Check ‘em out!

It’s not easy to put a personal journal out there for everyone to read. The first inclination is always to “clean things up” for public consumption. But I felt that if people were going to get a glimpse of what it really means to be on a mission trip then I would have to leave everything in. So I tried hard to do that and be as transparent and descriptive as possible.

I think maybe that’s why God presented this opportunity to me. So that I could write about what we saw and felt. And maybe for some of you that will mean that when God presents that particular challenge to you, and you’re asked to step out in a way that seems really uncomfortable, or even crazy, that you’ll take Him up on it.

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement and the kind words.  God bless.

I just want to thank every single person on the trip for holding it together and making our team a cohesive and focused unit. Despite all the warnings beforehand of “conflict resolution” and this and that, other than some expected homesickness, this team really exhibited a Christian attitude through every situation and I’m proud to have been influenced by these folks. I especially want to thank my band bros and bunk-mates. Without you guys, this trip just would not have been the same.

I want to thank the folks who work there full time. I’ve never met a more incredible group of God fearing folks in my life. Folks who have put aside their own comfort, their own desires to live their lives by Christ’s example, serving others. You are all amazing.

I also want to thank my new friends in Ethiopia, who I’ve already been emailing since I’ve returned. I’ve honestly never met so many strangers who have welcomed us like we were family. These people fed us, opened their homes to us, led us around, let us teach their kids! I’ve learned that the Ethiopian people are an amazing people. Proud yet humble, extremely kind and gracious.

And I want to thank God for opening this door and changing my life forever.

So where to next? Antarctica!!! Ok, just kidding. I’m going to stay home for a while and since it’s our 20th Anniversary this year, Michelle and I are going someplace romantic together this year. But next year, who knows? Maybe I’ll go back to Ethiopia to visit my new friends, and take my family next time.

Thanks for reading.

Today we got up early and went to breakfast. I couldn’t eat. We’ve just been eating way too much on this trip. The rest of the gang had French toast. Yeah, French toast in Ethiopia. Who would have thought?

We made the drive back to Addis, which took a while. There’s so much cattle and stuff crossing the highway you really can’t do 70 or 80 like you can in the states. 45 is really cookin’ here. Anyway, we got back to town and stopped at a pizza joint for lunch. It was really good. Probably some of the best we’ve had here.

We finished off the day with some worship and bible study with a bunch of folks and it was just a really good way to finish off our time here.

January 26, Saturday, 11:00PM Ethiopian Time

Well we’re on our way home. We spent our final day shopping and I bought a ton of stuff for my girls. A bunch of silver and housewares for Michelle and a few bags and trinkets for Deanna. It was a bear getting it all in my bags and I had to fill the cajon with my dirty clothes to make room for everything. Then at the Addis airport they decided to make me empty out all my carry ons. The bag I brought is for my motorcycle and so it’s got a metal frame so it holds it’s shape. Everytime it goes through the scanner they think I’m carrying something dangerous. That’s the last time I use that bag, even though it’s a really cool bag.

Well, going to try to get some sleep. 31 hours of travel ahead of me. Sad to say goodbye, but it will be good to get home.

Today we drove to a town called Worabi. I think that’s how you spell it anyway. We met an incredible couple named Andy and Coleta who live and work here in this tiny town. We got to their house early and then they drove us up into the hills where we could see across the whole area. It was an amazing sight to see and I am floored how truly beautiful Africa is. I found a nice rock to sit on and just enjoyed the sun shining down on me and the wind blowing through the trees as I looked out over Worabi and the surrounding land.

Afterwards we drove out to the goat project that Andy runs along with some locals. What the goat project does is raise goats (surprised?) and then distribute these goats to widows. As far as I can gather, in cultures like these men play a dominant role and therefore women are dependent on them for many things. If you don’t have a husband or sons, you are pretty much, for lack of a better term, screwed. So the goat project raises healthy goats, and delivers them to the widows and then follows that up with education on how to milk and breed these animals in order for these women to sustain themselves and their children. It’s truly a great project and I was really stunned to find out that Andy, who has degrees in mathematics and computer science, gave up the career opportunities that come with that kind of education to come to Ethiopia and raise goats for poor widows. These are the kinds of people who work here. They are truly amazing.

It was pretty cool visiting the site itself too, although it’s a 40 minute drive down what can only be called a “road” in the loosest sense of the word. I was in the back of the SUV and was hitting my head on the roof so much I have a permanent indent on my cranium from that little button on the top of my baseball cap. Once there though we saw some cool stuff roaming the countryside. Wild boars and baboons to be exact. We were even so “lucky” as to see a few baboons doing…. *ahem*….. adult baboon things right there in the open. The Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom theme song was suddenly filling my head, and oddly enough it was being played on funky guitar with a wah pedal……

ANYWAY…. there was a river close by and so then went down there to check it out. It was nearly dry, but deep enough to skip some rocks in and Justin handily whooped me in our impromptu rock skipping tournament.

After that we went to dinner for what would be our last taste of true Ethiopian food.  Luckily for us, somebody ordered ahead and the restaurant substituted bread for the traditional engera. The meat turned out to be what we think was goat or sheep though, and no, it does NOT taste like chicken. It’s chewy and very oily. They love spices here though and so they served a plate full of some spice that I couldn’t identify. I discovered that if you put enough of it on the goat meat, it isn’t half bad and I ended up nearly clearing my plate.

We finished the evening with some worship together and I have to say that’s been some of my favorite times so far. Just hanging out with believers, jamming some music acoustic style, singing, and just enjoying each other’s company. Good times.

Today we got up and had our usual morning devotional before we head out for the day. Always good to get your mind focused on God first thing. I feel kind of bad today though. After our normal scripture reading and what not the subject of missing home was brought up and everyone was asked to talk about something they miss from home… and I just kind of popped.

There’s two reasons I got a little perturbed really. One, each of us was required to share something of an personal nature and that just doesn’t wash with me. If I feel the need to share, I’ll do it. If I don’t feel the need, I don’t appreciate being coerced because now I have to be serious on command. What am I supposed to do, make something up?? And that leads me into my second reason for being ticked, is that I really hadn’t missed home. That’s going to sound cold, but honestly, I came all the way to Ethiopia to do a task. God and my band brothers have kept me very good company. I feel very content at the moment and feel like I have a real purpose here. Yes I miss my girls, but that was fully expected and something I’m prepared to deal with. So the last thing I needed was to start getting sappy about being away from home with 6 days left in the trip, and I kind of said so.

Later though, I felt bad. The fact is that not everyone handles problems the same way, and with my “suck it up” attitude, I very well could have stifled somebody else who really needed to be able to open up to the group. So I feel like crap about that. I need to learn to bite my tongue at times.

After our devotional time we went and spent a full day at Destiny. I’m telling you, these kids are amazing. I’m starting to learn their little quirks and personality traits. Who is the thoughtful one, who is the emotional one, who are the smart ones and who struggle a little. The fifth graders are my favorite. There’s Gutu who’s got a chipped tooth and always seems to be dirtier than the other kids. He’s so eager, and helps us keep the pre-school kids organized during our courtyard singalong times. There’s another kid, I think Frank said his name was Manuel or something like that. He’s a very thoughtful and quiet kid, but incredibly smart. I asked him what he does after school and he said that he goes home and studies. Then there’s little Betelem. What a stunning little girl she is. Very quiet, very reserved. Her eyes are like amber and when she smiles her face glows like a morning sunrise. It’s in these kids faces that God’s incredible love becomes obvious.

It’s been a blast here at the school.  Everyone is singing John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, which is kind of funny when you think about it. That’s going to be our greatest gift to Ethiopian culture. Ha!

Busy, busy day! We got up early and went to Destiny school for half a day. It was really cool today hanging with the kids. Justin and I got to teach art and that was awesome. I felt a lot more at home teaching something I know a little about. Although it’s been years since I’ve sketched anything, the kids don’t know that. Ha! They were really loving today though. They are so happy to have guests in their classrooms and they gave us all kisses when the classes were over. Then we went into the courtyard and played some kid songs and everyone had a great time.

At lunch we met a great Ethiopian guy named Casahoon (I’m sure I mangled the spelling of his name). What a great story this guy had though. Once a basic slacker not taking any responsibility for his life, opened the Bible, and it changed his life. Now he’s got hope and is working toward a better future for himself and also teaching the Bible to his family. What a great testimony. I was especially impressed at how freely and openly this guy shared his faith. We Christians in America could learn a few things from him.

The funniest thing about Casahoon though is that he is really working on becoming fluent in English and for some reason he is fascinated by American slang. For some reason hearing an Ethiopian guy say “What’s up homies?”, is just freaking hilarious to me. So we taught him every bit of slang we could think of. I got a kick out of watching him pull out a little piece of paper that had American slang written all over it, and adding all of our sayings to it. It was great fun talking to him. At the end of lunch Casahoon proudly announced his newest phrase “Let’s roll out, yo!”, and we left.

We then went to Merkato. Merkato is the biggest outdoor market in all of Africa, and the second largest in the world. It’s made up of blocks and blocks of shops, some in buildings, some in tents, some just wherever the vendor found a few square feet of space on the sidewalk or in an alley. It’s truly amazing to see. You can pretty much buy anything you can think of at Merkato, from washing machines and TV’s to spices by the pound and everything in between. There’s even a huge black market for used stuff, so I would see guys with nothing but used power strips, or dismantled radios and TV’s. So if you needed a belt for a tape deck, or spare capacitor and you needed it cheap, this is where you’d come. Amazing.

Of course as soon as the vendors see white folks, dollar signs flash in their eyes and so they do everything they can to get you into their shop. Sometimes they’ll even hand you an item and not let you put it down! So you’re kind of on the hook until you convince the guy you’re not going to buy it or you relent and hand over the cash. I watched Paul haggling with a really animated shop owner over some African trinket and it was hilarious. The guy refused to let Paul give the item back and kept pushing Paul to name a price. So Paul would throw out some ridiculously low price and the guy would grab his head and say “Aieee!!!”. Then he would come down on the price a little bit and the haggling round would begin anew. It was awesome. I learned quickly to keep my hands in my pockets and not make too much eye contact, because I had no intention of buying a bunch of stuff this day and honestly, I’m not much for haggling.

So after Merkato we went and had dinner at an American couple’s house. Always nice to have American style food again.

Today was a day full of Ethiopian culture. The Ethiopians are celebrating the Christian Orthodox holiday called Timket. It’s a huge celebration all throughout the city which commemorates the baptism of Jesus.

The streets were absolutely packed with people with all kinds of chanting and dancing and stuff going on. A helpful Ethiopian man I was standing next to explained a little bit of what was happening for me. The churches march in from different locations in the city. In this particular square, two large churches had met and were performing the celebration which includes prayer, dancing, drum beats, and song. After the ceremony the church members then form long processions as they walk back to their respective church buildings. This happens all over the city and it’s quite impressive. As I said, the streets are packed and so there’s police with sticks applying love taps to the legs of people who push in too close to the parade. That may sound bad, but it was nothing even remotely violent. Anyway, Mimi was with us and persuaded one of the peace keepers to let us into the street ahead of the parade to take pictures. It’s incredibly flattering how nice the Ethiopians have treated us.

After the ceremony we went to Mimi’s house to meet her family for lunch and a coffee ceremony. I have to say this family was one of the most gracious families I have ever met. We were greeted warmly by the man of the house and then the rest of the family when we arrived. The house itself would not be considered modern by American standards, but it was kept up nicely and decorated with pride. Still, they had no running water and their bathroom was a cinder block closet with a hole in the ground. I only explain this in order to point out that the lack of wealth has little to do with the decency, and generosity of people here in Ethiopia.

Despite their humble means, we were treated first class. The family seated us (leaving no seats for themselves) and then one of the daughters came around with a pitcher of water and a bowl so we could wash our hands. After washing up, dinner was served and we were served first. Engera was served, but they had also made substitutions to the normal Habesha menu, obviously trying to accommodate us. Bread was served as well as rice, green beans and lentils. It was quite good.

After lunch we went out into the courtyard for the traditional coffee ceremony. This time though, Mimi brought out a traditional dress and Alicia was chosen to perform the ceremony. She did a dynamite job and we all enjoyed the coffee very much while chatting with Mimi’s family. Frank spent quite a while talking to Mimi’s father and was surprised at how much he knew about American politics. They have a great respect for Bush and Condoleezza Rice over there. Take that, liberals!

On the drive back home we had a little adventure. Frank was in the front seat with the window down and the streets were packed with people celebrating Timket. We were stopped in traffic and there were a few guys close to the car. Frank looks over, and one guy pronounces “This is my culture!”, and then another dude proceeds to stick a banana in Franks face, hitting him in the cheek! At the same time, there was a cop close by and he promptly runs over and smacks the banana wielding mad man down! Crazy!

Well, later we find out that the guy wasn’t trying to kill frank with a piece of fruit. He was actually trying to feed him. Yeah, it’s called “gorsha” and Ethiopians do that to show friendship… although usually not so forcefully. Yes, this is a very different culture.

We’re going to make shirts when we get back that have a picture of Frank with a banana in his face and the caption: “Don’t Gorsha Me Bro!”.