Prayer Points: May 2016

On May 9, our Ethiopian Team welcomed 21 new street kids into the Drop-In Center for the welcome ceremony to the Drop-In Center Program. This is very exciting! The team focused on boys this season under 12 years old who had been on the streets for less than one year and were from the Southern areas of Ethiopia - like most of our staff/team. Please pray for these boys and the Ethiopian Team as they minister to them. Pray that the all the layers for each child unfold in a timely manner and the Holy Spirit moves. Pray for trust and understanding to develop. We are excited to see how this group grows throughout the program and process.

Our founder and current Field Director, Joe Bridges and family are traveling to the United States this month for a period of training, meeting, and refreshing. Please pray for safe travels, easy transitions for the children, quality time with family and friends, and productive ministry opportunities. The last year in Ethiopia has been one filled with many obstacles for the Bridges. We are so thankful for God's faithfulness and provision along the way! We are confident that if the enemy has worked so hard to make life difficult at times, God must surely be on the move! Pray that this beautiful family is recharged in the specific ways they need during their time in the United States. . . that they will be perfectly primed for their return to Ethiopia with divine strength to continue to fight for the street children of Ethiopia and share the Gospel!

Registration is open through June 18th for our advocacy and fundraising event, the 3rd Annual Virtual RUN YOUR STREET 5K. As a virtual run, you can run anywhere, anytime, and involve anyone around the world in the fun! Run or walk with the street children of Ethiopia in spirit by completing a 5K (3.1 miles) at your own pace, on your own street, anytime between June 18-25.

Vital ministry dollars are raised through this event and it provides an awesome opportunity to spread the word regarding the street children of Ethiopia and The Forsaken Children's role as an organization. Pray that our participant goal of 300 is reached.

Most importantly, pray for the street children this event raises funds and awareness for - pray that they might know Jesus and experience LASTING HOPE through Him and be restored to family and school.

Registration and more detailed information can be found at runyourstreet5K.theforsakenchildren.org

Team Ethiopia: In Closing

Today was the LAST day in Ethiopia. It was bittersweet with tears and laughter. We headed to Entoto – up the mountain – to do the Street Race associated with the “Run Your Street 5K” with the kids.

We were a little bit ahead of schedule to meet the kids, so we stopped part way up the mountain and took pictures. There was a pedestal there that we all climbed up on and pretended to be Super Man flying through the city! We also prayed over the city with hands held high as we asked God to bless the city and to bring the people of the city to Him and specifically to protect and comfort the street children.

We saw the local women climbing down the mountain with huge loads of sticks/wood on their backs. I don’t know how they do that. It looks like the wood weighs about 3 times as much as them or more. And they walk ALL THE WAY down the mountain to deliver it. Along with the women were also donkeys carrying loads of leaves, hay and sticks. It really is quite surreal to see the delivering of goods in this way but so amazing that they are able to complete those tasks and then climb back up the mountain and do it all again.

When we got to the football (soccer) field, we had to wait for the kids for a little while. They went to an Ethiopian Orthodox Church Museum to tour around while we set up the games. While waiting, we played volleyball with the local kids there. They really had a great time and so did we! But we couldn’t wait to see our kids and play with them for one last day.

When the kids arrived on the buses, they ran off the bus and ran up and hugged each one of us super tight! It was wonderful! We set up the race for the kids around the football (soccer) field and then the kids played a football game also. Then we played a “staff against the kids” game in which we were attempting to beat the rain more than anything else. The kids won!!

It was kind of a crazy good bye to the kids. Some of us didn’t quite realize that we were saying goodbye and missed the chance to hug the kids we connected with most one last time. It’s always a sad feeling to leave the kids unsure of when we will see them again.

When we got home, we had a wonderful surprise from the staff waiting for us!! They did a closing coffee ceremony complete with cake, worship in Amharic and gifts. Kanu thanked us each for being a part of their ministry for the week, Alex accompanied the worship song with his guitar, and Taye gave an incredible message on Hebrews 12:1-4. It was a great reminder that the race is not complete and when we fix our eyes on Jesus even as we struggle against sin, He is always with us. Tare also thanked us for doing our part and for continuing to come back each year and bringing our best to the kids and the staff. It was a beautiful, sad celebration as it was time to say goodbye to these wonderful, dedicated, God-fearing people who serve the street kids and at-risk kids on the streets of Ethiopia each and every day.

As we headed to the airport, we were met with no wrinkles in our plans. We made it in plenty of time, got checked in, went through security and then boarded the plane as we all sat reflecting on the week we had just encountered. No matter how many times each of us has gone – first, 4^th or 8^th – we all took away something new and different from this week.

We all made it back to the states without any issues with flights or luggage, so praise the Lord for that!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers all week, we definitely felt them!

Love,

Cathy and Team Ethiopia

Team Ethiopia: Day 9 (Friday)

Thank you for prayers. The team is feeling better and healthy!  This day was all about the staff of The Forsaken Children/Onesimus. We headed out to Sodere, which is about 2 hours east of Addis Ababa. Three other missionaries - Bria, Jody and Hannah from the US joined us. Karyn Bridges also joined us and we chatted in the van about how God has impacted them in Ethiopia. The staff went in two other vans and on the way they changed into their orange Tennessee shirts and were singing and dancing with excitement whenever we passed.

We first gathered in a circle and sang a traditional Ethiopian song. We then played fútbol (soccer) at the resort. Many of the staff were amazing players!  We had a women’s match first and then a men’s match. A fun time was had by all! We also went swimming in a giant pool, divided by a shallow end (where most stayed since many Ethiopians can’t swim) and a super deep end. It is hard for me to believe that these guys can be so good at fútbol but not even know how to tread water. I assisted Esayas and Mesfin and others in swimming lessons but it proved difficult. I also assisted some boys who weren’t even with us but wanted to be shown how to swim, too.

While we were singing and playing, a barrage of monkeys came out of the woodwork and we all loved seeing them up close and feeding them and getting a lot of pictures.

After lunch, we presented Certificates of Appreciation to each of the members of the staff. Liz opened us up in a devotional, giving thanks and encouragement to each of the staff members to continue to do the good, Godly work for these precious kids in Ethiopia. Each certificate included someone from the Bible with similar characteristics of that person. For example, Kanu was presented with characteristics similar to Nehemiah because of his leadership and attention to details. Alex was recognized as Paul, Tare recognized as Aaron.

During the presentation ceremony, even the wait staff was very attentive and we feel, hearing the devotional and presentations hopefully gave them a good image of what being a Christian is. Each member of the Onesimus staff was very appreciative and some were moved to tears. Tare could not stop thanking us and gave a heartfelt word of gratitude at conclusion.

Some highlights from today from the team:

Liz – Seeing the joy on the faces of the staff when they were presented with the Certificates of Appreciation.

Sylvia – Worshipping with the Onesimus team in Amharic.

Bradley - Got to feed and play with monkeys.

Cathy - I am just so overwhelmed today by the fact that I am here. Not having been on the initial team this year, I have had doubts if I should have come or was needed, but today I was just so happy to be here and there were no doubts that this is where God had me this week.

Kelly - After 8 trips, I finally got suckered into playing fútbol soccer and I learned what ‘striker’ means because that was my position. I have officially been inducted into the ‘Forengie’ Fútbol Hall of Fame.  (Forengie means Foreigner)

We’re all looking forward to seeing the kids again tomorrow but it will be bittersweet, as we will also have to say farewell. They have left a lasting mark on my heart and I’ll continue to pray for these sweet kids.

Love,

Dan and Team Ethiopia

PS Don’t forget to comment. We have one more day of reading the comments to one another at breakfast!

Team Ethiopia: Day 8

Blog Day 8 (Thursday)  

Bradley here! Today was fantastic! I woke up extra early this morning to prepare for my lesson I taught today. I went upstairs to the top floor, set my papers down, and glanced out the window. When I looked out, I saw the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen.

After gazing at God’s artwork and gathering my lessons, the team had a great breakfast with fresh mangos (so good). After breakfast we got ready to go to the drop-in center. As we were driving, we listened to “How Great is Our God” and “Holy Spirit”. The songs really encouraged us, and gave us lots of energy. Once we got there, we did our normal routine: worship, lesson, activities, and lunch. The drop-in center was extra special because it was our last day there.

Dan’s highlight was the chance to squeeze in a session to teach some of the boys his signature wrestling move, the outside cradle and sticking up for a little girl to get her seat back after some boys took it.

Thankfully, most of the kids at the drop-in center will be with us on Saturday, so we didn’t have to say our goodbyes today. After the programs, we drove to this wholesale gift shop to shop for souvenirs (I got a drum and a vase). We then went to dinner and let Sylvia rest because she was not feeling good.   After dinner, we started our debriefing session. I particularly love debriefing.  I love getting to share our emotions and see what the other team members learned from the day. After debriefing, the power suddenly decided to go out. I am actually writing this blog hoping that we will get power so I can post it! No worries though.  Before I go, I want to tell you all about how awesome God is and how He loves and cares for us. For the past few days, I have been very sick, which made it very hard to appreciate and enjoy what was happening all around me and made me feel like I was letting the kids and my team down. Last night, the team all laid their hands on me, praying that I would be healed.  When I woke up today, God just decided that every second I had today was going to be blessed by Him. Except for my throat, my body felt incredible! I wasn’t tired, I didn’t feel sore, and I had a much better attitude.  God also blessed me with a beautiful sunrise and sunny weather, which He knows I love. He also blessed me by speaking through me and giving me peace while I gave my lesson, which just happened to be on praise today! And last but not least, he gave me not one, but TWO Cokes today. I’m so happy about today, and I felt like this was worth sharing. We have our staff retreat tomorrow, so it should be a great day! Love and miss y’all!

Bradley and Team Ethiopia

PS Don’t forget to comment!! We read them every morning (assuming we have power!!) Prayer request from Cathy and the team: please continue to pray for the health of the team. Bradley is still very under the weather (although has a great attitude!), Sylvia is not feeling great (the rest seemed to help her tonight) and a couple of others mentioned sore throats or just feeling “off” today. We have two VERY full days ahead of us that will require a lot of energy, so we need miraculous healing from our Great Physician. Thank you!!