To recap my month spent in the city of Awash, it was a long one. I’m trying to put it into words, and I’m trying not to sound negative. This month was a mixture of great and not so great.
At the beginning of the month we met with all the pastors and evangelists in the area. We made plans, and shared ideas. We talked about our desires and experience, and they talked about their needs. We talked about intercession, outreach, and empowering the churches. Everything sounded great to me, and I was so excited. I had really high hopes for the month. God led us to Awash for a reason, and I was about to see that reason unfold. I was ready to step into new levels of faith, with confidence and expectancy that crazy and amazing things were about to happen.
After the first few days we started facing roadblocks. First was Ramadan, which meant the Muslim population (which is basically the entire population) was fasting all day. For this reason, the pastor who we primarily worked with (Abebe) told us we would only be doing intercession, and would start outreach after Ramadan was over. We ended up spending our mornings at the church having personal time with God, and doing intercession for whatever God put on our hearts. Don’t get me wrong, I find this extremely beneficial and important. But I still felt like we could be doing more.
Once we stared outreach, we realized how difficult that would be without having a translator. Abebe knew enough English to communicate with us, but not enough to translate to others without it getting confusing, especially when were trying to share the gospel. So, we were simply the attention grabbers. When they see white people we grab their attention, then Abebe would share a little about why we were in Awash and he would share the gospel. Which, honestly I’ll take it if thats what I need to do for others to hear about Jesus. It doesn’t change the fact that it was still frustrating that we couldn’t communicate.
Aside from praying at the church in the mornings, attending the church services in the evenings, and occasional outreach, we also had a couple opportunities where we were invited into homes to share a meal and have a traditional coffee ceremony. I loved this because we got to eat authentic Ethiopian food, pray for the families, and drink coffee together. I wish I could go into detail about each experience. The generosity and love they poured out on us. The hospitality they showed. It was all just incredible, and I felt honored and blessed to be apart of each experience. I will never forget it.
So, that was our month in a nutshell. The plans we made to outreach, to travel outside the city, to visit other churches, they didn’t happen. I’m trying not to see that as a negative thing, and I’m trying not to get down on myself. I know that we couldn’t do a lot of things without an escort and we couldn’t really talk to many people without a translator. So I’m not sure why I’m feeling slightly frustrated. I just feel like we could’ve done more. I came in with high hopes and big dreams for this city.
As I’ve processed this I’ve realized that, even though I may not see it, my high hopes didn’t fall short of Gods plan. I think God is trying to show me how to have more faith. Faith that we made a lasting impact in the city of Awash. Faith that our presence at church and in the city was enough. Faith that our prayers were not unheard. I’m trying to have just as much confidence leaving as I did when we arrived. Confidence that we left a spark in the city of Awash that will continue to grow even more after we’ve left.
Ultimately I really loved my time spent in the hottest place in the world, and I’m forever changed from it.
I will continue to pray for Abebe, for Full Gospel Church, and for the amazing people we met there.
