I believe in angels and they come in the form of a little Korean lady and her husband, taxi drivers and Ethiopian neighbors. If you have read my last blog, you know that the past few days we have been doing life in the hospital. It hasn’t been the easiest and definitely not the most fun. In between our prayers of healing, we would pray for divine appointments and the ability to make memories while me and the team leader, Alexa, are livin’ that hospital life. The Lord answered both prayers but the ways he blessed me and Alexa are absolutely amazing.
Let’s start with our little Korean couple. We met Mrs. Kay when she was doing her rounds to say hello to the patients here. Her husband is a pathologist and they live in the guest house behind the hospital. As we talked to her, you could instantly tell that she was a grandma. She just had that peace and love about her. She and her husband had spent the last 47 years in Philly and it was just the greatest blessing to talk with her. At the end of our conversation she pulls out homemade peanut butter cookies and coffee candies of her purse. She then proceeded to go and buy us sprite and water so that we could be well taken care of. Each day we look forward to our visits with Mrs. Kay. She mentioned one time about the guest house cafeteria which would serve way better food for us then the hospital one. Today we took her up on that offer. As we were walking towards the door she comes running out to greet us and takes us by the hand to show us how it’s done. Looking around the cafeteria we see all of our Korean doctor friends and felt super out of place with our oversized t-shirts, leggings and Chacos. But Mrs. Kay didn’t care. She came with us through the line to explain everything and then paid for our meals saying it was her gift to us. Her and her husband sat with us through lunch talking about life in Ethiopia and asking about our lives. Her husband is also a professor at the medical school behind the hospital and asked if we would be willing to take a tour. Of course! It was so nice to be out of the room, talking about Jesus and being cared for in a way that we didn’t expect. Mrs. Kay and her husband were angels sent to care for us when we needed that grandparent touch.
Next, we have our taxi drivers. The hospital is about an hour away by taxi to where the team I was with and all my stuff is. The third day in, two team members from a different team came to relieve me and Alexa so that we could get some good sleep. I had a general idea of where we needed to go and the names of the places to get dropped off and get back on. No joke, every time we got out of a taxi the taxi in front of us was yelling the name for the next stop. It happened 3 times. Praise! It only took us about 45 minutes this time because of how fast we were able to get the next taxi. Then in the morning as we made our way back to the hospital, we walked to find a taxi to Bole. I had never gotten on this taxi before so we were just wondering around listening to people shout city names. I walked past one driver and we made eye contact, he pointed to his taxi and said Bole. Yes sir I will ride in your taxi! Here comes the crazy part. We were the last ones of about 10 people to get out, we make eye contact again and he says Gergi? As a matter of fact, yes. That is exactly where we need to go. He tells us to sit back down and drives all the way to the hospital, stopping to pick up no one, drops us off and says have a great day! We were both like, are you kidding me? That never happens. Taxi’s usually only go from one place and then back there. But this guy continued on and didn’t even charge us extra. He was like our own personal chauffer. Morning made. Thanks God.
And finally we have our Ethiopian hospital neighbors. I cannot tell you how many times I would be walking the hallways or be sitting out there staring that people would come to me to make sure I was ok. “You look tired” “You look stressed” “Everything is going to be ok” Sometimes I would walk past their rooms and they would hand me bottled water or come share their snacks with me. They fought on my behalf when we needed a pillow or extra toilet paper (the hospital is stingy with their stuff). They hugged me, checked on me and made sure that our friends were doing better. I could never remember their names but every time they remembered mine. They were a strong source of hope that I needed when I felt exhausted. I love my Ethiopian angel friends and owe them for feeding me and keeping me hydrated.
I’m not sure I’ll ever see these people again but I do know that they were straight from the Lord. I am thankful He answers our little prayers as well as the big ones.
