Hello! This is my day in a life in Harbu Chulule, Ethiopia. We change ministries every two weeks so that might change how my day may go.
My alarm goes off at 6:20am and I quickly scramble out of bed to turn it off. You see, I sleep in Root and Ganet’s room. Two house moms and two of my friends. 🙂 They sleep in until 8:00 most days so I try not to wake them up.
Then, as quietly as possible, I make my bed, grab my bag, put on my shoes and head up to the guesthouse. Some of the most beautiful walks of my life, the sun rising, the clouds radiating pink and yellow. It’s amazing.
I’m usually at the guesthouse by 6:30, I put my bag at my seat, grab my toiletry bag. I go to the bathroom, brush my hair, wash my face, brush my teeth and call it good.
Then, I go make myself some tea or coffee, whatever I’m in the mood for, sit down and spend time with my Father. It could be listening to worship music, reading my Bible, journaling or just sitting with Him. Recently I’ve discovered connecting with him in nature as well, so, it could look like going on a walk or sitting outside and watching the sunrise.
People shuffle into the main living area of the guesthouse from around 6am – 7:30am when breakfast starts.
Our team always laughs about this but we always somehow all sit by each other without even trying MOST meals. So I usually look up at 7:30am and see my teammates engrossed in whatever they are doing, sitting in all of the surrounding seats.
Usually whoever is on kitchen duty will announce the meal, ask for any announcements and then we pray.
WE HAVE THE BEST BREAKFASTS! No joke. We have a rotation of pancakes, French toast, toast, oatmeal, omelettes, scrambled eggs, and we’ve even had donuts twice! There is never a shortage of bread that’s for sure, but we are so thankful to have such good food!
After breakfast, if my team isn’t on dishes I will grab some more tea or coffee, pack all my belongings up and head to Roots home.
It’s around 8:30am and all the kiddos are getting up and ready for breakfast. I help them wash, which is filling up containers of water, pouring it over their hands as they scrub their little hands, arms and faces. Then, I help serve them their breakfast which usually is this amazing homemade bread and sweet tea. Then, I go change into my painting clothes for ministry and head back up to the guesthouse by 9am sharp.
At 9 our whole team & whoever is joining us for ministry will pray for that day, this is a way we choose into inviting God into our morning ministry space. Something we have learned as a team since coming to Ethiopia is, it can be very easy to not have an overflow of Joy from the Lord through manual labor and ministry as a team because we are sisters and we get irritated sometimes. This prayer brings us back into alignment with the Father if we need it. It also focuses all of us on God. It really really makes a difference.
Then, we all walk down to the training center where we do ministry each morning! HOPEthiopia is in the process of building a huge addition to the compound. In between the guesthouse and the children’s village is the training center. The vision behind this center is training and equipping locals to sustain themselves in different trades such as sewing, leather work, tailoring, carpentry, and eventually other things as well.
It’s super cool to take part in the making of a building that will provide countless jobs and give skills to people who never had the opportunity to go to college or maybe even school. Now, not only will they have these skills but they can sell their products and create a steady income which is something very foreign to Harbu Chulule locals, most farmers only have self sustaining farms.
Right now in the training center we are grouding all the cracks between the bricks and then we will paint! I absolutely love grouding, it’s a very slow process but we play music and talk. It’s peaceful and it’s so nice to have ministry with the whole team again which we haven’t had since the first couple of weeks of Ethiopia.
We start cleaning up around 11:45am and depending on how dirty I am I will take a very quick shower.
Then, lunch! Which is at noon everyday. We normally have a lot of rice and vegetables or pasta and meat. Something easy to make for a large quantity of people. We have pizza sometimes which is such a treat! Well, I can’t really call it pizza, more like dough with veggies on top and surprisingly tuna which is REALLY good.
After lunch technically our squad has until 3pm to rest. A time to sit still, to paint, to journal, to exercise, to do laundry, to nap, to read, whatever you need to do.
I usually head back down to the Children’s village and see Root and her kiddos. Meskerem (8) , Arasa (7), Badasa (6) & Dereche (3). I give and get lots of hugs and kisses. I usually hang out with Root in her room and play with the kids. I’m in that house every spare moment I have. It’s where I live and it’s my second family. Root is my best friend and sister and the children are my kids!
I had a cool moment the other day because I was talking to God, “Asking Him what will happen if I never get to have my own kids and anxiously coming to terms of the statement ‘Whatever the Father Wills’ and God said back to me, Marguerite you already are a mother to the children in front of you. I was holding Roberia (3) and Deriche, I started to tear up because when I was prophesied over in Siem Reap, the man said I will be a mother not only to my own biological children but to all children. It was such a confirming moment for me and I love being their mommy and friend.
Then, for the afternoon I pretty much follow Root around. It could look a lot of different ways. Usually it is helping in the kitchen with her, making injera or Shero. There is always a coffee ceremony every afternoon. So I may be there, or it could look like resting with Root if she is really tired or playing with the children. I love cuddle puddles with Dereche and Roberia. 🙂
Or sometimes completely different. For example, today, one of the house moms, Tarunish asked me to touch up her house with paint so for most the afternoon we painted her home.
Then dinner is at 6. We have a lot of soup, it’s amazing! Especially because it gets cold enough to wear a sweatshirt so it actually feels like winter!
After dinner I usually hang around, have good conversations, play some cards, make some tea until team time.
Or maybe I need something at the house and I’ll pop my head in and say hello to a Root and the kiddos, again lots of hugs, kisses and I love yous.
We have team time every night besides Saturday so it’s usually what we do after dinner.
Monday – Journey Markers
Tuesday – Storytelling
Wednesday – Feedback
Thursday – Free for All
Friday – Debrief
Saturday – off
Sunday – Worship
For example tonight was story telling so our team had a time where we wrote blogs and then I went back to Roots house and we went to a coffee ceremony together until 10:30pm
Then we both went back to the house, brushed our teeth and went to bed.
I LOVE each day here.
While being in Ethiopia I’ve been journaling in my phone each day. Reflecting back and writing this I realize just how much happens in a day and all the amazing times I get to love people here.
It’s really nice to have flexibility in our ministry with our afternoons, choosing what we want to do instead of forcing ministry onto us all day. I believe that is great at times, like for the morning so things get done but I also think it’s great to let people grasp what they are passionate about and run with it because I know for me, when I get to hang out with the house moms I love them with all my heart.
FUNDRAISER UPDATE: ADOPT A MONTH!
SEPTEMBER (TAKEN!!! YAYAYA!!!!!)
OCTOBER (TAKEN!!!!! WAAHOOOOOO)
NOVEMBER (TAKENNNNNN!!!)
DECEMBER (taken!!! Whoop whoop!!)
JANUARY (taken!!! THANK YOU!)
FEBRUARY (needed!)
MARCH (needed!)
APRIL
MAY
I FLY HOME MAY 31st!!!!
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Ways YOU can Join me on my Spiritual Journey:
1. Pray. I will need a multitude of prayers ranging from strength, wisdom, clarity, love, joy… The list goes on. Whatever your heart desires and feels right, pray. Here in Ethiopia we have a little boy at the orphanage who’s legs don’t work, pray healing over his body please!
- SPREAD THE WORD! Tell everyone about my trip and show them my blog.
- SUBSCRIBE! When you subscribe you will get all notifications when I post on my blog about my trip and any updates!
- If you would like to donate to me still, please donate directly to me and not World Race. I AM FULLY FUNDED but I could always use money to cover vaccinations costs and so on! I do have squad mates who aren’t fully funded, if you feel lead please donate to them and keep them on the field!!!!
Thank you and God bless you all!
