Love For Ethiopia

Friday, October 1^st

On Friday, we started our journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the James Initiative mission trip.  During our stay in Ethiopia, we had the amazing opportunity of serving the staff and children at the Onesimus Children’s Center.  We provided medical and dental care, loved on the kids and shared our love for Jesus with them. 

Our flight schedule started with XNA to Minneapolis, then to Amsterdam, stopping to refuel in Sudan, with a final destination of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  We traveled for about 29 hours.  It was a ton of traveling, but we had a deliriously fun time as we all became sleep deprived.

Saturday, October 2^nd

Our plane landed in Addis Ababa at around 9pm in Ethiopia.  After getting our visas, we moved on to customs, where we heard that we would probably have a hard time getting through due to all of our medicine and dental equipment we were carrying.  We sent a letter beforehand to let them know we were arriving with the supplies, but we were still at risk for problems.  So we prayed.  A lot.  As anticipated, we were stopped in customs, and were told that they were going to have to confiscate Jill’s bag full of dental equipment and medicine.   Thankfully God had other plans, and it didn’t hurt that we had an Ethiopian friend who came inside the airport & talked with the customs crew.  We were so thankful that we were let through with all of our supply bags – our trip could have looked much different if not.

From the airport, we made our way to the Ethiopia Guest Home, where we stayed for the week.  It was a really nice guesthouse & the staff was so hospitable.   A yummy breakfast was served every morning, along with Ethiopian coffee.  Will definitely be staying there again!

We realized on our first car ride, that there is not much regard for traffic regulations or pedestrians – people just dart out in front of your car & you have to be on watch for random people crossing the road and pulling out in front of you.  Also have to watch out for random horses, donkeys, sheep, cows, chickens….you know the usual.  :)

our resident horse outside our guest house

Sunday, October 3^rd

This morning I woke up to an intertwined melody of the “call to prayer” over the loud speakers across the city, mixed with the sounds of women singing worship songs and a rooster crowing.  We’re definitely in Ethiopia! 

Standing on our balcony, I just wanted to breath it all in.  I had dreamed about being here for so long.  It was hard to believe that I was in the same country as our kids.  I so wished that I could have held them in my arms right then.  I just keep reminding myself that the Lord’s timing is much better than ours.  Some days I just wish that I could get a peek at His blue prints.

As a group, we started our morning off with a big cup of coffee and reading Psalm 65.  After breakfast, our driver, Yosi, picked us up to take us to the Addis Kidan Baptist Church in the suburb of Gulele.   Yosi was like an old friend by the end of the week.  He was always full of funny comments and great information.  Yosi was our driver, dinner buddy, translator, comedian, and our go-to for explaining everything culture related.  He was so great – an essential part of our trip.  

mountains in the countryside

street vendors

The church had a 2-hour long service that was in Amharic.  Even though we couldn’t understand a word, I definitely felt the presence of the Lord, and enjoyed worshipping with the locals.  We were told that the population consists of approximately 45% Muslim, 50% Ethiopian Orthodox, and 5% Christian/Other.  After the service, we were greeted by some of the congregation, as well as a big group of sweet kids.  The kids would all ask if we had “mastika,” which means bubble gum in Amharic.  We opened our purses and it was all over from there.  The kids piled up & we handed out all the mints and gum we had.  :) 

Kidhan Church

Gulele Church Kids

As we were leaving the church, Yosi and a few armfuls of kids took us all around the Gulele village.  Homes of sheet metal were lined along the winding dirt roads.  The trees and grass were still a beautiful green from the recent rainy season.  I wish I could find the words to describe how full my heart felt as the kids grabbed our hands and walked with us.  They were so precious.  

Gulele Village

We tried taking a few pictures, but the kids loved playing with our cameras and phones so much, I couldn’t get many.  They loved seeing their faces on that little camera screen.  As we were walking, they kept asking for bubble gum and mints.  They were really excited to have anything to take with them – even just a tissue.  There was so much poverty all around, and these kids had nothing of material value, but they had joy in their faces as they chased each other and played.  I love that their joy has no attachment to material possessions or the things of this world.  Just joy.  No wonder God has such a special place in His heart for children.

After saying goodbye to the kids, we went to lunch at the Aba Guben Bakery for a quick bite of pizza.  Who knew there would be so many pizza spots in Ethiopia?  We learned that the Italians colonized Ethiopia years ago, and left their love for Italian food with the locals.  Carrie ordered a pepperoni pizza, but was brought out a cheese pizza with peppers on it.  When asked why the peppers, Yosi translated that they were out of pepperoni, so they brought a peppers-on-it pizza instead.  My favorite Yosi quote was “T.I.A.” “This is Africa”.  :)

peppers-on-it pizza

Following lunch, we went to the Gladney care center homes.  It was so amazing seeing the place where our kids will be one day.  The children were all really adorable.   It was great getting to love on all the kids and take pictures for the waiting families that we know.  The care centers were really nice and well kept, and I could tell how much the special nannies loved the children there.  I so can’t wait to come back here one day soon to meet our little ones!

I’ll post again soon about the clinic & remaining days of our trip!