Christmas with New Friends

After a bout with a lousy cold Sandy and I are up and blogging again. We were finally able to have a house warming/ Christmas dinner for a few of our new friends. So you might ask what do to American missionaries serve to their Ethiopian/German landlord and all their Ethiopian friends?  Spaghetti of course! With a lot of garlic bread and apple pie for dessert.

We wanted to serve a classic American meal and after much deliberation agreed on spaghetti  [I know its Italian] but it was really all we could find all the ingredients for. The apples were a big splurge and I’m not going to tell you what we payed for them. The next big challenge was finding a pie plate. OK. We asked a few in the know folks and decided the Mercado District  was our primary hunting  ground.

Now all we had to do was explain to our trusty driver, Dawitt, what a pie plate was so that he could interpret to potential merchants just what we had in mind. Well it would help if people here ate pie; but then it wouldn’t be something new for them and that would take all the fun out of our quest. We finally settled on a skillet.  BTW  I ended up using a broiler tray because the skillet was to small for a pie for 12.

On the way home from shopping we encountered a few minor technical difficulties with the car and after being pushed a few blocks by some very kind gentlemen we were off to Burayu. Not so fast , Dawitt explains that we need fuel.  Gas station crowded , people filling  up all sorts of unsafe containers with fuel, we get through all the crowd, get our fuel and are about to pull onto the street when a big truck tries to pull into the station, needless to say there is no way that truck ,our car and a half dozen other cars are going to navigate this space all at once. Well Dawitt being the kind soul he is backs up to let the truck in from the street. That was good until the truck driver turns to short and binds the rear quarter panel of our car up in his wheel well. I thought Dawit was about to cry,  or worse, all he wanted was to safely get Sandy and I home to Burayu .  He was able to flag down a contract taxi  and give him directions and we were on our way.  We did finally make it home  with our packages intact.

OK what  was this blog going to be about ? Oh yeah, Christmas with friends.  Sandy and I and Shaweye set about cleaning the house and making decorations. An old newspaper, some glue, a little string, a treasured piece of tin foil,some paint and of course good ol’ fashioned American ingenuity and soon the house was festooned with paper chain garlands , snow flakes and a sparkling silver star  over the table. Shaweye proved to be superior paper chain maker under Sandy’s diligent instruction. Sandy set a beautiful table complete with fresh flowers from Kifley’s garden.  Oh by the way this is a day after the shopping trip.

Right on schedule our guests arrived , Pastor Emanuel and wife Marge [pronounced mar gay] Samson and Enat husband and wife owner /directors of Bereket school, Balacho  from church and our dear friend Getachew also from church and of course Kifley and Sumbutta from upstairs. It took a little convincing to get Shaweye to come join the conversation but in the end all our guests were engaged in a delightful mix of English and Oromifa. Enat enjoyed reading the blog, and her husband Samson and Kifley were deep in a conversation that I’m certain solved all our worlds troubles.

I think everyone liked the meal. Marge seemed especially fond of the toffees on the coffee table and  that's perfectly acceptable for a woman who is 6 months pregnant. It was  great fun to share our home and meal with the people we are working with, to build  rapport and strengthen the bonds of  fellowship.  There is a lot of work to do here and I hope that  this will help to lay the foundation for our future cooperation.

All of you faithful blog readers be sure to blog in next week when we celebrate  The Ethiopian traditional  Christmas Holiday.   Merry Christmas and a Happy Birthday to our Lord and Saviour , Jesus Christ.       CW

Original Post

Holy Spirit Moves

After our local service on Sunday, Pastor Emanuel invited us to attend a ‘conference’ at a nearby rural chapel. Many from our congregation climbed into bijus[ 3 wheeled taxis] and 7 of us piled into a Toyota for the short drive.We turned off the main road a few kilometers from Burayu and onto a rough dirt track rambling through eucalyptus groves and the occasional grain field.

We came to a small cluster of farm houses where many people had begun to gather. We untangled ourselves from the Toyota truck and walked a short way to an outdoor pavilion made of poles and tarps. The ground was covered with fresh eucalyptus leaves and they gave off a lovely fragrance as we walked on them. A large group of worshipers had already gathered in the pavilion and we were given seats near the podium.  The guest speaker turned out to be the driver of the Toyota, Mitiku.  A local elder opened the conference with prayer,  then Mitiku launched into an enthusiastic message about the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives.

At several intervals the message would break and the music would begin and people would sing and dance and a man even began to play a large drum. Pastor Emanuel explained to me how King David’s wife Michal had disapproved of his dancing and that the Ethiopian people consider dance a form of worship just like David did.

Mitiku began to preach again and someone spoke up saying they had received a word of prophesy regarding a man at the conference. He came forward and they prayed over him and laid hands on him and he received a healing from the Holy Spirit.

A woman came forward and was prayed for and also received a blessing  The preaching continued for awhile and after some more music  Emanuel  gave a closing sermon .

I find the worship here to be inspiring and uplifting and I very much enjoy the music and dance. It is as though people here feel free to worship with all of there being, in our American churches we seem to have lost some of that along the way.

I love the worship services in my home church and I greatly value the teaching of the Word also. I just pray that we can find a way to incorporate the  enthusiasm I find in the Ethiopian church.      CW

Original Post

Back Online Again

Well, after days of trying to diagnose our internet troubles we are finally online again. It seems that someone at the Gullele house thought they needed our sim card more than we did. After a long and confusing visit to the TeleCom office we were able to purchase a new one and we are off and blogging again.

The good news is that we have been given an absolutely beautiful house in Burayu to live in free of rent until we leave for America. Our landlord, Keefley, is a very gracious pensioner who has let us move into the ground floor apt. of his lovely home. It seems he has a heart for missions and has his own vision of building a youth center and library in Burayu.

God indeed has blessed us beyond what we could have imagined. We are learning our way around the town and meeting new shop keepers. On Tuesday Sandy and I and P. Emanuel took a scenic trip by pony cart to the countryside. We met two young girls in beautiful dresses sitting under a tree. I can imagine them planning their futures as they sat there in the shady grove of trees.

We should be all settled in by Friday. Then I hope to start teaching a Christmas Carol to our kids during the program on Saturday. If all goes well we can sing it at Church on the Sunday before Christmas. I’ll ask Sandy to video the performance for the blog. So be sure to stay tuned in!

Thank You for your prayers, Carole

Medical Surplus Saving Lives in Ethiopia

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

jumprope to numbers

On Saturday we played jump rope with our Burayu kids  between class and lunch. We have successfully fed our children breakfast and lunch  for our second time. We have so much still to learn and to teach. Sandy and I decided to divide and conquer.  She agreed to take our littlest ones and walk with them and teach the words for the things they saw. I  found the older kids in my English class  already know there English alphabet and numbers.  It was the first time I have ever taught children our English language.  The kids are so bright and we laughed a lot as I drew pictures on the board and had them say the English word. We have a bit of work to do on pronunciations but it was an excellent beginning.  This video of  the kids was taken by Sandy.  She is much better at the photos than I am.  I’m beat!  Playing with kids and teaching is hard work.  That’s all for now.   CW

Original Post

Our First Meal

Praise the Lord we made it through our first two weeks.

The first project from GGI was setting up a kitchen to feed a group of children breakfast and lunch on Saturdays. Last Saturday was our first. Carole and I thought, this is great…we can do this. How hard  could it be. As we set out to make our plan, we got out our pads of paper and started making a list. We got it on good authority that most everyone around here eats bread, or biscuits and tea for breakfast. For lunch, injera with wat, and tea. – we were ready to tackle the job.

First, we needed to set up the kitchen – then feed the kids and hand out their school uniforms and books. We’ll have a wonderful day, we thought, even have candy to hand out, and stay within our budget. Heroes!

OK.. things didn’t go quite as planned.

You see, we live in Addis Ababa, and our mission is at a church in Brayeu – about 45 minutes away.   In Addis, they speak Amharic. In Brayeu, they speak Oromo. Our driver and interpreter speaks Amharic. Do you see how this could be a problem? Now… our pastor, Emanuel, speaks pretty good English if you can get past his thick Oromo accent…

We all sat down with our lists and went over everything. You think you understand a person is saying, and that person thinks they understand what you are saying. Everyone on the same page…But no one was on the same page. Not even in the same book. Carole and I with pastor Emanuel arranged for a simple but sturdy table to be built to cook on. We needed a shelf to hold pots and pans, and door for the kitchen with a lock, which needed to be installed before any supplies could go in.

Not knowing how to cook Wat, we decided to hire Buse (a young women who also knows no English) to cook for the first month and teach us.

To save time and stress, we sent her out to buy the food, and some pots. She came back with some really big pots, and what looked like a lot of food. OK Lord, I’m thinking. I’m learning to trust You in all things. Carole and I were the only ones here feeling a little uptight. Everyone else was good and wanted to go get coffee. So, we went to get coffee.

Saturday came. Twenty seven beautiful children were fed the most delicious and satisfying breakfast of macaroni, cooked with lentils in an array of vegetables and bread. We handed out uniforms and schoolbooks. They had their pictures taken. We all played ball until lunch was served. Buse, and a handful of dear sweet women served Wat with meat, injera, beats, cabbage sauteed with potatoes and bread. Carole and I didn’t get to learn how the Wat was made….Because of some confusion, we got there an hour late.

The table and the door is being painted, not to worry. We were over budget. We will do better next time. This is Africa.

Learning to trust Jesus, Sandy and Carole

“My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever” - Psalm 73:26

Original Post

Malaria Outbreak in Uganda

Please take a moment and pray for our Ugandan team in Bukeeka and the Fountain of Hope teachers and students as they are currently experiencing a malaria outbreak in the area.  Over 150 students are currently staying home, one teacher came close to passing away but is doing better, Pastor Robert is also currently sick, and the 7th grade class has been hit hard 2 weeks before their national exam.  On top of this poor weather conditions have hurt many of the families' food crops and they are faced with having to purchase food at increasingly higher prices.

GGI recently distributed 200 mosquito nets but the need is still large.  We thank all of you for your continued support of the work in Uganda and appreciate your prayers and additional giving that you provide.  While we do not have any additional information on our website at this time you can contribute to the Uganda work and designate your donation to mosquito nets or humanitarian outreach via the donation comment section and we will immediate disperse funds to Bukeeka to assist with medicines and food.  Thank you for considering this request.