Well, we made it to Ethiopia!!! Sorry for the lack of communication, we are in a remote village with no wifi, but I will be making trips to the capital every month or so to submit expense reports, so i’ll give y’all updates as often as I can.
Our time here has been incredible so far. Ethiopia is a beautiful country with beautiful people. We’ve been in this tiny village in the middle of nowhere called Harbu Chulule. It’s a beautiful place, set at 8000 feet and surrounded by rolling hills and distant mountains. During the day it’s typically in the 70s and at night it’s been chillier, around 40s. We stay on the Hopethiopia campus, which is quite a few acres in size.
As far as ministry has gone, my team normally walks about 45 minutes each way in the mornings to a reforestation site. We pack tubes of soil in which saplings go. Because I’ve had a messed up foot from the half marathon though, I’ve typically stayed and worked with some other teams. We have done lots of grass cutting by hand, and then have primed, painted, and built walls for a training center they are making. In the afternoons, we typically hangout with and love on all the orphans on campus (there are like 30). We play soccer, chase em around, teach them technology things, etc. If you want to check out more about Hopethiopia, go to http://www.hopethiopia.com/
As far as accommodations go, we are decently spoiled. My team is staying in a separate house from the main one, and we have bunk beds, warm covers, pillows and towels. The rest of the squad stays at the big house, where lots of us hangout on the couches or play board games, sipping to endless amounts of local coffee and tea.
Overall, the pace of life is much slower here, and it’s been really cool to slow down and reflect with the Lord. He has been so good and I have deeply enjoyed my time here so far. I’m really excited for the next few months!
Thank you all for your support thus far!!! Believe it or not, I only have $2200 left to raise! The deadline is January 15th! I’m gonna trust y’all to get me there. God is good.
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