TIME

“Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. " ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr

"We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves" ~Alice Bloch

Challenging words. Do any of us realize how precious time is? That we can do great things. That we should use each minute to do something... something bigger than our to-do lists. Each moment that goes by is either used for the Lord and for glorifying Him or it is a precious moment that is wasted.

At the end of my life, I want to be able to say that I used the moments, each and every moment; that I understood, at least on some level, the gift of time!

The Saving of Many Lives...

I’m continually struck by the parallels between the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the Street Boys in Ambo, Ethiopia. When Nehemiah saw the ruined Temple in Jerusalem he, “sat down and wept” (Nehemiah 1:4). I find myself thinking about the boys we met at the strangest times – in the Cafeteria, in the middle of a Pre-Calculus lesson, or walking through the building to get my morning coffee (which even thinking about coffee makes me yearn for Ethiopia) and it takes everything in me not to sit down and weep for these boys.

These boys (Our Boys as Gwen referred to them as) have fallen out of the reach of society and are considered lower than low and unlovable even by their own people. Sure, these boys can be difficult to love, but so am I at times. Does that make them unlovable? Absolutely not! They have names - Birahnu, Getahnu, Danny – they have stories and they are filled with kindness – a kindness that goes beyond anything I could still have after living such a rough life.

Rebuilding the Temple was far from easy and helping the Street Boys will not be easy either. Nehemiah 4:10 says, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble.” The workers need help. The boys need someone to advocate for them. They need me, but I need them too. Their stories break me apart and that brokenness spurs me into action – not just to be moved but to be fully changed.

Nehemiah 6: 15-16 says, “The wall was completed… They realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.” Just as the Temple was rebuilt, these boys can, with help, rise up and overcome. In one of my last journal entries, I wrote “Grace. Immeasurable Grace. Despite unfathomable dire circumstances, Grace.”

Bull...Stalkers...Donkey...?!?!

Sometimes, just pondering over the immensity of what we saw becomes overwhelming. This has definitely been an overwhelming week. Tomorrow, the students return to class. So, the reality of working in a wealthy school surrounded by students who are the same age as the Street Boys and yet have no real idea how blessed they truly are is going to slam into me. (In a later post, I'll talk about how great work is being about letting me tell the stories of Ethiopia to the students)

So, to cope, I've been thinking a lot about all of the hilarious moments that occurred during our time in Ethiopia. Here are some of the moments that had us cracking up...

1. Andrea's Stalker in Nazret.

While in Nazaret, we had nightly debriefings in the loft area of the 3rd floor (which equated to 4 flights of stairs to climb). One night, we watched as 3 Asian men climbed the stairs. Now normally, this is not something that would/should catch anyone's attention. Well the 2nd man climbing the stairs seemed quite besotted by Andrea. So much so that he noticeable slowed his pace to the point of being passed by the 3rd man climbing the stairs. This was all quite amusing because Andrea hadn't noticed and honestly, we were so deliriously tired that everyone was laughing about it the next day. The next night at dinner, the man sat there staring again. After telling Andrea what had transpired the previous night, we went back to our rooms. Well, Andrea and I were in our room talking about the events of the day when there was a loud BANG on our door. Thinking nothing of it, Andrea showers. Moments after I get in the shower, there's another knocking on the door, followed by Geoffrey's voice. All I hear are muffled sounds and mumblings of "we're fine" and "not ok".... Well, the next thing I know, we're switching rooms. Geoffrey had seen the men hanging out outside our door as well as running up and down the hall in their tighty whities - which were black, not white btw. He was pretty uncomfortable with the situation, so a room change it is!! So now we're all settled in the new room and start debating about whether or not Sammy and Geoffrey had looked freshly showered at breakfast that day (the sheets aren't changed daily, which is fine, but we didn't particurally want to sleep in the dirty sheets of our teammates). After a much longer than needed discussion about this, we decided that yes, they had showered in the morning, so we needed clean sheets. Andrea calls downstairs and the front desk asks "HOT" or "COLD" for which, it becomes clear they thought we asked for Chai - pronounced Shy- which sounds strikingly like sheets apparently. After a while, we give up and go downstairs, only to discover the wedding party had broken up, and it appears as if the newlyweds have the room directly below us... awesome :) Well, as we discovered later on in the week, Andrea and I really did have the better deal. Poor Bindu and Kit had the room across from the Asian men and discovered a few things: 1. They smoked constantly and NO, it is not okay to smoke inside buildings in Ethiopia. They did anyway. 2. They loved to play cards in their tighty whities. 3. They brought an electric keyboard with them the Nazret Ethiopia... and played it... not well. :)

2. Buying Wonton crackers out the Bus window.

On the way to Nazaret, the bus stopped to that we could get our permit for driving into Nazaret. When we stopped, it took, oh, about 2 seconds for our bus to become surrounded. I had the pleasure of a window seat on this ride and was looking out the window and attempting to talk with the people. They immediately shoved what appeared to be some sort of odd brownish crackers into my window. So of course, I bought some. We all tried them - some liking them more than others. I thought they were pretty good, almost like Wonton noodle, but in cracker form. Beth hated hers! Apparently she got a stale one. Well, at some point, I started cracking up and my non-stale (aka flaky) crackers flew out of my mouth straight towards Sarah! Oops! About 45 min to an hour later, the bus stopped again. This time, the delicious Chocolate cookies were thrust upon us! If only we had purchased more of them! YUM!

3. Bull

While sitting on the bus outside of Tennessee Pizza, minding our own business, a bull ran into the side of our bus. It caused confusion, a few 4-letter words... and a lot of laughter

4. Donkey

On the way to Wenchi Lake, while bus Driver Sammy was deftly maneuvering us up a mountain with no guardrails, Travis and I saw it. Right in front of us. A Donkey was standing in the middle of the road. We felt the brakes, but knew it was too late. Travis starts yelling DONKEY DONKEY DONKEY and the next thing you know, we had clipped the tail end of a donkey. It apparently wasn't injured since it kept walking around as we past, but we saw it do a 180 as our bus collided with its back end.

You Make Beautiful Things

Our 10 teammates included people from all across the United States. We were brought together because of our support of the Mocha Club, the desire to serve, and a great God!! Andrea, Rainier and Nan (from CA), Sarah, Travis and Beth (from TN), Anna Marie (from AL), Bindu and Gwen (from VA) and me (from MD).

A song by Gungor says, "Could a garden come up from this ground at all?" We spent our first few days with the Women At Risk program in Nazaret, Ethiopia. These women bravely shared their stories about how and why they entered into a life of prostitution. They shared about the impacts both positive and negative about that line of work. How could the Lord truly create a garden out of prostitution? How could anything beautiful come from something so difficult? Gen 50:20 says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Could their struggles and lives covered by grace really bring others to salvation? Over and over, we heard powerful stories about how women had been told about the Women At Risk program by others who had gone through the program. They were able to leave a life of prostitution and run into the refuge of the Women At Risk Program.

Together, these women raise up prayers and sing praises to the Lord with a passion and conviction that is seldom seen here - and enviable to me. As a team, we frequently noted how we had forgotten that the life they had previously lived and only saw grace... The chorus of the Gungor song says, "You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of the dust. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of us" As we drove away from Nazaret, Travis played this song for me and nothing could have been a more appropriate description! Truly the Lord is making His people beautiful!!!

How do you describe the undescribable?

28 - August 11, 2010

10 Americans went to Ethiopia with an organization called the Mocha Club. Unquestionably, it has moved me beyond words and changed how I view the world around me. A prayer that our team consistently prayed was that we would not only be moved, but be changed by what we saw and the people we met during our 2 weeks in Addis, Nazaret and Ambo.

The first few days we spent with the Women at Risk in Nazaret, Ethiopia. Every one of these women were former prostitutes. One of the days we surprised the women with a Spa day. They had their nails painted (they LOVED the glitter apparently) and were given facials. During this time, Beth, Gwen and I washed clothes for the women and children. No washer and drier, no washboard, simply a bucket for soap and a bucket for rinsing. Those hours gae me a new perspective on how easy we have it here. The amount of clothes we washed took 2.5+ hours and equated to about 1 full laundry load. These women go through this every week. On their hands and knees scrubbing. Many of the women support themselves by selling scarves. Our group brought back 250 of these scarves to be sold online. www.mochaclub.org If you buy one, chances are my friends and I brought them back!!! :)

The second week of the trip we spent with Compassion children and the Street Boys. On our final night, I had the privilege of sitting with Danny, Gaytar (2 of the boys) as well as Beth and Anna Marie (2 teammates). Beth asked Danny what he wanted to do when he grew up and Danny answered that there was essentially nothing he could do because he was trapped and no one loved him. Beth and Anna Marie sat there and unabashedly poured out the gospel of Love to these boys. They made it known how much we love them and had come from across the world for them and this moment. Danny and Gaytar heard that as much as we love them, that they are loved so much more by Jesus and how special they are to the Lord. To simply go there and leave it at that moment is not enough - for any of us.

I have so many more stories to tell you - funny (driving on a mountain side to Wenchi), touching (how the Lord is doing a miraculous work there) or just plain ridiculous (our Japanese stalker situation)... If you want to hear more, email, text, or call. Whatever!

We have seen and are now responsible. Ephesians 3: 14-21... "...And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"