The First 10 Days in Africa - Part 2 - Ethiopia

On our way to the airport to head to Ethiopia on July 4th, we stopped for lunch.  Instead of going to a restaurant, we went to someone's house.  Florence, the same sweet lady who cooked lunch for us at Tara's house, made the 3 hour journey to cook for us again at her brother's house. The food was delicious as always, but God brought us all together again for a much different/higher purpose.

After we ate, we actually had some time to relax and socialize.  Jane, our guide while in Rwanda, introduced us to her husband (who had graciously rescued our missing luggage the day before and brought it to us) and to the homeowners & their family.  Lots of stories were shared, including some about the genocide. 

But also during this time, we learned that the sweet lady who had cooked for us was a struggling widow with 3 children.  Immediately, the decision was made for us to pool our resources and help her with rent.  When Florence was told we wanted to help, she fell to her knees in tears and in gratitude to God!!!  She worshipped Him unabandonly for His provision and for answering her prayers.  There was not a dry eye in the house!!!  James 1:27 says to take care of orphans and WIDOWS, and God allowed us to do just that in Rwanda.  ONLY GOD!

Our fierce team leaders Laura & Tymm with Florence

Our team after wiping our tears of joy

I am sitting next Florence and Faith is sitting next to Jane our guide

Faith is giving hugs to Jane's son Gideon one last time before we head to the airport.

At the airport, it was CHOCOLATE TIME!!!

On the flight, I had the privilege of sitting next to Chelsey and getting to know her better.  She is hooked on Africa and has an amazing servant's heart!

In the capitol city of Ethiopia, there were lots of people, construction projects, and means of transportation

This is the guest house where we stayed in Addis Ababa

Faith and Taylor 

When we arrived at the guest house, I started praying about room assignments.  I asked God to put me where He wanted me.  The 3 married couples each had their own rooms.  The remaining 2 guys shared a room.  The females were divided among 3 rooms (4 bed, 6 bed & 10 bed.)  Faith went with Tanya, Taylor & Meagan.  I went with Kelly B., Jen R., Missy, Carla & Jenny. 

I continued to pray as I took my things to my room on the 3rd floor.  As I was walking up the stairs, God made it very clear...He was putting me in the same room with Missy so I could hear her story.  Also, He laid another team member, Morgan, heavy on my heart and wanted me to pray for her constantly.

Later that night, Summer from Project 61 came over and talked with us about what we would be doing ministry wise the next 2 days in Korah (the city dump which is home to over 100,000 people.) 

Originally, we were suppose to do summer camp (Bible story, crafts, games, music, etc) with the children divided into 3 or 4 groups.  Most of our pre-trip preparation and supplies were geared towards doing this.  But Summer informed us that things had changed.  They had torn down the old shanti classrooms and were building new ones that needed to be completed in 4 days so they could start summer camp the following Monday. 

I was responsible for organizing the Bible story team and had cautioned them from the start to be very flexible and fluid.  If I've learned one thing (the very hard way) it's that things change all the time (especially on mission in other countries) and being able to give up our own expectations and plans to serve wherever we are needed is HUGE. 

God wants us to be completely surrendered and available to Him.  When our plans and hard work get sacrificed and discarded in the process, we have a choice to make.  We can either choose to be focused on ourselves and get upset & discouraged or we can fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, and get excited about what He is up to!!!  

I mean think about it.  The God of the universe actually invites us to be a part of what He is doing, and we want to get mad when things don't go according to our plans. Really?  I know this is hard, especially coming from an American mindset. But as believers we do have the mind of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to help us fight our fleshly thoughts and desires.

May you and I never forget that GOD IS SOVEREIGN AND 100% TRUSTWORTHY!  Even when things change, we can rest assure that God NEVER does.  He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  And His plans are far better than anything we could ever imagine.

Okay. Okay.  Back to Ethiopia.

On Thursday, we headed to Project 61 in Korah. 

Part of our team painted.

Some of the men helped with a concrete project for one of the buildings , and the rest of us helped another mission team do activities (face painting, fingernail painting, making cross necklaces, coloring and hanging out) with the children in the church.

Once my new friend and I met, she stayed by my side.  We sang together, laughed together and played lots of thumb war together - that she usually won.  If she could not find me, she would find Faith and have Faith track me down.

At lunch time, we were taken into a newly constructed building - the future dorm room for some of the children

Faith and Gretchen

Before we finished lunch, it started raining - HARD.  It even hailed for a few minutes.  It is the rainy season so showers and storms occur all the time.

I left my raincoat in the van by accident.  But my friend April shared her poncho with me as we walked through Korah to do a home visit.  THANK YOU APRIL!!!

Our team divided into groups and each group visited a family who has a child in Project 61.  My group went to visit a family of 6 because the oldest daughter is in the program.

Here is the father who is disabled, the mother and one of the young children.

Here is the daughter.  She is grounding roasted coffee beans by hand to make coffee for us.  She allowed a few of us to try our hand at grounding.  It's not as easy as it looks!

Here is Ameila, Jenny, Morgan, Missy & Tanya

It is a tradition to drink coffee and eat popcorn in Ethiopia.  The popcorn tray is on TJ's lap (whose face you can't see), next to him is Carla, April, me & our guide.  I do not like coffee, but this coffee was delicious!

Faith drank 2 1/2 cups of coffee herself and ate lots of popcorn.  Once you finish drinking your coffee, you use popcorn to scoop the sugar from the bottom of your cup and eat it.  It's really good too.

We spent about an hour or so talking with the family through our guide who translated for us.  We prayed with them too.  As we were walking out the door, the mother took hold of my arm and stopped me.  She uncovered a tray and pointed to the bread on it.  It was all the food they had left.  You see, she usually begs for money and food on the street just outside the dump, but begging is not lucrative during the rainy season.  The look of desperation on her face spoke volumes to me.  It was heartbreaking! 

Thankfully, our team was able to purchase a substantial amount of food for each of the families we visited.  Although this does not solve their long-term problem, it definitely eases their current situation and let's them know they are loved and not forgotten.

By the time we returned to Project 61, the sun was shining again.  I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the precious children made in the image of God.

We returned to the guest house with very muddy clothes and very heavy hearts. We had a lot to process. And God graciously gave us each other to process with.

 

Later that evening, we went to a restaurant to eat traditional Ethiopian food and enjoy traditional music and dancing. A few of our team members even found themselves on stage! It was lots of fun.

Back at the guest house, Missy & I were in our room and I asked her a question - "How did you end up volunteering at the Passion conference in Atlanta?"  To answer it, Missy had to share what God has been doing in her life over the past couple of years, including battling breast cancer.  The parallels of our lives were uncanny!  We talked for hours!!!  It was quite amazing.  When we could no longer hold our eyes open, I had one last question for Missy..."So how did you end up volunteering at the Passion conference in Atlanta??!!!"

We only live one state away from each other but God brought us halfway around the world to introduce us!  Only God!

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord.
 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

Loving HIM with all my heart,

Nancy

From Lost Luggage to the Party Bus - God's Hand is in it ALL

When we arrived in Rwanda, my luggage did not.  Actually 9 bags total were missing.  Most of them were supplies and donations.  But 2 of them contained clothes and personal items - one was mine and the other belonged to Rachel.

Interestingly, before we left home, I was making jokes about my luggage getting lost.  At one point, Faith told me that her luggage was going to make it.  Mine was not, but hers was.  How true she turned out to be. 

The good news was I packed as many clothes as I could into my carry on.  The bad news was my toothbrush and both of our hairbrushes were in my lost suitcase for some strange reason.

But God took care of everything! 

Here's how... 

*Since we had a long flight from Washington DC to Africa, we were given a toiletry goodie bag on the airplane.  And wouldn't you know it, Faith kept her airplane issued toothbrush!  So now, I had a toothbrush!  Yay God!

*There was another mother (Tanya) on our team with her daughter (Taylor) and they let us use their hairbrush everyday!  Each morning on the way to breakfast, Taylor would drop it off at our room for us to use.  How sweet was that! Definitely God's provision.

*I mentioned that I had stuffed as many clothes as I could into my carry on (which was actually my backpack.)  I had 1 pair of pants & 1 skirt along with 3 shirts.  People were graciously offering to let me borrow anything I needed.  Then, Kelly actually knocked on my door with clothes in her hand for me to keep!

The instant I saw the skirt, God reminded me of something.  While getting my clothes together for my 40 day adventure in Africa, I was on the hunt for skirts.  I must have made at least 5 trips to Goodwill in search of them.  But I couldn't find what I was looking for.  I then started shopping every Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshall's and consignment shop around, but to no avail.   I finally ended up at Cato's where I found the style I liked but had to venture to 3 different stores to find my size.

Anyway, during this entire process, I had been asking God how many new skirts I would need. ( I sensed) He told me 3.  However, I only bought 2.  So when Kelly showed up with a skirt and shirt to match, I knew it was from the Lord!!!  He provided my 3rd skirt through my new friend!  HE IS SO FAITHFUL!

*God also gave Faith insight into the way He works.  The night before we left Rwanda, Faith said, "Mom, have you ever thought that the reason the 9 suitcases (mainly filled with supplies & donations) didn't make it to Rwanda was because all the stuff in them was meant for Ethiopia and not Rwanda??!!!"  WOW!  I know this was God speaking to my daughter!  How exciting!!!

I was reunited with my suitcase just briefly before boarding the plane for Ethiopia (thanks to Jane, our guide in Rwanda, whose husband went to the airport to get it while we were several hours away at Noel.)  During our reunion, I  was able to refill my carry on with clean clothes, my toothbrush and hairbrush, and another pair of shoes - just in case my suitcase went MIA again. 

Although I was glad to have my suitcase again, going without it for nearly 5 days was a good reminder to me - I can live without stuff, but I cannot live without people!  My relationship with others is second only to my relationship with the Lord through Jesus His Son.

And speaking of relationships, let me share two more stories before I move on to Ethiopia.

*After our 2nd day at Noel (the orphanage), our team went to a restaurant on the lake.

We ate at several small tables outside.  Faith and I joined the other mother/daughter duo trio (Tanya, Taylor - 15 yr old, and Meagan - 15 yr old family friend.)  It was during dinner that we really started getting to know each other. 

Also during this time, God gave me an unexpected opportunity to talk with the girls about dating.  Because I made so many dating mistakes when I was younger & still see the consequences of them in my life today, God often has me share this part of my testimony with teenagers.  Even though they may not heed my warning, I feel a responsibility to share my experience and God's truth with them.  Oh how I wish someone would have warned me about dating when I was a teenager! 

*Everyone on our team was given a Bible (in the native language) to give away.  We prayed for God to show us who to give them to.  One morning, my heart was burdened for our bus driver.  I strongly sensed he needed a Bible but I really wanted my friend Mary from Noel to have one too.  After breakfast, I asked Faith who she was going to give her Bible to and she said OUR BUS DRIVER!!!  With tears in my eyes, I just had to smile :)  Only God!  He was speaking to my daughter again, and she was listening!!!  And you should have seen the change in our bus driver's demeanor after he received his Bible!  He became quite joyous and sociable.

Here's a picture of everyone on our bus (aka The Party Bus) along with some local children.

I will never forget riding through the mountainous countryside of Rwanda with these incredible people "getting jiggy wit it!!!" 

What a tremendous blessing it was to serve with all of you!

Loving HIM with all my heart,
Nancy

The First 10 Days in Africa - Part 1

We are in Ghana now, but I must share what God did in Rwanda and Ethiopia with you first.  Internet and computer battery issues prohibited me from blogging during my time in those 2 countries - along with a few timely power outages.  Honestly, I believe God used those things to keep me off the computer so I would have more time with the people (mainly my daughter and other team members) that He put in my path.  GOD IS SO GOOD!

Faith and I left for Africa at 4:00 a.m. on Friday June 29.  We flew from Charlotte to D.C. where we met up with the rest of our 28 member Visiting Orphans (VO) team.

We arrived in Ethiopia on Saturday and jumped onto another plane that took us to Kigali, Rwanda.  We spent Saturday night in that beautiful city, eating at Heaven restaurant and listening to 2 young men from the Best Family share their genocide survival stories with us. 

On Sunday, we visited the Genocide Memorial. Rwanda was in the midst of their 100 days of remembrance of the 1994 genocide while we were there. Words cannot describe what we learned, saw and felt there. Overwhelming.

Thankfully, Rwanda is a resilient country with incredible people on a journey of forgiveness, healing and restoration.

After the memorial, we went to a local restaurant and ate pizza for lunch outside. 

As we were leaving the restaurant, Faith needed to go to the restroom which was located in a separate building. When we got to the building, there was a beautiful lady with a big smile standing near the door. I sensed that God wanted me to talk with her, so I did. 
 

Beautiful Agnes

In the middle of our conversation she said, “Are you a Christian?”

I said, “Yes. Are you?”

She responded by shaking her head yes.

Then, the Holy Spirit prompted me to pray with her. When I finished and looked up, huge tears were streaming down her face. She then began to share her story with me. She is in the middle of a divorce, has 2 sons she is fighting for and 1 of them is very sick. She has just started her new job cleaning restrooms in hopes of supporting herself and her children.

I know God put her in my path to encourage her and share His hope and truth with her that day.

It was hard to get on the van and drive away. I wanted to spend more time with her, but I knew that the role in her life that God wanted me to play had been fulfilled – as small as it was. So, now I just continue to pray for her and her family.

Once on the van, we traveled several hours to our next destination – Gisenyi. We stayed at a very nice quest house.

We spent our days at Noel, a Catholic orphanage with over 600 children. Right off the van, I met Mary. She held my hand as we toured the grounds and waited for me when our team went to visit the babies and toddlers. 
 

While in the baby room, God gave me a very precious time with my own daughter. Two babies had already been fed and placed back in their beds beside each other. Faith called me over to them. She played with the baby boy while I played with the baby girl. Then we both started singing “Jesus Loves Me” at the same time to the babies. It was priceless! Both of the babies stared at us and began cooing. No doubt they recognized the powerful name of Jesus, even at such an early age. I will never forget that moment with Faith. Ever.

After our tour, we shared a Bible story, sang some songs and did a few crafts with the children.  I am so thankful we had this time with them to get to know them and build relationships with them.

Originally, I thought I would spend most of my time with the babies and toddlers, and Faith would be with the children closer to her age (there were A LOT of 11 year olds at Noel and they LOVED Faith!)  But as it turned out, Faith felt drawn to the little ones, and I felt led to be with the older ones!

Faith was so excited she got to help feed the babies. Unfortunately, we could not get the pictures from her ipod to download onto my computer so I could share them with you right now. 

There were 20 to 30 children per room, starting with infants as young as a week old.  I think the next room was 5 to 7 month olds.  They continued to be grouped by age/developmental milestones from there. 

Here are some pictures of the little ones from my camera:

 

The caregivers do a great job of taking care of God's little treasures!

Mary was practicing her English by reading to me from a Bible story coloring book.

Sweet Brigette (on the right)

 

This young man is a budding photographer!  I let him use my camera and watched as he paid close attention to detail like lighting, angles, background, etc.  It was so much fun watching him and encouraging him!

 

Some of the girls danced for us. 

And yes, that is the joy of the Lord you see on this sweet girl's face!

Thankfully, we had the privilege of serving at Noel for 2 full days.  For lunch each day, we would walk down the road to Tara's house to eat.  Tara is a young lady who went to Noel on a Visiting Orphans trip about a year & a half ago.  Soon after, she returned to Rwanda and served at Noel while living there.  Recently, she moved into her own home and started a ministry/business called No. 41 for the older girls (college aged) at Noel & from the community. They make necklaces, handbags and feedbags.  When you buy a feedbag for $60, you are feeding 1 child, 1 meal a day, for 1 year and helping these young ladies support themselves.

Tara and (most of) her girls

The sewing area 

Faith getting Rwandan dance lessons!

We bought a handbag made by this young lady.

My friend Jen Rinko purhased 29  (pre-sold) feedbags!!!  The ladies at No. 41 worked VERY hard to fill her order! 

On Day 2 at Noel, Mary and I read a Bible story book together in English (thanks Rene for letting me borrow your books!) and the Bible together in her native language (which I was able to give her.)  God really impressed upon my heart to talk with Mary about prayer.  And wouldn't you know it, several of the Bible stories in our book talked about prayer too!!!  GOD IS SO GOOD!  HE IS SO FAITHFUL!

When it was time for us to leave, I prayed with Mary.  She tried to fight back her tears, but she couldn't contain them.  She tried to hide them from me, but eventually she let me wipe them away for her.  She was so sad!  It broke my heart.  

Honestly, I admire Mary.  She is quite brave.  She knew I would only be there for 2 days, and yet she still chose to let me be a part of her life.  She took a risk, and I am very thankful she did. 

Here are the little kids waving good-bye to us.  The older kids were surrounding our vans making it harder for us to leave. 

Before I left, I gave Mary a Bible with a note inside and a picture of me & my family.  She gave me a card.  I cried, especially when I read "God has put you into my life because you are full of joy."  Mary had no idea that I have been praying specifically for joy for a decade now.  No idea.  But God sure did and this was His answered prayer to me.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD...Jeremiah 29:11-14

As soon as we got on the van to leave Noel, Faith said, "I AM COMING BACK HERE!  You don't have to come Mom, but I am!  I am coming back!"  Another (huge) answered prayer! Tears. Tears. And More Tears.  To God be the glory!!!

Loving HIM with all my heart,

Nancy