I’m Emily Werness and the month of February has been one of sweet community, sweat drying immediately, pushing limits, and deeper intimacy with my Heavenly Father.
As we landed in Ethiopia, I prayed we would experience a new kind of ministry. I prayed we would not be living with a family or doing door-to-door evangelism because my heart was still full and down at leaving the past two families and churches we were a part of. I told God my heart couldn’t do it again, but I trusted his plan for L squad.
Fast forward to the airport in Addis Ababa. Our gear is thrown on top of 3 van taxis and away we drive. At this point we still have no clue where we are going or what we will be doing. I drifted in and out of sleep as the city passed us by, as did several donkeys and horses pulling carts! At one point I woke up and gone was the city, gone were people, gone were shops and buildings. In their place were huts, donkeys, dry grass and rocks, and open sky with mountains outlining the horizon as far as my eyes could see. My heart began to leap and to hope. Lord, this is how I pictured Africa! Where are we going? All this open space?! It is so beautiful Father! YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After four hours of travel into the middle of nowhere I was preparing and letting go of expectations and preparing for a month of squatty potties, fetching water from wells, and sleeping outside. We pull up to what they call the guest house at HOPEthiopia (the organization we are partnering with this month, established out of Canada; for more information about how they got started and whatnot, just Google them!) and God blew my mind. It was like we were seeing a five star hotel! Beds, running water, including warm showers, a kitchen, a common area, and five of our six teams living together for the month. The best part?? Ministry. The first four options for week one:
-Painting walls
-Painting windows and doors
-Gardening
-Construction
MANUAL LABOR. Thank you Lord! And there have been other options as well like teaching iPad and IT classes to high school and elementary age students. We cook our own lunches and dinners and I love joking and talking with the ladies in the kitchen who work here at HOPEthiopia. I discovered a few are ticklish (Birrkay) so sometimes we act like five year olds and chase each other around the kitchen. Their morning hugs are one of my favorite things about this place. It would be a grave shame to write a blog about this month and not mention Gadisa and Baba – two of the workers here with the organization. Both are believers and Gadisa has been with us every step of the way – heading up all of our labor crews and getting us supplies, joining us for worship and our studies on Revelation and other topics in the Word, enjoying some chick flicks and popcorn with us on Valentine’s Day….he is the greatest and a big encouragement to me. He’s applying to universities in America to get his Masters in social work, so say some prayers for him! One of the sweetest moments so far this month was the night my team led worship for the squad. We all took time to reflect on what communion really means – taking time to remember Jesus and the magnitude of his sacrifice and declaring his death and resurrection until he comes back. We broke bread and poured juice together, remembering together. It was beautiful. But, what made it even more special was finding out it was the first time Gadisa and Baba had taken communion. We were able to share that moment with them and praise and remember our God together. Amazing! #thanksGod
I feel so renewed and alive this month. I feel like myself. It truly is a breath of fresh air – literally because of the cool, dry air I breathe in each day as well as this new ministry. There’s just something satisfying about seeing a project through to completion – whether it is painting countless coats of primer and paint on brick walls, varnishing the outside of houses, hauling and sorting rocks using tools that appear to be from the stone age (no pun intended), or breaking up dirt clumps with a pick axe. I feel so happily exhausted at the end of each day.
There have been moments where I stand there, painting the second coat on a kitchen wall, stop for a moment and look around. This is going to be home for a group of orphans who have had no one to show them what that word actually means. They get to come and eat and be a part of a family. Soon these rooms, these houses we are working on are going to be the saving grace for so many children who will no longer be on their own. They will have brothers and sisters and a mom, growing together as a family. It is these thoughts that bring a smile to my face and makes me dip the brush again and cover the hole I see was missed. I want this place to be perfect for these children.
God is pouring his love and his truth over me, through his word, his voice, and my brothers and sisters. It’s like I have awoken from whatever fog or haze I was in last month and this clear, dry air at 8,000 feet has breathed life back into my soul. Every day I wake up to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains and close out each day with a gorgeous sunset that could only have been painted by the Creator. Every day I ask God if this is really my life and in the same breath pour out my thanks for his provision, this landscape, my brothers and sisters both here and at home, and for his abundant grace and new mercies every morning.
I am pushing myself this month in a lot of ways, but especially physically…working to definitely run a 5k and potentially a 10k. As I run through the fields, under the open sky with the sun beating down, I feel I am running through the lands of Rohan from Lord of the Rings…no joke. The mountains, the dry grassy fields everywhere….the rocky paths….UNREAL Lord. Unreal.
Also, there’s something about these people – this L squad I am loving and doing life with. I see the Body of Christ at work this month as we all go through the day to day and embrace every situation, from the power being out for a couple days, almost every day, no water, cooking all meals, eating off of tin foil….all I see is joy. All I hear is longing for more of God and his eyes in the daily and ordinary here.
We are connected as one squad and one body. There was a moment this truth was especially evident to me. One night we all bundled up in layers, blankets, and sleeping bags, headlamps in hand (or on head), and braced the chill of the night air to worship together. We huddled together in a group, turned off all headlamps and just stared up into the night sky. I cannot begin to use words to describe how bright the stars are out here and how I got chills up and down my spine seeing them all there, aligned and where they should be; where God my almighty Creator placed them and called them out by name. Isaiah 40 rang through my head over and over again. “He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” I am filled with awe and wonder. And as we raise our voices, a cappella to our Glorious Father, from the depths of our souls crying out, “Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty,” and “Rock of Ages cleft for me,” I can’t help but feel His presence right next to me. Not only all of that, but he blessed us with two huge shooting stars. Showing off for his beloved children no doubt! It is difficult to put into words all that is going on this month in my heart and in our squad, but just know that God has been crazy present. Ethiopia is my favorite month, despite what my heart thought coming into it, “I am so excited for Europe and Montenegro, but February comes first and I am sure it will be great God, but man, EUROPE.”
Sometimes I wonder if God just laughs out loud at me up there in heaven, thinking, oh man, she has no idea what’s coming. Gosh, I love God.
I’m Emily Werness and apologies for how scattered all of these thoughts were!
PS – I have loved every second of living off the grid without interwebs and fully connecting here with my family and with my Father. I apologize I haven’t been able to keep you as updated as you deserve, but that’s how God wanted it this month.
