I had just woken up this morning when I heard an abrupt noise at my door. “Housekeeping!” Half-awake I stumbled to the door wondering what crazy person thought it would be ok to clean my room this early. It was Jordan. Originally his flight was supposed to land at 7am and I had planned to meet him in the lobby. Instead, his flight landed at 6am and he greeted me in my sleeping clothes. I apologized but told him I wasn’t ready to put my real clothes on yet. For those of you who don’t know, Jordan and I grew up together, so the expected awkwardness was significantly lower. We chatted while he unpacked, and I eventually got dressed. Afterwards, we went downstairs for macchiatos and breakfast at the Hilton bakery. His trip was uneventful, but he was tired. After a brief conversation, he went back to the room and slept.
We didn’t have plans until the afternoon, so I went downstairs to work in the café. I am learning that many people here know David from his previous visits. I told one person I was his son-in-law, and the word seems to have spread. As I sat in the café, a man in a suit approached me. His name is Dawit (Day-vit) and he was excited to see me. Interestingly enough, just yesterday David Holder told me to find him and say hello. Dawit was very excited to see me. He hugged me and told me how he had known David for many years. I love hearing stories of his interactions with them and how his simple actions have impacted them. I’m also taking notes so I can follow his lead in future trips.
For lunch Jordan and I shared a pizza and caught up. I am thrilled to have him here and couldn’t wait to share the adventures of our work with him. We continued our conversation to the parking lot where our driver picked us up. It was the same man from yesterday and I was glad to see him. His name is Hilu. As Jordan and I talked, Hilu engaged us from time to time. I don’t know what the deal was, but I could understand him much better today. Maybe I just needed to get used to his accent.
We drove about 30 minutes to the Kotebe area where we met Zerihun. We didn’t officially have a program today. Instead, we were at the home of Wubishet. He used to preach and translate but has been very sick lately from kidney failure. He is not able to regularly come to worship, so we were there to encourage him. After some conversation, we sang a song, prayed, and they asked us to bring some encouraging words from scripture. I spoke to them from Psalm 73 and 121, encouraging them to ‘lift up their eyes’ and not become discouraged by the things we see around us. Jordan spoke from John 3 about the love of God through Christ. He did an excellent job.
After the devotional period we had coffee and the preachers left one by one. During this time, Wubishet’s youngest son, Chew, became my best friend. That’s his nickname and I can’t remember his real name. He is a vibrant and friendly 3-year-old. From the moment I arrived he came and held my hand. He sat in front of me and played with me. We made faces together and played. Of course, we took selfies, because that’s what best friends do (see attached). You could tell he was a bright spot of joy to everyone around.
Before we left, we prayed for Wubishet’s condition and asked God’s mercy. This trip has really shown me the value of stopping to pray and investing my trust in God to work. We believe he is powerful and can do all things. We believe he hears our prayers and works in our best interest. If we didn’t, why would we pray?
When we arrived back at the hotel, Jordan invited me to go for a walk to sightsee. I had wanted to do this, but not by myself. Across the street are a couple of parks: Unity Park and Friendship Park. We couldn’t find our way into them, so we just made a big loop around the block. If nothing else, we got our exercise. We walked until it started getting dark and decided to go back to the hotel.
It was a good day of encouragement and rest. I had a chance to clear my mind and reset for tomorrow. We will go to Birayu for worship in the morning. I told Jordan his first lesson better be good or I’m sending him back. He said the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint preacher Lee. I’m glad we have an understanding. It’s going to be a good day tomorrow.
Comments