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.

Off to the airport

Nothing clever to say nor wise to tell. I will be leaving for the airport in 4.5 hours for a flight out of Albuquerque that leaves at 7:02am for DC. I get into DC around 1pm and then it's off to Ethiopia at 8:30 pm! The flight is over 7000 miles and will take 15 hours. This will give me a lot of time to not only sleep but also to get to know the others that are on this trip with me. I took a picture of myself all loaded up, the only things that are missing from this picture are my camera and my tripod. (I got one very similar to yours Kevin) The tripod is pretty sweet because it hooks onto the side of my camera bag by putting one of the legs through a loop in the bag. I am going to head off to bed now to get at least a little sleep. I encourage you to post comments as it is the main way that I will be keeping in touch with people, and thank you for reading it means a lot that you took the time to do so. I will do my best to keep you entertained with stories and photos that I will regularly try to load on to my Picasa web page which is linked at the very bottom of this blog as well as right here PHOTOS

My next blog will be from Ethiopia's capital city.

a WEAK from tomorrow

As the departure time rapidly approaches I am reminded by recent events of the great heartache that is ever present in the lives of people right here in my home town. I cannot bear the weight of their brokenness and heartache any more than I can bear my own for I also am broken, I am WEAK. The realization of the brokenness in the world we live in does not come as a surprise to me. We as humans have known famine, drought, pestilence, murder, death, illness, suicide, infidelity, broken-homes, genocide, and other hardships for thousands of years. No the state of the world we live in comes as no surprise to me, a world without God could come to no other end. The one thing that does astonish me is the individual who is so overwhelmed by his/her own problems that the compassion he/she had for others has been forgotten.

I am leaving for Ethiopia in a little over a week and my heart breaks for the pain that is present here at home. There is such a great need for compassionate people who are willing to not ignore those who are crying out for help and who are willing to pursue those who just want to be ignored. I cannot confine God to the box who's metric is comfort and stability. Life is too short to not live. All will see the face of death this is a fact that cannot be argued. Longevity can be extended in a society that worships safety and health, but in the end death will prevail. I could never live my life by a list of dos and donts that would ensure my health but in turn confine me. The pursuit of longevity leads to unhealthy phobias of germs, spiders, and intercontinental travel. Not all fear leads to confinement, fear can also set one free. I fear God. But I do not fear Him as my prosecutor, I fear Him as I stand in awe of the creation before me, I fear Him as I come to know His power, I fear Him as he transforms my life, I want to live a life in fear of a merciful God, I do not want to live a life in fear of where He might lead me.

Shirt designs and making it all fit

Collin Brady and myself spent 4 hours spray painting logos on t-shirts last Saturday, it was actually a lot of fun. I made cardboard stencils based on the top soccer teams in the Ethiopian Primier League for the 2009/2010 season. To keep the over spray to a minimum I put a sheet of double sided tape on the bottom of the stencil after cutting it all out, seems to have worked pretty well. The teams that will be represented during the soccer camp are Ethiopian Coffee, Dedebit Football Club, Awassa City, and the reigning champions St. George Football Club. A little side note for anyone wanting to spray paint t-shirts... don't use dark shirts. After we were done spray painting the 108 shirts we set to making ourselves a few shirts of our own, you can see them in the background of the picture. Now that I have the shirts all made, let's see if I can fit them in with everything else I am packing...
It was a bit of a chore but I have now successfully packed two fifty pound bags for my checked luggage. Anything else I decide I need to bring like say my toothbrush will have to be squeezed into my medium sized backpack that fits as a carry on.
Might have to shift some stuff around so that I have a heavier carry on, hopefully it won't end up at 50 pounds as well. So if you're looking at this picture and wondering how in the world I am ever going to be able to catch a plane with all this stuff, the following might help. This is going to be my loading procedure to fit all of this stuff on my person: First that little green camera bag that will host my Nikon D90 and other camera essentials, I will put it on one shoulder and wear it across my body like a messenger bag. Next comes the large fifty pound pack that gets to ride on my back and gets strapped at the chest and at the waist. Next the small pack that I will wear like one of those fake belly's that you can get to simulate pregnancy strains, this one also will be strapped at the waist around my back and possibly at the "chest" if I can get my hands back there. Finally the roller bag. I will be dragging this behind me, as most roller bags will go. This will be quite the show, I'll try to get a picture up here for you so you can see just how ridiculous I will look. Off to work I go, more to come later, thanks for reading!

15 days till I leave

This blog will be my primary means to communicate with everyone while I am an Ethiopia, as well as up to the time of my departure. I have been preparing for this trip since January of this year and it has been quite the journey. To all of you who have made the sacrifice to help support me financially I thank you, this trip would have been a huge burden without your help. With your help I was able to contribute a great deal to this trip beyond the cost for me to get there.
Many of you may be wondering what exactly I will be doing while I am out there and why I am going.
So here is the scoop on that. Thomas Hill introduced me to an organization called Mocha Club which serves various needs of the African people I encourage you to check it out. After giving to this organization for a couple years I decided I would go on one of their trips to Africa, when I found out that I could get a full four weeks off of work to go I signed up for the month long trip. There are a total of 10 people that will be traveling with me to Ethiopia including Gaia and Presley who are Asher and Missy's young children. Our purpose on this trip is simply this, to show them that they are touchable, that they are lovable, that they are not helpless, and that there is a God who sent His son to earth to live, die, and rise again for their sake. In the activities we do with them we will show them that we care for them just as they are. Through the relationships we build with them we will share the love of Christ that flows in and through us. I anticipate though that in our service to them we will each be humbled in our own way and God will work in us to continue to transform our hearts.
These are the two main ministries we will be supporting while in Ethiopia:

* Ambo: We will mostly be working with the Compassion kids. These kids are either orphaned or living with no/low income families that cannot provide for even basic levels of education. We will also be spending some time with street kids. These kids have NOTHING. They are on the streets for no fault of their own. Their parents probably died of AIDS, can't afford them, or it's safer for them to live on the streets than it is to live at home. These kids are very smart and very kind. They want to learn. However, because they are street kids, society there doesn't give them a chance at anything - education, job, etc. After MC sent some teams there in 2008, several if not all of us voiced our hearts for wanting to help them have a chance at a better life. Since then, they have built a school for these same kids. That's where we'll be teaching English to them for many of the mornings while we are there. And in the afternoons, one of the main activities that we will do will be a soccer camp, because they LOVE soccer! These kids gain a little in understanding a few new English words, and they have fun with soccer, but the main goal here is to love them, build relationships with them, and have them feeling like someone cares about them and who they are.

* Women at Risk: These women are rescued out of prostitution to make money to support their children. This program teaches them trades to sell at market. Some of their children will be there, too, so we will be ministering to both. Again, loving them just by being there for them is huge, and we will also see what we can do to help them learn how to create new things to sell at market. In some of the phone calls, we have had some ideas about what we can be doing (knitting, necklaces), but we have also discussed that using local materials will be helpful to them, so we're looking to see what we can be creative with once we get there as wel


The following is a list of all the things that I will be packing with me in two 50 lb bags:
-23 new Umbro soccer balls
-12 double action ball pumps
-20 175g discraft Ultimate Frisbees, thank you Young Life Crooked Creek for the reduced cost
-108 t-shirts of 4 different colors, thanks mom
-4 different spray painted designs on all the shirts for the four teams, thanks Collin and Brady for your help
-drawing pads, pencils, washable face paint, paint brushes, and permanent markers
-200 adhesive laminating sheets to help preserve the photos we take for the women in Nazret