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.

Day 16 Wednesday, July 6th 2011

Today has been a pretty great day. I feel good and not tired like I always do. Breakfast and devotion as usual. We studied Mark chapter 10. Christy, Julia, Alex, Sammy, Abi (our bus guard?) and I went to the W.A.R. factory. We painted one of the larger walls of the factory black. Tomorrow we are going to add white dots like they have in a lot of their pottery work. The fumes were really bad from the black paint. It was almost like tar. We took a break for awhile and went out to get lumch at a small cafe. Su came with us. I ordered a steak and cheese sandwich. It definitely didn't come out a sandwich. It definitely came out as steak with a slice of cheese on top of it. No bread in sight. Of course it wasn't a sandwich! duh! I gave up on ever expecting my food to come out the way I expected or wanted by the second time we've gone out to eat. AFRICA!

We paid for our meals and left because Su had a meeting to go to and we needed to get back to work on some more painting. By the way.... They don't do seperate checks... and won't, even at coffee shops if you order along someone you are with. ok.... whatever..... AFRICA! As we were driving back, our bus driver got in a road fight with one of the cars next to us... or in front of us....something. They fought. Traffic here reminds me somewhat.... ok a LOT... of bumper cars. I'm pretty sure we hit the car. Whatever... he deserved it. He was being an ass. Don't mess with the buses around here, we WILL hit you!

Heres little clip from a bus ride....

Another thing I notice here in Addis is that they seem to be stuck in the 80's/early 90's.... sometimes 70's with the vehicles you see being driven around. And on top of that, looking out the window like I'm looking through a pair of glasses that makes me see everything in 70's film version. Not that the window is dusty and dirty (because it is), but the entire city it's self. VW Beetle's are everywhere around here. The old ones of course, but in my opinion that's the better version. Christy and I have taken up the punch buggy game. We saw the first one here not even a week ago and now we see them everywhere!

Also, I've noticed while on the bus, are guards/military in blue cameo outfits carrying guns. Bast amounts of beggars coming up to our bus's windows because they see white people in it. And countless homeless asleep in the medians of the streets and highways. Some... most of them motionless looking dead and lifeless. It's a real sad and pitiful thing to see, but I've noticed that I have become jaded from it as more time goes on as I am here. I don't know if I am comfortable with that fact. I wonder if the citizens here who are well off in their own living are jaded to the amounts of homeless and beggars that it's just a way of life and they are hopeless of that ever being reduced or eliminated? Maybe it's just not a priority here to help or eliminate that area of need. Even our homeless look better than the homeless here... and even better than the poverty stricken people of Korah. How do people get to this point? How does a government or country allow this? Not just the government, but the citizen's themselves. How is all this allowed or ever get to this point? We are not only responsible for ourselves but also to care and love those around us. Does this show the love we have for each other.... because to me, it shows the lack there of.

When we all got back to the factory we got to working on the black wall again (it's huge) filling in gaps and such. I was the monkey for the "Dangerous" areas :). I've got some mad monkey skills haha... After being the monkey when needed I started to work on the mirror mosaic wall, Hammering mirror into smaller chunks and then wrapping edges with wire. I did all that outside with the warm sun beating down. It got pretty hot actually, but no complaints over here! With the amount of times I've been cold, I was quite okay with it being a bit hot.

While out there, I could hear the other girls taking and laughing. It made my heart smile just listening to some of their conversations and giggling. I went to get my ipod while working with the mirror, but then decided I still wanted to hear what the other girls were saying, so I put one earbud in and left it on the classical genre to where I could zone out and still listen to their convos. I got a good bit of the mirror "done" and some of the girls started to do a second coat on the furniture pieces from yesterday. I could see the sky turning dark grey and blue. It didn't look like whatever was coming in was going to be pretty. A storm was definitely brewing. Soon it started to thunder and lightening. Julia told me that I should probably hurry and come in. What a sweetie, totally a mom in the making. She was right. The wind picked up a bit and I got that "oh crap! I need to hurry and put stuff up before it starts pouring" feeling. Almost the same feeling that comes over me when something erie happens or looks, and I lose my breath for a short split second. Yeah, that feeling.

I got everything in in time before the rain. Christy, Julia, and Alex got all washed up including the brushes. Their hands were covered in black tar paint. Now they smelt of gasoline from getting the paint off. What a horrible smell. I'm sure they felt miserable smelling it on themselves. I use to LOVE the smell of gasoline when I was little, sticking my head out the window to get a big whiff whenever my parents stopped to full the car with gas.

This is Me, Christy, Julia, and Alex... after painting. sticky and smelly.

By the time we finished up for the day and finished up cleaning, the bus was supposed to be on it;s way. The bus left us to go get the others at the school where we were having the VBS for the W.A.R children. Eventually a lot of time went by and we were sitting with anticipation for the bus to come hearing different horns beep here and there thinking it as our bus coming. Nope. No bus. Sammy eventually talked to Hannah, who was on the bus, and found out that they all went to the store for some groceries and were about 30 min. away. Crap. seriously? ok..... whatever. Sammy and Abi were hungry so we gave them some food we brought for lunch but never ended up eating. Peanut butter and jelly. Let me tell you somethin! I've had enough PB&J sandwiches for lunch, and would be fine if I didn't have anymore this month....or year.

The bus finally arrived and we all came back to the house. Danielle got the best thing at the grocery store yet! BACON! I'm SO excited! I LOVE bacon! That whole wait was totally worth just that alone. As we all got back to the house we all chilled out playing spades, reading, listening to music, or journaling while some others started on dinner for tonight. We had lasagna, fruit, green beans, and rolls. It was just as good as our fourth of July dinner.

Barrett came over for dinner and talked a bit more about how we are doing and asking us how things were going... just checking up on us. It was good to have him over and just chill out with us. Barrett also went into more detail about the scarves industry with Women at Risk and why they are doing projects that help out the women here in Africa. He said that 30% of the man's income is usually spent on beer, women, going out with friends and etc. While as the women spend that 30% on their children, food, education, clothing etc. I wasn't really surprised to hear that because I knew that alcoholism was pretty gig in Korah with the men. Why? Because men are expected to provide and being that poor.... getting drunk is a "way out" or relief from their reality.

After dinner we all sat in the living room with Barrett, and Michael and Emily sang him some songs they had been practicing with Michael playing the guitar. This was also a time that the whoopie cushion skit was going to be brought out again. Just for Barrett. I gave it a good press under my blanket when a good quiet moment arose. Score! "Did somebody just fart or something?"-Barrett "Rachel! Not again" I heard someone say.... I started to laugh and excused myself from the room stating that I'll be right back. I gave it a few more squeezes.... "Good God! Those are powerful! That doesn't even sound real!"-Barrett

I came back in the living room and sat down. Barrett looks over at me and asks "So, what was that?! What's the deal?" I told him I just had really bad intestinal problems. "That's awesome!"-Barrett. HAHA! He loved it! We finally showed him the whoopie cushion and he loved it. He was totally on board with the whole gag. Hilarious! Best reaction yet! Another fart skit success to end the day......

Day 15 Tuesday, July 5th 2011

I kept waking up in the middle of the night needing to go to the bathroom. Then I eventually had to get up to go to the bathroom for.... the fear. What is the fear you ask? Diarrhea. Yikes. First time I've had that problem since I've been here! I also had a lot of burping going on.... Something...was .....wrong.

Rushing to the bathroom for the 6th time I could hear the call to prayer for the muslims. It was pitch black. It must have been 4 or 5 in the morning. They have call for prayer 5 times during the day.....I think. You can hear it everywhere you go and it's quite frequent. It's not annoying..... just culture.

It started getting light outside and the bathroom trips continued. Christy would talk in her sleep every now and then. She even sat up and looked down at the ground beside her bed and start talking like she was talking to someone. I was a little freaked out because I thought she was actually talking to someone...... someone really little ....or someone trying to be sneaky and crouching low so I couldn't see them. When she was actually waking up, that's when my nausea kicked in. I didn't know wether to sit on the toilet or bend over the toilet.... sometimes it was both. I even thew up any medicine I took that would have been any help..... I also had very little of it in stock to begin with. I had to stay at the house today. Sick. again. can't believe it. Africa is apparently not my continent.

Since I couldn't go with everyone today and I'm in charge of the project at the factory, I wrote out a list of things to be done. It's mostly a cleaning day today, so at least it's somewhat ok if I couldn't make it. I felt bad I wasn't able to make it, but sometimes I just can't control what happens to me.

So. Here I am sitting in bed.....

Going to the bathroom or sleeping for the day. The power is back on and it's finally raining. I've been hearing the neighborhood kids screaming and laughing playing outside our house gate. Probably the same kids that wait for us outside the gate looking and smiling at us as we leave and come back everyday. They never fail to be out there. I've also been hearing the men hammering on a house they're building next to our guest house. Hammer hammer hammer, crying child from falling down, hammer hammer hammer, kids laughing and playing, more hammering.... It reminded me of when I was little and in bed sick listening to all the noises outside, wishing I was out there playing. I eventually got up and took a shower. It had been since Friday the last time I had one. I even shaved my legs. Ohhh! It feels so good to have smooth legs again!

While I was getting all clean I could hear everyone return from the day. I was feeling SO much better that I even went to dinner with them after I dried off and got ready. Su and Sammy came with us. At dinner I sat next to Su, Sammy, and Michael. Carrie was to the left of me and came in and out of our conversations and the ones on the other side of her.

Su is so bad. God love him though. He is hilarious. Most of our conversations were bathroom humor, but I guess that's what I get for sitting next to those guys. Actually, that's what I get for sitting next to Su.... and maybe Michael. They are a fun crowd though and I don't think I would have switched if given the choice. Lots of laughter tonight. As we headed back to the house after dinner Danielle stopped by the "supermarket" to pick up some things for tomorrow. When she got back on the bus with groceries she gave us all a surprise! ICE CREAM BARS! WHAT?! AWESOMENESS!

After we got back to the house we all went in the living room to do our regular routine highs and lows. This time though Brittney and George were there and they didn't know about the whoopie cushion. So..... we did the whole skit with it like we did with the Project 61 women when they came to visit. I had my blanket and the cushion all set up and got to a prime time to give it an ol squeeze. No one heard it and it wasn't a good one either. So I try it again. Awesome! It actually sounded like a REAL legit "that was a completely real fart. Somebody just did that" kind of fart. I left and squeezed it again in the hallway. George was absolutely disgusted. Jack pot! Mission accomplished. Tonight was prime time to do it too, because they knew I wasn't feeling well all day. HAHA! Wow! ha! I have really matured on this trip.....

Day 14 Monday, July 4th 2011

Happy Fourth of July EVERYONE!!!

Happy Birthday to my sister Annie!

We all got up at the regular time for during the week 7. 7:30ish. Danielle had already gone to the airport to pick up our two new teammates, Brittney and George. They are the children of Alex's mom's boyfriend. They are also Danielle's boss's kids. They are both still in college. While Danielle was at the airport, we all got ready and then headed to the school where we were going to do VBS for the W.A.R. children. There were a lot of us that were feeling pretty rotten, with sore throats and all. Carrie had to stay home. On top of that, I think we were all burnt out on doing children's ministry and weren't giving our all..... we were dragging. Everything just felt unorganized on our part. I felt really bad about it. It was like one of those hot summer days where you feel like your moving in slow motion and don't want to do anything. As a team, I think this is where we hit our wall.

We did a bible story (Michael did a very good job), had tea time, did some crafts, played outside, did another craft, read a story and colored. Lunch was somewhere in the mix in all that.

Danielle met us there with Brittney and George. Michael acted like he was a translator in which they believed..... for awhile. They must've been tired from that long flight. I know we were when we first got here and already jumped into things. Our first day here was somewhat a blur. We finished up with all the VBS for the day and then headed to "Home Depot" since they were now open. Don't fool yourself.... this home depot is not like the one at home in the U.S. We got some supplies for the W.A.R. project so we could start tomorrow. Half our team will be doing the VBS with the W.A.R. kids and half will be working on the W.A.R. factory. I will be at the factory the rest of the week since I will be in charge of that project. We weren't able to find all the supplies we needed at Home Depot, so we went around to about 5 different hardware shops looking for supplies. That was a frustrating experience and eventually saw compromises to the project. Hopefully everything will turn out well and not a mess..... as I can see it easily being that.

We got some corn for our celebratory dinner tonight. We invited Hannah, Sammy, Selam, and a guy we met that works at Project 61 in Korah. I can't remember his name.... we secretly call him TNE (tall no english). Dinner was a lot of fun to celebrate with them. We had baked chicken, mashed potatoes, watermelon, peaches, green peas, corn (which was HORRIBLE!....never again.) and for dessert we had vanilla pudding with cookies crunched up on top. It was like a Thanksgiving dinner, so we went around the table saying what we were all thankful for. Before dessert the power went out. It hadn't rained since Friday morning so it was kind of expected. We had dessert by candle light and then piled our dishes in the kitchen. No water! No cleaning!

All the translators went home along with our Korah friend and then some of us just went to bed since the power was out. Some sat in the living room and sang and played the guitar or played boggle by themselves (Alex), or read by candle light. I just laid on my bed and eventually went to sleep...... wooooo! Happy Fourth of July!

Day 13 Sunday, July 3rd 2011

We all slept in again till 10. Su picked us all up to go to his church today. On the way we picked up Kat and Su's 15 year old boy he's supporting. Beza is his church. It's an international church and they have several church plants around the world. The service we went to was in English and the speaker was from India. It was a very powerful message, and it lasted almost 3 hours. I didn't even notice because I was so engulfed in his message. His english was pretty hard to understand, so I wonder how many mistranslations there were when he preached at the Amharic service :)

AFter church we went to eat lunch at Lime Tree. A couple girls on the team looked a bit pale (Carrie and Alex) at the table. There was no denying that they were sick, especially when Carrie left the table to go throw up. I'm sure the tuna pizza she ordered helped out with that though.... The sickness is spreading around to everyone and not everyone has it the same.... or maybe there are several things going around. After not being hungry the past week from being sick I ate my entire pizza. I pretty much engulfed it. Sammy ate with us. We always enjoy his company and the service of translating he does for us.

We all finished eating and hopped back on the bus. We dropped Alex and Carrie home while the rest of us got to go visit Sammy's home. We were all very excited to see where he lives. He lives with his mother and sister and occasionally his brother, when he's not traveling. We got to meet his fiance finally :) After awhile we thought she didn't exist. She is very pretty and was kind enough to fix us a traditional coffee ceremony. Coffee here is unbelievably good. While we were drinking our coffee we made sammy get out old picture of himself. It was so fun and what a cute little sammy he was! He looks exactly the same as he did when he was a little toddler... Hahaha! His sister was there as well and sat with us. Her name is Happy, that's her nickname. She studies Civil Engineering at a college or university.... I can't remember. A University is funded by the Government and the colleges are privately funded. Is it the same here in the U.S.? I've never really paid attention to that..... hmmm.

It was so fun to see Sammy's home and where he grew up. It was a homey home. We left and Sammy went on to a fundrasing event with his best man. Sammy's wedding is in August. We all went to an internet cafe so I could email Barrett the plan for next week in remodeling the W.A.R. factory. The internet wouldn't work and as we were all about to leave the lady said it was working. We all got done what we wanted to and the woman made me pay for the time it wasn't working. I should have stood my ground and not paid, because I think she was taking advantage of the fact I was foreign. Oh well, What ever.... it was only 8 Birr. Next time she can kiss my foreign American ass.... AMERICA! (I always yell that out when Americans do something or say something typically "American")

The grocery store was our next stop on our list. We got supplies to make our fourth of July celebration meal. I'm so excited about this! We got watermelon, chicken, canned peaches, potatoes for mashed potatoes, peas, butter, and etc. OH MAN! I'm really excited about this meal! The item I'm most excited about is real actual butter. YESSSSS!! So excited! NEver thought that one of the things I would miss most would be butter.

When we arrived back at the house it was pretty late already. At least it felt like it... It probably wasn't really that late. The sun seems to go down pretty early here. Around 6 or 6:30. Anyway, we got back and just chilled around. Me, Emily, and Julia had Ramen for Dinner. Oh. my. gosh. So. Good. Ramen never tasted so good. I was a happy camper during dinner.

Korah Children Singing Before Lunch

Day 12 Saturday, July 2nd 2011

Got to sleep in till 10. It was AWSOME! We all needed it..... or at least I did for sure. We treated ourselves to french toast for breakfast after having a full week.

We used this day to relax, really. Not much happened. We did go to the W.A.R. (Women At Risk) factory again to show the other teammates, and then go to "Home Depot" to get supplies for the factory project this next week. But Home Depot is closed Saturday and Sunday apparently, so we ended up not doing that.

We went to get lunch instead at Island Breeze. I got a chicken quesadilla. It was SO good! Just what I needed, something that actually tasted good to me. I really haven't been all that impressed with food here. Only a couple of things. Lunch took foooorevvvver! The power at Island Breeze kept going out and coming back on. Very common for that to happen around here. The city runs on Hydro-electricity, so when it doesn't rain for awhile the power is likely to go out. It rained Friday early morning but hasn't since then. It's their rainy season so it's expected to rain pretty much everyday.

After lunch we went to the internet cafe and then back to the house again just to chill. Michael, Christy, Emily,Hannah and I walked down to the little shop down the street to get a few groceries. I got a couple of mango juice packets to chill in the refrigerator and drink for later. They ended up not tasting that great, but they satisfied the sweet tooth for a little while. You can't really find many sweet things here. Ethiopians don't really like sugar or sweets. My personal opinion?.... They haven't found out how to make good sweets yet. I got a few Ethiopian chocolate candies to try and see what they would taste like.... expecting to like at least some of them. Big mistake. No wonder they don't like sweets! All of them were bad. I looked a little closer at the wrappers.... and read "Chocolate flavored...." yeah, all the chocolate over here is pretty much fake chocolate wax. gross.

Left overs were for dinner. Then I wrote in my journal and went to bed. It was the perfect relaxing day.

Emily, Christy, and I relaxing on the "comfy couch" in the guest house living room.

Day 11 Friday, July 1, 2011

Today is the first of July! Crazy.

Last night I went to sleep very feverish. My fever must have broke while I was sleeping because I woke up feeling SO much better. This was good because today was going to be a big day. At the Korah orphanage it was registration day for 300 children for the next school year. We were going to be there for crowd control. We took the regular 60 children we have been teaching everyday this week and did the regular routine while the other children were in the registration meeting. Today seemed a bit off. Even the kids seemed to be having an off day.... We were all just exhausted. The kids during english seemed to be having a hard time understanding the sentences today. Carrie wasn't here today to help me because she went to go tour a school near by, so I was glad when we were finally done with all of our classrooms.

This is Carrie and I on our first day in Ethiopia. Carrie is a 6th grade teacher

back in the U.S. I teamed up with her to teach english while we are here.

These are some of my students in Korah. This is the classroom

that is behind the church outside.

I was just completely exhausted from this week. While all the children played I just sat down with Deborah in my lap against the classroom building where all the children eat lunch. Soon a few other girls came and sat with us eventually wanting to braid my hair. What the heck, go for it... As long as I didn't have to play double double this that, or patty cake another time and just sit there and let them braid my hair. I was completely ok with that......

until... there were four or five little girls braiding my hair pulling it this way and that way. It felt as though they were playing double double this that with my hair!.... or worse! Jump roping with it! From being tired from being sick I chilled out and stood it for a little bit (because lets face it I didn't have the energy to tell them to stop), but when they started getting loud and sounding like they were fighting over my hair, I could feel the limit in me rise into frustration and anger. I felt like I was going to rise up from sitting and transform into the Wolverine with sharp metal claws to slash them away from me. I was picturing the whole scene in my head.

Danielle saw the ridiculousness and asked if I was alright.... "Yeah, I'm alright...... actually, I've had enough. Can you get them to stop?" I'm pretty sure that I heard and felt one of the girls spit in my hair. Sometimes they do that if there isn't a hair tie to keep the braid together, and sometimes they use snot. Gross. Sorry! Not of white girl's hair! Oh no you didn't!

Thankfully Danielle got them all off of my hair. She told them all I was sick and not feeling well. Whew! Glad I didn't turn into the Wolverine! That was not going to be a pretty sight, and I'm pretty sure I was one molecule of anger away from turning into that. Roaring and slashing all the little girls around me. Now that they were all away from me, I was back to just sitting there in the warm sun with Deborah on my lap.... Speaking of warm sun, It has been so cold here! I definitely didn't pack as well as I should have for this trip. The highs have been in the 60's low 70's this week and rainy. I was prepared for the rain but not so much being cold all the time. All of you that know me, know I get chill bumps when it starts hitting in the low 70's. Especially when it's gloomy outside. If it's sunny....I'm fine. It felt nice to finally be sunny today and just sit there soaking in the warmth.

I fed my old leprosy man again his lunch. It was my last time to do that for him. When I was done feeding him I found Deborah and said my goodbyes. That was a little sad moment. Today was our last day with these children. I gave her kisses and said "ciao". She gave me kisses back and said "ciao." That was the tender moment of the day. As I was leaving and about to head back on the bus, one of the girls I bonded with on day one pulled me aside and sat me down to talk to me. I forgot her name,.... it's something hard to pronounce and easy for me to forget. She is 15 and had one of her friends with her. He was a street boy and was in desperate need of a sponsor. They were trying to get me to sponsor him. It broke my heart. All I could say was "I'll see what I can do..." that's all I COULD say for right then... I just didn't know what else to say. I don't remember what his name is but it means "blessed" in Amharic. I made sure I got his name before we left, or at least the meaning so I could later possibly find him again. Who knows, maybe I could do something for him or find someone who can. What do you say when you are faced with something like that? When you see the sad desperation in their faces?

Before we started to leave, I pulled out a gift for one of the older boys who draws. He is very talented and has a lot of potential. His name is Ebenezer. He pulled me in their bunk bed room and showed me a note book of all his drawings. They were very good! They were all of flowers. I told him he should be very proud and that he is very good. I could see in his shy smile he was excited to hear that coming from another artist. Earlier this week the older boys pulled me aside when they found out I was an artist and made me draw for them. I drew a still of one of the water bottles I had been drinking out of. They all Ooooed and Aaahhhhed over it and Ebenezer gave it a try. He did a very good job and soaked every minute up. It was good to see all their excitement throughout that time, and they all have a special place in my heart. I hope that Ebenezer finds his way with his artwork because he has a lot of potential and talent. We are all very proud of him. You can even see how proud all his peers are of him as we were drawing together.

All of us women folk on the team got on the bus to go back and rest while Sammy, Steve, and Michael stayed to play soccer with the kids and another trip team from N.C. (who just arrived the day before). I don't really know who they are with... probably a church mission trip. They'll be here for 9 days I think they said? It was kind of nice to see some new American faces but they were kind of quiet and didn't really talk to us much. They seemed a bit uncomfortable to be there. There were a lot of young teenagers and I think they were out of their comfort zone a bit. I know coming here must be a real wake up call for them.

Getting back to the house to rest was much needed for a lot of us. I finally got a "shower" after days of not showering. I'm pretty sure Christy was glad as well since I'm rooming with her :) While chilling out I found a note from Michael that really spoke to me and made me feel better about my low the other day. My low of not really being sure if I could do this kind of mission work for a long period of time. I won't go into detail about it but his note did a lot of good in me. Thank you Michael. God has used you in big ways and continues to do so.

After resting and the guys coming back home, we headed out to the market to do a little shopping. The last shop I stopped in, this man had a collection of stuff on one of the shelves. I picked what looked like an old book. I opened it, and it was a really old Ethiopian Bible dating 100 years! He was selling for 250 U.S. dollars, which probably meant he would sell it for much cheaper. It was really cool to look at and pretty frail. I was with Selam and she got a little upset at the man for selling it. I'm pretty sure the guy was on some weed or something. Selam told him "Do you know what this is?! This should not be sold! This should stay in Ethiopia! Don't sell this! You can't sell this!" She was right, but I kinda wanted it and knew she would have gotten mad if I bought it. I didn't have that much money to blow anyways. How cool was it to find that though?

We went to dinner at one of Surafel's brother's restaurants. I don't remember what it was called but it was the nicest restaurant we've been to yet. Very club-esque. They even had one of those big screen TV's you see at bowling alley's that played MTV music videos. It is Steve's last night with us and Surafel had made a sign for the table that said Bon Voyage Steve!..... or something of that nature.

Steve leaves in the early morning for his flight to Kenya to visit his friend Michelle for three days before he leaves for good back to the U.S. After we all got back home after dinner we had our nightly team meeting. Surafel stayed with us that night since he was taking Steve to the airport in the morning. Alex shared her life story to where she is now in life. I really do admire that girl. She is the only non-Christian on the trip and is one of the only ones (some others do, but not a lot of us) who will volunteer to pray. What do you think that says about the majority of us who claim to know our God and Father yet don't cry out to him when asked to? The other day some men where in the church in Korah at the orphanage and were praying. They were all crying out to the Lord, and It donned on me that we don't regularly do that in America... or at least it's not often seen. Then the other day I was reading a verse in Hebrews that just confirmed my thoughts about the matter and how we need to actively CRY OUT to Him. Hebrews 5:7 "While Jesus was here on Earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence for God." Not only do we need to cry out to Him but doing so only if and with deep reverence for God. How do you think we reach to that point?

After Alex shared, Surafel shared his testimony. What a story. I had heard bits and pieces.... the first of his story. But tonight I got the whole story. Some things became clear to me that I was blind to and bits and pieces were able to be put together. It's funny how when you meet someone and you notice or see things about them, but when you hear their whole story (if they allow it) you can understand them better and put the missing pieces together. I've been debating on wether or not to write out his story and have decided to let that be for him to tell. That's his life story to tell. I did learn though (among other things) that the dancing that night at the restaurant we went to one of the first nights, was dancing they do in witch craft. If I had known that I would not have wanted to go. It would have creeped the Hell out of me! Surafel left before all of that started and I understand why now.

When we were all done, Steve had the bright idea to affirm everyone going one by one to everyone in the room saying cool and nice things about them. It was really nice Steve, thanks..... Then Emily and Michael sang him a going away song. Good song but I thought it was weird choice in a going away song. It was "Wedding Dress." Whatever. They did a good job. I went to bed after Steve did his last confessional on Emily's camcorder, because I was exhausted. A lot of the others stayed up and hung out with Steve. I really didn't get to know Steve that well during this trip..... and I can't say that I'm really actually honestly going to miss him.... like the others have been saying. It's sort of like life stages to me. Just moving on to the next stage. Something different. Not that we didn't get along, it's neither's fault, it's just the way it is. One of those people that pass by in your life. I'm sure I was that way for him. Just passer bys.