It’s been WAY too long since I updated you guys— my sincerest apologies!
Since arriving in Ethiopia, I’ve been involved in a multitude of ministries. For the first three weeks my team lived in Oromia, which is a rural area in Ethiopia. We lived at an orphanage called Hopethiopia where we spent most of our time with the kids who lived there, but also helped build a trade center on the property, shoveled and moved bricks, gardened, and met so many amazing kids who came to the well daily. We spent the following weekend in the capital to take a couple of days to regroup as a squad. In this time I was moved to a different team (aka DaVine), and went with them to our new ministry location in Addis Ababa. For the last three weeks we’ve been staying at one of Youth Impact’s centers for teenage girls and guys where they can come study after school and get the support and security they don’t have at home. We’ve spent 24/7 with these people and developed deep-rooted friendships. I think this ministry may be the most in depth (relationship-wise) we’ve gone, just because we’re constantly around them and their English is fantastic. It feels like a huge family— here I’ve learned a lot about what it’s like to genuinely care for people and be vulnerable, and let people care for me as well. I wish I could take all of them home with me because they’re incredible incredible people that I wish the whole world could know.
I’ve heard so many testimonies & stories from everyone here, and it’s been so eye-opening and has expanded my knowledge on how personal God is. The gospel is so alive and God is working everywhere all of the time. My vision is so narrow & nearsighted— He reminds me over and over that he’s so much bigger.
I can’t believe that it’s already month 9! In less than four weeks I’ll be on my way back to good ol’ Iowa. Thank you all for following my blogs & keeping up with me! I’ll continue to write more blogs during these last few weeks, so feel free to ask questions and/or comment 🙂
