This is the site I set up to raise money for specific needs I saw while i was in Ethiopia.
brandonstone.me
And this is a video of my engagement...
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
My Summer Parallel
I used this video in my Young Life Club talk. It has some of my favorite pictures from Ethiopia as well as a number of shots that parallel that experience back to the week I spent at a Young Life camp in CO (Crooked Creek).
The last picture is one of my favorite, that's why I leave it there for so long. This kid is most likely living on the street and he is holding onto a couple of grocery bags with enough food to last a few days. In his other hand is an old tire which is more than likely his only source of entertainment, he'll run along next to it with a stick to keep it rolling. I hope you enjoy this small glimpse of Ethiopia.
The last picture is one of my favorite, that's why I leave it there for so long. This kid is most likely living on the street and he is holding onto a couple of grocery bags with enough food to last a few days. In his other hand is an old tire which is more than likely his only source of entertainment, he'll run along next to it with a stick to keep it rolling. I hope you enjoy this small glimpse of Ethiopia.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Such an amazing day!
It is now almost 11 pm and I will be ep by 7 tomorrow, should be just enough sleep to get me through another day. We did the soccer tournament today with the street kids and they all had a pretty incredible time. It was great to be able togive each of them something and have them all excited to be part of a team. At the end of the tournament we awarded each team with a new ball and as soon as they received it they paraded the ball around the field as if it were the world cup trophy singing songs of celebration. Such an amazing sight.
Then after dinner we hosted a bonfire Ethiopia style in the courtyard of a hotel here in Ambo. It was really fun singing songs with our entire team, translators, and the three street boys included. Then we took part in a coffee ceremony and enjoyed conversation with one another. The most incredible part of the day tho was when part of our team had left to go to bed and just a couple of us with our translator were able to have a deep conversation with one of the street boys, just listening to the great pains he has felt in life and the hoplessness he has felt over the years. The two other street boys and Asher then returned and we had a time of sharing and talking about all the suffering they have gone through. In the end we had no explanation as to why they have endured so much and why all of these things had happened to them to put them in the place that they are today. But we could give them hope and we could share with them stories of others that endured lifetimes of suffering waiting to be healed. Daniel, the man at the well of Bethesda, the woman who sufered from internal bleeding, had all endured great suffering. They were all so greatfull that we have come into their lives and ther teams as well, to bring them out of the slum of hopeless ness that they had been in. They are able to see the hand of God as we reach out to them with compassion. We may have brought them a few shrts and clothed them with some pants and put shoes on their feet, but the greatest impact we have had on these three kids is to show them that they have not been forgotten that Gd knows there name; that they do have a choice as to whether they will do what they can with what they have been given. As Brehenu put it today, "We don;t have much but we share what we do have." This guy has sucha great heart and I am grateful that I have had the chance to share in part of his story.
So much has happened since being here and I have been impacted in so many ways, there is no posible way that I can write about all of it while I am here, but please know this from the small tidbits I have writen thus far about my trip: Even as great as the needs are here in Ethiopia and as much as my heart goes out to the people here and there pains this trip has inspired me all the more to serve and show the love and heart of Christ to all that cross my path independent of where it is I might call home. This month Ethiopia is my home, this year Los Alamos, NM is my home. Where is it that you call home?
Then after dinner we hosted a bonfire Ethiopia style in the courtyard of a hotel here in Ambo. It was really fun singing songs with our entire team, translators, and the three street boys included. Then we took part in a coffee ceremony and enjoyed conversation with one another. The most incredible part of the day tho was when part of our team had left to go to bed and just a couple of us with our translator were able to have a deep conversation with one of the street boys, just listening to the great pains he has felt in life and the hoplessness he has felt over the years. The two other street boys and Asher then returned and we had a time of sharing and talking about all the suffering they have gone through. In the end we had no explanation as to why they have endured so much and why all of these things had happened to them to put them in the place that they are today. But we could give them hope and we could share with them stories of others that endured lifetimes of suffering waiting to be healed. Daniel, the man at the well of Bethesda, the woman who sufered from internal bleeding, had all endured great suffering. They were all so greatfull that we have come into their lives and ther teams as well, to bring them out of the slum of hopeless ness that they had been in. They are able to see the hand of God as we reach out to them with compassion. We may have brought them a few shrts and clothed them with some pants and put shoes on their feet, but the greatest impact we have had on these three kids is to show them that they have not been forgotten that Gd knows there name; that they do have a choice as to whether they will do what they can with what they have been given. As Brehenu put it today, "We don;t have much but we share what we do have." This guy has sucha great heart and I am grateful that I have had the chance to share in part of his story.
So much has happened since being here and I have been impacted in so many ways, there is no posible way that I can write about all of it while I am here, but please know this from the small tidbits I have writen thus far about my trip: Even as great as the needs are here in Ethiopia and as much as my heart goes out to the people here and there pains this trip has inspired me all the more to serve and show the love and heart of Christ to all that cross my path independent of where it is I might call home. This month Ethiopia is my home, this year Los Alamos, NM is my home. Where is it that you call home?
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Journal Augst 3rd-12th
Follow the link below to read in my journal the entries over the last week or so, I am sorry I have not been able to post more often, but this should fill you in on how things are going, Sorry if anything is to personal, or mispelled/sloppy for you I didn't re-read it before posting
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The week in Ambo
Good Morning from Ambo!
We traveled out here to Ambo a few days ago it is about 160 km outside of Addis. The drive was pretty incredible with numerous views of the countryside. During our time here thus far we have spent time with street boys and compassion kids. The compassion kids are supported by the church and attend school in a building that mohaclub raised the money to build. The school is located on the church grounds less than a mile from here. We spent one morning teaching English to the compassion kids and we will return this morning to continue to teach them more english. So far our teaching methods seem to be extremely effective and I am excited to go back later this morning. In the afternoon we spent time playing football and other games with the compassion kids, they seem to have had a great time. Most of the time we are in Ambo will be spent with the compassion kids, enough time it seems that we should be able to develop some great friendships here in Ambo. Jealousay - means my friend in Amharic, and I have made many of those.
Yesterday we spent the morning with about a hundred street boys, It was only three hours of our time but it seemed to last much longer than that. The street boys here in Ambo live owning nothing except for the shirt on their back, they work the street for money to buy food by selling gum or shining shoes. There are a few street buys that have been spending a lot of time with us and traveling with us to and from the church on the bus, their names are Gaytar, Barahan?, and Tura. I am very grateful for the time that they spend with us. I need to get going to Breakfast but I want to leave you with an image that you can capture and remember when you think of me here in Ethiopia. Imagine two 16 year old boys one on my left and one on my right, the one on my right is holding my hand and I have my arm around the other one's neck, we are joined by four others and we are walking down a dirt road next to some small shops. The Ethiopian people show their friendly affection with each other by holding hands and putting their arms around one another. The looks of astonishment from others in the small market area as they looked on wondering how these teens could be friends with foreenjay, foreigners, was incredible. For they are street oys, and they are the outcasts of society, why would I a foreenjay choose to travel all this way to spend time with the outcasts of their society?
We traveled out here to Ambo a few days ago it is about 160 km outside of Addis. The drive was pretty incredible with numerous views of the countryside. During our time here thus far we have spent time with street boys and compassion kids. The compassion kids are supported by the church and attend school in a building that mohaclub raised the money to build. The school is located on the church grounds less than a mile from here. We spent one morning teaching English to the compassion kids and we will return this morning to continue to teach them more english. So far our teaching methods seem to be extremely effective and I am excited to go back later this morning. In the afternoon we spent time playing football and other games with the compassion kids, they seem to have had a great time. Most of the time we are in Ambo will be spent with the compassion kids, enough time it seems that we should be able to develop some great friendships here in Ambo. Jealousay - means my friend in Amharic, and I have made many of those.
Yesterday we spent the morning with about a hundred street boys, It was only three hours of our time but it seemed to last much longer than that. The street boys here in Ambo live owning nothing except for the shirt on their back, they work the street for money to buy food by selling gum or shining shoes. There are a few street buys that have been spending a lot of time with us and traveling with us to and from the church on the bus, their names are Gaytar, Barahan?, and Tura. I am very grateful for the time that they spend with us. I need to get going to Breakfast but I want to leave you with an image that you can capture and remember when you think of me here in Ethiopia. Imagine two 16 year old boys one on my left and one on my right, the one on my right is holding my hand and I have my arm around the other one's neck, we are joined by four others and we are walking down a dirt road next to some small shops. The Ethiopian people show their friendly affection with each other by holding hands and putting their arms around one another. The looks of astonishment from others in the small market area as they looked on wondering how these teens could be friends with foreenjay, foreigners, was incredible. For they are street oys, and they are the outcasts of society, why would I a foreenjay choose to travel all this way to spend time with the outcasts of their society?
Friday, July 30, 2010
On the Ground in Ethiopia
What an amazing last two days this has been. Internet access is less available that I originally thought so these blogs may be sparse, I will try to type the next one in advance so that you will have a more complete grasp as to how it has all been going. We visited AHOPE today which is an organization that takes in kids with HIV and gives them medicine and allows them to live a normal life. It was such a precious and unforgettable time. When I first walked into the room with all the kids I was standing near the back of the group and a young boy walked through the crowd of ten people straight to me, just ti hold my hand and admire my bracelets. It was such and incredible experience playing on the swings with kids and running after them in a game of duck duck goose. So many priceless moments. We also went to the early teen version of the same ministry, so the kids were older and more able to talk with us in English. One boy's name was Elias who immediately took a liking to me as we played around with a soccer ball and I showed him a few new tricks. We played some basketball and I taught him four square and a version of rock paper scissors called Gorilla Ninja Gun. Such a great time, we even have secret handshake that in my opinion is pretty awesome. Come time to leave he wanted to know if I would come tomorrow, I honestly didn't know if we would be able to come back, I told him to remember the games I taught him and that I would hopefully be back soon. My heart aches for him, but I am grateful that he is at such a great place. Turns out we will be able to go back to see them at least one more time before we leave.
Looks like I have a little more time than I thought to write so I will also include my night last night. First of all it is crazy to think that it was only 24 hours ago that we were waiting for our Visas in the airport. Funny story, the customs agent had no clue what frisbees were and I had my bags searched because of it, it was pretty interesting trying to explain to them that it is something that you throw, is I tossed a high release into the air... haha. I spent the night last night in an open air bunk house and it was had to get used to the noises of the night in an unfamiliar city. From dogs to hyaenas, people and street noises to the occasional thunk as a large tree would shed its large seeds. I woke before sunrise to the muslim prayer call, I woke to read my Bible pray and then spend the rest of the morning talking with Grema who is the man renting us the guesthouse for the church. He showed me pictures of is girlfriend so I in turn showed him the only 3 pictures I managed to bring. :)
Driving in Addis was insane even worse than driving in Paris and that is saying something. The people here tho are genuine to the core going to market today was an interesting experience, I will definitely need to learn a few things before shopping there, like the follow and in this order... How much is it? that's too much... can you lower the price... that's too much... walk away... and wait for a shout of the prince I wanted.
I have really enjoyed getting to know people out here in Addis, more specifically the people on my team and our translators. Surafel is involved in Young Life out here in Ethiopia I look forward to talking with him some more about how it has been going with camps and such this summer. It is getting late, but the trip is young, we will be going to Ambo tomorrow and I really look forward to spending some time with the boys there, mostly because I know that we will have multiple opportunities to reach out to them. Thank you all for your continued prayers, not sure if it is going to be possible with this slow connection but I will at some point get a couple of pictures up to show you some of what I am experiencing here in Ethiopia.
Looks like I have a little more time than I thought to write so I will also include my night last night. First of all it is crazy to think that it was only 24 hours ago that we were waiting for our Visas in the airport. Funny story, the customs agent had no clue what frisbees were and I had my bags searched because of it, it was pretty interesting trying to explain to them that it is something that you throw, is I tossed a high release into the air... haha. I spent the night last night in an open air bunk house and it was had to get used to the noises of the night in an unfamiliar city. From dogs to hyaenas, people and street noises to the occasional thunk as a large tree would shed its large seeds. I woke before sunrise to the muslim prayer call, I woke to read my Bible pray and then spend the rest of the morning talking with Grema who is the man renting us the guesthouse for the church. He showed me pictures of is girlfriend so I in turn showed him the only 3 pictures I managed to bring. :)
Driving in Addis was insane even worse than driving in Paris and that is saying something. The people here tho are genuine to the core going to market today was an interesting experience, I will definitely need to learn a few things before shopping there, like the follow and in this order... How much is it? that's too much... can you lower the price... that's too much... walk away... and wait for a shout of the prince I wanted.
I have really enjoyed getting to know people out here in Addis, more specifically the people on my team and our translators. Surafel is involved in Young Life out here in Ethiopia I look forward to talking with him some more about how it has been going with camps and such this summer. It is getting late, but the trip is young, we will be going to Ambo tomorrow and I really look forward to spending some time with the boys there, mostly because I know that we will have multiple opportunities to reach out to them. Thank you all for your continued prayers, not sure if it is going to be possible with this slow connection but I will at some point get a couple of pictures up to show you some of what I am experiencing here in Ethiopia.
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