Welcome to Month 9 on the World Race. It was our last month in Africa and we were in Ethiopia. We leave for Romania soon and then we are two months away from stepping foot back on American soil! How insane is that? Month 9 also means Parent Vision Trip month. Watching my parents pull up in the huge bus was one of the best moments of my year. Did I cry? A LOT. I am so thankful for the time we had here together and the ministry we got to partake in together. I asked my parents to type up something small about their experience with Hope Ethiopia! Enjoy!
“Okay, so Ethiopia was never on our bucket list of places to go, but when we knew that was our only way to see our daughter who had been out of the country all year, we quickly signed up to take the trip!
We made it to Ethiopia after a grueling two days of travel and then boarded our bus with another 20 parents with all of our luggage up top to start our four-hour journey to the Hope-ethiopia site. The ride was long with many areas of driving in mud hoping our bus would not get stuck. Finally, we arrived and our “kids” were all excitedly waiting for us at the gate. As the bus pulled up to unload, we all rushed out into the mud to give our kids the hugs we had been imagining giving them for months.
We got into the Hope-ethiopia building and realized at that moment that this would be a tough few days for us. As Nicole had told us this place was so great, we envisioned her college dorms at GCU and thought okay, we could do that. For us, it was tough to be split up into dad dorm rooms and mom dorm rooms, sleeping with 7 other strangers in bunk beds. We had community bathrooms which was also a tough one at our age, but I guess you make fast friends when you’re all brushing your teeth together at the sink.
We all sat down to dinner and all the parents and the racers could not have been nicer. I guess we were all in the same boat arriving to a place we’d never been, sitting with people we’d never met. We had so many great conversations with the parents and racers and made some amazing new friends.
The first day we had worship and sharing time which was wild for us because we thought it just meant tell everyone the basics, where you’re from, etc., so we did. By the end of the three hours, parents were sharing very intimate personal stories of what had happened in their lives and in their kids’ lives that had brought them to Christ. We heard many amazing stories of how Christ had gotten these people through some of the darkest points in their life. Suddenly we felt like our lives had been pretty easy compared to some of the things these families had been through.
During our visit there, we got to spend time with the orphaned children who now live at Hope-ethiopia and saw the wonderful work they are doing for that community. They are truly incredible people. We did some home visits in the village and got to see how people live there and were amazed at how friendly and welcoming almost everyone was. The children all ran out and they weren’t coming to us to beg for food or money, they just wanted to BE with us and hold our hands and walk along with us. Somehow we almost felt “protected” in a way that by having them with us, the adults would see that we were friendly strangers and didn’t mean anyone harm. It was amazing to walk in such a poor village yet still not be in danger. In poor areas in the United States, you might have to fear for your safety or your belongings, but here these people have nothing, yet they do not want to harm you and take anything from you. That was such a testament to the people living there. They are all so decent and kind they wouldn’t think to hurt a stranger to make their own lives better you know?
Within a couple of days, we really felt the wear of being so busy, not sleeping well, not eating the best, bad stomachs, craving privacy. I think the biggest takeaway from our trip was that we realized just what our “kids” have been living with this entire year. They have given up all the creature comforts of home, all their privacy, sleep, foods, everything to travel the world and spread the love of God to people everywhere. They are so strong, so much stronger than any of us adults. We really had a sense of awe watching them go through their days, being able to live so very differently, yet still find happiness and friendships and spread God’s word daily. They are truly heroes in all of our eyes now, they are doing something none of us parents would be able to do. “
