I have never been on a missions trip. Have You?
A friend of mine was a missionary in Ethiopia for a few years.
They have since then brought back to Ethiopia many short term trips.
We (our family) sponsor a child through Meet The Needy a program in our local church
So funny - our sponsor child wrote us and asked us to come and visit.
I though well that is sweet - not sure that would ever happen.
The same weekend I went to a cookie party and got invited to go with my friend.
I asked her last year - if she goes let me know - because I would like to go.
So I came home excited and Caleb and I began to pray
We really felt like there was no reason not to.
Some amazing friends were willing to take on my children
with no hesitation. That was our biggest confirmation
So with much prep work - in the bible, language, culture, and team building, our team was ready to
go around the world 32 plane hours latter in to Ethiopia.
My camera did not work so when I get some pics I will up date the blog!!!
Here is our first update letter:
Greeting from your Ethiopia Short Term Mission Team.
Thanks for your prayers. These are some of our stories.
The team
“It feels like I’ve been here for several weeks.” – Alvin
Working in Barhardar with the “Grace Center Ethiopia”. Challenging building the storage units today for the Kids Day Care/Orphanage and being the first time we build something using a metric tape measure, and slotted head screws. They serve 700 meals per day for all the kids and workers at Grace Center. Interesting concept they had of not really focusing on adoption or being an orphanage , but rather working with the widows with children and providing day care and a teaching environment for the kids , so the women would not need to give up their children for adoption, or abandon them to an orphanage. They could leave their kids in a safe environment for the as they went and found work. I also like the sunshine on this side of world. Steve
Arriving here last Saturday night, it really felt like I was in a different world. On Monday we flew to Bahir Dar. Seeing donkeys and carts sharing the street with Land Cruisers and three wheeled motorized carts is pretty cool. Today, we received an extensive tour of the gracecentre.org facilities and the care and concern for the children was impressive. Listening to some of the social issues surrounding special needs kids was somewhat discouraging but the enthusiasm of the director as he took us to all of their facilities was contagious. The construction project that Steve mentioned challenged us in several ways besides working with metric measurements such as dimensional lumber that isn’t consistent from piece to piece and was pretty rough. We have really been blessed to be staying with John and Phyllis Coleman and their wonderful family. The concept of living in compounds is a new one for me. I think that I have adapted to the 12 hour time difference and the low humidity really helps make the warm temperatures tolerable. The language is a real challenge for me as are trying to remember all the names. In many ways, I have been very impressed with everyone I’ve met here in Bahir Dar as well as in Addis Ababa. Richard
Returning to Ethiopia after an extended departure has been quite the blessing. I am really enjoying the privilege of coming back and seeing the work that God is doing over here. On Sunday we had the chance to talk with the leadership of Addis Kidan Church and to look at how the demographics have changed and how they are finding ways to take advantage of it. On Monday we were able to fly to Bahir Dar and see some long time missionary friends as well as tour some of the missions that are going on right now. One of the missions we had the privilege of visiting was the fistula hospital where we received a detailed explanation of how the project is performing; how it has grown, how effective the treatment is, and how much of an impact it has on the life of the beneficiaries there. On Tuesday, we visited Grace Center where we had the opportunity to tour their Orphanage, Medical Clinic, and Small Income Generation project. It was exciting to see how quickly this program was able to grow and how well it has thrived since its birth in 2007. I really enjoyed talking to one of the guys that runs the programs as he is a very eccentric guy who I will have the opportunity to work with for a couple weeks during the rest of my three months here in Ethiopia. -- Curtis
I’ve developed an interesting relationship with my watch. It’s really only good for letting a person know exactly how late they are. We arrive late, sometimes by a half hour or more, but we haven’t actually been late to anything yet. We seem to arrive just before it, whatever it is, starts. The airlines have been the only thing to start on time and we were quite late getting to the airport, but even then we made our flight without incident. I’ve been striving to take everything in without judgment, but it’s been hard to understand some of the things I’ve seen - probably the same reaction I would have if I were to visit any city in the US. There is extreme poverty living next to relative wealth. There are strong reminders of traditional Ethiopian culture mixed with the latest insights from the Western world. There are people wearing shoes with hardly any sole left, walking down dirt roads in the country’s capital, talking on Nokia cell phones. It’s been a bit startling to notice that we’ve only been here for a few days. We’ve done so much that it seems like weeks, but they’ve been good weeks. The food is wonderful and the people are quite friendly. – Alvin
My first thought of Ethiopia was similar to some parts of Mexico – just not commercialized yet. Once we got to the Mekaniza part of Addis Ababa, and started to walk around among the people living in very small poverished houses (shacks), the reality of their situations comes to light. You ask the question why am I born into privilege, and not hear? Their literal survival stories, is truly by the grace of God! In Bahir Dar north of Addis, we are given a truer sense of the culture that has been Ethiopia for most of its existence. Barley covered workers coming in from the fields with huge bags of produce they are bring in to sell at market. More of the tribal tattoos on the faces of women. As Curtis mentioned we visited the fistula hospital. To see the women standing outside – those considered to be the outcasts in their communities, was very sad. To learn of the very physical hardships they endure, not brought on by themselves, then to be ostracized is hard to conceive. When we learned about all they are doing to help these women, again you just give thanks to God. My highlight so far has been working with the kids at Grace Center. I got to serve in the after school program. There must have been 60 children there. I tried to read them children picture books, it was more like I got mobbed, than I read. So the workers divided them into groups and I played with a smaller group. Then I helped distribute snacks; a sweet potato and an orange. There were so many beautiful smiles! I even got to sit and hold some babies with the moms that are waiting to enter the program. - Jenn
It’s always fun to return to Ethiopia with a new team of people who have never visited. It’s fun to remember through their experiences how things were when we first came to this country. We find many things to be very different now, more developed with more growth in the cities. We spent our first day at the Addis Kidan church followed by lunch and a meeting with the elders. We also had opportunity to visit with our Meet the Needy family and encourage them. Please pray for Mame who is terribly weak and sick. She has been sick for a couple of years and if she doesn’t begin to improve the outcome is very bad. She has five children who are trying to help care for her. They would have a very difficult time if she passes away. Monday we flew to Bahar Dar and Monday and Tue night Jenn and I taught a women’s group on Insecurities. It went very well and the women asked us to stay and teach each night while we are in town. A prayer request is for Steve who’s leg began to hurt in the muscles on Monday and swell. Tuesday was worse and there was a larger area involved. Today he went to a hospital and then a clinic to have it checked out. They put him on antibiotics and told him to elevate his leg. They would have done an ultrasound if it were available. If he is not better when we get back to Addis tomorrow we will probably take him in for the ultrasound. They are supposed to start building on Friday so please pray his leg gets better and not worse. Also continue to pray for direction for Curtis three months here. Things are still not very fleshed out. Thanks for your prayers for us. Cheryl
Thanks for your prayers. These are some of our stories.
The team
“It feels like I’ve been here for several weeks.” – Alvin
Working in Barhardar with the “Grace Center Ethiopia”. Challenging building the storage units today for the Kids Day Care/Orphanage and being the first time we build something using a metric tape measure, and slotted head screws. They serve 700 meals per day for all the kids and workers at Grace Center. Interesting concept they had of not really focusing on adoption or being an orphanage , but rather working with the widows with children and providing day care and a teaching environment for the kids , so the women would not need to give up their children for adoption, or abandon them to an orphanage. They could leave their kids in a safe environment for the as they went and found work. I also like the sunshine on this side of world. Steve
Arriving here last Saturday night, it really felt like I was in a different world. On Monday we flew to Bahir Dar. Seeing donkeys and carts sharing the street with Land Cruisers and three wheeled motorized carts is pretty cool. Today, we received an extensive tour of the gracecentre.org facilities and the care and concern for the children was impressive. Listening to some of the social issues surrounding special needs kids was somewhat discouraging but the enthusiasm of the director as he took us to all of their facilities was contagious. The construction project that Steve mentioned challenged us in several ways besides working with metric measurements such as dimensional lumber that isn’t consistent from piece to piece and was pretty rough. We have really been blessed to be staying with John and Phyllis Coleman and their wonderful family. The concept of living in compounds is a new one for me. I think that I have adapted to the 12 hour time difference and the low humidity really helps make the warm temperatures tolerable. The language is a real challenge for me as are trying to remember all the names. In many ways, I have been very impressed with everyone I’ve met here in Bahir Dar as well as in Addis Ababa. Richard
Returning to Ethiopia after an extended departure has been quite the blessing. I am really enjoying the privilege of coming back and seeing the work that God is doing over here. On Sunday we had the chance to talk with the leadership of Addis Kidan Church and to look at how the demographics have changed and how they are finding ways to take advantage of it. On Monday we were able to fly to Bahir Dar and see some long time missionary friends as well as tour some of the missions that are going on right now. One of the missions we had the privilege of visiting was the fistula hospital where we received a detailed explanation of how the project is performing; how it has grown, how effective the treatment is, and how much of an impact it has on the life of the beneficiaries there. On Tuesday, we visited Grace Center where we had the opportunity to tour their Orphanage, Medical Clinic, and Small Income Generation project. It was exciting to see how quickly this program was able to grow and how well it has thrived since its birth in 2007. I really enjoyed talking to one of the guys that runs the programs as he is a very eccentric guy who I will have the opportunity to work with for a couple weeks during the rest of my three months here in Ethiopia. -- Curtis
I’ve developed an interesting relationship with my watch. It’s really only good for letting a person know exactly how late they are. We arrive late, sometimes by a half hour or more, but we haven’t actually been late to anything yet. We seem to arrive just before it, whatever it is, starts. The airlines have been the only thing to start on time and we were quite late getting to the airport, but even then we made our flight without incident. I’ve been striving to take everything in without judgment, but it’s been hard to understand some of the things I’ve seen - probably the same reaction I would have if I were to visit any city in the US. There is extreme poverty living next to relative wealth. There are strong reminders of traditional Ethiopian culture mixed with the latest insights from the Western world. There are people wearing shoes with hardly any sole left, walking down dirt roads in the country’s capital, talking on Nokia cell phones. It’s been a bit startling to notice that we’ve only been here for a few days. We’ve done so much that it seems like weeks, but they’ve been good weeks. The food is wonderful and the people are quite friendly. – Alvin
My first thought of Ethiopia was similar to some parts of Mexico – just not commercialized yet. Once we got to the Mekaniza part of Addis Ababa, and started to walk around among the people living in very small poverished houses (shacks), the reality of their situations comes to light. You ask the question why am I born into privilege, and not hear? Their literal survival stories, is truly by the grace of God! In Bahir Dar north of Addis, we are given a truer sense of the culture that has been Ethiopia for most of its existence. Barley covered workers coming in from the fields with huge bags of produce they are bring in to sell at market. More of the tribal tattoos on the faces of women. As Curtis mentioned we visited the fistula hospital. To see the women standing outside – those considered to be the outcasts in their communities, was very sad. To learn of the very physical hardships they endure, not brought on by themselves, then to be ostracized is hard to conceive. When we learned about all they are doing to help these women, again you just give thanks to God. My highlight so far has been working with the kids at Grace Center. I got to serve in the after school program. There must have been 60 children there. I tried to read them children picture books, it was more like I got mobbed, than I read. So the workers divided them into groups and I played with a smaller group. Then I helped distribute snacks; a sweet potato and an orange. There were so many beautiful smiles! I even got to sit and hold some babies with the moms that are waiting to enter the program. - Jenn
It’s always fun to return to Ethiopia with a new team of people who have never visited. It’s fun to remember through their experiences how things were when we first came to this country. We find many things to be very different now, more developed with more growth in the cities. We spent our first day at the Addis Kidan church followed by lunch and a meeting with the elders. We also had opportunity to visit with our Meet the Needy family and encourage them. Please pray for Mame who is terribly weak and sick. She has been sick for a couple of years and if she doesn’t begin to improve the outcome is very bad. She has five children who are trying to help care for her. They would have a very difficult time if she passes away. Monday we flew to Bahar Dar and Monday and Tue night Jenn and I taught a women’s group on Insecurities. It went very well and the women asked us to stay and teach each night while we are in town. A prayer request is for Steve who’s leg began to hurt in the muscles on Monday and swell. Tuesday was worse and there was a larger area involved. Today he went to a hospital and then a clinic to have it checked out. They put him on antibiotics and told him to elevate his leg. They would have done an ultrasound if it were available. If he is not better when we get back to Addis tomorrow we will probably take him in for the ultrasound. They are supposed to start building on Friday so please pray his leg gets better and not worse. Also continue to pray for direction for Curtis three months here. Things are still not very fleshed out. Thanks for your prayers for us. Cheryl
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