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?