When we landed in Ethiopia in the beginning of February, it was cold.
COLD.
We were in Africa and WE WERE COLD.
It was such a nice, unexpected change. After sitting in the airport for a while, trying to exchange money and collecting our luggage, we got into a few busses and began to drive out to our ministry site for the month.
We drove a couple of hours and stopped at the home office of the ministry that we were going to be working with.
Hopethiopia.
Hopethiopia provides a home for many orphans and widows. They strive to provide a Christian influence/atmosphere/community in the village they are in. They don’t just strive, they succeed. The organization has their hands in many projects. Constructing houses to become homes for the children and families they take in, digging wells to provide running water, they are involved in local schools, they plant peace gardens for each home to provide food, they have hundreds of acres which they are using for a reforestation project.
There are 4.5 million orphans in Ethiopia. God is using Hopethiopia to make a difference in Ethiopia. There are 3 co-founders of this amazing organization. We were only able to meet one of them. His name is Ralph, he is a dentist from Calgary, Canada. Believe it or not, we have a Canadian from Calgary on our squad. His name is Nick. He is also from Calgary. Actually, Nick has an interview for Dental school in Canada this month. He is flying to Canada for the interview and it is coming up this week. Please pray for Nick’s interview. Pray for God’s will to be done and that Nick has safe travels. Anyways, back to Ralph. He is an awesome man of God. God is using Dr. Ralph so much. He is so friendly and so inviting. The first day he met us, he split our squad up into two teams to go on a prayer walk around the village that we stayed in. One day, Dr. Ralph rented a bus for our squad and took us to some hot springs not too far away that the people believed were holy waters. On one of our last nights, he rented another bus and took us out to the ridge above the reforestation project and let us camp overnight out there. It was such an awesome experience.
Dr. Ralph is so kind, giving, and he has such a genuine love and concern for the people of Ethiopia. God is using his organization like crazy! It is an awesome thing to be able to be a part of. Please pray for Dr. Ralph and Hopethiopia. Pray that God continues to us them like crazy, that the organization continues to grow, and that God will keep sending people their way to help their organization.
Thank you all for all the prayers and support that you have given me! It is so so so much appreciated! I love you all!!
<3 Ash
