ethiopia

Well, the traveling part of our trip was not the smoothest this time around... one of our team members accidentally brought an invalid passport with her maiden name (not me, surprisingly!), so she couldn't leave the airport in Addis Ababa until her valid passport was overnighted there. Another team member stayed with her while the rest of us headed to Woliso. About 20km from the town (I'm terrible with distance, but it wasn't too far), we hit a traffic jam. It was a result of 2 semis tipping over, which had happened at 9:30 that morning... I think we got there at 3pm?

We ended up walking past and getting a ride from the church elders on the other side.

Upon arriving in Woliso, we went straight to the church, where we were greeted by a ton of kids who had been waiting for us to do a VBS.

We sang some songs with them and did a Bible skit, and the following morning, we did a full VBS with them. I taught English - we learned the English words for the parts of the body, and reviewed by singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" and "The Hokey Pokey".

We got a tour of the children's home, which is not finished, but getting much closer.

We visited the HIV community again. They've decided not to do a chicken farm, and have instead chosen to raise some oxen to sell during the Ethiopian new year festivities, which occur in October. It was so cool to see these women again!

On Sunday, Dave preached at the church in Woliso.

Four people came to Christ.

Pastor Teshale took us to visit some more church plants.

I think there are 11 now?

Dave & Sara got to meet a Compassion child that they will be sponsoring!

We also did home visits to women with HIV. We met one woman who has HIV and TB, and her daughter (in 8th grade) is taking care of her for the time she has left. These home visits and the home-based care in Nairobi always leave my head and heart aching. We tell these women that God is constant and will comfort them, but we can't make their situations any better. Suffering never gets easier to understand. I know that there is hope in Christ, but it is so hard to see and believe at times...

Our time in Ethiopia went by really quickly. I love the Kale Heywet church and respect Pastor Teshale's leadership immensely. They are really living out the Gospel and being the church as it was intended. Keep them in your prayers!

To view all my pictures from Ethiopia, you can click here... I think that should work...