A Glorious Collision

On Friday March 12th, 6 months after leaving one world (the U.S.) and coming to another (Ethiopia), my two worlds collided. And what a glorious collision it was! That day as I stood in the Mekelle airport, my stomach full of knots and butterflies all at the same time, watching my Mom and Dad, my brother Ben, and my sister Lily walk down the terminal it was as if no time had passed at all. Lily trampled the people in front of her, ran down the hall, and jumped into my arms! Oh how sweet it was!

The Glorious Reunion!

From my journal Thursday, March 11, 2010…the day my family arrived in Ethiopia
“Oh God, how I can’t wait to see how this (being in Ethiopia) will change my family’s life. Do things that I can’t begin to ask or imagine.”

From my journal Wednesday, March 23, 2010…the day after my family left Ethiopia
“To my God who does abundantly beyond what I I could ever ask or imagine…Thank You.”

When I wrote in my journal the day before my family arrived in Ethiopia, I thought I was asking God to do things that I couldn’t begin to ask or imagine in the lives of my Mom and Dad, Ben and Lily. Little did I know that the great work He would do would be in me as well!

It brought me so much joy to see them with the people that I have come to love so much…the precious children at the blind school…the children in the countryside schools…the girls at the orphanage who called my Mom “Mom”…the students in my English class at the youth center who did a special drama for my family…the staff and guards at the youth center…my teammates…the family in the little shop where I buy fruits and vegetables…friends I’ve made Addis Ababa. All these people that I have talked about for the last months are no longer just names to my family…now they are faces and personalities and stories. They are real.

Ben and Lily with Aforki (center) and George (to Lily's right) at the blind school

Redi and my Dad at the blind school

Lily and I with the girls at the orphanage...they are so great!

My Mom and her new daughters, Atseda and Germanish, at the orphanage

Lily and I with kids we met while traveling around Ethiopia...precious

One of the greatest things that the Lord was teaching me through my brother Ben was to ask Him everyday to show Himself to me. As I watched Ben do this in his own life, it was so evident that God was at work all around us. How often do I miss seeing God because I haven’t asked Him to show Himself or I’m just not paying attention?

Here is just one example of God at work. Ethiopia is in its driest time of the year. It has rained only once since I’ve been here and that was about 4 months ago. Because of the lack of rain there is also a lack of water for daily living. At my house, we have had no running water (as in running in the taps) for about 8 weeks. The only water comes through a hose and we fill up barrels and then use smaller buckets to wash. No water had come into the hose for 10 days. On the tenth day, Ben and I were talking about seeing God at work around us, and so we prayed for rain…not just for our benefit, but for the people of Ethiopia. It didn’t rain, but that very night we got water through our hose..the first time in 10 days! The next day we left Mekelle to start traveling around Ethiopia. When we got to Axum, a historical site of Ethiopia, there was a torrential downpour. Our driver told us that it was the first time it had rained there in 6 months! Everywhere we went after that, it rained good and hard! God was answering our prayer and bringing blessings upon the people of Ethiopia! What would we have missed if we hadn’t asked God to show us Himself!

Ben challenged me so much in this area, and I have started doing this every day. And oh how amazing it has been! God is always at work and I think it is just a miracle when we get to see it! I have been seeing His work in my English class at the youth center since the day my family left Ethiopia. One of my students asked me for an English Bible and the entire class wanted to spend our time talking about Easter and what it means! What great things God is always ready to do if I just ask Him!

My heart is still full of joy as I think about my family being here. I don’t know if they will ever know how much it meant to me that they were here, that when I go home and talk about Ethiopia and the people they will understand what and who I’m talking about. How grateful I am that they have experienced the joy of being here…of knowing these wonderful, generous people. And how grateful I am that the Lord has shown me through their being here that He is at work all around me, all the time. And that is another kind of glorious collision…when our Majestic God and His work collide with our lives.

Thank you for praying with me and for my family! God has indeed done beyond what I could have ever asked or imagined, and I am always thankful that you are part of this with me!

Just as an extra…
I wanted to add a revised “You Know You’re in Africa When…” This list was made by my family at the end of their time here.

So here we go…

You Know You’re in Africa When…
The toilet seat is duct taped together.
You find yourself out of breath after walking for only 5 minutes (due to the elevation).
You throw up in your mouth when you go to the bathroom because it smells so bad.
You have to go outside to get to your kitchen.
Everyone (Ethiopians) wants to have you for the traditional coffee ceremony.
Oil of oregano is your appetizer.
You pay 12 dollars for a hotel room, and your water gets shut off.
Everything is built from stone.
You walk down the street and every boy wants to clean your shoes.
The kids are constantly asking you for a pen.
Your skin is flaking away due to sunburn.
You have flies all over your mouth and nose.
Ethiopians are wearing winter clothes in the blazing sun.
In one city, every kid says “America…Barack Obama?”
You smell the same before and after your shower.