Ethiopia Update 3

Cheryl says, “Someone has to begin”...

Ethiopia STM trip update

It seems like a whole lot has been going on the last couple of days.

On Tuesday, as part of the construction project, we carried large

rocks from across the street to add to the foundation. Quite a workout

for me but then again, I was told that I needed to exercise more. The

large rocks are used on the perimeter of the slab to provide support.

Again, the techniques used to build in this area are an education. We

attracted an audience while hauling rocks. On Wednesday, Curtis and I

went with two of the leadership of the Addis Kidan church to another

church in a rural area about 130 km SE of Addis Ababa. I think it is

called Minjar or something like that. I don't remember the name of the

church as even hearing the language is somewhat of a problem for me.

Everyone speaks so quietly. About 1/3 of the trip was on dirt roads

that at one point degraded to a rocky trail with switchbacks working

their way down into the Great Rift Valley. Upon arrival, the front

suspension and radiator of the truck needed to be repaired. The trip

and the meeting with the church leaders took about twelve hours. I was

told that decisions were made and it was a very positive trip. The

meeting was all in Amharic. The church has 85 members and is in a very

poor area. There is a significant number of HIV+ individuals and there

is inadequate help or even education. The pastor asked for prayer. –

Richard

Taking in the sights, sounds, and smells…… No we’re not on

vacation……The sights – Everywhere you go there are people, there is no

space, or breath. There is nowhere for people to go, and little work

for people to do. If you are not infected with the HIV virus you can

sell used clothes, maybe make injura, some can buy spoiled fruits and

try to resell them. Some boys shine shoes, other repair shoes, or try

to repair clothes. Many women try to clean houses, lots of women are

leaving their children behind with other family or friends to go to

“the Arab country” to work, and are not coming back (not by choice –

the women are tricked into slave labor, their papers are taken away

and they end up staying illegally). We went to the city with all of

these huge modern buildings. The architecture is amazing, the

construction is amazing in that it stands. We went into the city twice

and saw 2 men who in the next day were in the same position, and

looking as if they have not moved or breathing. You think how are

people just walking buy without acknowledging this? I guess what do

you do? Along the streets of the city are people with no hope, or

place to go. Imagine existing in a 6 x 8 space, no food, no running

water, no bed, just some plastic to cover you at night. We use the

word home, everyone here uses the word shelter. Sometimes the

government comes through and plows down huge chunks of land for a new

road, and the people lose their shelters. Taking in the Smells.

Whether we are walking in the poorer districts or in the City there

are no public bathrooms. The smell is almost unbearable. You can

hardly breathe. We are staying by the dump, where people forage for

food in the day, then at night the kids and hyenas come out to look

for food. They burn trash here and it smells up the area. There are no

regulations here and you can smell all of the diesel fumes from cars

every where.  The sounds…. There is a mosque 100 feet away from the

church with 2 loud speakers. They do their call every day 4 times a

day. Loud trumpet calls followed with long prayers. You hear the

sounds of people everywhere.  At night you hear the dogs, and hyenas.

– All this to say yesterday I reached my max of taking in the sights,

smells, and sounds. I gave a short devo to some of the moms in the MTN

program – thinking this would be good and fun because I too am a mom.

Every person has a story. Everywhere we go we listen to people’s

hopeless stories. I think I am guilty of taking them in, rather than

giving them back to God. In the situation you wonder what can I

possibly do here? What can we offer? There is soo much, I am only 1

person.  We offer hope through Christ! We encourage them from the

scriptures, and we pray, pray, pray.     Jenn

Today we went to the Macarto, which is the largest open air market in

the world. People everywhere, bumper to bumper traffic, it seems like

mass confusion, both in the streets and on the sidewalk. But somehow

people buy what they need to buy and get their business done.

We had several visits with HIV positive people in their homes. The

word I keep hearing from the people is the word HOPE. Looking at their

homes and living situation, it just looks so hopeless, and their

health looks hopeless, but they find real hope in the Lord and what He

has done for them. There is not much we can really do for them, but

the little we do for them and encouraging them in the Word, coupled

with what God has done for them and will continue to do for them is

simply amazing. It is amazing taking part in God’s work, but really it

has not much to do with us and everything to do with God.  As a father

my heart goes out to the one young women with HIV, we visited with,

that has a 5 month old baby and a 5 year old son. Her husband left her

when he found out she was pregnant again. We gave her some words of

encouragement and some scripture verses. We will see her again

tomorrow at the HIV feeding and service we will be having tomorrow.

Steve

 This week was hard, but I’ve seen hard before. The difference this

week was that I couldn’t see any solutions to the problems we

encountered. There were many stories that didn’t have a good way out.

Many of the difficult things I’ve seen before could be fixed with more

resources, more time, more effort. But sometimes there simply isn’t a

good fix, and those are the God-sized problems. It was obvious when we

came across them because if God wasn’t the solution, everything looked

hopeless. It was only by acknowledging God’s power that we could have

any hope for the outcome. A person can only put things in perspective

by acknowledging that this life is temporary, that we are finite, and

that God is God. This seems hollow and cheap coming from a rich person

to a poor person on their deathbed, unless you really consider the

implications of the perspective. The truth is that my health, status,

money – anything that might differentiate me from this hopeless person

– these things are all very temporary. In the bigger picture, I’m not

guaranteed anything more than the person I’m encouraging. We both face

eternity. -Alvin

Honestly, I am not quite sure what I should share with you. I arrived

in Addis two nights ago after two weeks in Swaziland. I have not yet

completely processed what I experienced in Swaziland. Overall, it was

an incredible blessing to be able to reconnect with friends I’d made

in the local church and visit places that the team I was on ministered

at four years ago. It was encouraging to see my local Swazi friends

living out the gospel and looking after the orphans and the widows in

Swaziland. I joined a Christian medical organization called The Luke’s

Commission for a rural mobile health clinic. The prevalence of HIV in

Swaziland is the worst in the world. The challenge this presents for

the country is huge, specifically for how to provide for the orphans.

Although, the situation in Swaziland is tough there is a clear

contrast between the overall quality of life there and here in

Ethiopia. I was heartbroken by stories of the people that I we met my

first day in Ethiopia. After joining with the church leadership for

devotions yesterday morning, we went on home visits to people living

with HIV. Their stories were heartbreaking but getting to read

Scripture and pray with them seemed to be an encouragement. We were

able to help some with physical needs and brought sugar with us to

give them. This HIV home visit program that was started by the church

is called The Good Samaritan program with 400 beneficiaries. The HIV

treatment (anti-retroviral tablet) causes miserable side effects and

is less effective if not taken in combination with appropriate

nutrition. One of the goals of this program is to help provide food

for those who are suffering from the virus. However, the program is

currently operating with little to no financial support. Not only are

physical needs attended to at these visits but also the gospel is

shared. Every Friday a service is held at the church for those who are

part of the program. Tomorrow we will get to participate in this event

which includes a meal and a message on finding your security in

Christ. This is a ministry that I would strongly encourage

consideration of how you might be able to financially contribute to.

There is more that I would love to share with you but there are still

others that need to finish. Please pray that God directs us in our

remaining days here in Ethiopia and reveals to us what our roles are

in the situations that come our way. Much love I will talk with you

more soon.    –Linda

Dear friends and family, after reading all the words written I want to

encourage you through a few answers to prayer.  We asked you to pray

for us that we would be an encouragement to the leadership here as we

serve alongside them. This morning they shared with us what a huge

encouragement we have been in being here and sharing the load. You

have read what the team has written about the difficulty here so you

can imagine that having others work alongside and share the burden is

a huge encouragement. We also had a feeding program today for those

living with aids. There were 150 adults with additional children. They

each had meat (probably 2x’s only in a year) with injera and vegetable

watt. Five hundred dollars had been given for this and they used 150

dollars. Praise the Lord they can now help to supply milk for infants

who need to discontinue breast feeding in order to prevent spreading

the virus. We asked you to pray for our sponsored family as the mother

has been sick for a long time. I spent several days with MTN director

Agidew taking her to the hospital and clinic and am delighted to tell

you that we finally have a diagnosis. She has stomach TB. And is on

medication. She at last has some hope for remaining with her children.

It will be a very long road as the treatment is 8 mths and she is

terribly anemic. Pray for the kids as they continue to care for her.

Today her son Ashagrey who Jon sponsors came to the guest house to say

thank you. He told me “I am so happy” my mom is well. She is far from

well but he has new hope that she will live. Thank you so much for

praying.

Please pray also for Jenn who is not feeling well today. We started

her on an antibiotic this afternoon and would ask you to pray that she

is feeling strong and well tomorrow when she leaves for home. Pray

also for Curtis, Alvin, Linda and I as we remain behind to visit

medical facilities looking for possible opportunities for Curtis and

Linda to serve. Linda, Alvin and I will leave on the 22nd and 23rd.

Curtis will remain until April 26 and still his schedule is not very

laid out. Pray for clear direction and a schedule. Again thanks for

praying. Cheryl for the team

These last couple days have been like a roller coaster ride for many

of the members on our team. Riding public transport on minibuses was

an exciting experience as we learned just how many people we can fit

into an old Toyota van. It was good to drive around town and see the

development, but very hard to see the huge gap in class level. In many

areas of town we would see nice cars and very well dressed businessmen

walking by the impoverished who were living and begging along the

road. It is disheartening to see so many people who are struggling to

survive and knowing that there is very little I can do. On the other

hand, it has been very encouraging to see the ways that these problems

have been addressed. It has been great to see the way the Addis Kidan

helps many of the aids patients and the impoverished families in the

area. MTN (Meet the Needy) has been able to provide enough support for

over a hundred families to afford to go to school and stay together.

One of my highlights for the week was when Richard and I got the

opportunity to go to Minjar to see one of the Addis Kidan church

plants. It has been great to see how they have partnered with

compassion to support over 200 kids and provide running water for the

entire community. - Curtis

-- 

steve henry