Saturday, August 16, 2014

Fifteen hours later

 photo photo-20.jpgWe started our long ride to Africa on a small plane, which turned into a big plane! On the plane we had a TV right in front of us. I could watch movies, play games, and see a map of where we came from and where the plane was headed. All that on one TV! We even had our own pillow, blanket, socks and an eye mask. The only hard part about the traveling was not getting a lot of sleep.

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I knew as soon as I stepped outside I would love Addis Ababa. The sun was not hot and there was a nice breeze. We had vans that picked us up and took us to the guest home. The ride was bumpy but we saw lots of things that we do not see in the U.S. I saw three boys leading a group of cows. I even saw a horse. The buildings scaffolding are made out wood. We even went to the bank to exchange our U.S. money. It has been a great first day and we have been taken care of so well and I'm glad that we arrived safely. Please continue to pray for our time in Addis Ababa . We are very thankful for how God has helped us on the trip.

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Written by: Libbie Wilson

Friday, August 15, 2014

Were off to share that Jesus is enough, Ethiopia here we come!

 photo 2014081595041913.jpg We are going to Ethiopia to minister and to love on orphans, but the most important thing we are going to do for them is to tell them about a God that created them, sees them and knows them down to the hair on their heads.  That there is a God that values them and knows their beauty. That He wants for them to know Him. That there is a God who loves them and most of all sent His son to die for them.  Psalm 27:10 says “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.” We will tell them about the God that will take them in and love them more than any mother and father ever can.  You see, we are all orphans in a sense.  

We have all been orphaned by sin, pain, sorrow, failure, shame, guilt, the list goes on and on.  We have all sinned, all failed, all fallen short of the glory of God.  But God has not left us in that shame and in the pain of sin. He doesn’t want us to be left as orphans. God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  He sent His son to this earth to die to take our place.  And He didn’t stop there.  He conquered death when He rose three days later and proved to us that the debt we owed, He paid. And because of Jesus, we all have the opportunity to become adopted as sons and daughters of the one true God.  The love He so freely poured out on the cross is a love that is truly at the core of why we are all going. 1 John 4:19 sums it up saying “We love because He first loved us.

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It breaks our heart to know that there are people, especially children, in this world who have never heard the name of our savior Jesus. This love is not something we have earned or can ever earn.  We are not going to Ethiopia to try to earn our way into heaven or to get on God’s good side.  There is absolutely nothing we can do to even try to do that.  His love is 100% no strings attached free.  All you have to do is believe in Jesus and what He did on the cross as the only way to be right with God.  If we could be good enough, do enough good works, go to church enough, there would be no reason for Him to die. The truth is that the love that put Him on the cross is the most life changing love there is. If these children have no one else to love them in the entire world except for Jesus Christ, they have enough.  We desperately want them to know that and we want you all to know that too.  We not only want the love of Jesus Christ to be known by the children of Ethiopia, but you as well.

Written By: Keri Bosch

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Packing & Preparing...T-minus two days

 
 photo IMG_1380.jpgWe have been counting down for months for our mission trip to Ethiopia and we are almost there. A portion of our team leaves from Texas tomorrow and the rest of the team will join them on Friday in D.C. We will all fly out on Friday together on a really long flight to Ethiopia. We are so excited and look forward to sharing with all of you as we go to do the work God has called us to. We have our itinerary in hand and will be visiting five orphanages and America World's Transition home. We hope to take you along with us, depending on how well we can connect to WiFi we will update daily about our trip.

Over the course of the last few months we have been collecting items to take that we can use to help the children and their caregivers. We have be blessed by the support of so many as you have dug deep to help meet the immediate needs of so many children. We have spent countless hours packing and squeezing in items to all the crevices of the thirty-one suitcases we will be taking filled with donations. We will also have twelve of our own bags as well. If you have not put those numbers together that is a whooping forty-four suitcases. As we were packing we could not help but look around at all that we had collected and stand amazed, our biggest problem was figuring our how to get all the stuff to Africa.  "Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matt 25:40
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We ask for your prayers that all of our bags will get to their final destination successfully and that we will make wise choices in how to distribute the items. Our pray is that God would be glorified through our efforts because it is nothing we have done and everything that he has accomplished.
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Written by: Cindy Douglass

Monday, August 11, 2014

Embracing the Ethiopian Cuisine

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We met for a night of fellowship and food at Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant in Raleigh.We are really trying to immerse ourselves as best we can to learning as much as we can about Ethiopia. It is a yummy treat to have traditional Ethiopian food locally. The Abyssinia Restaurant is a family owned restaurant that serves authentic Ethiopian dishes that are all cooked from scratch. It was truly a dining experience like no other.
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Dining in Ethiopia starts with the breaking of injera. Injera may best be described as a very large crepe/pancake that is torn into smaller pieces. The smaller pieces are then used to eat the various stew like dishes. All the dishes are served from the same plate signifying the bond of friendship and loyalty. Ethiopians say that food tastes better when eaten together. The night was not complete until fresh roasted coffee beans were turned into some amazing coffee. The best part of the night though, was getting to bond with some wonderful women and plan for the up coming trip.

Written by: Janelle Kennedy