Day One

Hello to all of my fabulous, amazing blog readers {who could definitely comment just a little bit more. :)} Ahem. So I was checking my stats again today and apparently I have blog readers in the Philippines, Australia, Bolivia, Denmark, South Korea, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Qatar.

Whoa.

It could be that that's just a glitch in my stat reader, or maybe it's just people accidentally finding this blog, or maybe it's some creepy guy with no life, orrrrrrr maybe I really do have readers in all of those countries! And if that's the case, then that is very cool. Possibly the coolest thing that's happened to me this week. I would say this month, but sorry, it can't compete with Ethiopia... Anywho, if you blog readers from all those countries are real, then I'd like to extend a big welcome to y'all! Thanks for reading, you guys! Especially you in Qatar. How can you even read this?

Anywho, back to why you're here! It's time to start the long, kind of painful, but super joyful process of blogging about each day! When I say Day One, I mean our first day of ministry. Monday and Tuesday were spent traveling (we arrived in Ethiopia around 9:30 pm) so Day One means Wednesday, the 9th. Here we go:

There are two ways I could tell you about this trip. One would be to tell you all the happy parts, and not share some of my struggles with sin. The other way is to be almost completely transparent and humbly tell you the truth. And I've decided to go with the latter. So that means that I have to tell that when I woke up on Wednesday morning, I did not want to be in Ethiopia. My excitement, motivation, and giddiness from last year were gone. Here's what I wrote in my journal that morning:

     Dear God, I really need you right now. As I was in the bathroom, I dutifully did not flush my toilet paper, didn't drink the water, and left my glasses on. I felt something and when I examined my heart I realized that I don't really want to deal with that stuff. Last year, I was so excited that I didn't care, but now, something's different. It's a really frightening realization, Lord. I feel different - I feel indifferent. Oh God, please help me... What kind of mess did you send to Ethiopia??? Why is my heart in this condition? It shouldn't be, but it is. Help me, Father. You want me here. I can be assured of that. My family wants me here. I want me to be here. God, infuse me with a fresh excitement. It's a new day (without any flying!) and I'm back. I'm back! May the beauty of that sink in. "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10. Thank you. Thank you for everything. You love me and you want me here!" 

 By the time breakfast was done, my heart was back to normal. There wasn't one thing that suddenly made it better, it was just that after breakfast I was like, "Hey! I'm excited!" And that was the end of that. "I love you, O LORD, my strength... I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies." 

After breakfast, we had a couple hours of free time to get settled and unpack, so I did just that. Around 10:30, we walked down the road to Mekenesia Addis Kidan Baptist Churchh (MAKBC) to meet (for some, the first, for others, the second!) the church leaders and hear about their ministry. It was really, really neat to see everyone that I'd met last year again. Two of the guys are now happily married, and one with a baby girl on the way! After touring the church's compound, we went back for lunch, and then went back to the offices of Hope In View. Hope In View does a lot of things in Ethiopia, and one of them is partnering with local churches to do child sponsorship. Last year, the executive directors accompanied our team as we met with churches and interviewed kids for sponsorships. We met the Ethiopian side of Hope In View, heard about their work, and got to play with the kids. That's when I met Mazada and wrote this post (conveniently also about day one). After an afternoon spent at HIV's office, we headed back to our guest house for a relaxing evening of supper, team devotions, and an early bedtime.