Wow long time no see people! In case you didn’t know I’m in ethiopia!!! We live in Harbu Chulule and our ministry is….. HOPETHIOPIA! Go check out their website to read more about it. We are about 3 hours from WiFi so it is extremely difficult to post blogs so I’m sorry it’s been so long and you probably won’t hear from me again after this week until we go to Nicaragua! We arrived in Ethiopia the first week in December and this week we are in the capitol again for our MID WAY DEBREIF!!!! I still can’t believe we are half way done, this month itself has flown by!
Not being able to talk to family this whole month has definitely been HARD, especially with Christmas, but the Lord is speaking so clearly in all the silence and peace that we have found way out here. It was hard for me to realize it at the time but in Cambodia I was definitely spending way too much time talking to family and heavily relying on them for comfort. And I didn’t realize how much having access to WiFi and so many comforts was taking away from my time with Jesus, my personal growth, and even ministry opportunities. Until all of that was stripped away and I have been able to encounter God in such amazing ways here! I am learning what it means to be fully reliant on Him for my everything and i have seen it in my life, just ask anyone of my team mates and they’ll tell you just how cranky I get when I Don’t spend time with Him in the morning. And I love that, it’s like being homesick but for Jesus! I am learning what real intimacy, dependency, and friendship is with Jesus and realizing that He is really all I need and I’m so beyond thankful that He took us all the way out here to this beautiful mountain so He could make me finally see that He is so much better than anything the world could ever offer me!
I still can’t believe that I get to call this little piece of heaven my home for these three months. It feels so good to finally be out of the city, and boy we are about as far as you can get from the city. The mountains, the sunrises, the miles of fields, the soft breeze, and the beautiful people all scream His glory. On Christmas Eve the stars were like nothing I had ever seen before. Innumerable. I stood in awe and complete child like wonder and just worshiped the creator who set all of it in motion just for me. It was the best gift He could have given me this year!
We live on a compound with about 30 kids who live in the Hope Ethiopia children’s village and their house moms! Half of our ministry is simply loving them and teaching them and just spending time with them! We had a lot of ministry with kids in Cambodia but something about living in such close community with these kids has made it so different, I feel like I have a whole bunch of little brothers and sisters and I couldn’t be happier with it. Spending time with the kids fills me to overflowing with joy, they ask such good questions and love to learn but really they teach me more than anything. They exemplify childlike faith and wonder and joy and just make me so happy, I’m never bored with them around.
It’s been an adjustment to have the whole squad together again in one place but also so cool to see the difference in every single person since month one. The growth is just a testament to how God’s love redeems and reshapes us all in so many ways. He is just so good, y’all!
Peace,
Alyssa
