Day 23 Wednesday, July 13th 2011

Woke up. Rainy day. Found out later today in a news paper that Ethiopia is in a major drought...... and it's the rainy season right now. We all felt pretty bad finding that out for a couple of reasons 1. We have been complaining or making comments about the water being off in our hotel rooms, making it impossible to take showers or poop in the toilet with a good conscience. 2. We've been here for a month or however long it's been and not even known or realized the emergency water situation and emergency food situation. Ethiopia is so poverty stricken it's ridiculous. I don't think my writings about what I've seen do it justice to explain all I've seen and experienced. And that's what I'm worried about when I return..... nobody will understand.... nobody will care.... and it's true, some people will care a little bit but not enough to do anything or fully listen/read about it. Not many people will care too much, except maybe a couple of people, and that's what I'm scared about.... the amount of important people in my life that will just not care.

If you're reading this and have that feeling of needing to do something good in this world besides what has become of your comfortable life filled with comfortable living and situations....... come to Ethiopia. Do good. Get out of your comfort zone. Strengthen yourself. Full fill your life with their joy and serving others. Get off your butt and stop bringing up the financial issue you think you have. Get up and go. Go make a difference to yourselves and those who need you. It's totally worth it.

Breakfast, same place. Got the cornflex this time (yes, cornflex, not cornflakes). They bring out hot milk for the cereal too.... weirdos. As we arrived to the W.A.R. facility the women seemed even more excited to see us. Yesterday they were pampered and today you could tell they were looking forward to see what we had in store for them today. It's really cool to see these women accept the Love we have for them and discover that there are people out there that LOVE. This is what I love to see... People that don't know what real love is and discovering it. Such a beautiful experience.

We were all exhausted. We have been going almost non-stop since day one. Not much resting going on here. But, you know what? That's what I'm here for... to exhaust myself of love to those who haven't seen or experienced it. Jesus hardly ever rested and was continually exerted for his love. We only have a short little while to show these beautiful souls God's love. Jesus only had a short little while to show God's love to the world. He is our example, my example to live my life.

Though, through Jesus' ministry there were times he made himself rest. Rest is important. We were not only exhausted but burnt out in general with ministry and each other. Being burnt out of ministering is not a good thing, and I think Danielle realized that. I'm pretty sure we all looked partially dead. At least I did! So, she decided as we were there that we would just do a half day. Whew! What a relief! That totally made my day! That news was much needed.

So today we just did a craft of making necklaces and bracelets with beads and thread. Some of the women made beautiful pieces. Some other team members and I just sat down somewhere going to town on some of our own. The women loved it, and I think it was quite therapeutic for them as well. Of course i could be just speaking for myself. It's one of those activities that I can just zone out and think. Though, I tend to zone out at times I probably ought not to, as many have already noticed here.... and make fun of me for it. All my close friends at home know this quite well about me and are probably laughing in agreement as they read this.

I made a few braided bracelets and then went on to a breaded bracelet. I grabbed a box of beads that weren't being used and put it in my lap as I threaded on these tiny gold beads. They sure took a lot of time and patients to put on. Soon a swarm of women come up to me and started searching through everything in my lap. I didn't mind it for awhile... but then.... I got there. A familiar feeling swept over me. It got me once again..... That wolverine in me was about to come out. Just like in Korah when those precious out of control girls only wanted to braid my hair. Only this time it was about 5 women crowded around me with both hands waving in front of me searching for clasps and metallic beads in my lap. I think what made it worse was that they were all chattering away in my face at each other in Amharic, not understanding a lick of what they were saying. I had enough patients to finish my work of art and then...... Ahhhh!!! I had enough and tossed the box to Surafel. I was done in more ways than one.

We all left after everyone was done with their jewelry making..... and had the rest of the day to relax and do whatever. Yes! Relaxation! what did we decide to do with our time? We searched for wifi and a good lunch spot. Wifi search was a failure. I didn't care though.... Internet hasn't really interested me much over here. Plus I'm going to be home in a few days.... Woah, that's weird to realize. I'm really not ready to go home. I'm not ready to be thrown in American culture again. Friends? Work?.... yes.... and no at the same time. I'm not ready for the bombardment of questions. I'm going to need some major space and time to process and ease back into regular life. I hope people understand.

As we were on our wifi search (me, Danielle, Christy, Michael, Emily, and Heather) we did however discover this awesome hotel (called the Executive Hotel) with a great dining area. Did we eat lunch there? You betchya! It was great.... but, we did ask for our check about 20 times (not even joking, we counted) before Michael went to see what the heck was the hold up. Apparently the power went out and they had to write out our check by hand. We were there waiting on our check for about an hour until we got it. At what point did they finally start on working on our check? I don't know.... but we were glad to finally get out of there. I think we were there for a total of 2.5 to 3 hours meal and all. It was good food though! I think we are going to try to get dinner there some night.

The "rest of the day" we just chilled out until dinner back at Rift Valley. I just got cereal since we had just eaten 3 hours ago. Whatever. The day was ended as usual with a group meeting saying our highs and lows of the day and then going over what we are going to do tomorrow. My high of the day was definitely getting my hair washed. Christy, Emily, and I helped each other wash our hair after lunch. The water was freezing so all we can do is our hair. I could barely even stand that. I felt like a million bucks. Christy had a blow dryer and Emily had a straightener, so we were all set! Aaahhhh it felt so good to have normal hair again! Such a treat. Danielle went for a run with Michael. Nazaret is still up there in the altitude so she only lasted 3 min. Running here hasn't bid well for our athletic abilities or egos. She came in after her run and we washed her hair too. The excitement on her face for the rest of the night was priceless. It's amazing what a little bit of pampering can do to a girl.

Day 22 Tuesday, July 12th 2011

Another beautiful sunny day. I slept a little better last night. Still woke up in the middle of the night a few times though. But over all better than the night before. Out from our bedroom window you can see the city of Nazaret and the mountains in the near distance. It's beautiful during the night with all of the lights and during the day it's interesting to watch the people walking to and fro from where ever they are going. Horse and "carriage" pulling people along and Bajaj's (pronounced Ba-judge) buzzing around taxiing people where they need to go. Bajaj's are hilarious. They're basically go-cart buggy's on three wheels. We got to ride one after lunch today.

This is the view of Nazaret from my room.



After breakfast we headed over to the W.A.R. spa day! We washed, scrubbed, lotioned, and painted the women's feet and hands. Mannys and Pedis! They loved it! It was so great watching them get pampered and loved on. Having lived such hard lives I know it was nice to have people loving on them in the way they needed to be. The way they deserved to be. They were all just so excited. I painted nails and some of the women wanted their nails clipped. Gross!.... the selfish part of me pretended to ignore the request, but in the end I got suckered into it. Some of those nails were DE-SCUSTING! I know they needed it and the last thing I wanted them to see was me being descusted by their feet. So I grinned and bared it.

Lunch was at Sister's Cafe. We had spaghetti there. It was alright... I would be okay if I didn't have spaghetti for the rest of the year. I feel like we've had it a lot.... It's funny thinking back to my last meal before I left to come here... Susan cooked me spaghetti :)

After lunch some of us rode the bajaj's. In mine it was me, Michael, and Abi the bus driver's assistant/bus guard. I'm not really sure what exactly Abi does but he's always around, and he's not that big of a guy to guard anything. In fact... he's not that much bigger than me. He is friends with all the translators though. Michael got to drive the bajaj down one of the roads. Somewhat a scary experience, but fun non the less. We rode the bajaj from Sister's Cafe back to W.A.R. It as a blast. So fun! I did however think that we were going to die a few times, or run into a horse or roaming goat (that had street smarts), but all was good.

When we got back to W.A.R. we started the next activity for the day. Washing hair!! Su, Hannah, Julia, and Emily washed hair. I put in the olive oil lotion designed specifically for their type of hair. Danielle helped me with that. Some of the women had weaves in their hair and made it harder to rub it in. I kind of had a hard time not laughing at that whole situation. Christy and Brittany did facials for the women. We all joined in on the facial fun as well. Such a fun day.

Some of the women weren't there earlier today for the manicures and pedicures so we did all that for them as well. I painted one of the ladies toes and nails, and after I was done she wanted to do mine. It was a bonding moment. So sweet. She was loved and pampered and wanted to give back. All these women are so special and loving. I am just so proud of them for making the steps to have a better life, not only for themselves but for their precious kids. We see their kids everyday as well at the W.A.R. facility. Some of them cling to their mom all day. We play out in the facility yard with them while their moms are dong fun stuff with us and getting pampered.

It was a great day, but very exhausting. We all went back to the hotel and chilled out until dinner. Dinner was at the usual place, Rift Valley Hotel across the street, we found out that the Rift Valley had internet access. I checked my email a little but that was it.... Oh yeah, and I looked up Project 61 to see if I could find Deborah on there to sponsor. They didn't have a list of kids to be sponsored but they did have an email to contact about it. I am going to look further into in when I get back home. I don't really want to get on the internet anymore while I'm here. I just don't feel the need for it much anymore.

Sammy getting his facial.

The kids joined in on some of the fun.

Surafel washing hair.

Alex being claimed by one of the ladies :)

Day 21 Monday, July 11th 2011

It's weird to think that by this time next week I'll be back in the U.S. It's our last week. The closer that time comes the more I don't want to leave. I really don't.

I woke up not very well rested and in a bit of a bad mood. I kept tossing and turning and waking up in the middle of the night from my ribs or butt hurting from the rock hard beds. So... no much sleep. We all went to the hotel across the street called Rift Valley to eat breakfast. This is where we will be eating most, if not all, our meals. All the orders kept coming out at different times and wrong as well. I think this set the tone for how it will be for the every meal. I'm sure the waiters and waitresses were frustrated as well. Even with translators around the table there seemed to be a big language barrier.

I got french toast which tasted like fried cake heaven and sat in a pool of honey. Thank you... thank you... yes, it was a great breakfast choice wasn't it? Even though breakfast seemed to take forever (mmm... bout 2 hours or so) it was nice sitting outside with the beautiful weather, having fun chats throughout my table area. This was a funny morning.

After breakfast we all went back to the hotel and gathered our jackets or bags for the day and headed to the Women At Risk center. There was a new group of women that had entered the program whom we are going to be hanging out with all week. They had just come in a month ago, some two weeks ago, and a couple of them it was their first day. These women have had some hard lives and today we just hungout with them and got to know them and some of their stories. All these women were prostitutes right before they came into the program.

In the program the women are taken care of financially while they go through it, but the first month they don't get any financial assistance. They do this because some women will drop out within the first few weeks. So, it's sort of a weed out time frame to see who will stick with it. It kind of made me sad though, because some of the women still go out and prostitute so that they can still pay their bills and rent. They have to completely stop when the program starts to take care of them financially. It really made me sad to find out that a few still did it, but I understand why they do and I also understand why the W.A.R. facility delays their support for awhile. BREAKS MY HEART!!

When we got there we all just introduced ourselves and talked to them. We didn't really know what to expect in wether or not they would want to talk to us and let us hear their stories since there were girls there that had only stopped two weeks ago.... and then the ones that I found out were still doing it to make ends meet. But they seemed to be very open about it and a lot of them were open enough to share their stories. At the end of the day I think they were pretty excited we were there.

For lunch we all went back to the hotel we ate at for breakfast. I sat next to Kat. LOVE that girl! I'm so glad she came with us to Nazret even if she's only staying for 3 days. Wish it was the rest of the week. Lunch was pretty good. I had the Chicken Kabab plate which came with green beans. All of you that know me know I was excited about the green beans. Stupid comments were heard around the table from certain people as usual. Sometimes I'm completely floored by people's attitudes and cultural stupidity. Ugh...

After lunch we went back to W.A.R. to hang out with the ladies more. They are so sweet and welcoming. Some of them are super shy. They youngest was 17. Can you imagine that? 16 and already a prostitute for years. A child already in her lap. Come of the women came from the country and apparently it's pretty common that they don't know their age. A few of them only guess how old they are. The oldest one there is 30. When we were done for the day (@ 4) we headed over to "Sister's Cafe". Sister's Cafe is a cafe that the women who have graduated from W.A.R. program. We all got coffee. I didn't know they already sweetened their coffee so I added more sugar before I took a sip. 1. It was definitely too sweet and 2. It was definitely just steamed milk. Our orders are always wrong anywhere we go. If you come to Africa.... EXPECT IT! There are so many things that we say that mean something completely different to them. Oh well.... that's the African life when you're a furengi (Amharic for white foreigner). I had the waitress bring out a shot of espresso to add to my milk. Much better.

Not much really went on after that besides dinner, hanging out in each others rooms chatting and going to bed.

.....oh wait! yes. After dinner Michael wanted to practice on all of us women folk and paint our nails. Tomorrow we have a spa day with the women and he needed some practice. HAHA! Let me just say this... it was so sweet and cute that he wanted to do that, and watching him, but Lawdy Mercy! what a terrible nail painter he is. Horrible. He's going to need some practice.

Day 20 Sunday, July 10th 2011

Today we head to Nazaret. But not until 6 pm tonight. We got to sleep in some this morning and after breakfast we all got ready for church. We were going to the church in Korah today. I was super excited because that meant I might see Deborah today, my little 2 year old sized 4 year old black baby that runs up to me after searching through the crowd to find me. She is ADORABLE! If she didn't already have a mother to take care of her I would seriously consider adopting her.... although.. I think I have already mentioned that.

As we drove up in Korah a band of kids ran beside and behind our bus. They seemed a bit excited to see us. That was the first time, I feel like that that has happened. There would always be kids curiously looking and smiling as we drove through, but not like they did today. They just seemed to be really excited that we were returning. We parked right inside the church yard ( like we always did), got out and headed straight into the church.

The service hadn't started yet but there were people in there praying (mostly women and a few children) like they did that day I could hear them crying out to God. I can't understand them or know what they are saying, but you know and can see their earnestness, passion and desperation for our God. Why have we lost that, or why don't we have more of that in the U.S.? I don't think I will ever... or ever see myself having that much outward passion for my Lord. It's definitely something I admire and love to see, but I think my passion, desperation, and love to God is shown differently... maybe that's an excuse... I don't know. Is that ok? Am I doing enough or showing enough of whatever it is for Him to hear me or know my desperation, passion and love for Him?

As we all sat down children started surrounding us on both sides of each of us. I couldn't find Deborah in the mix and I looked over to the door every time I saw a body walk in hoping to see her face. I asked the little girl sitting next to me if she knew where Deborah was. I don't think she understood what I was saying and had a confused "I don't know what you are saying" look on her face. She was so cute and smiley, loving on me with her arm around my waist and looking up at me every once in awhile with this huge grin on her face. After we were sitting down a little while she informs me (by broken english and me eventually figuring out what she was trying to say.) that she has no mother and no father and no home (showing me with her hands no building to live in). She was a street child. She was probably no older than 10 years old. I can't even describe to anyone how I felt when I heard this besides just complete sorrow and speechlessness. I was just glad to be there to give her the love she so desperately wants and needs, even if it was just for those few minutes. Craving to be loved. She had the love of God for sure. Once when she looked up to me with this look like a kid on Christmas morning shouting to me "Jesus is Lord!" in Amharic. I had to ask Sammy what she was saying. The love of the Lord flourishes in those that crave it.

Finally, a little while later Carrie looks at me and points to the church entrance. I look over and see my little baby deborah peeping in the church service looking at us with a pink jacket on with her hood up trimmed with faux fur. I lean over making myself visible to her waving at her to come over. When she saw me she gave a huge grin and ran over to me with arms wide open. I teared up a little trying to keep the tears from rolling down my face and making a scene in front of my team members. But who cares really.... there were people falling down and vibrating left and right in the church service. Surprisingly none of that seemed to bother or freak me out... in fact I was more intrigued than anything. It just seemed like it was normal. The service was in Amharic so I didn't know a lick what they were saying, but it was just as good to sit there and just worship the same God.

Before we left church they all had us go to the front as a group and be prayed over. That was really a special experience. Poor George though, he was completely freaked out by the service and waited out by the bus until it was all over. I know it must have been a freak show for him and very overwhelming. As we left a lot of the children came with us clinging to our sides and begging to have their picture taken..... or to take pictures. There was a lot to delete after it was all over.

I saw Ebenezer (the older boy who draws) and gave him a big hug. He told me he had something to give me. He had heard it was my birthday yesterday and came back with one of the drawings out of his spiral notebook of drawings. He wrote "Happy Birthday" on it and gave it to me. So sweet! Something that I will definitely treasure. We left the church and went to one last house visit. I said my goodbyes to Deborah one last time, smothering her with kisses and hugs. Ebenezer walked with us Holding mine and Danielle's hands all the way. They are so affectionate here.

We arrived to the home we visited and only about three people plus one translator could fit in there. The rest of us just waited outside and played with all the children and sheep that were standing outside the door. I pretty much played patty cake the whole time with a little girl. Man, those kids sure do love their patty cake.

When the house visit was over we all let and walked back to the bus to head out to get lunch. We opted out of cooking spaghetti at home and went out to eat one last time before Nazret. We went to the Italian restaurant we went to the other night for dinner. I got steak. It was cooked perfectly and was DE-LICOUS! I was SO hungry and ate 6 rolls before the food came out. Everyone's been making fun of me because I'm one of the ones that eats the most on the team yet am one of the smallest people in our group.... after being sick for awhile and not really wanting to eat, a girl can get real hungry after all is well.

After lunch (which ended at like 3:45) we headed back to the house to pack everything up for our trip to Nazret. We left around 6 pm with a bus full of luggage and people. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. We all settled into our hotel rooms to find that our beds are literally hard as rocks. Seriously, I think they only have box springs for the beds. It was a complete joke. I really don't mind it, if it means that we get our own (Christy and I) bathroom that isn't designated as the poop closet anymore.


This is Deborah and I. The girl on the right is the little girl that sat next to me in church without parents or a home.



This is Ebenezer and I with his gift he gave me :)




After our last visit to Korah, as we were all getting ready for our move to Nazret we found my Birthday banner that was never hung up, so they hung it up on me.

Day 19 Saturday, July 9th 2011

It's my Birthday!! I am officially 25 years old. Woah... I'm old. No longer am I in my early 20's.

Last night 5 min. before I turned 25, I kept saying (while laying bed in the dark) I'm still in my early 20's... I'm still in my early 20's... I'm still in my early 20's... I'm a youngin!... I'm not in my mid 20's!... I'm still in my early 20's. Christy kept affirming me saying Yep!, Yep!, Yeah you are!, You are a youngin!, No your not!, You are in your early 20's!.... Haha, right when the clock changed to 12 am everything changed. I'm in my mid 20's.... I am now in my mid 20's... I'm no longer in my early 20's. I pushed the switch above my bed, which gives off a door bell ring throughout the whole house.... I have no idea why it's there but there are several throughout the house. Anyways... I pressed it so that everyone knew it was officially my birthday.

This morning after I woke up I just chilled in bed and then wrote some notes to some of my teammates. We have these affirmation bags we all made for ourselves so that we can give each other encouragement throughout the month. Christy, Emily, Juila, Michael, and Danielle came into my room while I was writing... in my bed... in my pj's. They sang Happy Birthday and Michael video recorded the whole thing with Emily's camcorder. The day was already starting out pretty gooood.

Danielle and Michael made french toast and... wait for it!... Bacon! We finally found bacon here! It was the best breakfast by far since we've been here. But before breakfast I had gone in the shower to get a "shower" and get cleaned up. I hadn't showered in days. Then towards the "end" the water went out. No more water. The only thing I was able to do was wash my hair. I didn't even have all the suds out completely. I just pretended I did and dried off, completely ignoring the fact that my hair crunched with popping suds as I patted it dry with my towl. T.I.A. (This is Africa).

Devotional this morning was finishing up chapter 12 in Mark. It was the story about the poor woman that gave all she had to the church while the others who gave, only gave a tiny part of their income or belongings. I constantly have to remind myself to trust the Lord with my finances and provision. He always shows up every month teaching me that same lesson. So many times I doubt Him, but regardless He has always provided. Especially with this trip. I was debating on wether or not to come based on me not having the money for it. Then my friend Susan reminded me that if that was the only reason for me not going.... then that was the stupidest reason, because God always shows up. Sometimes I am discouraged by my lack of trust and faith in the Lord. When the Lord provides my trust and faith grows stronger sometimes. Especially when I give my money to Him when I feel as though my ends might not be met, and He provides for my needs to met in the end. Don't get me wrong though, I do make some unwise financial decisions and have to learn from them, and He allows that as well. But the Lord has always provided when He's needed to and even in times when I've been totally undeserving of it. He has shown me grace countless times... and that is what is so beautiful about WHO He is to me. He gives when I am undeserving. He gave his life when we were undeserving. He gave his life so that we may have eternal life. He gave to provide. He sacrificed so that He could provide even when we were undeserving. Oh, what love that is! Oh, how He loves us!

After devotional today we all got on the bus to go to Little AHOPE for an hour and then head to the factory to finish up the last little bit we had left to do. We went to Little AHOPE because we wanted to stop by there one last time before we left Addis Ababa. We are leaving for Nazaret tomorrow for our last week in Ethiopia..... that is so weird to say that I am in my last week here. Even though I have come here and seen how dirty and poverty stricken this place is, and gone through the emotions of "How the heck do people come and live here for years?", I have come to the point where that thought and the uncomfortability of it all doesn't even phase me. I noticed that it didn't really bother me that much earlier this week. God has really worked fast with me in the area of wether I could do this for long term or not. I think maybe I could. Wether or not that is His plan for me in the near future, I don't know. But what ever this thought change in me is for.... He is preparing me for something....

I'm not ready to go back home in the next week.

We went to Little AHOPE for about an hour and played with the kids there. It's Saturday, so I'm guessing these kids today are the kids that actually live there. Some kids come from home during the week and stay there each day to get their treatments (for HIV/AIDS). It's also a safe place for them because a lot of the communities here treat people with HIV/AIDS differently.

I saw Joseph (pronounced yoseph) today in the nursery. He's the 5 month old that probably go me sick the first time while I was holding him. He looked a lot worse since we've been there, which was about two weeks ago. He was having an even harder time breathing than when we were last there, looking much more frail and not as alert. I'm pretty sure Joseph was sick awhile before we got there the first time. I wonder how much of it is the HIV that is preventing him from healing or how much is it from lack of isolation from the other babies in order to get better? At what point do they take him to the hospital? Joseph is one of the only babies there that doesn't have an adopted family waiting to come get him. What do I do with that info?! And seeing how much a 5 month old is suffering?!

As we were leaving Danielle, Michael, and Julia went off in a taxi with Su. This is the point where I knew they were up to something. Something for my Birthday. I didn't know what yet. On the bus I heard that Michael went to go kill a lamb. Something he has been wanting to do for a long time. Michael can't kill a lamb and then we not eat it for dinner. So, I figured out that we weren't going out to dinner at the restaurant they made me pick. I kept my suspicions to myself though because I didn't want to ruin their surprise planning. I still didn't know where though.

So as they left, the rest of us went to the factory after searching and picking up a few more supplies. The mirror mosaic got finished as well as the rest of the painting. There were a few little bumps in the road towards the end but we managed, improvised, and executed the project perfectly. It looked amazing! I am so proud of it and everyone that contributed! Barrett came by to see us and the final product to what we have been working on all week. He brought his wife Rachel and daughter Howie with him. Howie's birthday was yesterday. She turned 7. Barrett loved how it turned out. I'm so proud of it and the fact he was pleased with it was icing on the cake.

After we got done with the factory, we headed to Kauldi's for lunch and to use the internet cafe. It was already 3 pm. We were starving. I got pancakes, some coffee, and a fruit drink.... oh yeah, and I ate a bunch of fries somebody ordered. Yep, another breakfast item of the day, and yep, I've been packing it away here and still loosing weight. What?! I don't get it.... but I'll take it. I used the internet as well, to check my email and messages from home. I also updated my blog... but I've only gotten to day 3. Haha.... oh well... some delayed updates. We were there for quite awhile.

We left Kauldi's and the internet cafe and went driving around town. Danielle was acting all sketch and I totally knew we were not going back to the house before dinner. So, ... we weren't going out to dinner because Michael went to kill a lamb with Danielle, Julia, and Su. And we weren't going back home to eat it because we weren't going back to the house before dinner. Michael never came back with Danielle and Julia at Kauldi's and was still with Su. We haven't seen Su's house yet... Ah HA! All the pieces are put together! They planned a birthday party at Su's house with cooked freshly killed lamb ethiopian style (injera and all). Best Birthday yet by far! I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my 25th. In Ethiopia, a feast from a killed lamb by a team member, awesome new friends and family, and wait for it!..... DANCE PARTY! Let me tell you...... It was a crazy night.... and I shall not go into detail of it. What Happens in Addis, stays in Addis.

These pics where taken after we finished the factory. The second one is one of me with part of the final product!

This is a typical coffee I get at Kauldi's. Cafe Latte.

Our translator Sammy and I at Su's house for my birthday. Su, Kat, and their gang gave me that scarf for my birthday. :) It's one of the Women at Risk scarves by fashionABLE.... You can get one on their website www.livefashionable.com . The stories behind them are amazing.

Su being Su.

Day 18 Friday, July 8th 2011

Cereal for breakfast. Julia took all the good cereal. Actually EMILY ate pretty much the whole box of the good stuff and THEN Julia took the last bit of what was left of the other good ones.... :) it's true. Devotion was on Mark chapter 12. At first when we were going through Mark, I thought... ok yeah, the Gospels again, typical. It's funny, when you think about the Gospels and think that you know or have heard everything there is to know. And then you actually go through them with other people.... you (or I) tend to see things different and learn new things. God has been teaching me for sure things in this study and shining light on things in ways I haven't noticed or seen before. That is part of why it is so important to continually stay in the Word. You'll always learn something new or see something in a different or deeper way. Deeper because, when you are in constant communion with the Lord the Word becomes deeper in meaning.

OH! BTW... Last night there was a major hail storm in the middle of the night. I thought our house was going to cave in! I asked Michael if he woke up from it because he sleeps basically outside in a tin shack. He said he didn't remember it if he did wake up. I couldn't believe it, it as so loud! That is one thing I have seen many of here... hail storms. They have a ton of 'em!

Today has been one of the best days. No lingering cough or stuffy nose. Lots of energy instead of constant tiredness. I have been blessed with health and good people today. My teammates are my family. Even tonight, watching Sammy eat with us, felt like he was family too. He IS family. All our translators are our family. We are all so lucky to have such great translators. God has just really shined a light on this trip for me today. He has blessed me today with just pure peace and happiness. One of those days...

At the factory today it was Michael, Christy, Heather, Emily, and I. We were on the ball today. The black wall was finished, we started more on the dots. Got a lot of that done. Finished touching up the rest of the blue walls, and my clothes were dry and clean from yesterday's wash. Woo Hoo!!! It was a good and productive start to the day. At noon we headed over to meet the rest of our team at the school where we held the VBS. It was good to see the kids today. They are all just so precious and grateful for everything. Such a huge difference between them and children in America. These children know what it means already to rely on the Lord DAILY. Ive been at the factory all week with being in charge with this project, that I haven't been able to spend much time or hear these kid's stories. But, at the end of the day I've been able to hear some from the other team members.

One child prayed for food because he and his family didn't have food one day and the next day some lady had given them some bread to eat. The child said he was so grateful to God because he provided for his family and answered his prayer. I think they said this kid said that during one of the bible stories they were doing during VBS. SERIOUSLY?! These children shine Christ's love and we have so much to learn from them what true suffering is, and what true dependence on the Lord looks like. It has been a complete blessing and privilege to be able to just love on them. Precious precious children. Love them....

We visited the kids for a few minutes and then we all headed over to the W.A.R. head quarters and had lunch. Lunch was awesome. Good food and good company. It was one of those times where everyone is sitting around talking and having fun.... except George. He wasn't feeling well and definitely didn't look like he was. For lunch we had injera with shiro (a chickpea sauce that can be spicy), and potatoes with carrots, and some kind of cabbage stuff. It was all really good. They also had french bread that tasted SO GOOD! It tasted like how bread should taste. That was a good high light of the day as far as food goes.

After lunch they made us a coffee ceremony. They asked us if we wanted mil in our coffee... yes please! So good! When we all got our coffee Michael decided to start talking in a british accent all while bucking his teeth out toasting to the queen. Hilarious! Something I can't help but bust out in laughter every time he does it. The look on his face when he does it is priceless,,,, and the fact that he's black just made it even more funny to me.

This is some of us at the W.A.R. head quarters during lunch.

From L-R... Heather, Brittney, George, Danielle, Christy, Julia, Me, Michael, & Sammy


Su and Kat were there at the VBS camp and for a little while for lunch. It was really good to see Kat. I hadn't seen her almost all week. I really like that chicka. When we left the W.A.R. head quarters we headed back over to the kids at the school. I thought they had all left since lunch was so long. They were all outside playing. We gathered all of them in one of the classrooms and sat down. Some of the kids stood up and said how thankful they were to have us there and how much they learned. Carrie was there all week and taught them a lot of new English to them. They loved her and all thanked her for all they learned from her. It was touching to watch each of them get up and speak from their heart how thankful they were for giving them the week they had. I kinda wished I was there some this week besides the one day I was there. But, I know I was needed at the factory and that is where God needed me. Not only did he need me there but I needed to be there to learn from the things God was teaching me there. God Believes in me and my capabilities in my artwork even when I don't... and that is exactly what I have learned this week among other things.

We all said our goodbyes to the children, hugging, kissing, and taking numerous repetitive pictures with them. Then we all got on the bus to head to the factory to finish up. On the way over there it was pouring rain... another hail storm. When we got there some got off to help with what was left and the others went back with Danielle to help her grocery shop and fix dinner. Carrie helped me with putting up the mosaic Mirror wall. It looks really good! The others did more of the dots and Emily and Heather started to tape off where the zig zags were going to go on the cinder block (the lower parts of the walls). Heather also finished up painting the lockers the women use. It's all coming together very well, but we are definitely going to have to go back tomorrow to finish since lunch took longer than we thought. That's okay though.... it's not much left.

This is Carrie helping me with the mirror mosaic wall. There was a lot of monkey-ing with that project.



The bus came back to pick us all up to take us back to the house. Danielle had dinner almost ready when we got back, so we all just chilled until it was ready. Best home dinner yet! Cheese burgers, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet corn (out of the can this time), and peaches. It was so good! Sammy said it was the best meal he's had. He even said "I want to be American." Hahaha..... no Sammy, you don't... Ethiopia just needs some REAL American quizine imported for ya :) He is such a sweet spirit to be around. The Holy Spirit definitely dwells within him. I can see it.

After dinner we all chilled out, did our highs and lows of the day and goofed off. Emily got her camcorder out and did my Birthday video confessional. Hilarious. So fun and so much laughter. It was a good night with good people. It's my last night as a 24 year old. Another year.... It's been a hard and painful year, yet so sweet and so much growth. Here's to the next year, to grow sweetly closer to my Lord.

Day 17 Thursday, July 7th 2011

Oat meal for breakfast. Devotion afterwards as usual. We are studying Mark chapter 11 today. While getting ready in our room after breakfast Christy wasn't looking so good. I asked her if she was alright and she laughed and told me she took on too many Colace pills. Well crap!.... literally.

Today we all headed out to our destinations. Me, Danielle, Emily, Michael, and Alex went to the factory to work more with the painting and other stuff. The others went to do VBS with the kids. When we got to the factory I had plans to start on certain things and we were short on supplies. I was a bit frustrated today, feeling like I wasn't going to get things done before we left for Nazaret Sunday. I felt as though my whole project was falling to pieces and it was going to be a huge failure and look horrible, not only to Barrett but mainly for the women that work there that we were doing it all for. It's funny how satan can push thoughts of destruction in your head. I always think about that book by C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters when I realize how ridiculous or destructive my thoughts are towards myself and others. Being able to realize that, I have to shine the Glory to God for that ability. The more my relationship with Him is strengthened the more I am able to recognize those lies. That is the only way I have ever been able to recognize the lies of the deceiver. Constantly listening to God and being in communion with him.

Ok, so, when we got there we were short on supplies and had to wait for the bus to come back in order to fill those needs. The bus took forever and that was when I started to doubt if this project was ever going to come together and start looking like it should. I told Danielle that I was a little discouraged that things weren't coming together like I planned and seemed to be falling apart instead. God totally affirmed me in what she said to me, not only as an artist but as someone that is worried about doing good for His kingdom and being able to help. When we finally got the bus back me, Danielle, and Su went to a hardware store to pick up some more supplies. A butt load of supplies. Everything we needed they happened to have at the first stop we went to. Seriously? Did this just really happen? You mean we didn't have to drive around to 10 different hardware shops to find one gallon of the right color of paint? We got everything on one stop?! Awesome. God totally provided and affirmed that everything was going to come together.... also, maybe, that he was laughing at me a little.

We also stopped by a pharmacy to pick up some masks because the paint fumes from the black paint we use are pretty bad (really, I think only gas masks would have worked for that situation but whatever... Su was trying to be helpful). Both Danielle and I went in with Su and noticed the man seemed a bit annoyed and short with us. It dawned (sp?) on us that he saw that we were white and American and probably assumed we were getting them to wear around the city so that we "wouldn't catch anything these nasty people have." Su said that, that was probably why he was acting the way he was. Whatever, who cares, you can't go around correcting everybody's assumptions all the time. I really didn't want him to think that of us though....

I was so glad we had enough supplies to last us a good bit, if not the rest of the project. When we got back to the factory, Barrett came by with his wife Rachel and daughter Howie to see the progress of everything. He said it was looking awesome, which made me glad. The day was turning around! Praise the Lord! You brighten discouraged hearts....

This is Barrett, Rachel, and his Daughter Howie.

Does this post kinda sounds a little "Leave it to Beaver-ish"?

We worked a little more and when Barrett left we went to get lunch back at the house. Left overs. I was in one of those "I'm STARVING!" modes to where I could eat anything in sight and binge. I had my left over pizza from the other night at Antica. Then I cooked some Ramen noodles and I was also going to have some cereal that Emily and Danielle were eating that looked good as well. But there wasn't enough milk so I just ate it dry. Pizza, Ramen, and cereal. Such a well balanced meal :) As we ate it started to rain and was nice to be inside and relax a bit.

The bus came back and dropped us off again at the factory to get a ton of more stuff done. We got all of the blue walls finished and started the painting on the cinder blocks with the black paint. We stayed a lot later this time than yesterday. We were on the ball! I even finally got to at least start on the white dots on the larger black wall, and I think I got most of the mirror pieces done for the mosaic mirror wall as well. I haven't put up anything yet but I'm sure I got a good bit of it done. It was still gloomy and rainy, and had gotten a bit chilly. I was of course freezing.

The bus came back for us at the end of the day after it dropped off our other teammates (that were at the VBS camp) at the house. We were all cold and tired. BTW... At the factory they have a washer and dryer. Seeing that and realizing that we could bring our clothes and washe them was like seeing them with beams of light from heaven. Clean clothes?! What?! umm.... yes please. So we had brought our clothes to be washed and washed them. I made the mistake of bringing almost all my clothes I had, expecting the process to be done and clean by the time we left. But no.... when we left the clothes weren't even dry yet, so I was screwed for pj's tonight. Luckily I had an extra t-shirt at home to sleep in instead. No pants though..... who need's to sleep in pj bottoms anyway right? :/

When we got home we all got ready to go eat dinner. We went to that place we went to that I got a dish that sounded good but didn't turn out that great.... oh wait.... that's a lot of places. I got fish this time that I knew was really good. Yep! Good again! Delicious! My food choices have really been turning around lately! Tonight, at dinner is when I realized how much of an ass our new teammate George is. The way he has acted since he's been here is what gives the bad image of Americans to other countries, complaining and looking disgusted at all the differences of a different culture. Getting his sister to do anything and everything for him..... Generation of Entitlement to a T. It's people like him that I wonder how and why did you even consider coming on a trip like this? God has brought him on this trip to teach us something fo sho! How do I love this person the way God sees and loves him? I should probably rejoice he is on this trip because it is people like him who make me cry out to my Lord.... but to be completely honest I'm not glad at all that I have to deal with him. I actually haven't had much enteraction with him because I've been at the factory, but I hate that the others have had to deal with him. Even his sister, I'm sorry she has to deal with him not only on this trip, but in regular life. I hate that all I have to say about him arn't good, but difficult people are difficult people.

When we got back to the house from after dinner, one of the girls broke down about how horrible her day was and how lonely she's been feeling on this trip lately. The icing on the cake was that she had to deal with George all day and the awful and inappropriate things he had said in front of the kids today. My heart broke for her, but I think that was good for her. It was a situation that she needed to vent about to someone which in turn helped her to open up to some of us and get connected with the people around her. It's been an interesting night. To see some of the dynamics of destruction and healing in our group in one night. Like I said before, I think God has given me a pair of glasses that give me the ability to see things that other people can't..... and to put puzzle pieces together to see things that He sees.

I hope God works in George's life on this trip and breaks him where he needs to be broken. It would be a miracle and a miracle I pray and hope to see during the last few day we are here in Ethiopia.

Things from home I miss.....

warm weather, washing machine, my friend Susan, my warm bed, moist (sorry for all who hate that word) non stale bread, my bed.