Oh my lanta!! Long time no talk! So so much has happened since I last blogged, so I will do my best to fill you all in.
PVT week was AMAZING!!!! It seriously blew my expectations out of the water. Bringing my parents into the world I had been living for the past six months was an amazing opportunity. It was almost like a role reversal and I was “leading” my parents in a sense. I didn’t realize how much I truly missed them until I saw them again. We really had such a good time together. The week was filled with everything good: we worked at an old folks home, a cerebral palsy hospital, did house visits, hung out around Antigua, hiked a volcano, and just spent so much beautiful, quality time together. I didn’t think we could get any closer until we spent this week together. On March 4th, we had to say another hard goodbye, but this time it was filled with so much peace.
March 5th we began our long set of travel days to Ethiopia. That afternoon we left for Houston, Texas and we arrived early evening for a long layover, like over 24 hours. This meant we had to do all the things we hadn’t had the chance to do in quite some time: soaking up all the ice water we could, throwing our toilet paper in the toilet (on the off chance that I remembered to), sleeping in a big and comfy hotel bed, using all the wi-fi and data we could, eating all the foods, etc. We started out with a good steak dinner and some Target. The next day I had a huge hotel breakfast and managed to have Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks twice, so I guess you could say it was a successful time in the states that left me feeling incredibly sick. My stomach was not ready for all that.
March 6th we left for Qatar where we had a very short layover and then left for Ethiopia. I know we lost some time in there, so honestly I don’t know what day we landed, but we eventually made it to Ethiopia.
Over our first couple of days we stayed in a guest house and attempted to fight off some pretty terrible jetlag. On March 9th, we moved into our ministry house. My team, along with two other all girls teams and our amazing squad leaders, are working with a ministry called Testimony 25:40 alongside the incredible man, Gadisa, that started this ministry.
Gadisa has a truly amazing story that I would love to share in greater detail another time, but basically he grew up living most of his life on the streets of Ethiopia as an orphan making his own way. He would work during the day and attend school at night. He eventually went all the way through university to be a social worker, but struggled to find a place to use his degree. Eventually, he ended up meeting a man named Ralph who is from Canada and the founder of HOPEthiopia (which is where the other half of our squad is right now) who invited him to work with his ministry and brought him to know Jesus. He eventually started his own ministry, Testimony 25:40, and he is truly thriving. His mission is to help orphans off the streets turn their trials into testimonies. He has two centers, one of them has forty kids and is on the other side of the city and the other has ten kids and he runs it directly from his house. I love love love his kids with all of my heart! Through his ministry he provides education, meals, clothing, and a whole lot of Jesus to kids who otherwise, in their living situations, would never get any of this. Gadisa’s story, even though he hasn’t known Jesus for the majority of his life, is a beautiful example of the provision of the Lord. He is so spirit filled and has already touched the lives of so many throughout the entire nation of Ethiopia.
So, I’m guessing you might wonder what ministry looks like for us? When we first arrived, we all had the same question, but we knew from the beginning that the Lord was going to work in incredible ways here. The first week, we spent in constant prayer over Ethiopia, Testimony, and what our time here might look like. It was a humbling week as the Lord answered many of the prayers we had placed before him, one of those being what our ministry this month would look like.
Gadisa had heard of an amazing opportunity for us to work with a bunch of refugees that have just moved into the city from the Somalia boarder due to war a couple of weeks ago. There are over a thousand people (probably 400-450 of these being children), many of them families, that were ripped from their homes and moved to this refugee camp. They are all hopeless. They are all sad. They are all hurting on such a deep level that none of us can even begin to relate to as “Faringees” (what they call us here). Us being able to spend time with them and show them the love and hope of Jesus is seriously a God sent.
Although, through a typical day, we are never to mention the name of Jesus, I am confident that the Holy Spirit is alive and present throughout the entire camp. When we arrived in the mornings the kids swarm our bus to be the first to hold our hands and kiss us on the cheek. When we begin walking the kids walk right behind us fighting to be closer to us and when we start running they don’t hesitate to chase after us. Everyday we spend about five hours with these people singing silly song with them, teaching them different games, teaching them English and being taught their tribal language, loving and being loved, and just being the hands and feet of Jesus to the people that have never met Jesus. I have cried both tears of laughter and sadness as I get closer to and grow to love these people on such a deep level.
I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again, but I came on this trip to bring hope to the hopeless and love to the lonely not realizing how much they would have to give in return. I have never experienced such a pure love as I do each day sitting in the field or walking around the camp with these kids. I could NEVER repay the love they pour out to me, so I am thrilled that Jesus lives inside me and can give them a love they have never experienced.
We are only one week in, with at least two weeks to go and the Lord is already working in some big ways. I have faith that the Lord is going to bring revival to these people. He is going to bring them hope. He is going to take such good care of them. He’s got this. Please please please pray for our time at the camp!
Thank you so much for reading! Sorry for the lack of updates, Wi-Fi is a little harder to come by here. I will try to keep you all as in the loop as I can! Keep an eye out for my next blog! I’m hoping to write more specific stories about the camp. Hope all is well!!
