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Sorry that I went dark, but ran out of access to Internet. I will start filling in the gaps on a daily basis until I get all the days competed. Don’t want to leave the story hanging. 

Here are the essentials. Left Addis for Axxum, returned to Addis and then on to Tanzania. Went on Safari. Then climbed Kilimanjaro. All 4 of us made the top. We then hiked to the bottom and escaped from Tanzania the next day. We spent 3 days resting in London and then returned home on Wednesday Aug 6, We got to Athens at 9 PM and then were up at church at 7 AM to leave with a group to the Leadership Summit. Did the same on Friday and a bunch of people came over for the Olympic opening ceremonies. Up on Saturday to go to have breakfast with church staff. Life moves fast.

Sat – Sun Day 51 – 52

Trouble with Internet.

Went to Koroftu Resort for rest on Saturday after getting in very late from the countryside. Rained hard most of morning and day. Went Kayaking, dinner, bird watching, great shower, movie. Sunday we got up and then did some of the same and then came to Addis for church.

Long service (2.5 hours) with a 2 guest preachers, 1 from Killeen, 1 from Missouri.

Returned to hotel Imperial for group process of the last few days and then dinner. Early bed because we leave in the morning at 4:59 AM for Axxum.

We meet with 100 foster kids in a “first contact” situation. Orthodoxy region very resistant Pray that what we express is love more than anything else.

Day 52

Day 52

Friday, July 11, 2008

Walkite.

We got up and waited for the 8 that stayed in Bantu. While we waited we talked and played in the courtyard. Eventually, the team arrived and the bags were packed and we headed out for the next city. It took about an hour-and-one-half.

We arrived and just down the block from the clinic our bus got stuck in the mud. We got off and walked the rest of the way. Lots of people were waiting to see the Dr. and the eye clinic.

We set up in two different rooms and once that got started began to set up to teach our health topics. We taught it first to the adults waiting in line and then went to lunch at Tigis’ family restaurant in town. Then we taught to a group of children (100) and gave them our Frisbees and a toothbrush and toothpaste.

After the distribution in Bantu we designed a much more complicated method and everything went fine except for the exit gate which was being shared by 3 different groups and people who saw the give away and wanted to come in.

After that we went and began the process of closing the clinic. With enormous needs this is the hardest thing. When we arrived there were already 189 people on the list. They kept adding people and there was no way we could see them all. We closed the doors and saw the people that were in our final lines, but others that knew they were not going to be seen rushed the doors trying to find a way in to see someone. We had a tense 45 minutes while the last people were seen and the team packed so we could leave for the 5 hour drive back to Addis.

We all reflected on the reality that we can never meet all the needs. If we don’t get them to the Father and don’t empower Ethiopians, we will really fail. It is overwhelming.

Eventually, we got another meal at Tigis’, which ended with a coffee ceremony, and then a “beat down” bus ride that lasted nearly 5 hours. It was dark, bumping, jerky and tiring.

We arrived at the Imperial, briefly met, headed to warm showers, clean rooms, and great sleep.

Day 51

Day 51

Thursday July 10, 2008

Bantu Immersion

We arrived for breakfast at 8:00 AM. The medical/vision team started into the process of seeing patients at about 9:00 AM when Dr. Urdow arrived. This is a Dr. that the ETEAM has hired to work in Bantu. He has been with us on many trips now and is great to work with our Dr.s.

The rest of us were in paired in 8 different groups and we were prepared to go into the village to interview people. I was with Eddie Hilburn (Pastor of FBC Kilgore) and George McCain (Director of Mission Trips for Buckner). Our first stop was the Orthodox church. We went to meet the priest.

Last year I met him at a meal with the president, but we did not have a translator. This time I had a good translator and we got to meet together for 1:30. At first he was very skeptical, but eventually seemed to warm-up to us. We think we went a long way to establishing first contact with him.

One interesting question seemed to be why we were not wearing or carrying the cross. It defines them and it confused them that we did not have any crosses. We believe we convinced him that we love Jesus. He quoted Ephesians 4:4 for us near the end affirming that he believed we were all of one baptism.

We walked through the rest of the town and then went to show George the Buckner school since he had not seen it yet.

We went back for lunch and then returned to the city. We went to the government administrative buildings and met with an educator and a communication official who then took us to the High School and the Primary School. The High school has plasma screens and satellite teaching. There are about 1000 students in 2 sessions in the High School. The Primary School has 1500 students in 2 sessions. They have 75 students a session in classroom with no materials, no desks, and very little hope that a child can get through the classes and make it to high school.

Rain storm. While visiting the Primary School the clouds began to look very ominous. We hustled back to the compound deciding to stay out of the rain. As we walked through the town it was much like a scene from the Pied Piper. By the time we were nearing the medical compound we had dozens of children swarming around us. They have a very “touchy” culture and the kids loved to hold our hands, almost demanding it. At the gate Brook went in last and had a scary moment as all the children that had released from us tried to attach to her. After a bit of a crush and a sorting by the older kids we got her watch, camera, and camera batteries back.

Not long after we got back, it started to rain. It rained hard for about an hour. The world turned to mud. We were supposed to run our “health fair” at 6:00 PM, but the rain made that look in jeopardy. I kept saying we would wait to make a decision. Finally, the rain broke, the sky cleared and we made an alternative plan of seating and structure of the “health fair.”

Health Fair. At about 6:20 PM a crowd had gathered of about 150 people that continued to grow through the evening. We know that the rain really hurt the crowd, but decided to give it our best. We taught our four health lessons (hand washing, eye care, nutrition, and clean water) to the crowd and then distributed a bag that had a tooth brush/paste, soap, rehydration kit and some other small items.

Distribution. Not my favorite part of the trip. Trying to figure out how to give something this crowd was a challenge. We had enough bags to give them extra and decided to teach about grace. We gave each person 3 bags and asked them to give one away to someone who had not come to the health fair. We tried to find a way to do this in an orderly fashion and were only mildly successful. We did achieve our goal of keeping the crush away from the people giving out the bags, but the “choke point” of getting them into single file line was a battle.

Good-bye Bantu. At about 7:00 PM the Jesus movie began while we finished distribution. Then when we finished the distribution we were shuttled to the bus which had to leave the compound due to the mud.

We arrived back at the hotel had a great meeting to process what we learned, played Catch Phrase and then went to sleep.

 

Day 50

Day 50

Wednesday July 9, 2008

Bantu teaching

We arrived in Bantu at 8:00 AM for breakfast. We had eggs and tortillas and bread. We then made our final preparations and reconnected with our interpreters. We intended to start at 9:00 AM but the crowd was gathering slowly. We started with a clapping gauntlet at 9:20 AM and the kids came into the medical compound where we were holding our teaching sessions.

We were told to be ready for 400 kids. We were told that there might be “thousands of kids.” We had about 250. We had eight groups of about 30 which was very manageable. Instead of having the kids rotate, we moved the teachers to each different location. Our goal was to lift up the translator as the primary teachers. By the time of the third teaching session many of the groups had the translators doing the teaching. That part of the plan worked great.

We finished the last group about noon and then began the feedback process. We learned lots and each team wrote a report. We had lunch and then spent some time as a group. We split into two teams. One focused on medical clinic and one emphasizing our cultural awareness interviews.

After everything was prepared we decided to hike up to the top of the hill above the school. We came out of the clinic and immateriality were surrounded by children who took our hands and followed us through the town. I took a fast walking group because we could tell we were not going to make it to the hill with the big group. We met a very fierce dog, mud, and a deep gully, but eventually made it to a good view of the school and the town.

We met several people, one with good English skills and he helped us ask if we could look in a home. They invited us in to a large round hut. It was dark and smoky and very interesting. We then came back to the medical clinic via the town.

After dinner we set up for the Jesus movie and then headed for the hotel. We met together as a team and then played catch phrase until 9:30 PM and everyone headed for bed.

Day 48 Practice, Baby Home, Shopping

Monday July 7, 2008

Our team is made up of 28 people from six different churches. FBC Athens (13), FBC Kilgore (7), Central BC Marshal (6), FBC Palestine (1), Chicago (1). We had never all been in the same room until we arrived in Ethiopia. The first day was focused on rest and worship so that we could keep everyone healthy.

Day two was focused on team building. We got up earlier (each day is an hour earlier to help people adjust to the time) and met for breakfast. At 9:00 AM we started our team meetings. We have eight teams teaching 4 Bible stories and 4 health skills. Each team met for about two hours and then at 11:00 AM we met as a big group and each team presented their material to the group. After the presentation we gave some encouragement and feedback to the teams.

I saw the sickness in the Longview group and we thought everyone ought to be cross trained in all the other material. The practice did our groups good.

We then hustled off to lunch. We sat at the table with two people from “Save the Children.” They are here making a film about their work here in Ethiopia.

After lunch we went to visit the Baby home. They have 16 children. One of them was given to Bright Hope while we were in Debrazette with the Longview group. The mother had had no food for a week and was only able to give water to the baby. She knew it would die and she had no way to get any food. Bright Hope is going to try to help the baby to thrive. We all stayed for about an hour. We delivered some toys as they had none. While clean, the place was a bit Spartan for  our tastes and we hope to be able to help provide a few more things before we leave. Susan Stutts and a group of nine other people stayed. Susan was able to make an inventory of what they have and what they need which is going to be a great help.

The rest of the group went shopping. We had a communication break down. We needed to buy supplies for Bantu, they thought we wanted to go to souvenir shop. We confronted that problem and after a lot of wasted time (but every one had great attitudes) we got some of what we needed.

We came back to the hotel and started to assemble packets for the health fair. We put together 400 before we left for dinner. They have toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, cotton balls, antibiotic cream, alcohol wipes, safety pins, rubber bands, sunglasses, rehydration kits, toothpicks, Kleenex, and other stuff I can’t remember. After dinner we came back and made 600 more. We hope to give one to everyone in Bantu on Friday night.

Dinner was at the cultural restaurant. We had a traditional Ethiopian meal. The did some traditional dances and we have coffee at the coffee ceremony.

We finished the night in prayer for the children and workers we had met during the day and for the rest of the trip.

We are not sure if we will have Internet access again until Sunday night, so this might be the last post for several days. Pray for us.

Tue. Arrive in Bantu, meet with translators, teach the translators our material work with them on improving the material.

Wed. Teach the material to the children. Prepare the children to help teach the material at the health fair.

Thru. Go door to door in Bantu and invite the community to the health fair. Do a community survey.

Fri. Make a quick trip to Walkiti to see the new well, do a medical clinic, return and run the health fair.

Sat. Travel to Karoftu to spend the night. Relax and rest.

Sun. Return to Addis, go to Getahun’s church.

We will be doing lots of traveling and lots of work. 

Day 47 Church

Day 47

Sunday July, 8, 2008

Church

We got the team up a little late and then we walked to Beza International church. Beza loosely might be translated as “grace.” The service was very good. They sang for about 45 minutes and then had a very good sermon. We then took the group on an immersion experience. We gave them each a bur (about $.10) and then got them to get on the van-taxis to get back to our hotel. It was fun.

We all had pizza for lunch, and then the three pastors went to Getahun’s church. We got there after the singing had begun and they ushered us on the stage. The place they meet is a historic building. It was the first movie theater in Ethiopia. When the people saw the first images on the screen they thought they were spirits and they called it the “Devil’s House.” Now they call it God’s House.

There were 450 people at the church and they were involved in the worship. The singing was great. Then several people spoke, we didn’t know what they said, and then they introduced us. We each gave greetings and then some more people spoke and then I was introduced to preach. It was interesting that the same topic had been preached on at Beza and my text had been used as an illustration. His sermon ended up with a Mercedes.  It was kind of a yuppie crowd. My sermon ended in with the disciples dripping wet in boats on the still sea with a disappointed Jesus. Do we follow Jesus only when the storms go away or do we have faith and not fear? The more struggling congregation at Getahun’s church could not buy a Mercedes if they all bought it together.

After I preached I was given warm applause and encouragement. The service continued, but again we didn’t know what was going on. Eventually Getahun said that the van was coming to get us and that we should go back because we would not know what was going on and they have a service praying fort he sick that last another hour. It was very “Rock Star” like, to come to the service late and leave early.

We got back and then started to walk to dinner because we could not find the bus driver. After about half of the journey the bus came by to get us and then drove us the rest of the way. We went to the first restaurant, but it was closed. Then we discovered that we were going to a different place so we were glad we had the bus.

We ate at a very nice Italian restaurant that had beautiful art all through the building. Back to the hotel, a short meeting, some games and then bed.

Day 46 Team Arrives

Day 46

Saturday, July 5, 2008

I got up with the goal to finish Wednesday for the calendar. It took until 8:00 PM with only two times out of my chair. I was glad to have that part of the task finished. Now comes lots of proofreading, photo editing.

We then went to the airport to pick up the teams. To go into the airport you have to buy a terminal pass. It cost only $.10 so its weird. Then we went to the airport lobby and waited, and waited, and waited. Several flights came in at the same time and only 3 guys at the passport desk. They finally go to the lobby about 2 hours after the flight landed. All the bags came in and then we shuttled to the hotel. All the rooms were great and people were hungry for dinner so at 11:45 we had a big meal.

I laid down for 30 minutes and then took a cab back to the airport to get Cindy and the boys. At 1:30 AM there were no other flights, so they got through in about 30 minutes. We got back to the hotel and finally all the team is assembled and in Ethiopia.

The night was brief, but everyone seems ready for a big day.

Day 45 No Fireworks

Friday, July 4, 2008

Writing Day

I got up feeling grungy. I had not had hot water all afternoon yesterday, so I checked again in the evening and it was working. I decided to work out on the stairs so 45 minutes late I dripped back into my room looking forward to a hot shower. I spun the tap open and not even a drop came out of the tap. It was late so I just sat in front of the opened window and cooled off and then went to sleep. I got up expecting hot water, still nothing. After breakfast I talked to the front desk who eventually sorted out the problem, but not until they had given me a another room where the water did not work and finally sending me to the steam room that had a working shower. After about an hour I was clean and back in my room that now has hot water.

The goal for the day was “Tuesday” in the calendar, before starting I checked on Cindy’s flight and discovered that they were not yet checked-in on the flight. This made me nervous, so I jumped on the Internet and tried to register them. The British Airways system would not work. I tried again and again. It kept saying try back later, so I did. This went on for five hours and fifteen minutes.

I got an email from Cindy when she got up that they had had the same trouble and had called the airlines. After an hour on the phone they were able to get seat assignments, which is the reason to check-in and would have to deal with the rest when they got to the airport. I did get email confirmation that they got to the airport, got checked-in, and got on the flight. All of which was a relief to me.

It meant my writing went much slower because after every calendar day I wrote, I stopped to see if I could get them checked-in to the flight.

At about 5:30 the Buckner Interns returned from the day of teaching English and came to my room. They suggested that we go celebrate July 4^th by going to the most American Restaurant we have seen in Addis. It is a Texas themed place.

The “Rodeo Addis” features western decorations, waiters dressed in cowboy attire, and some American food. I had a decent steak, Josh had a Burger, and Stephen some sort of meat medley. We had taken the cheap buses to the place as they were relatively easy to catch. They remind me of the Mattatus of Kenya, just newer, cleaner, less crowded, and less erratic on the road. They cost about ten cents to ride, but less people speak English so sometimes it is a challenge to get where you are going.

After dinner we were trying to get a bus back to the “ring road,” but it is obvious that we don’t have the hang of the system. Eventually we broke down and got a regular cab. The journey cost about $4.00 which is $3.40 more than it cost us to get the place. Not a lot of money, but a huge percentage jump.

I got back to the room and worked on the calendar until I finished at about 11:00 PM and then turned the lights out, but did not go to sleep. A herd of elephants came into the hotel and made more noise than I can imagine. A cat decided to serenade me in the alley behind the hotel and generally there was pandemonium in the hotel until after midnight, when it all died down and I went to sleep.

The only fireworks for the day were the ones we saw on CNN.

Day 44 Teaching Day Two

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Getahun delivered me to class and we started off running. I had more prepared than we could possibly get to, but we made a valiant effort. I spent the time before lunch covering hermeneutics (interpreting the bible). We used the Abraham/Issac story and my own peculiar interpretation of the passage.

I felt so much more confident today and my translator was fabulous. Getting time between each sentence or so was actually a great help and allowed me to be even a more focused communicator. After my teaching about Abraham they went crazy with questions. It was so much fun to watching them grapple with the interpretive ideas I was presenting and seeing them dig and question in the scripture. It was the best of the teacher student relationship.

I also taught two lessons on leadership the first about leading change and the second about leading a group in decision-making. The final section was on the passage in Mark that I am preaching on this next Sunday at Getahun’s church.

They asked me to come back for a semester and I told them that in ten more years I could give them several months, but for now I was headed back to Athens. They were very encouraging and while physically exhausted, I was so excited by the experience.

I arrived back at the hotel and am about to plunge back into the Nouwen calendar. I have two days to finish two days and to proof read the whole thing. I’m imagining that it will take almost all the time I left before the team arrives on Saturday evening.

Getahun confirmed that our team is headed to Bantu. They have been given the official “all clear” indications from the health clinic and they are expecting our team! Our team arrives in about a 6 hour window on Saturday evening late. We have planned for the first two days to be about rest in hopes that the team can stay healthy and not go through the illness that the last team experienced.

Praying for their health would be the best investment you can make in the team right now.