An Amazing Sunday in Addis Ababa...

Sunday morning, our second day in Addis, we went to church with our dear brother Ahadu and his kids, Nathan and Emerald! They had beautiful worship music and different communication tools that were interesting.  They had a guest speaker who had many good points but seemed to make it all about building our own kingdom instead of God's!  The Service lasted about three hours!  (I am not sure that we could get a way with that in most U.S. churches!)  

Afterward, we went to a Mexican lunch place- it was good but Ethiopian/ Mexican is a little different!  

We had about an hour to rest, and then dinner with our dear sister Konjit! She surprised us by inviting a lot of our old Ethiopian ministry partners!  Some were able to stay and have a hamburger with us but the rest just came to say kind things and hug!  

I ended up sharing about "Hearing God's Voice", and connecting issues as they brought them up!  It was an amazing time that Koni called a 'precious gift from Jesus!'  There was so much kindness with each other and deep hunger for Jesus and anything that would help them realize more of Him in their lives!  And all of this came from the palpable presence of the Spirit of Jesus, so that we all left the evening deeply touched, and hungry for more! 

The Ethiopian man sitting next to me in the hamburger place was one of the street boys we used to work with ten years ago!  Sue and I stayed in the  home they had for these boys and there was another one for the girls. The kids in these houses came with nothing and needed everything- socks, underwear, clothes, stuff for personal hygiene, food...!  They were usually orphaned, uneducated, willing to do anything to survive and frightened!  Most never knew their families or their birthday and had never had a party or even tasted cake! So with one group we had a big birthday party with balloons, cake and ice cream and later I offered something like $5 in Ethiopian Bir (their money) to each one of the boys.  We didn't have much to give on that trip but the boys took this gift like they were holding a million dollars in their hands. Then I told them this was theirs to keep but they must give half of it away to someone else in need! As desparate as their owns needs were, they really bought into this and some great stories followed.  

Fast forward ten years...the man next to me, Ben, is now a University graduate, and owns a thriving architectural business with about a dozen full-time employees!  They design both the exterior and interior of hotels, skyscrapers, resorts, and all kinds of buildings with incredible creativity and beauty!  Ben has as many as 120 sub-contractors working for him at any given time! He said the $5 taught him about giving and now he supports ministry staff and street kids to give them the same chance he had- and it is all around the love of Jesus Christ!    

Today we spent some time in one of his offices meeting staff and looking at the amazing work they do!  

I asked Ben how the other boys and girls from these houses were doing. He and Konjit told us everyone of them are thriving as pharmacists, nurses, agricultural specialists, mining inspectors, accountants for Int'l firms, businessmen, engineers, etc. and with loving families!  They say of themselves, they were "snatched from the flames" and given a chance to be used by God to give back to the World!  

What a gift it is for all of us who had the privilege of intervening in  some way in the tragic trajectory of these dear kids lives and now see the spectacular fruit God produces out of youngsters who were without hope!   

Thank you to each of you who have been such faithful partners in your prayers and giving- it is making an eternal difference!   In His love,  jerry