Ethiopia- Thoughts, Processing, Confirmation

I recently got home from leading my first ever mission team to Ethiopia. I got the privilege to lead a team of seven to Mekelle, Ethiopia.


While there we spent time at an orphanage; loving on kiddos, painting five different rooms, purchasing items for their kitchen, purchased a playground set for the kiddos and cabinets for their storage.

 This is the dining room- lots of flowers and butterflies. 

 We painting in "The Lord's Prayer"...in English on this wall 

and Tigrinya on the opposite wall

This is the little kid room- lots of colorful shapes!

It was absolutely an amazing trip. The week before the trip I was completely overwhelmed with the planning and thought of leading this team. I just needed to trust that God was sending me to do this work and that if I trusted Him, He would come through to lead this trip.

Once I met the team we came together with great unity. I know that prayer was being prayed all across the US. I was so thankful for a group size of seven instead of seventeen.

While in country my role was to organize all the logistics; transportation, lodging, food, money, schedule, etc. Plus care for the team and make sure their questions were answered and they were receiving an enriching experience; morning devotions, day debrief, prayer, allowing the Spirit to lead and guide, etc.

Each morning we met to do morning devotions. I assigned a team member a day each. This time in the morning was some of my favorite time. I got the privilege to share with this group who God is to me and encourage them in their faith and relationship with the Creator.

Tuesday at the home was the hardest day for me. We had quite and undertaking of tasks ahead of us; to paint 5 rooms, plus all the doors, windows, siding, and gate of the home in 3 days...Tuesday was our second day and I thought there was no way this was going to get home. And the failure if it didn't get done would fall on me, the leader. Oh gosh...panic and stress set in. That worry turned into a lack of trust in my God to help us achieve our goal we set in front of us. There was no way we were leaving this home half done, that was not an option. Plus I was forcing my team to paint long days instead of play with the kids, which they all would have chosen to do. Painting the rooms with murals to make the rooms inviting and a fun place to learn, sleep, eat, and do life would show the government of Ethiopia that this home was serious about caring for kids. The director of the home continues to give his life away for these kids and the least we could do is paint a couple rooms while we were there. That was the task for us to do.

Wednesday morning was the best time of morning devotions. One of the rooms we painted had the Lord's Prayer  in it- in English and Tigrinya. One of the gals on our team had spent the WHOLE day painting this prayer. It was fresh on my mind and felt the Spirit prompt me to pray through it. We started off the prayer time just praising God for who He is; His character, His name, His wonder...then we transitioned to praying for Salvation for the kids we were building relationships with, the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the "special mothers"- that God's kingdom and message of Salvation would come to them in a real and understandable way; whether HE used us or not. We then confessed our sins to one another. By this point in the trip we were a cohesive team, although still 4 days ago complete strangers. It's amazing what God does through unity of the Spirit and like mindedness. We ended with praying for deliverance, protection, and His hand to continue to lead us as we started the day. Wednesday was one of my favorite days.

Thursday was our final work day at Lola. We got all the murals done and we thanked God for His favor. That night we were blessed with a great celebration where some of the board of directors from Lola came to present gifts of thanks for us. We came to be a blessing and the team walked away feeling way more blessed. They butchered a goat/sheep earlier that day and BBQ'd it up for us. It was a joyous celebration as we gathered around each other, listened to a song from the children, ate amazing Ethiopian food, and enjoyed that time.

When we call on the name of the Lord, He is eager to lead us where He desires us to go. I got the privilege this week to watch God transform the lives of seven individuals, to see faith renewed, commits to Christ confirmed and strengthened, decisions to be in the Word more...what remarkable things God did through this trip. I got the privilege of God saying, "Yes, I'll use you. Because you're willing and relying on Me, I'll use you to build my Kingdom on Earth". Wow God. Thank you for using me. Thank you for keeping me humble in order to be used by You. It was not me, only through my obedience to say Yes to Him and allowing the Spirit of God to lead did He receive all the Glory for what He did on this trip.

While being in country the desire to be and live in a country not my own grew. God confirmed in my heart that this is what He is having me do. This is where He wants me right now. Not necessarily Ethiopia, but not America. After I got home the desire to leave was ever present. Erica presented the option of being the in-country coordinator for my job in Africa. I was excited to start praying about that.

There are so many great reasons why I would want to stay with AGCI and I continued and will continue to pray for God to use me wherever. As I continued to pray though the urgency to go continued to grow. Even to this day, I just want to go. I know patience and timing is critical, although if I could leave next month I'd be on the next plane out of here. I say a month cause...you gotta say goodbye! But honestly if God said "Get on a plane tomorrow" I would. I just know leaving for 2 years takes time.

I am still planning on interviewing with OC Int'l. The interview is scheduled for October 2011. Please pray with me as I continue to be in tune with God's direction for my life as I work to glorify Him!

So, all this to say...great trip, and excited for what God has in store for this little life of mine! I long to glorify Him through it all!