Home Sweet Home

Well after being back in the US for a week I decided it was time to finish this blog sharing with each of you about what I learned while I was in Ethiopia. The major things I learned may not sound like major revelations to you but, they are lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
          The first major thing I learned was that just ONE person can make a huge difference. One of my faovrite quotes is "to the world you may just be one person, but to one person you may be the world", How true this quote was for me during my time in Africa. A smile, hug, handshake, even a tiny container of bubbles can make someones day. God has blessed you, no matter who you are and He didn't give you the many blessings you have so you can keep them for yourself. God blesses us so that we might be a blessing to someone else. The money we have, our education, our family, our talents are all given to us to share with others no hoard for ourselves alone. I never would have thought that the money everyone donated to this trip would clothe over ten children, feed 5 families for a month and provided baby formula for a baby who's mother has HIV, and pay rent for a month for a family, and even buy over ten pairs of shoes for children. WOW! All of those children, and thier families were blessed because some of you decided to share God's blessing with them. How awesome is that!
       Another thing I learned while I was in a home visit was what joy really is. Joy is smiling because of the Lord and all the He has done for you. Joy isn't being happy because of tangilble things. The source of Joy comes from the Lord. I hope to continue to share my blessings with others like I did in Africa, because the feeling I got from delivering food to a guardian with no speck of food in the house was indescribeable. I didn't do that for me, I did it because God has called us to feed the hungery; however, i think their faces were more of  blessing for me than anything else i have on earth. I met countless mothers who are trying thier very hardest to live on less than 25 cents a day while providing food, clothes and if they are lcuky, and education for thier children. On top of that, some of these mothers were living with HIV. If they can be full of joy why isn't every American? God truly is all we need in the world, it doesn't matter how much stuff you have, what matters is what you did with your blessings and time.
      I loved every minute spent with the children in Africa. I think about them every day and miss their smiles and hugs and kisses, but the presence of the Lord is so strong in that country. Everywhere we went we saw scripture, or pictures of Jesus, not to mention the joy most of the people there have. The funny thing is my first day back home was the only time I have cried since returning. What is surprising is that I wasn't crying, for the kids, or Ethiopia, I was crying for America. The fact that so many people in this country are living their lives totally separte from the Lord breaks my heart. The need for a savior is physically visible in Ethiopia, but here in America we are just as in need of a Savior, even if we have our physical needs met. Here murder, and rape, and theft occur every day in every city across this country. Where is the joy? Where is Love? Our country is missing something that Ethiopians have figured out, God is ALL we need. I ask you to continue to pray for BCI and the country of Ethiopia, but I also want you to really pray for this country. Pray for a revival in the church and in our country. We are letting Satan get the best of us because of our lack of action. By not doing anything you are working against the Lord. How will you reach our dying world?

Matthew 25

This week a passage of scripture was made so clear to me that I can’t help but tell everyone when I get home what a huge blessing it has been for me and Brant to feed, clothe, and care for Jesus through our time here in Ethiopia. 

Please don’t skip over this scripture passage and read the rest of this post. Even if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus this passage is key to understanding how much joy has filled my heart through what God has given us the opportunity to do.

Matthew 25:31-40

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in’ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to me.’

                Then the righteous will answer Him saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ And the king will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

                I never realized how this could be true but yesterday (Thursday) Brant and I went shopping with the social workers for three separate families. For one little girl who is very sick with swollen feet and hands, we bought shoes that will put very little pressure on her hurt feet as well as new clothes, because she only had 2 sets of clothes to her name.

                One family we helped was a mom and her two daughters 6 and 7 years of age. This mother does her best to provide for her girls, she teaches the younger one at home because she can’t afford school and she does whatever work she can to make money for food. This family was so sweet and on our way to their house for our final visit we bought them food for a month, oil and shoes and socks for the two girls.  When they saw us the girls ran to us and kissed our cheeks. It filled my heart with so much joy to see how $40 dollars brought huge smiles to the girls’ faces and relief to the mother’s.

                Our final visit was the visit that made the passage above so real I will never forget it. We went to visit a young girl, Ayu. She is 7 years old and both of her parents died of a sickness so her aunt took her in. Unfortunately her aunt has no work and is lucky to have a roof over their heads. She also has a 13 month old baby to care for. The baby is so small and undernourished it breaks my heart. She is about the size of a 7 month old and can’t walk yet because she has no strength for lack of food. During our visit Ayu’s social worker informed us that they had no food in the house. Brant and I were not going to leave that house without feeding all three of the girls and clothing the half naked baby and the girl with one pair of pants. So we set out with Ayu on our laps and bought Ayu and the baby clothes and shoes. We then proceeded to buy 6 boxes of baby cereal and 30 eggs for the baby to eat. We bought 25 kg of teff (to make injera) which will give Ayu and her aunt enough food for one month. We also bought3 liters of oil (2 months worth) and 10 loaves of bread.

                The most amazing part of all of this was that all of that food and clothes amounted to less than $70 US dollars. What do I spend $70 dollars on at home? The money I earn at home will now be so much more precious to me. Even though I am a poor college student I can afford to set aside $30 dollars a month so a child can go to school, or have enough to eat. Instead of going out to eat for $30 I will remember the faces of precious Ayu and her aunt when we arrived at their home arms full of food and clothes. How grateful and thankful they were. I should have been the one thanking them. Their undying faith in the midst of a most difficult situation, their selflessness in preparing coffee and popcorn for us when that was the only food in their house will stay with me every day. God is SO good to me and he blesses me not so I can buy unnecessary things for myself but so that I can use what he has blessed me with to shower his blessings on others.

                I ask you to pray for my new friend Tigist. She is 19 and is one of the social workers that has been with BCI for a few months. She has 11 children from her church that are newly added to BCI. Tigist’s and now my prayer is that each of their 11 children would be at least 1/3 ($30/month) sponsored before September so that each of them can start school. Pray pray pray for the hearts of those who are blessed to see that their blessing is to share what they have with those who don’t have.

Everything is Smaller in Ethiopia

Something Brant and I have noticed over the past few weeks is that everything in this country is smaller. The people are smaller, especially the children! The cars are smaller. The vegetables are smaller, especially potatoes.  The Cows are 3 times smaller. The cats are tiny! The roads are smaller (But in much better condition than the roads in Missouri oddly enough) The busses are smaller. The notebooks are smaller. The coffee cups are smaller.  The Soccer balls are smaller. The chairs are shorter. The list goes on.

                There is one thing that is much bigger here than in America and that is selflessness. Even though the people here have very little the first they do is give you whatever they have when you visit their home. Sometimes it’s bread, or seeds or popcorn or coffee or tea but they offer whatever they have. They also give the guest the best seat in the house and constantly ask if you need anything. They also will always help a neighbor. Several times we have been in a home where the mom has told us that her neighbor has lent her money for medicine or rent. They also don’t pester the family to pay them back.

                Something else that is smaller here is crime. Since we have been here I have not seen or heard about a single crime, small or big. The people her e are very respectful of one another. They are also extremely fair. Here is would be really easy to rip us white people off but they always give us correct pricing and change even when we are alone.  I wonder how different America would be with the crime rate they have here and the willingness to help a neighbor out.

                During our last week here I think I will be teaching in the morning and hopefully going on a few homevisits in the afternoon. We also have activity day on Thursday which should be the best day yet since all of the kids will be together to have fun.

Pray for safe travels next Monday and that we would continue to stay healthy. Also pray for more sponsors. One of the social workers has 11 kids and out of her 11 kids only 2 are 1/3 sponsored. Pray that people would be willing to sacrifice to send the kids to school, fill their bellies and keep them healthy.

The Joy of the Lord

This week we didn’t do anything too out of the ordinary; however we did me an extraordinary young lady. Samira is an 11 year old girl who lives with her mom and older sister. She loves the color purple and wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Her favorite food is meat and she loves to jump rope. I first met her at the school; she came right up to me hugged me and asked me to play with her. On Friday her social worker took us to her house for a home visit. We were greeted by her mom with a huge smile and offered tea and bread. Samira’s social worker brought her a letter and gift from her sponsor, which was very exciting for Samira and her family. Samira’s father passed away long ago and her mom works at a school cleaning. During the home visit I gave Samira a jump rope left by another missionary; so of course we had to go outside and break it in. (I am a terrible jump roper by the way).  When we came back inside Samira sat herself between me and Brant and had fun trying to tickle us and ask us questions about our families and our likes and dislikes.  I remember leaving and thinking that she was probably the most smiley family we had visited yet and that they were truly full of the Lord’s joy. I didn’t realize how true that was until later when I learned that both Samira and her mother are HIV positive. I never would have thought that, based on the way their eyes were lit up and they never stopped smiling. It’s strange to think how small insignificant things can make me unhappy, while this small girl has a life threatening incurable disease and she was full of joy. This home visit made me think about a verse in James that I now fully understand, “My brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience.” If you are facing a difficulty in your life that seems impossible to overcome, it isn’t. If an 11 year old girl can be full of joy and never stop smiling despite having HIV you can find that joy in the midst of whatever you are going through.

New Shoes and Home Vists

This past week we have been busier than usual. Last week we had two home visits per day. One of our home visits was with a 9 year old boy named Bahailu. Both of his parents have died and he is now living with his grandmother who can’t work and two aunts and two cousins in a two room mud house. He was such a sweet smiley boy J while at our home visit his social worker informed us of the many needs the family had; so Brant and I put to work the money everyone gave us to take on our trip. We bought Bahailu new shoes, pants and a jacket and we also went shopping with the grandmother and bought her enough food to feed the family for close to a full month.  I don’t think I have enjoyed spending money more in my life! And the amazing thing is all of this was purchased for less than $50!

                Another home visits that really touched our hearts was to a 6 month old baby who lives with his mother and grandmother. Natsanet (Victory) has had a very difficult life so far. His grandmother came to BCI afraid for her grandson’s life because of his mother’s instability.  Upon visiting with the mother BCI staff felt a strong urge to pray over her. While they were praying an evil spirit manifested itself. After a lot of fasting and praying for this woman the spirit left her and she accepted Jesus J However, at our home visit the social worker also told us these two women have no income because they do not work and that they are both HIV positive. Praise God Natsanet is HIV free; in order for him to remain HIV free he can’t breast feed. This poses a very difficult situation for his mother because milk is expensive and Natsanet has no sponsors. This boy is such a joy and represents the victory of Jesus of our enemy; Brant and I have decided to sponsor this baby; and our combined funds will make him fully sponsored. God is so wonderful!

                I would also like to tell you about one of my heros. Yabsera Yonas just turned 10. Her father passed away, so now it is just Yabsera and her mother. Yabsera’s mother is very sick and is HIV positive. She is the student I enjoyed the most during our time at the school. She is always smiling and loves to hug, which I am also a fan of. She also speaks decent English compared to her classmates. We went and visited Yabsera at home and when we arrived she greeted us with a huge smile. She took us to her one room house she shares with her mom and invited us to have coffee. Her mom was not feeling well so she stayed in bed for most of the visit, however she did have coffee with us. Yabsera goes to school does the housework and washes dishes and clothes to bring in a tiny income. She cooks when her mom is unable to and does her best to make her mom comfortable. She didn’t have any pants that were long or fit, so we took her and bought her a new pair of jeans and another missionary purchased her new shoes. We also asked her mother if there were any needs she had and she said she needed money to pay back the money her neighbor loaned her for her medicine, Sonia (another missionary) paid for that. The mom also said she needed cooking oil, rice, teff (a light grain) and milk. We bought her enough milk to have 1 liter a milk a day for 30 days and enough food to last a month. It sounds like an expensive gift but the total amount of the food was only 600 birr (about 37 USD).  I am amazed at how many things I take for granted, but one thing I know I will not forget is the look on these beautiful ladies’ faces when we told them we could provide for their immediate needs. I am so thankful that God was able to use insignificant me to ease the burden of this mother and her daughter.

Please pray this week that sponsors will be found for all the BCI children and teenagers like Yabsera and Bahailu. Pray for the many parents her are sick with HIV and pray for the elderly grandparents who willingly take in their orphaned grandchildren. Also thank God for the many many blessings he has given you. If you don’t think you are blessed, remember these stories.

Water Balloon Fights and Laundry Day

     I hope you are all having a great weekend. Yesterday the weather was rainy, but we definitely needed it because our water was very low. School is finally out so I don't know what we will be doing to fill our mornings. I hope we will get to go on more home visits. I love getting to know the kids in the program personally.
    Thursday the tutor kids came over after school. While one of the missionaries was working with them on math me and Sonia (another missionary) filled up a few water balloons to surprise them with. However, the kids found us before we were ready and a few water balloons turned into an all out water war. Thankfully it was the hottest day since we've been here so it felt nice. Brant, stayed dry, while I of course was soaked. The kids had a blast and it was a fun way to end the year.
    Today (Saturday) was also a wet morning. Brant and I did laundry. I don't think anyone in Ethiopia own a washer or dryer, all laundry is done by hand. I will never complain about doing laundry again. We spent an hour washing and rinsing all of our clothes and then we hung them up on the three clothes lines at the guesthouse. Unfortunately one of the lines broke so we had to rewash about 1/3 of the clean clothes. It was definitely an adventure and I can't say that I'm looking forward to laundry day next week. Brant and I both walked away with a few bloody knuckles due to the plastic buckets we had to carry. Their edges were surprisingly sharp!
     Yesterday was the last day of school for the kids. We went up to the school to play with them on their break and had a lot of fun with them but man did they wear us out. As soon as you step outside you are surrounded by kids trying to climb on you and touch your hair or swing on your arms. yesterday, we got to the school while the kids were in class so we enjoyed some peace and quiet for a few minutes. When we sat on the bench outside two little boys came and sat on each side of Brant. They were probable about 3 and 5 years old. They never said a word but they were very ticklish and loved playing with and holding Brant's huge hands!
    God is teaching us so much and I am so in love with the kids here. They are so precious and super friendly. I am excited to see what will happen next week!

Exam week

So far we have spent most of our time this week at BCI academy. It is so funny to see the difference in the kids at school and when we visit them at home. They barely say a word at home and then when we go to school we have to pry the kids off of us as we leave. They really like to touch our hair. One boy climbed up the window to reach Brant's head. One of the missionaries here has an Ethiopian friend named Sam, and he asked Brant if his hair was real. HA!
The third grade girls at school have taught me a few of the games they play. I am much better at the hand clap games than the foot/dancing games. They asked me to dance with them and when I tried they all bent over laughing at my terrible dance moves. they still told me I was a good dancer, but I think it was because they wanted me to dance more with them.
We are having an awesome time and in the evenings we get to relax. It is really strange to sit around and not do anything. In America we can pull out our computers, or turn on the TV or put in a movie really easily where as we can't really do that here. It's kind of nice to just relax. We have noticed that the people in this culture are very chill. They are rarely on time and most of the time when you ask them what's on the agenda they don't really know. This is hard for me because I love to have everything planned and scheduled out far in advanced but I am getting used to it and learning to just go with the flow (which Brant is already a pro at).

Hope you are having a great week!
Praise the Lord that Karen is feeling better! Please pray for the BCI staff as they begin to make plans to move ahead with an add on to their school. They met with the mayor and have been given more land to add a high school and preschool to the BCI program.

41 hours in Germany

What an interesting trip we've had so far. For those of you who don't know there was a volcano acting up in southern Ethiopia so our flight to Addis was canceled while we were in Germany. So after 2 flights canceled and barely making it on the 3rd and 41 hours in Germany we made it to Ethiopia. While we were stuck in the German airport Brant and I learned what it means to be truly bored, stressed worried and exhausted all at the same time. We spent a lot of time playing cards, walking around in circles and reading.  while we were waiting to be re booked for the third time we talked to an old woman who has traveled all over the world and was living in Munich during World War 2. She was so fun to talk to and she helped the two hours of waiting go by fairly quickly.
    Ethiopia is Gorgeous! I had no idea that the area we are staying in is surrounded by mountains. They are covered in green. The weather here is almost perfect, it is between 70-80 almost everyday with cool evenings and little to no rain. The only downside is all of the smog. The air here is not good at all and the smog is so thick that we can't see the stars at night : (  Thankfully there are two girls in the house who have been here for four weeks and they are showing us around before they leave in two weeks.
    The Capital city is so full of people and very very busy! It was hard to take everything in on our ride to Debre zeit. In order to go anywhere we have to take a taxi or a bajaj. A taxi is like a van crammed full of people 15-20 and is only like 10cents. A Bajaj is a tiny tiny car that you cram three people in the back seat and the price depends on how far you go.
    School is still in session thiss week so we were glad we got to go to the school and see all the kids. They are all so smiley! During an English class the teacher had them ask us questions in complete sentences. Most of them wanted to ask Brant questions and the best one was "Do you like food?" and "What is your favorite planet?" After we went to school we toured all the churches BCI partners with. One of the churches we visited has 500 adult members and 360 kids!
Yesterday we went on two home visits. The first one was very sad, the boy has no parents and lives with his elderly aunt in a one room (about the size of our laundry room) and the social worker had to tell her the boy's bad bevaior has caused the principal to reject him from the school for next year. Even though we couldn't understand the woman I could tell this was very hard for her because she has given up working and making a living to take care of her nephew and she wants the best for him. Something else that amazes me about This Country is their willingness to give. Everytime we enter someones home they offer us coffee and a mixture of seeds/nuts and it is extremely rude not to eat everything put in front of you. So here we were sitting in this tiny house with a woman who has no money and she was giving us coffee and a snack and wanted us to eat/drink it all. It was a very humbling experience.
    Our second home visit of the day was different. the atmosphere was much brighter and the two boys in the house were so adorabel! They were both seven and one of them asked us a lot of questions and then asked the translator to tell us he loved us : )
 We have learned a few Amharic words, but the one we hear the most is the word for White Person, I don't know how to say very well so I am not even going to attempt to spell it. Every time we walk somewhere and there are small kids around they love running up to us and grabbing our hands. Some of them will say the only English word they know--Money Money Money. The people here are so beautiful and I am broken for many the children who have nothing. In the next few weeks I am going to do my best to love them the way Jesus would.

Please pray for Karen, she is a missionary here from Canada who is very sick and hasn't eaten or drank anything for several days. Also pray for me and Brant that we would learn as much as possible from the two interns here before they leave so we will be ready to get around town on our own!

The Time Has Come!

The big day is finally here! If I could put into words how amazed I am at the amount of prayer support and financial support I have felt this past week I would. The Lord is so wonderful! He has not only blessed Brant and I with the $8000 we needed for our intial cost but he has given us enough to take some money from generous people to use to bless the people we come into contact with!

I am so pumped for this journey. I know I will learn a lot about myself, brant and about life in a whole new culture. I am extremely nervous abour traveling. I haven't ever traveled this far in my life and I haven't ever traveled on a plane without my parents. This is something I am definately trusting the Lord to help me with.

I don't know when I will be able to update again. Brant and I should be leaving on our first flight at 1:00PM tomorrow (sunday) and landing in Ethiopia at 1:00PM Monday. Pray that travel is smooth and complication free. Pray for our parents and friends that we are leaving behind; pray that the Lord would give them peace of mind about the safety of their babies : )

Thank you so much for supporting this adventure!

I love you all!

Abby

Romans 12:21 "Do not be overcome with evil; overcome evil with good"

Shots Shots Shots!

I feel like the abominable snowman! I have been vaccinated for Polio, Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Hepatitis A and I have medicine to take for malaria prevention. Brant and I also have some intense bug spray to keep as many mosquitoes away from us as possible.

Shots are not the only thing we have been preparing for. After receiving our trip kits I realized there are several things I needed to be sure and get. The first being packaged meat. Meat in Ethiopia is extremely rare and very expensive so it is much cheaper and safer for us to bring packaged meat. We are required to bring at least 7 cans of meat each so after hunting around Sam’s Club I bought 10 cans of chicken and 8 cans of tuna. I also bought a huge box of fruit snacks and two boxes of crackers. These snack we will take with us when we got to visit the children in their homes. I am looking forward to taking the books I have bought and reading to the kids while enjoying a fun treat.

Brant and I get four 50lb bags each and these bags of luggage can’t exceed 50lbs. This has been quite the challenge for me because I am a heavy packer. However, I have learned over the past couple of days how to pack lighter. The only thing left to pack are last minute items and clothing.  J

We each also recieved our trip kits which included a shirt and plane tickets and a book that has a page dedicated to each child in BCI's program. I have not even met these children and yet my heart is already borken for the hardships they have had to face early in their lives. I know the Lord is watching over them and I am so excited to be the hands and feet of Jesus to these kids!

Please continue to pray for safe travels. Brant and I have never traveled without at "grown up" before let alone had to take three flights and find our way through two foreign airports! Also pray that the Lord would continue preparing our hearts for all the things we will be experienceing over the next 6 weeks : )

Facts

I am so excited for this new adventure. Before heading across the globe I thought it would be a good idea to find out a few facts about Ethiopia. After Googling a few things I found several facts that broke my heart even more for the people of this country.

• Ethiopia is ranked number ten on the list of Third World Countries in terms of GNI (gross national income) The average yearly income for someone living in Ethiopia is $859.
• Ethiopia has the 8th lowest human development score. This is based on life expectancy, knowledge, and GDP.
• Ethiopia is one of 34 African countries considered by the United Nations to be in the top 50 poorest countries in the world. 
• Average income is less than 25 cents a day.
• One out of two children suffer from being malnourished and underweight. 
• Only 11% of the people in urban Ethiopia have access to improved drinking water.
• Only 4% of urban Ethiopia has access to sanitation facilities.
• One out of ten children die before reaching their first birthday. One out of six dies before reaching their fifth birthday. 
• There are 4 Million orphans in Ethiopia, 20% of them are AIDS orphans.
• Adult literacy is 39%
• Only 30% of children attend primary school. 
• Life expectancy in Ethiopia is 46 years old. 
• 52% of the population is under the age of 18 and 25% of those are under the age of 5. 

This country is in so much need. Thankfully BCI is there to help. Brant and I are so excited to see what the Lord is doing in Debre Zeit. Please pray for this country, especially the children. They are the next generation and my prayer is that they will be a generation of progress and growth for this country.

Below is a map of Ethiopia. Brant and I will be spending our time in Debre Zeyit, a town near the capital city Addis Ababa.