After 2 flights from Guatemala to America, a 22 hour layover in New Jersey, a 16 hour flight to Ethiopia, and a 3 hour bus ride, I have officially made it to the HOPEthiopia!!! HOPEthiopia is an orphanage in Ethiopia that we will be living in and doing ministry in for the next 3 months!! All in all, the trip to Ethiopia took about 4 days of travel!
As we arrived at the base in Ethiopia, I was struck with absolute awe and gratitude for my new home. The orphanage I am staying at is in the middle of many farmlands, which makes this a place of pure serenity. As I was praying about Africa the Lord gave me the words: serenity and fulfillment. I thought at first that serenity was meant only for the beautiful land that surrounds me but as I got to know all the people near the orphanage and the orphanage I realized that the Father was talking about the serenity that lives in the people here as well. Jesus calls Ethiopia a place of serenity and Jesus is calling for all the people of Ethiopia to raise their hands and praise Him.
The very first thing that occured when we got here to Ethiopia was a World Race Awakening. An Awakening is basically when two World Race groups come together and share stories, teachings, and participate in ministry with each other over the course of 3 days! Ironically the World Race group that we shared an awakening with was World Race 11in11 Squad W (World Race 11in11 is an 11 month missions trip for people who have recently graduated college!)! SO we had Gap Squad W and 11in11 Squad W all in one country praising the Lord, sharing testimonies and encouragement, and of course spreading the Gospel. There were many tracks that you could sign up for to help the awakening come all together and I ended up picking the Evangelism track, because evangelism is something that can challenge me most. And of course the Lord delights in our attempts in going out of our comfort zone that He pushes us even further out of our comfort zones and He made me and my friend Sadie the two leaders of the evangelism track!! Although I was really nervous to be a leader of evangelism, I realized how truly passionate I was for it and I got really excited over the days to share what evangelism is all about! Jesus kindly reminded me that evangelism isn’t all about immediate salvation but is instead planting seeds that the Lord WILL BRING HARVEST TO! Another good word Jesus brought to me about evangelism was “when you find a person that Jesus doesn’t love, that’s when you can stop telling them about Jesus.” This really hit me hard. It made me remember that Jesus doesn’t only love the good people in the world but He also loves the bad and mistaken people in the world. Through Jesus all bad can be turned to good, its really quite simple.
After the awakening I got assigned my ministry for Ethiopia and wow I am so in love with it. In the mornings my team and I will be helping Luke who was born with disformed limbs and Rob who was born basically lifeless with physical therapy and at the same time we will also be teaching 2 other little ones pre-school! Then after lunch I help women who work in a training center here and then I do ministry with the house moms who live with the kids in the little houses here from 2-5! With the women in the training center, I basically get to go in for a short time and help them learn english and some life skills that they can take out with them into the world! For the rest of the day these women make all sorts of amazing and unique things with their pedal sewing machines that they can sell and start making a living on! The house moms here at HOPEthiopia are something truly amazing. They volunteer to live here in the houses the kids are in and they all take in the kids that live in their house as their own! They wash them, they wash their clothes, and they just love them so fiercely! I get the privilege to work with Tracy and Dia who showed me what it means to love without boundaries. When I first met Turner and Dia I asked them if there was anything I could do for them and they just replied with “Thank you, I love you so much.” These words have really been burnt into my heart. I want to be able to become love like these two women have become; I want to learn to love like these two, I want to be the woman who invites two complete strangers into her home and these strangers don’t even speak close to my language and I can just look at them and love them without boundaries just like Jesus did. The photos below are some pictures from Africa!!!
The Father promised me serenity and fulfillment in Ethiopia. Here I am, with my cup overflowing and an absolute peace in my heart for what the Lord has for me.
*All names in this post were changed to protect the privacy of the children and house moms
