Life in Ethiopia… I lived in a small village in the southern part of the country called Harbu Chulule. It is very secluded and far from any westernized cities. Multiple times a week I would leave the orphanage compound that we live on and get out into the town and surrounding villages. I had the opportunity to be with many people that live a life that is incomparable to mine. I visited Dimbalale in her mud hut where we talked, danced, and had coffee ceremonies. I visited Balainish where we did more of the same, and we were always lead by one of our amazing hosts, Milto. Every time we went we were ambushed by children… a ton of them. I made so many young friends in the surrounding villages and loved walking around and hearing “Luqqaas” being yelled at the top of their lungs. I got to hold their hands, yell greetings at each other in different languages, make funny faces, smile, and sing with these children. So many of the children I met in Ethiopia have changed my life, but two of them have changed my perspective on not only myself, but on my faith as well. So I lived in Ethiopia for 3 months, but all of these crazy events happened in January. During the first week of January, I felt like I should go and pray for a crippled man, but I didn’t, because I thought that would’ve been weird. So the following week, we had one of our debrief times, where we discuss how the past months had been and my leadership encouraged me to step into praying for healing. I was still confused but when I arrived back at the compound the following day, a handicapped child had arrived. I decided to pray for the child and after two days of prayer I asked the guys to come and pray for Rebira with me and he was able to move much better and was even able to eat solid bread!!! (Peep the past blog) The following day I decided to ask our squad if they wanted to have a night where we all got together and pray for healing and they were all in. The afternoon before that healing prayer thing I went to the village. On the way back a little girl named Ashlule began tapping me on the shoulder and pointing to her eye that was completely swollen shut. So I decided to pray for her eye. I simply prayed, “God heal this little girls eye and completely restore it. When I lifted my hand she turned away from me and when she looked back her eye was completely fine!!! I know its hard to believe I still can barely believe it, but it happened. This stuff is weird and confusing, but it isn’t meant to be understood. This is stuff God so graciously decides to do for people. Why doesn’t he do it for others? Why doesn’t everyone see this stuff? Why does it happen more in some places than others? I don’t know. All I know is that God can use anyone at anytime to do incredible works and that he is so so real. Basically I learned that God can do the impossible whenever so why not ask Him to. Thank you God for showing up in unexplainable ways and for allowing any of us to be a part of your kingdom.
P.S.
I am currently in Nicaragua and just had the opportunity to see my parents for the first time in 7 months. Also, those of you who comment let me know if you would like to see a video of me talking instead of a written article. Thanks for all the love and support! God Bless
