It’s day 4 of ministry in Ethiopia and I am sitting on the couch praying we don’t have to go do manual labor today. I don’t think I have ever been this sore in my life. For the past two days we have been swinging pick axes over our shoulders and breaking up giants balls of clay to prepare a huge field for planting. I woke up yesterday and my shoulders were aching like crazy, today ever inch of my body is screaming ‘NO MORE MANUAL LABOR.’
This month our ministry is called Hope Ethiopia. They are in the process of building a huge compound to house orphans and abandoned seniors. There are currently 7 orphans living on the compound.
Every day we have different projects ranging from walking into remote villages to tell people about the upcoming medical clinic next week, to breaking up giant chunks of clay for a new apple orchard to playing with the kids.
But mostly we are doing back-breaking work. Imagine farming with out all the modern equipment and instead we use homemade pick axes.
I’m honestly struggling to find the beauty in manual labor. When you wake up and can’t move a muscle without feeling sore its hard to find the beauty in breaking up chunks of clay.
It’s hard to say this is for your glory God, every swing I do is not in vain.
In the bible when Adam and Eve sin, God punishes them. He punishes Adam by saying this:
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and you have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorn and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.
Genesis 3:17-19
Having to do manual labor is of God, the way we are farming here in Ethiopia is the way it has been done for centuries around the world starting with Adam and Eve.
On the World Race they tell us to be present. Over and over we here be present today, focus on where you are now and what you are doing now instead of dwelling on the future and focusing on things of the future.
This month the only way that I can find the beauty in the work we are doing is to focus on the future. I have to remember that this field will one day be a beautiful apple orchard that feeds the many orphans who will live on the compound. One day the garden we spent hours weeding will be a huge source of organic produce and food for the people living on the compound. The reforestation work we are doing will one day revitalize the land and bring good soil and an abundance of resources to the people here. The bricks we lug across the compound will build the cookhouse which will allow our ministry to move in abandoned seniors who need hope and love and a place to call home.
Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Who am I to complain?
The Lord put me here in Ethiopia, at this ministry, doing this work, for a reason. He brought my team here to bless this ministry and work in this community for His purpose.
Who am I to question His plan?
Who am I to question His purpose?
Only our Lord knows the true meaning of ‘back breaking work.’
His Son, our Savior, carried a cross on His back and took on the weight of our sins.
He suffered so that I may live an eternity with Him.
Who am I to complain about a little farming?
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field. God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:9
God has asked my team to work alongside Him this month, literally in the dirt and the pain. He has asked us to work with this amazing ministry to help see His vision come to fruition here in a remote village in Ethiopia.
I’m learning big things here in Ethiopia.
Even though the exhaustion and soreness God is moving here in Ethiopia and I am excited to be apart of it.
