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!!

Team Ethiopia: Day 7 (Wednesday)

Four days and twenty hours ago, we arrived in Addis Ababa with much anticipation and excitement, looking forward to what God was going to do. You have read about some of what the Lord has done up to this point and today was no exception. God has been so gracious to us and has blessed us beyond our wildest expectation. As usual, we began the day with our daily devotional. Our devotionals are based on Jeremiah 29:11-13; and today we focused on God’s gift of hope to us.  

We then had breakfast, which consisted of fruits (bananas & mangoes), French toast, scrambled eggs and tea & coffee; no porridge, praise the Lord. We invited the Interim Director, Tare Cherkos, to have breakfast with us but he declined because he had already had breakfast. He told us that he had a pastor who said he should have breakfast because “if the chicken eats a lot in the morning, no one can pick him up.” The meaning of this Ethiopian Proverb is: “The chicken will be heavy and cannot be easily picked up so it won’t be dinner for anyone.”

Michelle Honnen, thank you for remembering the  3^rd Floor at Paradise Restaurant. I think it is our only unofficial initiation ritual for all the newbies and this year was no exception. They were blown away by how many flights of stairs it took to get to the 3^rd Floor. And to our other prolific blog readers, thank you. Please do not stop commenting on the blog. It is part of the highlight of our day. We appreciate the feedback very much. Thanks again.

Our Lesson this morning was on the 7^th Rule – Envision God’s Enveloping Presence. Cathy Burk brought the message and knocked it out of the park! She gave the invitation at the end and three kids raised their hands. We were all SO excited. I think I speak for all when I say we were overwhelmed by the response. The excitement turned out to be short-lived though. We learned pretty quickly that the children who raised their hands had already accepted Christ and were in a discipleship program. Please pray for souls to be saved – while we’re here, or after. It is God who saves, not us, so we continue to plant seeds and water seeds while we’re here in Ethiopia.

Today was another picture-perfect day, weather-wise and otherwise. We went for a walk and visited the new offices of the ministry and then we went to a bakery where we bought a couple different types of breads and some cookies for the children from the Half-Way Home for whom we threw a Pizza Party at the Guesthouse. We had a wonderful time with the children at the party. We played various games and we had an unofficial Hula Hoop Contest and Cathy Burk made us look really bad.

It’s official – two of our teammates have officially been given new names and those are the names both the children and the staff calls them… Dan is now Donny and Sylvia is now Sophia.

Below are some comments from each member of the team:

Meme Alleman: ”It has been a blessing this week to hear over and over how much the Onesimus staff looks forward to the team from Central Church coming. Both staff and kids alike have told us how much they love what we have prepared and how they are so thankful that we don’t just present our program, we stay and play with them, eat with them, do special things with them. We lavish Jesus on them and they know it.”

Cathy Burk: “Speaking was a stretch for me, but I really felt like the Lord guided every step of the way. The kids were very attentive and seemed to follow how Jesus fits into the story of the Exodus of the Israelites.”

Sylvia Rigney: “Tonight at the Pizza Party some of the girls were writing on clothes pins and hanging them on their shirts. I asked Bezahyu what hers said. She said, ‘I love Jesus. Jesus is Lord.’”

Bradley Thomas: “I appreciate the team laying hands on me and praying for me to feel better.”

Kelly Dawson: “All the staff and children have been so amazing and encouraging. They talk about how much they look forward to the Central Team coming each year because we do such an amazing job and we love on them so much.”

Dan Nishimura: “I instructed the group of older boys in making an Origami crane in the colors of the Ethiopian flag. It was challenging but some really excelled at it.”

Joyce Small: “During our letter writing time, (love letters to God) the children’s letters touched me. There was one in particular that spoke volumes to me. See picture below.”

Much love to all,

Liz Roberts and Team Ethiopia