Sunday morning church

Today is our first Sunday here in Ethiopia. Yemamu and his friend
Misfin go to a church called Beza International Church, which is where
Keely and I were planning on going anyway. The service is three hours
long, and we were told by one of the American Gladney employees that
is was “very charismatic.” Well, it definitely was! We were about an
hour late because the roads were closed and so it took Yameum and
Misfin a little longer to get to our house. We missed the worship and
singing portion, but made it in time to hear all the sermon. It was
great and I think we both felt like it really applied to our lives and
what we’re doing here. The pastor talked about love and
relationships, and how important it is to love your enemies and those
you like just the same. We are here to share love and show compassion
to these orphans and help with their development. After the sermon
there was a new attendees refreshment stand in the back and we met two
Americans, one from California and one from Atlanta. Ruth, the
Californian, has been here in Ethiopia for eight months and has one
month left. She is teaching kindergarten English and lives very close
to us. Michael, the guy from Atlanta, has only been here one week and
will be here for a total of two months, very similar to us. We
exchanged phone numbers so we may hang out or get something to eat
sometime. It was nice to meet a few people and we’re starting to feel
a little more settled.

Keely’s quick addition: echoing everything Kel just said. I just want
to try and convey the awesomeness of being in church today. It was an
amazing service of hope, love and transcendence. And to share it with
a group of people who have so completely given themselves to their
faith was touching and inspiring to say the least. Okay… back to
Kelly.

We are still working on figuring out the taxi system, but we’ll be
taking it by ourselves to the Gladney office tomorrow! I have to say,
though, this really won’t be testing us too much. We only have to
take one taxi and then walk a few blocks. We’ll be heading to
Kababitsahay and Kechene tomorrow after meeting Yemamu (we just
learned, this is how you actually spell his name!) at the office and
we be starting to plan our programs in more depth.

My final piece of luggage, the bin of 50 pounds of toys, has finally
arrived in Addis today and will be picked up. We are excited to start
introducing these wonderful toys to the beautiful children. We will
try and get some pictures to show their excitement.

Thought of the day: Faith is love.