Each morning of the trip we would come together as a team to do a devotion and pray over the upcoming day. However, it was always a struggle for me to sleep (thanks to the street noise, fighting cats, barking dogs, etc.), so I would wake up ridiculously early and spend precious time with Jesus in the peace and quiet of my room.
That first morning, I focused my time with the Lord on the devotional scripture, Colossians 1:15-29. The verse helped answer the question "Who is Jesus?"
I took away so much from that morning's passage, but my biggest takeaway prepared me for the day in a way that I wasn't expecting. I recognized that my testimony may not be the most inspirational or powerful, but Jesus' is. His story is all that matters.
Breakfast always followed the morning devotional. BUT, I quickly learned that Ethiopians don't just fix breakfast. They serve us an entire feast. Every. Single. Meal. Breakfast was always their attempt to make us feel at home. However, Ethiopian American food is just slightly different, but always delicious. I wasn't aware of its deliciousness at this point. I was TERRIFIED of getting sick, so I barely ate anything for the first couple of days. Soon, I would learn of the fabulous food I was missing out on and eventually face my fears and enjoy their flavor.
After breakfast, we would get our assignments for the day. Yes Mom, I genuinely didn't know where we would be going or what we would be doing until we were getting into our vans and were leaving for the day. :)
My group left for the Fatuli village to do some door-to-door evangelism. We later agreed that the better term would be hut-to-hut evangelism. On the drive over, it became apparent very quickly that we weren't in Kansas anymore. We were away from what we know and what we were comfortable with. I would say that this drive was the turning moment for me from fear to courage and trust in God alone.
As we pulled up to the village, little kids started swarming the van. We handed out bubble gum and quickly saw the importance of the "one-piece per kid" rule. A kid (no more than 10 years old) was at my window holding a huge machete asking for more gum. Apparently, that is the norm for Ethiopian boys, but it was nerve-wracking, to say the least. We asked another child if he knew English, and his one and only response was "money?" It was a rude awakening to the poverty, the pain, and the reality of living in third-world countries.
We went into a small hut and prayed over the day. This was our first real exposure to their language (I'm not sure which specific language this village spoke, but they are all truly breathtaking).
The Ethiopian's prayer was not prayer as we know it in America. This was Holy Spirit speaking through each and every person in that room.
It was the first of many many tears I would shed on this trip. We were split into pairs, I was lucky enough to be paired up with my dear friend, Lauren. We set out to share the name of Jesus boldly.
Our first stop took us to a group of guys playing cards. Our translator told us they said they were "working," but we could talk to them while they worked. Needless to say, the evangelism was less than successful. It was so disheartening to walk away from our powerful time of prayer into a failed evangelism attempt. If I were a better person, I would say that it didn't affect me. However, that's a lie. I was crushed. Thankfully, our next experience was better.
We walked upon a man who appeared interested in what we had to say. Lauren gave a short version of her testimony. It was moving, powerful, and the man ended up getting saved. As we continued onward, he decided to join and follow us as we shared the Gospel with even more people in the village. We met so many different people that day. I wish I could remember them all! I think that another person was saved that day, but we didn't take pictures, and I simply cannot remember.
I do remember our final evangelism experience of the day. We met a family where the father was Orthodox and the mother was Christian. He was broken and angry and refused to talk to us and appeared unwilling to listen. His wife shared with us that shortly after she was saved, her oldest child was instantly healed. Though the translation was messy, we came to understand that she now had another sick child. She invited us into the house to pray over her baby. The middle photo is a powerful depiction of a mother crying out in agony to God for her child to be healed. The love of a mother runs so deep.
I think of this exact moment often as I pray over my own child. I wish I could say that as soon as we prayed the child was healed, but I don't. However, I still to this day pray and hope that God will bless that mother's faithfulness.
After our time going hut-to-hut (with a LOT of walking in between), we went back to a woman's house for mid-day coffee and popcorn. I was as surprised as you are that Ethiopia has popcorn. As it turns out, coffee is an essential food group in Ethiopia. This was the first of many many many wonderful conversations over coffee. We got to spend hours talking and getting to know the missionaries there. I showed them a picture of Jaxon and they told me that we have fat babies in America. Jaxon isn't even that big of a baby :) Still, they were in awe of him and all of our families.
After this, it was about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and we were ready for some lunch. We said our goodbyes to the villagers and left with full hearts knowing that we had shared Jesus with so many good people that day.
On the way home, we stopped at a cafe and ate delicious Ethiopian food. This day was my favorite meal of the entire trip. I "ripped the bandaid off" of Ethiopian food so to speak. We had a vegetable soup that was out of this world good and Lamb Tibs with the fabulous injera bread. I'm still not sure exactly what Tibs are, but I know they like them.
Salem runs the missionary program in Ethiopia, and I enjoyed taking in his wisdom on our long van rides. He asked if I was an evangelist, and I said, "Oh, no!" He told me, "You can evangelize. All you have to do is talk about God and His salvation, and that salvation is found through Christ for the sin of man then cover our response and responsibility to the Gospel. We all evangelize." What powerfully true and simple words. That same car ride, Salam also gave me the nickname Mato because my skin was sunburned and red like a tomato. Wise and funny man!
We came back, ate dinner around 9pm (because that is what you do in Ethiopia), and I started working on the next morning devotional.
At the end of this day, I was exhausted and honestly a little defeated. I did not see a "good enough" response from my personal evangelism that day, and I was beginning to feel like I had failed. God reminded me that I was there to do His work. The Gospel will move if it is His plan, and I am not powerful enough to stop His plan. It was a freeing realization. The next day would end up being one of the highlights of the entire trip. I think it was because I finally began to quit making the whole trip about me. Funny how that happens...
Don't forget to read about the rest of our experience by clicking the links below!
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