It been too long since my last update, I am sorry for that. Here is a small glimpse into my month here in Ethiopia, Africa:
This month my team and I packed up our bags and moved over ten different times. I slept in ten different beds (I should use the term bed lightly, sometimes we slept on the floor only in different locations), we traveled over 27 hours from one end of Ethiopia to the other, some longer stretches than others. We slept in 5 different cities and traveled to and visited 9. We partnered with and worked alongside 5 different ministries, some more than others. This month we experienced the extremes of American style living as a group of kind-hearted and humble missionaries from the US invited us into their home, to sleeping in tents with baboons along the Omo river in some of the most underdeveloped parts of Africa. We experienced it all. We laughed, cried, got bed bugs, slept in a rooms filled with black mold, experienced the ‘club scene’ right outside our bedroom window, watched drug deals unfold and heard drunk men bang on our doors early in the morning. We were harassed by men as we walked down the street and some days we felt too fearful to walk outside of our compound.
This month was hard and challenging and some days I wanted nothing more than to go home and quit but the Lord provided in way I never would have thought up or imagined. This month, the Lord provided housing when we thought we would have to set up our tents on the side of the road. He provided a safe restaurant when after a week of only eating cookies and peanut butter because we had nowhere to cook. He provided a man of peace when we lacked a host or a ministry to call home.
We traveled 18 hours to Jinka to meet and minister to a people group called the Hamer Banna and the Lord even provided us a ministry and a car to reach them.
This month was hard. We struggled, a lot. However, the Lord taught me what it really looks like to trust that He would provide. The Lord taught me true dependence and faith. He reminded me of the small miracles and just how faithful He is to His promises.
Ethiopia, thanks for the memories. I can’t wait to share them with my grandchildren some day.
