Today we went to Bucha. Like other days, it is about 2 hours from Hosanna and the road is rough. That’s really the hardest part of this trip. We spend 4 hours (there and back) in a car bumping up and down, side to side. On days like today, it wears on me a little bit, but it is worth it to be with these brethren. The local brethren know the way is difficult to get there and they often mention it in their closing remarks. It has deterred many people from continuing the visit them so they are thankful when people choose to make the trip. David told me the road system has significantly improved in the time he has been going, and we have travelled some good roads. But most of our work now is in the countryside where the roads are largely undeveloped.
The assembly in Bucha was unique from the others. When we arrived most of the attendees were children. In these assemblies, children typically sit in the front on a mat or tree branches. But there were so many children, they filled up the front half of the building. It was awesome to see. Although I had planned something else, I decided to change my lesson to speak directly to the children. I began by quoting the words of Jesus: “let the children come to me and do not hinder them.” I talked about how Jesus loved children and we should too. They are an important part of our church. I had all the children come to the front for the lesson. They crowded in close, because that’s what Ethiopian children do. No sense of personal space. It was a little stinky but great. They looked up at me with big eyes as I taught them about Jesus. After I finished, I reminded the crowd that to such belong the kingdom of heaven. We must become like children by trusting Jesus and humbly accepting his instruction.
After the program, Jeremias the local preacher gave his thanks and endearingly called us their “frenji” (fren-JAY). This is what Ethiopians call white people. We loved it for a couple of reasons. Many people in our culture would be offended by such things. But there was no ill-will from these people. The fact is, we are white people in a culture of very dark-skinned people. It is what it is, and there’s no reason to be offended. Furthermore, we are glad to be accepted and loved by these people. These are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have many differences that are evident. Under normal circumstances we would have no reason to know one another. But our fellowship in Jesus has brought us together and we have been accepted as the family of God.
On our trip back to Hosanna we took the long way home. Elias told us we were going a different way so we could drive on a paved road. I was all for this, but I didn’t realize what that meant. We drove two hours farther south to Durame, where Teshale lives. We had late afternoon coffee and snacks at his home, before making the 3-hour drive back to Hosanna. I think they had planned to do this from the beginning, but failed to tell us the plan. Ryan and I knew we were headed the wrong direction, and kept waiting for the turn to the paved road. They just kept saying, “it’s a little farther.” Needless to say, it was a long day in the car, but we were glad to see Teshale’s family and his home. Thankfully, we are staying in Hosanna tomorrow to begin a 3-day training of both preachers and young people.
When we finally arrived back at our hotel, we had dinner with Randy and Zerihun. Randy landed this morning, and they made the 6-hour trek from Addis together. We had a wonderful dinner catching up and discussing our plans moving forward. After a week of countryside work, having “fresh legs” is a shot in arm. I’m very much looking forward to our work tomorrow.
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