Fifteen hours later

We 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.

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.

Written by: Libbie Wilson

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

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.


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

Packing & Preparing...T-minus two days

 
We 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

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.

Written by: Cindy Douglass

Embracing the Ethiopian Cuisine

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.



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

Chick-Fil-A Spirit Night and Silent Auction

On April 17th, we had one of our fundraisers at Chick-Fil-A on Falls of Neuse, http://www.cfarestaurant.com/fallsvillage/home. For this fundraiser we sent out invitations to all of our local family and friends.  They were able to enjoy an evening out with no cooking and support a great cause by dining in or going through the drive thru.  A percentage of the food sales that night went to our Mission Team.  The owners, Chris and Karen Latta, were also gracious enough to let us sale our T-shirts, bracelets and have a silent auction of many wonderful items during our spirit night.



It was a wonderful night of dinner and telling people about our mission trip.  We have been so blessed with all of the support that we have received while fundraising and planning for our trip.  Thank you all so much! We really appreciate it!!



Written by: Kiesha Hall

Raleigh Facebook Silent Auction

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

This verse has certainly been proven over and over to our team. God has certainly done exceedingly and abundantly more than we could have ever imagined! The generosity of people that donated items for our auction at Chick-Fil-A was so overwhelming, there was no physical way we could have displayed it all. The Texas team members had done an online auction via Facebook, so we took our cue from them and used all the extra items we were unable to have at our Chick-Fil-A night for a silent auction on Facebook as well.

We had about 25 items up for auction with items varying from various gift cards to football tickets to original artwork.  Every penny went straight to benefit our mission trip.

The Raleigh team gathered together at Cindy's home and spent the afternoon taking pictures and uploading each item to our Facebook event. It was so exciting as the evening went on to see all the bids people were posting!  It was a great way to allow people to be involved in our mission trip that might not have been able to otherwise.

Through each fundraising event we have been able to do, God just blows me away. I like to think He is smiling up there and laughing saying "Courtney, why do you think I would call you to this and then not provide for you. Trust me!" I am daily in awe of all He has provided our team, and I am thankful for all the friends and family that He has used to do so.

Written by: Courtney Rowe

Ethiopian dinner with friends

Our team is very blessed to know an Ethiopian family in Raleigh. When the mother heard about our trip, she graciously invited us for a traditional Ethiopian meal in her home and it was delightful!!!

I have never been a part of a dining experience that was more interpersonal and inviting. Besides being treated with the greatest level of hospitality and service, the form of eating Ethiopian style can make for great dinner table, or might I say, "dinner basket" conversation.



Eating this way is community at its best! Everyone eats from one plate and uses only the best utensil we have, our hands!



Oh, and the taste! Lets talk about the taste! The food was prepared with only the freshest meat available bought from a local market. Collards, lentils, eggs, beef, pork. All prepared with traditional spices and the tastiest sauces.

After dinner, we waited for the Traditional Ethiopian coffee bean roast, promised by our hostess. This is my personal favorite of all the traditions I have heard of. Beans roasted right in front of you, made into warm delicious coffee. It is served the traditional way with a handful of popcorn to go along with it!




We sat and drank our coffee and asked many questions about the country we would be traveling to. In return, we were blessed with so much more than just answers, but with childhood memories, customs and traditions you can't research online, and a beautiful picture of what we might expect to see when we ourselves go to love on their people.

This was a rare and awesome opportunity that our team was given and I thank God for it. Being able to come together and break bread with Kiddis in her home, I think, prepared our hearts for this mission more than we could have imagined.


Written by: Shannon Mathis

A Wing and a Prayer: Friends Helping Friends

One of the best parts about being on this mission team is the outpouring of support from friends and family we've received. It seems that everyone we've shared with about our trip to Ethiopia wanted to know how they could get involved. One great example of this type of support is Stuart (Stu) Shearin and his company, "A Wing and a Prayer," located in eastern North Carolina. Stu makes gorgeous, hand-crafted, made-to-order bird houses and bird feeders.  

Stu gave us a bird house for our silent auction held during the Falls Village Chick-fil-A Spirit Night in Raleigh. It was a huge hit and received many bids. We thanked Stu for his thoughtfulness in donating the birdhouse, and his generosity did not stop there; he shared with us another awesome fundraising idea. "A Wing and a Prayer" donated two more beautiful birdhouses, the Chateau House, which retails at $260, and theCarolina Bluebird House, which retails at $99. He gave us the idea to sell raffle tickets for $5 each for the birdhouses. We drew two winners, a runner-up and the grand prize winner.

Because of the generosity of "A Wing and a Prayer" and because of the great fundraising idea from Stu, our bird house raffle raised around $1,200. It was amazing to see God's hand in this fundraising project and how receptive our friends and family were to it. The two lucky winners were thrilled with their birdhouses, and our team was equally as thrilled with the results of the fundraiser. What a blessing!

Written by: Suzanne Ward

Team Prayer Calendar

We hope many of you will use our team prayer calendar as a way to pray for specific needs for our trip. Prayer is a vital part of any mission trip and we hope you will pray with us as we seek to love His children.

August

2014

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
					1	2
					Pray that God would be preparing the hearts of each team member for the work He intends to accomplish in and through them.	Pray for the team leader, Cindy, that she would lead with wisdom and integrity and be granted discernment in all circumstances. Prov 2:7
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Pray for the team that they would be reminded that God will not leave them until all the work for the Lord is finished. 1 Chron 28:20	Pray that the team members would be surrendered fully to the Holy Spirit and therefore overflowing with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self control.   Gal 5:22	Pray that the team members would not worry over their weaknesses but be reminded that God’s power is made perfect. 2 Cor 12:9-10	Pray for the team members that they would put on the whole armor of God. Eph 6:10-18	Pray for the team members, that each day they would be concerned with making His name known and not distracted by their own needs, desires, or fears. John 3:30	Pray for the team members as Satan tries to tempt, distract, and discourage them that their faith would not fail. Luke 22:31-32	Pray that the team members would rely heavily on God and that He would lead their every action for His glory, not their own.
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Pray that the team members would not be consumed by the hardship they will witness but instead take hope in God’s compassion and salvation.	Pray that Berhanu and Emily Mekonen, the couple running the guest house, will be encouraged by the team members and their service.	Pray for the city of Addis Ababa.  Pray that the light and truth of Jesus Christ would bring natives out of the darkness of Islam. John 8:12	Pray that God would remove fear and remind team members that He will strengthen and uphold them. Is 41:10	Pray for safe travel to Washington DC for the Texas team members.  Pray for connections to be made and luggage to arrive for all team members.	Pray for safe travel to Ethiopia for all team members.  Pray for endurance and peace during the long flight.	Pray for the team who will be tired and jet lagged upon arrival, pray that God would strengthen their bodies and spirits. Matt 26:41
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
Pray for the team as we worship at a local church.	Pray for the team members’ ability to communicate clearly. Pray that God would remind the team that He is able to cross all language barriers!	Pray that as we work to meet the children’s needs that they will look to God as the one who provides.	Pray for the children that we will meet. Pray they feel the love of Jesus through our time together.	Pray that the team would be diligent in sharing Jesus with the children knowing their need for salvation is the most important need we could help meet.	Pray that the team would be able to share words of encouragement and give acts of service to the caregivers.	Pray that as team members are weary and heavy laden they would find rest and comfort in God’s Word and His love! Matt 11:28
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Pray for the team as they travel home. It is a long flight with several connections.	Pray for the team as we navigate how to process what we have experienced and how to share our trip with others.	Thank God, along with the team members, that He who is mighty has done great things on the trip to Ethiopia! Luke 1:46-50
31

Pray

James 5:16- The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Help Us Meet the Needs

$45= 1 mattress for a child

Tonight, when we lay our heads down on a pillow in our comfortable beds, ready to  drift off to sleep and dream of the possibilities of tomorrow, we should all know how blessed we truly are for many reasons. There is an orphanage in Ethiopia, just a few thousand miles away, where young girls are without any bed to call their own. If they are lucky, they will sharing a foam pad, and more than likely, they will be sleeping on the cold floor. Many will not have blankets to cover with and will huddle together for warmth.

Our mission team that is traveling to Ethiopia in just a few short weeks has the privilege to make a difference. We will be working alongside many orphanages as we go to do the work God has called us to do. In particular, our goal is to meet the physical needs of the 350 girls at this orphanage to give them a space of their own and provide each girl with their own mattress.   Everyone deserves to have their own personal space, no matter how small, and we thought by getting each girl a mattress, at least it is somewhere they can retreat to and call their own.

We have raised enough money for 225 mattresses for this orphanage, but we are short for the last 125. Can you help? Each mattress costs approximately $45. This amount will probably not make a huge impact on many of our monthly budgets, but it will most certainly make a difference in the life of a child in this orphanage. Please prayerfully consider partnering with us to meet this important goal.

We must raise $5,700 by August 10. 

If you are interested in helping, you can make an online donation at http://www.awaa.org/ACT/donate.aspx and click the “Donate” button. In the “Notes” section of the form, please write “August Ethiopia 2014- Cindy Douglass- Mattress Project.” 

 Our team wants more than anything to love the Ethiopian people and to tell them in spite of their circumstances, that above all else, God loves them. Thank you for your prayerful consideration.

Psalm 82:3- “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.”

Texas Chick-fil-A & Silent Auction

Chick-fil-A Spirit Night might be the easiest fundraiser I ever participated in. All we needed to do was invite our friends and family to enjoy dinner at Chick-fil-A on our Spirit Night, March 25th, and our team received a share of the profit from the sales we brought in. Setting up the Sprit Night only required a few phone calls with a manager at our local Chick-fil-A. Many of our friends and family were able to drive thru and support our trip. Other friends and family joined us at the Chick-fil-A for dinner. The best part of the whole night was the opportunity to share with those friends about our trip and awaited adoption. I really appreciated the support we received. I enjoyed meeting a few of the Wilson's friends and family. It was a great night.

Another fundraiser the Texas part of our mission team organized was an online silent auction. We used Facebook to promote and conduct a silent auction with donated items. The Wilson family and I approached our creative and local business owning friends for donations of crafts, art, and gift certificates to auction off to benefit our trip. Since all of the items were generously donated, all of the profits went directly to benefit our trip. We had 43 items to auction off, and we were so appreciative off all the donations. I approached a craft boutique in town, and several of her vendors that don't even know me donated several items. It was humbling to know that people I didn't even know were supporting our trip.

The auction was held on Facebook. We posted pictures of the items, and anyone could bid on an item by commenting on the picture. The highest bid at the end of the weekend was the winner.

My friend Pam Cavitt, who adopted her daughter Abby from Ethiopia six years ago, crocheted some baby hats and shoes for our auction. Abby was so excited about the hats and shoes being used to benefit the children in the Ethiopian orphanages.

Many of my friends had a good time bidding on items on our auction.

Two particularly "hot" items that got lots of bids were the mother/daughter apron set and the hand-sewn chair.

After our first silent auction, a friend of mine donated two Pandora bracelets to auction off in a second silent auction. The Wilson family and I gathered a few more items and held a smaller, second silent auction on Facebook. Since Mother's Day was approaching, we decided to auction things that would be great gift items.

After the second auction, I was so surprised to find that my trip was close to being paid for. The first conversation I had with our team leader, Cindy Douglass, she asked me what I was most worried about of all the things that might be worrisome about our trip. I replied that my biggest worry was affording the trip. We were in the process of saving money for our adoption from Ethiopia. Paying for the mission trip on top of saving for our adoption was something I was going to have to trust God to do.

After the fundraisers, the trip was completely not a burden at all. It was a blessing to see God provide for my mission trip and the trip for the rest of our team. It was also a blessing to include others in our trip, allowing them to have the blessing of being a part of our mission to Ethiopia.

Written by Jennifer Lane

Mother Daughter Tea

One of our most memorable fundraisers was the Mother/Daughter Missions Tea at Grace Community Church. We were privileged to be the guest speakers at the event and addressed more than 40 girls, ages two years-old through fifth grade, plus their mothers and grandmothers, about the orphan crisis in Ethiopia and the work we will be doing on our trip.

Several of our team members spoke to the group about some of the statistics of Ethiopia and the orphan crisis, why it is important to be the hands and feet of God, and also about some of the urgent needs of the orphanages in Addis Ababa. There even was a little African dancing! The portion that seemed to affect the girls the most was when we asked each of them to look under their chairs for pictures of items on the orphanage's urgent needs list. The preschool and elementary aged girls were really struck by how some of the items that are easily accessible to them every day, such as vitamins, socks, underwear, games, puzzles, Band-Aids and medicines, are not available to the sweet children we will meet at the orphanages.

At the conclusion of the tea, team member Keri Bosch shared final thoughts with the group on how there is a God that knows and loves each and every one of those orphans we will meet, and if these children have no one in the world to love them except for Jesus Christ, they have enough. That's why it is imperative that Christians bring the good news of Jesus Christ all over the world.

After our presentation, the girls were invited to the church's atrium to do a mission project. Each girl filled two 1 lb coffee bags with delicious smelling Ethiopian coffee. Each girl also decorated coffee filters and made them into flowers, packaging the coffee bags quite beautifully! All the participants at the tea were invited to the church service on Sunday to sell the coffee to the congregation. All proceeds from the selling of the Ethiopian coffee went directly to our trip and the work we will be doing in Addis Ababa.

The tea was such a fun night of fellowship and such a blessing to our team. A special thank you goes out to Grace Community Church for partnering with our team on many different levels. We truly appreciate your support and encouragement.

Psalm 82:3- "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed."

Written by Suzanne Ward

Garage Sale & Art Camp

The team has had some amazing kids involved in the fundraising efforts of our trip. From the beginning of our decision to go on this mission trip we began thinking of ways to include our children and help them to be a part of this journey as well.

Our family had a garage sale to help raise funds for our trip costs and decided to have a craft/bake sale at the same time. The idea was that our kids would run the craft portion and make the items that would go in it. The kids initially began by knitting scarfs with their grandmother’s help. Then our kids’ friends began to get involved as well.  It just exploded!  They made duct tape creations, sold lemonade, baked cookies to sell, etc.  Helping them create these items was the perfect opportunity to talk with them more about the orphan crisis in Africa and the small ways we can be a part of God’s plan to reach these children and their communities. The kids helped make signs for the garage sale and they were given full charge of their craft tables and money. After the sale, we took the kids who had been involved to Wal-Mart.  They were able to spend all the money they had raised on needed items for the orphans.  What better way to teach kids about service, compassion, and missions than by having them actually create the product and take those funds to buy needed items that we could physically take with us to Ethiopia. They really enjoyed the economics side of this project and it was such a joy to listen as they told people what they were doing with their profits!  They’re invested.

Then Libbie (our oldest daughter who’s going on the trip with us) and her best friend came up with a really creative idea this summer and created and led an art camp for kids age 5-8. All on their own they created sign-up sheets and contacted families and they ended up with 18 kids signed up for this camp. Honestly, I completely underestimated the two of them! I did not realize until the night before that they indeed had a legitimate camp that was about to happen. Libbie’s friend devised the projects, purchased the necessary supplies, and bought snacks and drinks for the kids. My lesson… never underestimate the determination of a child on a mission and fueled by Christ’s will for their life! They did great and with their excess funds over their costs, we were able to purchase 30 blankets for one of the orphanages we will visit that is severely lacking in bedding.

God has just blown our socks off with the awesome and creative ways He has provided and used his children for good!  We are in awe!

Matthew 6:25-26:  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Written by Barry, Shelly and Libbie Wilson

Tshirts & Bracelets

God has blessed this team with an over-abundance of funds!  Most of those funds didn't come in without a bit of work on our part. Our team put forth many fundraising efforts. One of the easiest fundraisers we did was selling T-shirts and bracelets.

Selling T-shirts is quite easy as long as they have an appealing design or logo. As a team we worked together to choose a shirt that we would all enjoy wearing and one that we thought well-represented the meaning of our trip. After that we ordered the shirts at a bulk rate. The advertising was super easy! We just had to wear the shirts. We wore them anywhere and everywhere: to church, to work, to all of our fundraising events, and anywhere else we chose. They were very popular and we were able to sell about 150 shirts.

The bracelets were also a very easy way to raise funds. We thought they would be popular with the children and they definitely were. One benefit of selling the bracelets is that you can sell them very inexpensively and still make a good profit. They are great for those who want to support the team but perhaps cannot afford a T-shirt. They were also a great way to get people to pray for our trip. They wear the bracelet, it reminds them of our trip, and it reminds them to pray for us. We were able to sell 200 bracelets.

These items have also brought about further opportunities to speak with others about our trip. I wear my team shirt frequently. Many people have commented on it or asked about it. Just today I wore it to Target and the lady in front of me in the check out line asked me about it. I was given the opportunity to tell her about our trip!

God is at work everywhere all the time!  He uses big and small things to further His Kingdom...even a T-shirt. :)

Written by: Angie Hudgins