I am on month 3 of the race and working with a ministry in Ethiopia called HOPEthiopia. This is an incredible ministry that is not just enabling the community but empowering them and bringing them out of poverty. HOPEthiopia takes in orphans and widows and provides a permanent home where they know they will not have to move again. They take the poorest of families, and give them hope. The widows become house mothers to the children, are taught how to garden and be sustainable. Many of these women and children spent years in solitude with only the clothes on their back and a smile that was nonexistent. Now, they are unrecognizable with joy radiating from ear to ear.
Our team is taking on a variety of different projects including teaching in the schools and volunteering with a medical team at the local clinic. The compound we are staying on is still very new with homes still being built, landscaping under construction, and reforestation beginning; so our main focus this month is taking on these manual labor projects to help prepare for more widows and orphans to be taken in. We are weeding gardens, painting homes, helping a reforestation project that covers thousands of acres of land, chopping up masses amount of clay dirt with basically pitch forks, and building a home.
Through the blisters and sore bodies, I realized that manual labor is a lot like being disciples of this world. We are planting seeds and investing in the landscape in order for it to grow into the beauty we know it’s been created for. This growth takes time, so I will leave the compound before I see any growth. But I am certain that there will be fruit grown and flowers planted and green grass growing. This is exactly what the Lord calls us to be as disciples of him. We plant seeds in people’s hearts of the truth and the power of the gospel, and God is the one who bears the fruit. We don’t always see the fruit that is planted, but just like we are certain there will be flowers blooming one day, we should be certain that the seed that was planted in someone’s heart will also take root because of the power of Christ.
Here are some pictures of what ministry has looked like:
Caitlin taking patients blood pressure at the local clinic^
Anissa teaching locals how to wash their hands and face ^
Haley painting one of the children’s home^
Lupita working in one of the gardens^
Rachel working on the apple orchard ^
Taylor learning to hack Teff^
