I fully intended to post last night, but we had a little excitement - our guest house caught on fire!!! We had an electrical fire in the breaker box right outside our bedroom on the third floor. As we were putting the kids to bed, reading Bible story, etc., we kept hearing a crackling, whining noise. We thought they were still grinding coffee downstairs in the kitchen, which they had been doing when we came upstairs. The lights began flickering and then were going off and coming on. Again, this would not be that unusual when a coffee grinder is running, as the electricity is not completely dependable here. However, what we didn't know was that the breaker box was flaming in the hallway on the same wall that our clothes cabinets in our room sit on (where all our clothes, our passports, & our money are stored). I heard voices, sounding excited, and then I heard, "Do you think I should get them out of here?" followed by "Yes!" There came a knock on our door, and realizing the situation, Carlos ran down the stairs, Dave grabbed up Kiki, and I did what any mother would do - I started grabbing everything I thought we would need to get through the next couple of days and to eventually get out of the country! I was loaded like a pack mule when I stepped into the hallway. By that point the fire was out. Thank you, Lord!
God always provides, He knows what we need, and on this trip He knew we would need an electrician, so He provided us one in one of our team members. Thank you, Dick! He immediately had everything under control. We ended up with no power on the top two floors of the guest house, but everyone was safe and the house only sustained damage on the one wall. This morning an Ethiopian electrician came to assess the situation, under Dick's supervision. (There is no building code here!) We were told that we would have no power or electricity on the top two floors for the rest of the trip. (Which I think meant that all 19 of us would be sharing one bathroom!!) This afternoon, however, after further analysis and repair, the second floor has full power and hot water, and the third floor (ours) has hot water, but no power. What a relief. We don't need electricity, but hot water for a shower sure is nice.
The fire leads me to the beauty. One of the greatest blessings of this trip has been my teammates. Yesterday, we spent the morning back at CFI. More time with the beautiful children, and wonderful fellowship with the women. The number of women coming to our "women's fellowship" has increased each day. Yesterday, we had almost 40. We had planned a craft for each morning this week, and three of us are trying to coordinate teaching 35-40 Ethiopian women how to make something through a male interpreter! We've dyed scarves, sewn small felt stuffed animals, and beaded the scarves. Yesterday, we needed about a million small felt pieces cut out in the shapes of a lion's body, mane, paws, and face. Several folks on our team spent Monday evening cutting out those shapes. Even so, we ended up without enough yesterday morning - more women came than on Monday! We needed to teach the sewing project and cut more pieces. We also needed to iron the scarves that had been dyed on Monday, to heat set the color. We were a little busy, to say the least. Out of nowhere, in walks Dean, a member of our team, and says, "Do you need me to iron? I'm free this morning, so I can iron for the next three hours if you need me." WHAT? A man, volunteering to iron for us for three hours?! And before he even started that, he began cutting out our extra felt pieces with a pattern. I'm not joking when I say it was a beautiful act of service.
In the afternoon, we went to Onesimus - a drop-in center for the street kids of Addis Ababa. Onesimus is an amazing place. It provides education, food, medical care, and love and support to street kids - runaways, orphans, and abandoned children, from the very small to teenagers. It is hard, hard work done by amazing Christian Ethiopians. The ladies in our church collected books to fill new, mostly empty shelves in the Onesimus library. What an amazing privilege to be the one to deliver those books, to see them go on the shelves, to see the joy and encouragement felt by the Onesimus staff. Thank you, ladies of Northside Baptist Church! You made a real difference in the world yesterday! Onesimus, the name of a slave in the book of Philemon in the Bible, means, "thought to be useless, but useful to the Lord." I love that name.
The kids at Onesimus are hardened street kids. Many come into the center high. They are scrappy and ready to fight. They are in constant survival mode. As they played basketball yesterday afternoon, a number of fights broke out - quick, vicious, violent fights. And then, a picture of beauty. One of the guys on our team, Tim, a tall, athletic guy who was running basketball drills with the kids, stepped in and pulled the kids apart. He was calm, firm, and strong. He stopped the fight and reprimanded the kids. But the beauty was in the way he did it. I'm sure some of these kids are used to getting knocked in the head by whatever adult happens to be around. They get harrassed and likely beaten by the police. They get bullied by older kids. Here was a tall, strong man who treated them kindly and with respect even as he brought them under control and reprimanded them. It was beautiful to watch.
As the guys played basketball and ran drills with the boys (and yesterday there were primarily boys at Onesimus), I sat there wondering what to do to try to engage the boys. As I looked around, I saw another teammate, Zoe, sitting on a bench playing hand-clapping games with a group of three older boys. I had no idea what to do with these kids. Zoe sat down and started playing. Without being able to speak to each other, they were having a grand time and laughing their heads off. It was beautiful. There was one very small child at Onesimus yesterday, sitting alone on the stairs, staring off into space, alone. Not much later, I saw Zoe holding that precious little one, rocking very slightly back and forth, rubbing her back gently. Before I knew it both their eyes were closed. It was a picture of perfect tenderness. It was so incredibly beautiful. Zoe has a breathtaking ability to engage and love kids. It is a privilege to watch.
And finally, back to the fire last night. Carlos was completely freaked out by the whole incident. He was beside himself for a good while after the fire was put out. Now understand, that he never wanted to come to Ethiopia to begin with. He honestly admitted that he was afraid. He is a cautious, cautious kid that hates the unknown. He has come to Ethiopia and thrived, but a fire in the middle of it was just too much to bear. The men on this team rallied round him and encouraged him, consoled and reassured him. Boys need good Christian male role models, even those who have good fathers, like Carlos does. My boy is surrounded by them on this trip. I looked up once to see Dean hugging him and reassuring him. Neil took him upstairs and gave him a special necklace to wear to sleep in that his father had given him. Dick took the time to explain the electrical issues, which means all the world to Carlos - knowledge dispells the unknown and thus, the fear. Even Sirgahuy (sp?), the Ethiopian woman who runs the guest house and cooks and cleans for us, was hugging and kissing him and gave him a special flashlight when we had to go upstairs in the dark. It was beautiful!!!
God tries us, and sometimes those trials are hard, hard, hard, but He gives us beauty in those trials. Thank you, Lord, for eyes to see the beauty You so faithfully provide!
God always provides, He knows what we need, and on this trip He knew we would need an electrician, so He provided us one in one of our team members. Thank you, Dick! He immediately had everything under control. We ended up with no power on the top two floors of the guest house, but everyone was safe and the house only sustained damage on the one wall. This morning an Ethiopian electrician came to assess the situation, under Dick's supervision. (There is no building code here!) We were told that we would have no power or electricity on the top two floors for the rest of the trip. (Which I think meant that all 19 of us would be sharing one bathroom!!) This afternoon, however, after further analysis and repair, the second floor has full power and hot water, and the third floor (ours) has hot water, but no power. What a relief. We don't need electricity, but hot water for a shower sure is nice.
The fire leads me to the beauty. One of the greatest blessings of this trip has been my teammates. Yesterday, we spent the morning back at CFI. More time with the beautiful children, and wonderful fellowship with the women. The number of women coming to our "women's fellowship" has increased each day. Yesterday, we had almost 40. We had planned a craft for each morning this week, and three of us are trying to coordinate teaching 35-40 Ethiopian women how to make something through a male interpreter! We've dyed scarves, sewn small felt stuffed animals, and beaded the scarves. Yesterday, we needed about a million small felt pieces cut out in the shapes of a lion's body, mane, paws, and face. Several folks on our team spent Monday evening cutting out those shapes. Even so, we ended up without enough yesterday morning - more women came than on Monday! We needed to teach the sewing project and cut more pieces. We also needed to iron the scarves that had been dyed on Monday, to heat set the color. We were a little busy, to say the least. Out of nowhere, in walks Dean, a member of our team, and says, "Do you need me to iron? I'm free this morning, so I can iron for the next three hours if you need me." WHAT? A man, volunteering to iron for us for three hours?! And before he even started that, he began cutting out our extra felt pieces with a pattern. I'm not joking when I say it was a beautiful act of service.
In the afternoon, we went to Onesimus - a drop-in center for the street kids of Addis Ababa. Onesimus is an amazing place. It provides education, food, medical care, and love and support to street kids - runaways, orphans, and abandoned children, from the very small to teenagers. It is hard, hard work done by amazing Christian Ethiopians. The ladies in our church collected books to fill new, mostly empty shelves in the Onesimus library. What an amazing privilege to be the one to deliver those books, to see them go on the shelves, to see the joy and encouragement felt by the Onesimus staff. Thank you, ladies of Northside Baptist Church! You made a real difference in the world yesterday! Onesimus, the name of a slave in the book of Philemon in the Bible, means, "thought to be useless, but useful to the Lord." I love that name.
The kids at Onesimus are hardened street kids. Many come into the center high. They are scrappy and ready to fight. They are in constant survival mode. As they played basketball yesterday afternoon, a number of fights broke out - quick, vicious, violent fights. And then, a picture of beauty. One of the guys on our team, Tim, a tall, athletic guy who was running basketball drills with the kids, stepped in and pulled the kids apart. He was calm, firm, and strong. He stopped the fight and reprimanded the kids. But the beauty was in the way he did it. I'm sure some of these kids are used to getting knocked in the head by whatever adult happens to be around. They get harrassed and likely beaten by the police. They get bullied by older kids. Here was a tall, strong man who treated them kindly and with respect even as he brought them under control and reprimanded them. It was beautiful to watch.
As the guys played basketball and ran drills with the boys (and yesterday there were primarily boys at Onesimus), I sat there wondering what to do to try to engage the boys. As I looked around, I saw another teammate, Zoe, sitting on a bench playing hand-clapping games with a group of three older boys. I had no idea what to do with these kids. Zoe sat down and started playing. Without being able to speak to each other, they were having a grand time and laughing their heads off. It was beautiful. There was one very small child at Onesimus yesterday, sitting alone on the stairs, staring off into space, alone. Not much later, I saw Zoe holding that precious little one, rocking very slightly back and forth, rubbing her back gently. Before I knew it both their eyes were closed. It was a picture of perfect tenderness. It was so incredibly beautiful. Zoe has a breathtaking ability to engage and love kids. It is a privilege to watch.
And finally, back to the fire last night. Carlos was completely freaked out by the whole incident. He was beside himself for a good while after the fire was put out. Now understand, that he never wanted to come to Ethiopia to begin with. He honestly admitted that he was afraid. He is a cautious, cautious kid that hates the unknown. He has come to Ethiopia and thrived, but a fire in the middle of it was just too much to bear. The men on this team rallied round him and encouraged him, consoled and reassured him. Boys need good Christian male role models, even those who have good fathers, like Carlos does. My boy is surrounded by them on this trip. I looked up once to see Dean hugging him and reassuring him. Neil took him upstairs and gave him a special necklace to wear to sleep in that his father had given him. Dick took the time to explain the electrical issues, which means all the world to Carlos - knowledge dispells the unknown and thus, the fear. Even Sirgahuy (sp?), the Ethiopian woman who runs the guest house and cooks and cleans for us, was hugging and kissing him and gave him a special flashlight when we had to go upstairs in the dark. It was beautiful!!!
God tries us, and sometimes those trials are hard, hard, hard, but He gives us beauty in those trials. Thank you, Lord, for eyes to see the beauty You so faithfully provide!
With tears in my eyes, I am speechless!! Many prayers being sent your way.
ReplyDeleteCovering the whole team in prayers!!!
ReplyDelete