ETHIOPIA - DAY 3

Our first full day in Ethiopia was Sunday!!  I was really looking forward to worshiping with fellow believers and experiencing their church services.  Our group of eight split into smaller groups and children from the BCI program came to take us to their churches in the morning.  Three of us went to Emmanuel Church with Mekedis and Adana (sister and brother).  In order to get there, we walked from the side street to the main road for a taxi.  The taxis in Debre Zeit are more like vans with a sliding door that a young boy opens and closes, while collecting money.  Church was in a room with tarp walls, wooden benches, and gravel/dirt floor. 

The service consisted of a pastor leading prayer for about 1 hour, worship for about 1 hour, and preaching for about 2 hours!!  It was so amazing to experience the atmosphere in that place, sensing the Spirit's presence even though I couldn't understand what others around me were saying.  It was so awesome to remember how great God is, that He hears each of us, no matter where we are, or what language we speak!!

Worship was fantastic to experience, everyone had their eyes closed and you could just sense the intimacy those around you were experiencing with our Creator.  That they were in no way concerned by what others around them were doing, but to focus solely on the object of their praise.  After the praying and worshipping, we decided to go with the children to their lesson time.  We met Getu, one of the BCI social workers, and he had us lead some songs with the kids!  They were so well-behaved for sitting still in a small room for about 2 hours.

Another aspect of church in Ethiopia that struck me was how even though these people had just been in church for roughly four hours, no one was in a rush to leave.  People mingled and had great fellowship, as if there was no place they would rather be than at church. 

After church we had a coffee ceremony at the BCI foster home (coffee is Ethiopia's main crop and their customary way to welcome guests is with a coffee ceremony where they roast the beans, grind the beans, and brew the coffee - all by hand).  They even let me try to grind the coffee!!

 After drinking some amazing coffee and eating popcorn, we had a great time playing with the kids!  Bubbles were a huge hit with Fikir and Haben (two little girls), the older kids enjoyed the soccer and volleyball, while the babies (Ribirra and Joy) were infatuated with the cameras! 

 Praise God for these beautiful children, and a great first day in Ethiopia!!





Always be full of joy in the Lord.  I say it again - rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.  Remember, the Lord is coming soon. - Philippians 4:4-5

KENYA - DAY 1

After months of prayer and preparation, the big day was finally here... the day God was taking me to Africa.

Before I get into the trip, let me give you a little background on how and why this came about. Last summer, Todd Zimmerman, the leader of my church's young adult ministry, Engage, announced that he felt God leading him to take a group of us on a short-term mission trip to Kenya. The summer before that, Todd had been to Kenya himself and received the conviction and vision to begin Engage. Originally, when the trip was scheduled, it was around the end of May and into the first week of June. There was no doubt in my mind, somehow I just knew I would be going to Kenya. However, that was before I learned the dates were changing... and changing to be during my birthday! For most people, this wouldn't be a big deal. But, if you love birthdays as much as I do and my own birthday, specifically, you would know the dilemna I thought I was facing. My instant reaction was "Welp, there goes my opportunity for a mission trip. I couldn't possibly be gone over my birthday..." And instantly after I thought that, I felt God gently whisper into my heart, "Megan, what better way to spend your birthday than to be sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ?" So there it was, I was going to Africa.

On the morning of Thursday, June 7th, I woke up, packed a few lingering items in my suitcase, grabbed my backpack and headed to the church. Our bags were then loaded into vehicles to take us to the airport, and we were sent off with prayers, hugs and kisses from family and friends. Once at the airport with tickets in hand, Dan Crosley, the missions pastor at our church prayed over our group one last time and sent us off. While in the airport waiting for our flight, I saw the Vice President of Operations for Dow AgroSciences and got the opportunity to share with him that I was going on a mission trip. This would be the first of many doors God opened for me to grow in courage and boldness to share my faith.

Our flights took us from Indianapolis to New York to London and then on to Kenya. One of the best ideas someone ever had was for our group to wear the same t-shirts every day. This way, we were easily identifiable in crowds of people. We often got asked what our group was doing, opening countless opportunities to share about being on mission for Christ. While in the New York airport, we met another mission team headed to Kenya, too! Turns out, two in our group had sat directly behind two in their group at the Passion Conference in January. This may not seem like a big deal, unless you knew that roughly 45,000 students attended Passion!! How awesome is our God?

(Circle picture...laying on the airport floor!)

Good bye USA, hello London.
The journey had begun.

Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20

ETHIOPIA - DAY 1 & 2

On Friday afternoon, I boarded a small plane in Cedar Rapids, IA to meet the rest of the group in Chicago.  My amazing new friends from Iowa City (where I lived this summer during my internship in Cedar Rapids) drove me to the airport and had some great words of wisdom as they had both previously done international mission work. 

 

 

After finally meeting the group in person, we all entered the United Airlines waiting line, eight of us in total carrying two 50lb. pieces of luggage plus a carry-on.  After a great experience with the lady behind the counter not weighing and not charging us for any of our luggage (Praise God because a few of the bags were questionable on the 50lb. cutoff!), we made it through security and found our gate.  We had a double-decker plane from Chicago to Frankfurt.  We landed, had to go back through a security screening, nearly missed our connecting flight, but at long last, we were on the plane to Addis Ababa.  Thanks to our great team member, Mark, we had a good idea of when to sleep and when to stay awake as to adjust to being 8 hours ahead. 

 

Due to a large group of people all wearing the same shirt, we had a lot of people ask us about our trip and what we were doing.  It was a great opportunity to tell others about our mission to do God's work and glorify His name in Ethiopia!

 

We arrived in Addis late Saturday night, and after using a local's cell phone, we located our Blessing the Children International contacts and transportation to Debre Zeit.  We road the BCI Academy bus that takes the children to and from school.  At long last, we pulled up to the Guest House and unloaded our luggage.  After getting sheets on our mattresses and situating things, our leader, Jessica called us downstairs for a quick de-briefing.  We discussed who was going to which church the next morning and she handed us a surprise she had been working on the past few weeks.  Each of us had an envelope of letters / notes of encouragement written by our friends and family back home!!!  My amazing sister wrote me letters for every single day, and I had countless other notes and loving prayers from my parents and family friends!!

 

In all, our traveling went very well and our excitement was beyond measure as we laid down for the first night in Ethiopia!

 

 

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love.  - Ephesians 5:1-2