Ethiopia has been a rollercoaster of amazing moments! This country is very spiritually awake and open to the message of Jesus Christ. There has been so much that has happened here that I think I should just tell you the story. So let’s get this started:
We flew into Addis Ababa, Ethiopia around 2 am local time and quickly made our way through visa applications and loaded onto a couple of buses to head to the hotel we were staying at for the night. Once we got there we found out there wasn’t enough room for all of us. So a small group (including myself) went across town to the nicest hotel I have stayed in since leaving America. After sleeping in the nicest bed I’ve had on the race and getting a shower with actual pressure and hot water, we joined up with the rest of the squad and loaded back into some buses. We took a 3-hour ride to the countryside to a place called HOPEthiopia for something called an Awakening.
Going into this Awakening, I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was 2 squads (ours and Gap Year W squad) were getting together for a few days to learn about worship, intercession, hospitality, storytelling, and evangelism. Also, Gap Year is a 9 month trip to 3 countries for people ages 18-21. The Awakening turned into a time of meeting this other squad, sharing stories, unfiltered worship, speaking of prophetic words and truths, and generally pouring into each other’s lives. It was a spirit-filled few days including times that we went out to the local community to evangelize, had an all-night worship and prayer night, and got to pour into everyone around us. It was an amazing few days but in the end, we said goodbye to our new friends and hopped back into buses for another 3 hr drive back to our first hotel.
We headed back to this hotel in Addis Ababa because we found out that this would be an “all squad month” meaning we would have the opportunity to stay together and do ministry alongside all the teams if we wanted to. The hotel ended up wanting too much to stay there though so we found lodging at a compound associated with HOPEthiopia in Addis Ababa. After another 45 min. the bus ride to the compound we got settled in some rooms and looked around. In the house we stayed in with 16 people, there was no kitchen for us to use, 1 of the 2 bathrooms didn’t have a wall that was 8 ft high but didn’t go all the way to the vaulted ceiling, and we had bucket showers. Our team was not excited about the place so we only paid for a few nights to keep our options open. Meanwhile, the other teams paid to stay for the full time we would be in Ethiopia.
After a day or two, I began to not care as much about what was wrong with the place. They began to install showerheads, there was a nice outside area we could hammock and get some sun, I was enjoying getting to hang out with the entire squad, and we even found some places to eat that were reasonable prices. One of these places was a lady, basically across the street, and all she made was some fresh homemade french fries in a tiny deep fryer. We would go in groups of 5-6 and buy all the fries she could make for an hr at a time. One day while I was sitting waiting for her next batch of fries to come up with a small group of young boys approached and started speaking to me, one spoke nearly perfect English. His name was Abraham, he was 13, and we talked for a while. We talked about our favorite sports and teams, about our families and what life was like with them (he was fascinated with my big family), we talked about school and what he was learning, about Jesus and the Bible (even where his name came from), and we talked about his surgery. He had been to Ghana to have some spinal surgery, he knew the technical name but I won’t pretend to remember. He said the doctors had helped a lot but that there were still some problems with his leg.
He then did the unexpected! He asked if I could pray for Him.
Here I am, on this mission trip around the world and this young Ethiopian boy is being bolder in his faith than I am.
So obviously, I did!
I gave him the stool I had been sitting on, knelt by him, put one hand on his knee and one on his shoulder, and prayed.
I thanked God for bringing Abraham to me, thanked Him for his boldness, and for his faith. I asked for healing. I prayed for his leg, his body, his mind, and his soul. I asked for His protection and guidance over Abraham. And I thanked Him again for bringing this amazing young man to meet me.
When I was done praying he gave me a hug and he headed home with his friends. Almost as soon as he was gone I began to wish I had gotten a picture with him.
He had such a profound effect on me that the next day I think I told every person I talked to about our encounter and I decided to go get fries around the same time. Just in case he came by again.
So later that day I wentwith a couple of people to the fried lady again to get some fries and in hopes of running into my friend. We sat there chatting and eating fries for about 45 min and were getting close to having to head home. Then he came! Abraham came up again with some other friends, we were able to talk some more, pray again, and this time I did get a picture.
Unfortunately, when I went at the same time again the next day he did not come by but one of his friends did and we talked briefly. And the day after that my team left the compound to stay at another location and help a ministry called Testimony 25:40. But I will have to tell you about that another time.
Be on the lookout for my next blog where I will continue my story of Ethiopia!
