It’s been a week since my last blog. I regret not having good enough to upload pictures.
Life has been… slightly more relaxed. We have a routine that has worked decently well for us. Our friend Kejela has been busy with work this week, so our routine has kept us safe without needing to have a guide. He works for Friendship Support Association (https://afarfsa.org), and his job requires him to travel to other places sometimes. Some new things to add about our life in Awash: the kids absolutely love us. We get kisses on the cheek, constant handshakes, and they want to learn and play with us. Many adults like this and some don’t, which makes sense since we are always walking to the church and many locals are Muslims. We are making relationships with other people at church and in town, and it’s really a special thing.
I’m gonna update you about what’s happened since the last blog:
Friday last week was a day like usual. My team went to Abebe’s church from 9am-11/12ish to pray. Abebe tends to choose one of us to pray, another to choose a worship song or two for us, and another to preach. So, Averi gave a message about faith from Hebrews 11. Then we (my team) went to lunch at the Adwa Hotel as we do every day now. We eat breakfast and dinner on our own. It is usually bread, crackers, colo (which is a mixture of grain and a small hard nut–a local food), canned pineapple, bananas, or one of the other half dozen foods there are to choose from. I’m making it clear to you, the reader, that food options are very limited in Awash. At the restaurant, there are 2-3 items I choose to order. Because I eat vegetarian, there are fewer options for me. It’s usually noodles with vegetable or noodles with tomato sauce; today was the first time they’ve had the soup when I order. Oh! And there’s fries. Not quite like American fries but worth eating. I found three different foreign objects in my fries when I ordered them, so I’m more opt for the noodles. I did try the “french toast” once, and it’s okay but I like the noodles and soup better.
Then, we go back to our “home” to rest, have team time, and quickly practice the songs we will sing for the evening service. We go to the church around 6:00 even though the service doesn’t start until 7:30 and it goes until just past 9:00pm. The days are long here, and the heat is exhausting.
Saturday was a well-needed rest day. I hand-washed all my clothes while Meg and I talked a lot, and it was a pleasant time. Then I hung them out to dry at a goat pen across the street. Some of my clothes blew to the ground but hey, they still seemed clean enough. Some of us went to dinner at our usual lunch place, then I enjoyed relaxing at home.
Sunday we went to church at 8:00 in the morning. The service ended around 11:00 and then we went to lunch as usual. In the afternoon, we took long naps and for team time we watched The Lion King on a laptop. The electricity was out pretty much the whole time and it was cool that we all stayed together during that time to watch this adored movie.
Monday, when we went to the church, Abebe and a couple other locals were ready to take us out for evangelism. We all prayed about who would go. Lauren and I felt led to go out this day while the others stayed behind as intercession. I almost always will want to go out for evangelism because I am passionate about it. Someone was keeping count of how many people listened to the gospel and how many people made decisions or gave their contact info. For such a slow time, aka during Ramadan when Muslims are mostly indoors resting during the day; the results were good. I think 15 were receptive to talking with us and 2 want to come to church and another gave contact info. It’s worth clarifying that Lauren and I didn’t speak aside from “How are you” and “Hello” in Amharic/English. Abebe said people are more willing to listen because we are there. The locals do flock to us white people. He made a point that we would be saying pretty much the same things he is saying, so it’s better that he doesn’t spend that time translating. I think if we had more opportunities to have a long discussion, he would’ve translated our conversation/testimonies. There was one point when Abebe left us at the home of a woman he knows while he went out to pray for someone (prayed out an evil spirit, he said). This woman was very hospitable, brought a basin and pitcher of water to wash our hands and then gave us injera to eat—-it’s a typical Ethiopian type of unleavened gluten-free bread. When we came back to the church, we praised God as a team and prayed together with others. Then off to lunch, team time, and resting until the next day.
Tuesday morning, we prayed again about who should go out to evangelize. While I always feel like going out, it was good that I didn’t. I recognized I had been having some negative possibly spiritual attack type dreams. I had been able to rebuke them and not be affected for a few days, but on this day, the dream was too real. I couldn’t stop being reminded of my past sin that related to this dream—-the topic was lust basically. I told the team and received prayer. I needed that time on this morning to be filled with truth from the scriptures as I also interceded for Abebe who went with Meg and Elise. After, we had lunch at our usual place, and team time. We have been trying to go to other churches aside from Abebe‘s for the sake of keeping unity amongst the churches. Someone was supposed to come for us that evening but never did so we waited until we ended up realizing the night was free. We didn’t have electricity most of the night so I hung out and got to know my teammate Mallory more. We are sharing a room and bed. We shared our music (playing back and forth) for a while and then eventually took our showers and headed to sweet sleep.
Wednesday we came to the church to pray in the morning at 9:00. Abebe told us he had been up very late praying into the night as is not uncommon here. A man whose wife is a Christian died, so he was praying for that family as is customary. Abebe told us he had to go perform the funeral and extended an invitation to us. I was the only person who really was interested but Averi decided to go so I could go. As we were on the way, Abebe saw someone and found out the funeral would be moved back to noon. I was less committed to going at that time, but he took Averi and I to the burial site anyway. We took a tuktuk there because it is too far to walk. When we got there, Abebe explained the customs and norms for when people die here, and asked about America’s customs. There were numerous donkeys as we walked there which were really cool to see. Abebe showed us the two men who were digging the hole for the coffin to be placed in three hours later. He showed us the grave of a man from his church and told us his story. When going places with Abebe, it’s always an opportunity to share the gospel. I never know exactly what will be on the agenda with him, but I love it. When we got back, we prayed while he went to go be with the family. That evening we came to the evening service at Abebe’s church. He asked us to come at 5pm, which was about 2.5 hours before church started. It was a long evening! Marissa played “There is Power in the Name of Jesus” and “What a Beautiful Name” and we sang for the congregation, then got home around 9:30 pm.
Thursday (yesterday) Abebe wanted a sermon in the morning and I had been ready to share again the one I wrote in January about forgiveness. He asked others to lead prayer and worship. My sermon and our prayers took up most of our morning. Then, we had lunch at the usual spot and headed home—-sometimes we buy cans of pineapple or something on the way back. Today I asked the team to go with me to the ATM. After, we had about an hour and half break before we came together as a team to quickly practice the songs we’d sing that evening. I used that time to look at our team budget and break down remaining food money/organize my budget sheets/write receipts. Originally we were supposed to go visit a different church in the evening but because of the death from the previous day, the church family would be meeting at the widow’s home, and it was agreed that we could go some other time. Our friend Kejela surprised us! He showed up and said, “I have a vehicle! Where do you need to go? Let’s go!” So five of us, Kejela, Abebe and his little boy, and the generous driver of this great “Land cruiser” went to some stores to buy food! We were able to stock up so we have enough for the rest of our time here and slightly more variety! Then Kejela took us to his office and we met his coworker who shared his testimony of God in his life. They told us about projects they’re working on to bring education and better welfare to people in the Afar region of Ethiopia. We talked about God and his organization for a while. It is not Christian, but most of the employees are and they are allowed to share their faith at times. When we got back, Mallory shared some movies from her hard drive to my flash drive. So, I watched Sweet Home Alabama and went to sleep with an early morning in mind!!
Today I woke up at 5:20 am, packed my bag for the day, and four of us (Averi, Marissa, Lauren, and myself) went to meet Abebe at 6am for a hike to the Awash River. It was very rocky and as we arrived, it started to rain. Four more guys from the church came with us and as the rain started to pour, all of us went into this tiny building with a man who works there. His job is to control the gauges and breakers for a machine that sends river water to a factory in town that refines marble, as I understood. Abebe told Averi to pray, Lauren to sing, and Marissa to preach. So Averi prayed and Lauren led us in singing together “10,000 Reasons.” Marissa led us in a word about saying “yes,” because in that choice to say yes God has opportunities for you. For example, the day after we arrived in Awash, we shared with women who need God. In choosing to go to the river, we had the opportunity to share with the man who works there. Love is an action. It requires a yes. You cannot love people the way God commands when you’re unwilling to go. I want to be a yes person so I can live in the purposes and the fullest of life God has for me. Sometimes it’s really hard to choose a yes when you’re feeling tired, unready, or even fearful. THIS BECAME A WHOLE DAY OF YESES!! When we got back to the church, about a dozen or so people were there praying. Megan and Elise got to the church soon after. We witnessed them praying for each other to be filled with the Holy Spirit (in loud voices with laying of hands). Meg and I went and had some quick coffee nearby, and when we came back, the praying was louder and more intimidating. After some time, Abebe asked us if any of us spoke in tongues. I don’t believe any of us had. He invited us to come over and get prayed over to receive our prayer language. I was sort of quick to respond that I’m not really comfortable with this. And no one else spoke up, so he just nodded and went back. Averi questioned us as a whole, “At what point do we say yes despite being uncomfortable?” She pointed out that we could experience God through this and it may be worth it. A younger local guy from the church was near us and I asked him about what they were saying. It was just prayer, nothing to fear. Understanding more and considering what Averi said, I wanted to say yes to this. Four of us went down and got prayed over. I believe this time was powerful and I was feeling the Holy Spirit for sure and worshipping and praying hard. I believe chains are broken and healing is for me. I’m so thankful Averi spoke up and that I said “no” to my fear. After, we had lunch at our usual spot. Then on the way back, some of us had stopped at a little store. The four of us were approached by a woman who greets us every day as we are walking back and forth. She has a big beautiful smile and proclaims Jesus, and is so so sweet to us. She invited us into her home for coffee! In the spirit of saying “yes” and regretting a past time where we didn’t take someone’s offer for coffee because we were more concerned with our routine or schedule, we went! Us four, this woman named Roman, her daughter, her husband, and about 5-6 other people gathered around and inside this tiny home made of mud and hay. It was sturdy and clean, with mats for us to sit on. We were offered some pillows for our backs, and we communicated with my broken Amharic and their limited English, and some drawing and miming. Our interactions were incredibly genuine and kind, such innocence. I could never ever forget these interactions. The coffee making is quite a process. While Roman cleaned the coffee beans, roasted them, and brewed coffee, she gave us a delicious local dish to eat and brought out many family photos for us to look through.The food was injera bread with a salad on top and she spooned out cooked lentils on the sides. She brought around a water pitcher and a basin to wash our hands because it’s a finger food. It was delicious, my first homemade dish in Ethiopia! I love these people, and their hospitality. The coffee also was AMAZING. Like really really great! There’s certainly technique in the coffee making. We talked about different things and exchanged many smiles. They wanted to bless us, and we wanted the same. We shared little gifts–whatever we had. I’m thankful it was their pleasure to have us over and that I had the opportunity to have an authentic experience like this. I’ll remember this day forever. I hope we continue visiting together and this time I’ll bring some of my cinnamon crackers to share. By this time it was 4:30 pm, so we decided not to have actual team time today, but I took a quick shower and we got together to practice the new songs for the church service tonight. Lauren taught me how to play “Great Are You Lord” on her ukelele, which was fun and easy! When it was time to go to church, we drew a CROWD of children. About 40 children, and 15 or so stayed right with us, hand-in-hand. They would repeat after us, so on our 15 minute walk, we repeated numbers 1-20. We taught them “My name is (which they already knew but maybe now they understand better), some phrases like, “Hello friend, have a great day, see you tomorrow, nice to see you, etc.” At one point 20 or so children were repeating and we were having them say the kindest, sweetest things, like “I am kind, smart, important, I have friends, I am known, my family loves me.” These children are the sweetest (80% of the time, but I’ll take it!) We arrived about one hour before the service started, but people came in to pray early. After a really great and upbeat, passionate worship, I observed the most insane church service of my life! Multiple leaders started praying for everyone to be “slain in the spirit” and trying to make people “fall out.” A man was pushing so hard on my head (without asking) and I touched his hand to say ‘enough.’ People are screaming, and screaming, and the woman with the microphone is blowing hard into the microphone, and blowing hard in people’s faces. Seeing so many people trying to have this falling out experience was just wild for me. I know things like this happen, but it’s not the same Holy Spirit experiences I’m used to witnessing. I have different/mixed feelings about what I witnessed tonight. Needless to say, we couldn’t quite follow that so we didn’t sing for them tonight. It was honestly just a lot to take in. Also Mallory texted from the house since she stayed back (recovering from a stomach bug), saying that she heard what sounded like gunshots so to careful. We learned that it was probably fireworks since tonight is the last day of Ramadan, but about 10 people from the church walked us home to settle our worries.
Tomorrow is our rest day again. I’ll do laundry, run a few errands, and relax.
God is good, and He is teaching me to say “yes” even when it’s not easy.
This week, I felt led to go on a hike after the race. It’s consumed a lot of my thoughts the last few days. It’s something I’ll certainly have to plan for. There’s only a few things I don’t already have: water purification system, camping stove/cook wear, the food, solar-powered charger, potentially a GPS of some kind, probably an emergency blanket, and a first-aid kit. Otherwise I’m a backpacker and I’ve got what I need. A friend for the hike would be nice, but I don’t expect many people to have that kind of free time, the desire for this type of minimalistic but strenuous living condition, or to have the equipment needed. I’m thinking potentially 5-10 days of hiking on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia in September. This 11 month journey is far from over, but I know I need something more. Some much needed alone-time (with God), to put into practice trusting in the Lord, being strong, enduring difficult circumstances, facing fear, etc. I’ve always wanted to do something like this, and I think it’s the best time.
Well, thanks for reading. Keep me and my team in your prayers.
Love, Rhi
