This month Andy and I have been a part of what is called Unsung Hero’s. If you remember, we did this our first month in India, and our new team was selected to it again. This means that when we arrived in Ethiopia we did not have a host or contact and it was our job to find a new contact for Adventures in Missions to connect with for future teams. We were a little nervous at first because Ethiopia can be a dangerous country in some areas, but God completely provided an amazing pastor that we worked with for a few weeks. His name is Samuel but we always just called him pastor and he called us brothers and sisters (mostly because he couldn’t remember our names I think).
Our home for the time being was outside of a city called Hawassa, where we stayed at a compound with no electricity or running water. We pumped water out of a well and filled up big plastic barrels to use to cook with and take bucket showers with. For our meals, we were on our own and only were able to go into town twice to buy all the groceries we needed. Needless to say, we had a very consistent diet of oatmeal, ramen, and either rice with veggies or noodles with veggies. At least there were no surprises!
At the compound, there was a school that had 600 kids who came daily. They were fascinated by us (you can read Andy’s previous blog to hear about our experiences with them) and it was very obvious that they didn’t see white foreigners very often or at all. We spent one day teaching, which usually consisted of us trying to teach English and them just staring back in response. The kids were very shy and the classes were huge. Another day, Andy was able to preach a message about setting a Christ like example even when you are young to the kids at the school.
The pastor asked us to help paint a big green fence in the front of the compound and trim the bushes. Everything we did turned into a show, people would show up from all over just to sit and watch us paint or wait on the side of the road for a bus or walk around. We definitely felt like fish in a fishbowl. If people saw us they would frantically wave or run over and ask for money or want to shake our hands. While Andy and I were painting the trim on one of the school rooms, we turned around and there were probably 150 sets of little eyes watching our every move – it was crazy! I never thought we were so interesting before.
Our team was asked to preach at a few different events. One was a leadership conference for all the church leaders in the area, and it was incredible to see their passion and excitement for Jesus. A lot of these people have so little in the eyes of the world, but they have everything when it comes to richness in the joy of Christ. We also were able to help pray and bless the ground for a new church building and talk about how church isn’t about a building but about a body of believers coming together to praise God.
One thing our team was really excited about was getting an opportunity to go to a tribal village or “the bush” as we often call it. We asked Pastor Samuel if it would be possible to visit the bush, and he said “yes of course.” The day came to go and we all woke up early and were so excited to go. Pastor picked us up and excitedly drove us to a nice restaurant and then a hot spring which was basically a community pool. What?! We were all looking at each other wondering how communication has gone so wrong but at the same time trying to be positive and polite because pastor was so excited to take us. Needless to say, when we said bush, he thought we meant literal bush. The pool is in a forested area they call paradise with lots of trees and bushes. Once we realize the miss communication it was pretty funny and we ended up having a great day. We were able to visit an actual “bush” or village the next week and it was incredible seeing how different their lives are and how they live off such rough conditions.
Even though our month had some slow moments of down time because the pastor was trying to figure out how to host a team and we were learning how to come alongside his ministry, we were able to build an incredible relationship with him. We got to experience things we’ve never seen and a culture that is far different from our own. God was so faithful in keeping us safe and guiding our steps to build what will hopefully be a great ministry opportunity for future world race teams.
