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?

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

Ethiopia Throwdown 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?