The most common piece of advice usually given after a mission trip is “GET SOME REST!” But how do you find the rest that your soul requires after a visit to the center of God’s will and call upon your life? How do you process and categorize your experience with the Savior when you struggle to find words that seem adequate enough to explain, quantify and justify what proves to be pivotal in your walk with Jesus.
Psalm 62:5 (Amplified Bible) My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him.
No two mission trips are ever the same and at the end of each, you return home from the journey “well spent” by Christ. The journey to Chencha, Ethiopia was not the first, technically, but for each person involved in the project it was a once in a lifetime experience. We are different in our perspectives on what took place and renewed and reformed in our understanding of waiting upon the LORD…SILENTLY…and in TOTAL SUBMISSION!
We touched the lives of more than 700 patients, 30 combined team members and staff. We lived in unusual circumstances, without hot water and on some days without any water and no electricity for at least a part of our days. We ate food that was new and different and found new loves like Gorman (Ethiopian greens) and mango juice. For some, it was a pleasant surprise to be able to cope so well in an environment for which we could not really prepare. For others, the feeling of “returning home” proved to be a challenge all by itself because the thought was, “we are here from our home!” But to be in the center of the divine will of Christ should certainly feel like home and by His grace that was what it felt like most days.
We are physically back to our own beds, showers, bath tubs, cats, families and friends, but our hearts will be divided between our love for our American lives and our new family members in Ethiopia. Please continue to pray for 8 year old Dubalech (DOOba – Lech) as she travels to Addis Ababa on Tuesday, March 1 to meet with a Norwegian orthopedic doctor in regards to her left leg. The road ahead for her will be a tremendous challenge as it is inevitable – to save her life she must lose at least her left leg. Pray for the ministry we have had the blessing of working with, Win Souls for God. What vision and passion they have…God’s agenda is their only desire. They face new challenges as they try to raise funds to staff the clinic in Chencha and continue the projects in Addis Ababa. Please also life up the people of Chencha – the prayer room housed members of several churches. They gathered for the first time ever from different church communities and discovered that since they serve the same one and only Christ Jesus, the buildings that housed their communities were simple physical structures and could not contain their unbridled love for the Savior.
Please continue to check our blog for our stories…and pictures.
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