so there are holes in the ceiling but if it were raining, the rain would be contained to the edges of the worship space.  The stage is the only permanent structure in the church; it is made of cement and has 5 steps leading to the stage.  The stage has a cover made of wood that is painted white.  The back of the stage is covered in white fabric and adorned with blue fabric that goes about 1/3 of the way down from the ceiling.  Plastic white flowers and green, flashing lights (Christmas light style) hang from the blue fabric.  There is no cross hanging on the wall but there is one on the podium.  When we made it to our seats, the prayer leader was leading the congregation in song.  Soon after that, the choir (15 woman and men) came on stage and sang some amazing songs!  We were later told the songs were about Job, his life and struggles.  The choir members were so joyful in the singing!  Their faces radiated with the joy of the Lord!  There was no band but there was a tract and a young man playing keyboard.  The music was simply remarkable!  (And the base was shaking the rafters!) When the choir returned to their seats, the pastor invited Mark, Andrea, Tim and Rick up on stage.  Andrea and Tim represented the team while Rick said the verse John 3:16 in Amharic by heart!  The congregation applauded when he finished! After the team members returned to their seats, Tezera offered to translate the sermon to Brita so she could write it in her journal.  The sermon was about the Will of God and how blessed one will be if they follow and live in the Will of God.  Now that is something to contemplate while on a Mission Trip in Ethiopia!   Life is too short and the planet is too big to stay in one place too long!

Widows and Orphans Thoughts . . .

Along with the 10 widows that live in this compound, Tezera and her staff support 31 other widows in the community.  They have monthly meetings where they have fellowship and prayer.  During these meetings, they widows receive food for the month.   Life is too short and the planet is too big to stay in one place too long!