First and foremost, here is my new team, WASABI! We recently changed teams in Sofia, Bulgaria before heading out to our final continent, AFRICA!
Left to right: Maria, Tiff, Becca
Left to right: Jaivie (same team again, yay!), Sam
Background on our team name:
The name came about when we were first throwing around names. Jaivie then first suggested something with having the only Asians on the squad on the same team and threw around sushi. Then someone else said wasabi and well our name was born. We each also tried naming a roll of sushi we would be:
- Maria is the Philadelphia roll because she’s from Pennylasia
- I am the dragon roll because I love it
- And the others are still working on it…
But yes our team was born with the agreement that we wanted to finish this race joyous fun, and what better way to start it than with our team name!
Here’s the details for our ministry in our first of three African countries:
MONTH 9: E T H I O P I A
Where Are We?
My team and I are one of three fortunate teams to have a host this month. All the other teams are either ATL (Ask The Lord) or Unsung Heros this month.
- We have been placed in the beautiful city of Hawassa, Ethiopia. It is I about a four and a half bus ride from the capital, Addis Ababa.
- We are staying with a local Pastor named Hizikiah and his family. We have been blessed with having our own room, a kitchen to cook our food and [limited] WIFi! Although water and electricity go out at random times, it has all been such a blessing!
Ministry Set-up:
It seems we will be doing a wide range of things (including but not limited to):
- preaching/encouraging local churches Hizikiah is connected to (which sometimes includes being a choir too)
- working with a local organization for a sports ministry geared towards kids with disabilities
- visiting a local prison and encouraging the women there
going out and visiting local people groups, in Jinka and other places
Food (probably my favorite topic, haha):
We are cooking on our own for breakfast and lunch and have the fortunate blessing to have traditional Ethiopian dinners with our host family.
- Shopping for food is quite the experience in itself, as their markets tend to be specialized in either selling meal only or vegetables.
- Venturing out to a local market reminded me of the crazy local market we experienced at training camp, which was chaotic and stressful for me personally.
- The first time we went out to get groceries, we ended up being driven to about 5 different stores.
- They do have “super markets” which are essentially what you think of as a local market, but the prices tend to be more expens
- ETHIOPIAN COFFEE! They have a special ceremony for coffee, where they roast the beans in front of you, then grind it up and mix with boiling water. Then they pour it into tiny teacups for you to drink, which is usually served with sugar. My team and I have had the blessing to have this a few times already and well they have probably been the best kind of coffee I’ve had on the race so far (next to Cambodia).
- Also they do spicy here!!! Like it’s on fire-hot 🙂
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading!
