(Length: 4 minutes) HOPEthiopia is the ministry we worked with this month in Ethiopia. It is an orphanage located about 3 hours outside the capital, Addis Ababa in a very rural village. The village has electric and water, but the government has power to shut the electric and water off whenever they like for days or even weeks at a time. HOPE has dug a well, that they call their faith well, that is able to supply the village with remarkably clean water in times the village is dry. HOPE touches many different parts of the community with the numerous projects that they’ve started. They have acquired acres and acres of land to start reforestation with the goal of thousands of trees that will supply building materials, jobs, and the obvious benefits that forests produce. They have vegetable gardens and an incredible apple orchard where they plant baby apple trees and give them away to the community. Any new apple tree takes at least 7 years to produce fruit, yet with simple and powerful prayer the Lord causes all the apple trees that come out of this particular orchard to produce fruit after only 1 year! HOPE has kids and families they sponsor all over the village and they run dental, eye and veterinary clinics periodically throughout the year. We got to be a part of and assist in all of this and more during our time there.
To say the vision at HOPE is big would be an understatement. It is immense. The goals are big because our God is bigger. I am learning a lot about faith and how it is implemented. Too many times we say “if the Lord wills” and then sit back and do nothing. Yes, the Lord says we are to wait for Him, but that should never be an excuse to not take action. HOPE has been a great example of this by the way they pursue taking action in their community. Taking steps in faith can be as big as continuing to dig a well after they tell you that you aren’t going to find water or as small as buying a mean village kid some cookies because you know that God WILL work in even the smallest things. We spent a large portion of our time hanging out and loving the kids at the orphanage because we have faith that simply loving people can radically change the trajectory of their life. I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was to find out how these kiddos were not only well behaved (for the most part haha), but also just overflowing with love. They would run up to you and tell me that they love me and that they are praying for me every day. One day, I was walking back to my room and a group of them dragged me over to a water pump. They insisted on washing my hair, so I agreed. They sat me in a chair and I felt at least a dozen hands all over my head scrubbing, dumping buckets of water, and putting more soap on. It didn’t stop there because they wanted to wash my hands and feet too. We were all soaked by the end of it, but my heart was filled with some much joy because I got to experience what God’s love in a child can look like. They provide such a great example of what Christ has done for us. All of these kids were once orphaned, and although they could make their own decisions, were at the mercy of the world and without a true hope. Without anything of their own doing were taken in and cared for. I can relate to that. I once was lost but now am found. I once was blind but now I see. I once was broken but am now made whole. I once was at the mercy of this world but now have freedom in Christ to accept the Father’s love and in turn pour that out to all surrounding.
Overall it was such an amazing time with so many God filled moments! Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your continual support! Please keep our squad in your prayers for boldness and for the Spirit to move in big ways as we start this next leg. Specifically, for people to be healed and their eyes to be opened.
