Dear Ethiopia,
Arriving here in early december I knew that you would hold the most difficult season of this year for me. I had little desire to be here & held tight to so much uncertainty in the unknowns.
Now looking back on these past few months I have nothing but gratitude for this home in the middle of nowhere. I’ve been pushed & challenged & chosen to invest in life here. I’ve learned what it really means to always feel known & loved by the father. I’ve seen the lord work in big ways & small. I’ve found joy in living so simply & have a new desire to continue to fight for simplicity itself.
So to the kids at Hopethiopia, thank you for pursuing me. Thank you for remembering my name & choosing to love me before you even knew me. With every game & party & tickle fight & laugh you brought endless joy to my life. I am so thankful for our friendships & the way you so openly welcomed us into your lives. I’ll always remember you guys. Thank you for it all.
To the guest house & training center buildings, thank you for the memories. Thank you for being the setting of an unforgettable birthday & Christmas & New Years. You’ve been a place of comfort & laughter & movie nights & obsessive popcorn making. Here I’ve been reminded what true community looks like & been able to choose into deeper relationships. I’ll never forget the way our beds were aligned & the late night conversations spent remembering the things we couldn’t wait for back home. I loved the way the sunrise would shine through our window curtains & slowly brighten our whole room. I loved our movie nights complete with our specific spots & routines. We created a home in this unlikely place & I’m so thankful for it all.
To the fields that I spent endless hours cutting grass in, thank you for the lessons you taught me. You showed me just how much beauty there is in the simple stuff. With every mundane afternoon hand-cutting bunches after bunches of grass, I learned that even just this was enough. enough for the people we were serving at Hopethiopia. Enough for the father to look down on me & say “well done.” In those sunny afternoons, I learned how to choose into the difficult & seemingly unimportant tasks. Because of all that grass, I learned that just choosing to live my life with the purpose of serving Jesus is more than enough, & I’m so thankful for it all.
Thank you Ethiopia for this sweet sweet season.
Until next time,
~mae
