Heading South

I don’t know if anyone is even reading this besides Beth. Hi, Beth! But I still want to continue to share my journey to Ethiopia. It will still mostly likely have to come in spurts whenever I have time to write because I HAVE A JOB!!! I start working in the ICU in our local hospital in two weeks. Also, prayers for all the transitions for my family please!!! When I discussed with the kids the changes with me working, Caleb’s response was, “If we are going to have to do school on the weekend, then I’d rather go to school.” So…we visited the school he would attend before Christmas vacation and his best friend was able to give him a tour. He is starting school next week! He is a little nervous and a lot excited. Since Caleb is starting school, “the twins” are wanting to start. I meet Monday with their principal to check into that. Since I will be working full-time, I had planned to just get them through the end of this school year somehow and put the three youngest in school next year. But God seems to be leading in this direction, so that is where we are headed. Even with all of these changes, I have complete peace about it all–sure sign that God is involved–although I am sure I will bawl like a baby the first day they go to school. Eli, my 9th grader, is a great student, does his work on his own, and his social group is mostly homeschoolers, so the plan is for him to continue at home.

Now…more about beautiful Ethiopia–the country my heart is still aching for…when I left off here, we were preparing for our 11-hour drive south on day 3 of the trip.

11:45 pm, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010:

We are in Chencha! After an 11-hour bus ride. The first part wasn’t too bad, and the back half of the bus spent an hour or two singing songs from Christian camp which was great fun and helped pass the time. But by the end the road was incredibly bumpy–couldn’t even lay my head on my pillow to rest because my head still bounced around so. We traveled south from Addis and went up into the mountains. The countryside was absolutely GORGEOUS! I am falling in LOVE with this country!

We went through lots of small villages and a few larger towns. We saw lots of mud huts, many children playing–smaller children in just a t-shirt and naked behind–adorable!, hundreds of donkeys and mules carrying loads, goats everywhere–had to stop many times waiting for herds to get out of the road, carts pulled by donkeys, people carrying loads of various things on their backs, beautiful fields of grain (not sure what), gorgeous flower-covered trees. If we would not have been swarmed by a crowd, I would love to just walk some of that road taking photos. Nearly every time our van stopped people would walk up to us. The children would wave and shout greetings to us. A little boy herding two goats saw me taking photos through the van window and stopped to pose.

Isn’t he handsome?

We saw older kids playing volleyball. There were foosball tables outside with people playing.

The pace of life here is very relaxed. Even in the city no one gets in a hurry about anything it seems–can be frustrating if you are waiting for them to do something. People sitting around visiting. Girls walking hand-in-hand or arms around each other. Boys doing the same. The camaraderie is very sweet. Even saw two men standing sharing a plate at our meal tonight. Lots of children wandering around playing. They seem happy.

This morning we went to the airport with the mission of getting my bag and getting the med bags. Mission unsuccessful on both points. My bag was supposedly on a flight from DC this morning, but no one could find it. The two people helping me were hopping once they found out my bag was two days late. Amber said that Ethiopian Air is the pride of Ethiopia and Africa, so they are big on customer service. They had not had a crash in 25 years until this past spring, so it devastating when that happened. The baggage man is tracking down my bag and sending it to a city near Chencha when they find it. Amazingly, I was okay with it all. I actually had to just laugh because it is so ludicrous. Everyone has been great about loaning me more clothes here as it is chilly. Actually, at this point, I would just be happy with the med bags. Our tiny pharmacy was rapidly depleting just with 1/2 day clinic at the school yesterday, and we still did not have many of the meds we needed.

Our guesthouse is quite charming. The hosts are very welcoming. They had a lovely meal of tibes and injera for us. The rooms are tiny–just room for two twin beds with about six inches between them. There is a lovely garden area beside the rooms where we eat–beautiful plants and flowers!

Hike to Bora at 8am. We are staying there two nights–tonight condensing our bags. We are wearing scrubs, taking one set of clothes for night time, and wearing our scrubs back down the mountain.

This is only the beginning…

Yesterday was only the beginning of the celebration. It was the beginning of the most world-rocking event in human history. God in the flesh living among us! However, to look around, you’d think it was the end of something. Every spare moment of our time from Thanksgiving (or before) until December 25th is consumed with Christmas. Shopping. Christmas music. Christmas glitz everywhere you look. Christmas day arrives. Then suddenly…everything is gone except for the Christmas items on sale and even those don’t last too long.

Every year around this time I want to shout, “What is wrong with this picture?” Now I think that it is mostly just doing what we are accustomed to doing. This is what we’ve always done. Celebrate Christmas for six weeks leading up to Christmas day. Then it’s over.

Historically, the church’s celebration of Christmas began on Christmas day and lasted for 12 days. You know the song–”On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…” That’s why the song is the TWELVE days of Christmas. The celebration of Christmas began on Christmas day and lasted for twelve days culminating in epiphany which is traditionally the celebration of the arrival of the wise men to worship the Christ child.

So don’t let Christmas day be the end of your celebrating. Let it be the beginning. Let Him continue to come into your heart bringing peace and hope and unending love and unspeakable joy. Let Him continue to change you.

Change

To say that I was changed by my trip to Ethiopia is an understatement. People come back from mission trips everyday saying that they were “changed”, but then they slowly slip back into their “normal”, comfortable, everyday lives. You cannot see much of a difference. They may give a little more money than they did before. They may pray for those in need a little more. But little looks different on the outside.

In the US we are cursed with “depraved indifference”. See the video I posted a few days ago. I have struggled with this for years wondering why we know how to say all the right things, why our lives look good on the outside, why we appear to be a “Christian” nation, why we pretend to have compassion on our fellow man but then continue to live our lives of affluence and abundance sharing a relatively small amount with those in need to ease our consciences.

This article from Relevant is excellent in explaining how most Christians show compassion to the least of these at Christmas but often forget about them the rest of the year. I don’t mean to knock any of these good things that we do at Christmas. My kids and I have volunteered at Operation Christmas Child for many years now. One of the highlights of Christmas for us is filling our shoe boxes to send to children around the world. I believe that one of the things that sparked my compassion for the less fortunate was my dad taking me and my sister at Christmas time to carry boxes of food to those who lived “on the other side of the tracks” in my small town growing up. These are all good things.

But aren’t we called to more? You do not have to travel to the other side of the world to find someone who needs to see the love and compassion of Christ. You just have to get past the fear of being uncomfortable. And the coolest thing about this is that you will be blessed beyond measure if you choose to listen to the Spirit’s nudging, if you choose to step out of your comfort zone, and reach out. Some of my dearest friends are people I originally reached out to “help”. Our God is kind of cool in that often the people we reach out to help end up helping us in ways we never imagined.

Irise came to my house several years ago asking if she could rake my leaves to earn money for her children’s Christmas presents. I have no doubt that God sent this beautiful woman to my house. Our relationship has grown over the years of working together. She encourages me more than any person I know. I cannot imagine facing the struggles that she faces in her life. But she faces them with courage and hope and joy. I marvel at her!

Most recently I was on a mission. I had all of my children taken care of. The plan was to go home to spend some time studying for my nursing class which I desperately needed to do. Then on my way home I pass an elderly couple walking. He was more hobbling than walking. So I offer them a ride. And thus begins a beautiful friendship in which I feel that I am receiving far more than I am giving.

I began volunteering at an after-school program in the housing projects near my home this fall. I told the head of the program back in the summer that I would be willing to help. Then the first day to volunteer came. I am thinking, “WHY did I say that I would do this? This is the busiest day of my week. My kids are going all different directions. This is not a good time for me.” But I went…and my heart was filled to overflowing by having the opportunity to love on children who are starving for love. I am only scheduled to volunteer once a month, but after that first visit I wished that I could go every week!

My intention is not to put myself on a pedestal. This is not me. I am selfish. I like to be comfortable. It has taken a long time for me to be comfortable stepping out of what is familiar to me. This is CHRIST IN ME. This is what it looks like when we allow ourselves to be transformed by the love of God. We can’t NOT help. We can’t pass by while an elderly man is hobbling along the roadside. I just believe that there should be more stories like this. And we should share more stories like this, encouraging one another in the blessings that are available for us when we lay down our plans, our desires, our lives.

In my experience the things that hold us back are busyness, fear, and our illusion of safety. Most of us are far busier with things that are not that important than we should be. Do our kids really need to have every hour of their lives scheduled? And how much time do we spend taking care of our stuff–cleaning house, washing cars, maintaining a perfect lawn, etc? Stuff that doesn’t really matter but that we think we have to have.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Along with the busyness, spending time in quiet learning to listen to the voice of God is essential if you want to live His life. For too many years, I checked off my list. Read my Bible. Check. Prayers said. Check. A relationship requires far more than a checklist. It requires communication. In both directions. It takes time. Don’t let busyness keep you from experiencing the fullest most satisfying relationship you will ever experience! He will be your husband. (Is. 54:5) He is a father to the fatherless. (Ps. 68:5) He gently leads those who have young. (Is. 40:11) If you take the time to let Him, He will be everything you’ve dreamed of and more. One of my favorite lines from a favorite Christy Nockels song: “Fulfillment of every longing of man….it’s YOU!”

Oh my goodness. I believe fear is one of the enemy’s most often used tools. And he seems to have quite a bit of success with it. Stepping out of our comfort zones–isn’t fear at the root of keeping us there? Fear of what other people will think is a HUGE one keeping us from saying and doing things that need to be said and need to be done. One way to get past this is when you realize that it really doesn’t matter what anyone else on this planet thinks. All that really matters is what your one true Father thinks. “I live and I breathe for an audience of One…” (Sara Groves) Spend some time asking Him. He will tell you how He sees you. And you cannot help but fall head over heels in love with Him!

Illusion of safety. OOOOOOOHHHHH! This is one topic that gets me really hot! So many people have told me that I’m being dangerous going to the places that I go. The housing projects two blocks from my house. Ethiopia. Picking people up on the side of the road. I do believe in using common sense. I believe in listening to your intuition. If you trust your gut, you can usually get a sense of who is dangerous. But the thing is, the people I meet in the housing projects are just like you and me. They are worried for the safety of their children. Many of them want to have a better life for their children but do not know how. Many of them have tried and have given up, resigning themselves to that life. I also believe in God’s protection. I believe that He has a plan for my life, and that He can miraculously intervene to protect me if He has more for me to do here on earth. But if it is my time to go, if my work here is done, then I can think of no better way to go than being among the “least of these” where my Lord and Savior spent most of His time on this earth.

So I refuse to stop being different. I refuse to stop doing things that others think are “dangerous.” I do not care if everyone thinks I am crazy or foolish. I live and I breathe for an audience of One. And He thinks I’m pretty amazing! At least that’s what He tells me.

I was changed by my trip to Ethiopia. But it is just part of the journey of change that I have been walking with my Papa for years. My trip to Ethiopia is just an extension of who I am and who I am becoming through the love of my Father. However, I was changed. The changes to come may not look pretty or good or normal. I expect to be met with much opposition–I’m getting used to that. I have experienced a taste of the joy and the abundant life that Jesus says are available to us now. There’s no turning back for me. He’s shown Himself faithful over the years. His life is truly the best life there is. And that’s what I intend to pursue wholeheartedly.

DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE

This is one of the most powerful messages I have heard in a long time. Please watch. This Christmas consider giving less to those of us who have far more than we need, and consider giving more to those who have nothing.

Guess what? More Ethiopia!

11:00pm, November 5, 2010:

Today we did a clinic at a Christian school. It was pretty bleak—metal buildings around a dirt courtyard. I love the way the teachers try to make it cheery—ABCs and colorful pictures painted on the walls. When we arrived some of the children were napping in the school clinic. They were so sweet all lying in rows on their mats.

Aren’t they precious?

Since the children were napping in the clinic, we set up an intake center in the courtyard where JR and Michelle took their age, vitals, and health complaints and then an area for Kristi and Amber to examine them. Andrea and I worked in the pharmacy. I couldn’t help but think how perfect it would have been if my best friend/pharmacy tech was here. You are coming with me next time, Linda! The meds we had available were limited since our med bags were not released. Every kid usually gets a worm pill, but it hasn’t made it out of the airport yet. We dispensed antibiotics, lots of antifungal cream, some Claritin, hydrocortisone cream, and scabies med.

We gave the kids stickers, and we started giving only kids who had to take medicine immediately a balloon for doing so good. Then more and more children came asking for balloons. Soon we had a whole herd of kids hanging out in our room. We were so crowded we couldn’t work and kept telling the “Ciao” (good-bye) and “go!” Finally, Jodie who was floating between different areas had to be the tough one to kick them all out. She posted Michelle at the door to keep anyone from sneaking in. 

I can’t describe how beautiful the children are! Full of smiles. They LOVE having their picture taken. If you take one child’s picture, you immediately have 20 more around you going, “Me! Me!”

Love those smiles!

Michelle taking vitals

Jodie, Kristi, Michelle, Andrea, and I in the pharmacy we set up at the school

Andrea in our pharmacy

After we finished at the school, we changed clothes (those of us who had clothes to change into ) and went to an Ethiopian cultural restaurant. We ate injera (spongy, fermented flat-bread) with all sorts of foods—chicken, beef tips, lamb, some yummy green beans, chickpeas…there were so many different things I don’t remember half of them. It was SO GOOD! I didn’t expect to enjoy the food so much. There was also singing and some incredible dancing. Sadly, I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. I tried standing up, but I was so sleepy even standing it was hard to stay awake.

YUM!

We leave for an 11-hours drive to Chencha in the morning. Oh, and my luggage still has not arrived. It is supposed to be here in the morning. I’m trying to be brave, but I think I will cry if my bag is not there in the morning. Kind of crazy how attached I am to a bag of clothes.

Showered and about to pass out. Good night, Ethiopia.

6:20am, Saturday, November 6, 2010:

Good morning! Wow. I was so tired last night that I was dozing off as I was writing. I just re-read what I wrote to make sure it was semi-coherent. Good sleep last night.

Oh, I forgot–I got to talk to the kids a few minutes last night!! I bought 200 birr of phone time for Amber’s Ethiopian cell phone (about 12 minutes). I called Tommy’s cell phone, and, of course, he didn’t answer! I left him a message telling him to get a phone card, so then I can just call him and say, “Call me back.” Then I called the house and Eli answered! He usually doesn’t answer unless it’s my cell number or Tommy’s. It was SO HARD trying to keep the call short. I talked to Eli a few minutes asking how things were going. Of course, he was his usual talkative self. NOT! He said things were good. Rachel was a the Jamerson’s house for the afternoon, so I was not able to talk to her. [THANK YOU SO MUCH, JAMERSON FAMILY, FOR HELPING OUT WITH RACHEL!] I talked to Caleb and told him that I ate Nile perch and that I missed them so much that I cried my self to sleep the night before. He asked what time it was here and what we did that day. He was looking forward to going to Robert’s house last night. Hearing Titus’s sweet voice was precious to me, and their “I love you’s” did my heart good. I didn’t cry last night. Partly because I was so very tired.

Awoke this morning at 6am to a beautiful sun rising, some sort of chanting—I think it may be a call to prayer because there are many people with white head-coverings walking down the street. There is an orthodox church down the street. The orthodox church is huge here.

We passed an orthodox church yesterday evening. The courtyard was full of people in white praying. And then there were rows of people lining the walls outside the church.

This morning—breakfast deliverd to our room at 7:30. Leave here at 8:30. Go to airport. My bag is to arrive at 9:00. PLEASE BE THERE!!! Then an 11-hour drive to Chencha in the south. Hoping that I will be able to talk to the kids longer tonight because tomorrow we hike to Bora. We won’t be able to use the phone there.

6:45am, Saturday, November 6, 2010:

I AM SO EXCITED! I was searching my backpack for something, and I found my extra underwear and shirt that I knew I had packed to carry on the plane. I searched and searched yesterday completely emptying by backpack, but I couldn’t find them. They were stuck under a flap at the very bottom. I feel RICH!

WORLD AIDS DAY

Today is World Aids Day. I’m working 12 hours, but I cannot NOT post today. An estimated 12,700 people die each day from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, all of which are preventable diseases. Most of us live where we do not have to think about these sorts of things if we do not want to. But today is World Aids Day. Let’s face this problem today. Let’s do something today. Every amount makes a difference because lots of people giving what they can adds up to big amounts! It’s so exciting to me that you can have a part in giving someone life no matter how much or how little you are able to give!

I want to share a couple of ways you can help. First, my friend Steffany is an absolutely amazing woman! She went to Ethiopia to adopt two-year-old twins in 2008 and ended up bringing an Ethiopia woman home with them to receive medical care. Gedese ended up staying with Steffany’s family for a year and giving birth to her daughter Christiana before returning to Ethiopia. The story of these two families becoming one big family is beautiful! You can read it here.

Out of this experience, Steffany started Because Every Mother Matters (BEMM) to help mothers live to be able to care for their children. 1 in 11 women in East Africa die due to childbirth related causes. While caring for orphans is good and is needed and is defined as “pure religion”, there is also a need to try to figure out the reason that so many children are orphaned and try to keep that from happening. This is what BEMM is doing.

For World Aids Day, BEMM is partnering with Project Hopeful, an organization that helps advocate for orphans who have HIV/AIDS and helps families adopting children with HIV/AIDS. BEMM is trying to raise $5000 for Project Hopeful by today, World Aids Day. They have already raised $4000, and a donor has offered to match dollar for dollar the last $1000.

I have been trying to write this post all day in between taking care of patients. I worked an exhausting 13-hour day. So some of you may not read this until tomorrow or the next day. It will still make a difference if you act whenever you read this. If you did not give today on World Aids Day, give tomorrow. I am about to finally make my donation before I crash for the night.

One last thing…a really cool video from ONE.

 

More Ethiopia

It may take me awhile to complete sharing about my Ethiopia experiences. My schedule is absolutely jam-full right now. Last week I began my 100-hour nursing clinical for the nursing reorientation class that I’m taking. I’m LOVING my clinical experience BTW. So I’m working full-time for a couple of weeks and still educating four kiddos full-time.

Here are photos of our AWESOME team the first night in Addis. I really believe God hand-picked this team. We each have different talents and personalities but work extremely well together. I LOVE IT when I can clearly see Him at work like this!

Andrea, JR, me, Michelle

Jodie and Kristi

Dan, the co-founder of doma, met us for dinner our first night. Beside him is Amber, the medical director of doma and leader of our team. She did a fabulous job! And then Israel our incredible guide.

Journal entry from Friday, November 5, 2010:

Okay. I was so excited and just in shock to be here that the emotions didn’t hit me until I went to bed at 2:30am. As I lay down I was thinking about what time it is back home, and I just suddenly missed the kids SO MUCH. I just wasn’t expecting to feel that strongly and so soon. I think part of it is not being able to communicate at all. So I cried while my precious Jesus comforted me. Then I read until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. BTW, Xanax is a travelers’ best friend—thanks for the advice, Jaynie.

Slept like a rock until my alarm went off at 9am. My sweet roommate Michelle gave me some scrub pants and a t-shirt to sleep in. She’s tiny, so I could not get into scrub pants. T-shirt worked. I KNOW I packed an extra shirt and pair of underwear in my carry-on bag, but I’ve emptied the backpack and cannot find it. Washed out my underwear and blow-dryed it some because I was afraid it wouldn’t have time to dry. Michelle also gave me a shirt to wear with the pants I wore on the flight, but I went and borrowed one from Andrea. Thanks, Andrea! Luckily, Michelle did bring some old scrubs of her aunt’s to donate, so I have scrubs for today.

The airport would not clear four of the six bags of meds we brought, so Amber spent the morning working on that. They couldn’t find anything wrong with our paperwork, so they said they need copies of our resumes. So Amber had to go to an internet café to be able to print our resumes as we dictated the basics over the phone.

We ate breakfast at the restaurant at the guest house. I had fried eggs and toast. Eggs were delicious! And fresh squeezed orange juice—so good!

Then JR, Andrea, Michelle I took a walk down the street. Whoa! What an experience!

Things I’ve learned in Ethiopia so far:

1. Don’t flush the toilet paper.
2. Watch where you are walking—I stepped in a mudhole as I was trying to take a photo.
3. Turn your heart off before you go out on the streets.

So many people walked up to us with their hands out wanting money. One was a child about four-years-old. One lady with a baby on her back followed us quite a way, hand held out, saying, “Hello. Hello. One? One?” We were told not to give out money. This morning we really had no money on us as we haven’t exchanged our money yet.

JR said jokingly, “We can ask: ‘Do you take US dollars?’” I only had $100s, so that sparked a conversation on what one person here could do with $100USD.

I took lots of photos as we walked all the while thinking, “There is no way to do this place in justice in photos.” It’s something you have to experience. And it will change you forever. How do I go back to my normal comfortable life after seeing how people are living on the other side of the world? Right across from our guest house is a slum area—not very large, but just rows of makeshift shelters. Hard to imagine living like that.

Walking down the street from our guest house in Addis

These taxis are everywhere. I love that I captured these two boys. The people are generally more affectionate and probably just more expressive overall than we are here in the US. It was not uncommon to see boys, girls, men, and women walking like this or holding hands. I think it is awesome.

The oranges and bananas were delicious!

A boy shining shoes

The children LOVE having their photos taken. This boy saw me with my camera across the street and posed for me. Don’t you love his smile?

Poor donkey–what a heavy-looking load

Beauty…this is what stands out to me about Ethiopia. As I am choosing photos to post from my trip, I struggle with the love and the loyalty that I now feel for this place. I want others to know of the great need there and to be willing to help. But I also feel a protectiveness towards Ethiopia. I guess true generosity and sacrificial giving come from love. So I want other people to fall in love with this country as I have.

What stands out to me when I think of Ethiopia is the beauty…the surprising beauty that pops up here and there in the midst of the hardness. The way the people of Ethiopia share beauty through the bright colors and the flowers planted in front of their homes. The beauty and the resourcefulness and the resilience of the people. Those are the things I think of when I think of Ethiopia.