letusgive!

A little messed up time wise---3:30 a.m. here and I'm awake. 1:30 p.m. in Ethiopia right now. Oh well-it will take a while to adjust back.  But what a great day and country!!!   I had my In-N-Out about 3 hours after landing,  I washed my clothes twice just for good measure---the sound of the washing machine was music to my ears!  And I drove into Sacramento at rush hour--traffic with no cows, goats, people on the road!  All three in a matter of hours...AMAZING.  Great flights home---watched a few movies, napped and got VERY excited when the flight attendant handed me a toblerone chocolate bar!  I asked if I could have a diet coke with it and he said yes...would you like ice?  I got tears in my eyes I was so happy.   Joyful to be picked up by Michael...and my parents are at my Aunts house so family time too:).  Book club last night-- fun to tell some stories and catch up with a few dear friends!   All in all-'re-entry' is going well.  Lets see ...top 10 re-entry obs

Re-entry is a weird deal... 1.  Traffic/roads---so, so different.  And will I really be the one driving again soon?!  I do enjoy driving:) 2. Food---this is talked about by many, not just me. We all agree In-N-Out is the first stop. Ahhhh...a diet coke and cheeseburger with fries!  #2 with no onions please! 3.  Shopping---supermarkets!  One stop shopping like Wal-Mart or Target. Just the thought is a tad overwhelming. I remember my nephews coming to America from Ukraine and there was some concern when I immediately wanted to take them to Toys-R-Us...such excess! 4.  The speed of life. I do enjoy the quickness of my life and doing/getting things done quickly. But there is something to be said for this different, slower, pace of life as well. Lazinrss is not good but pace is an interesting dilemma really.  5.  Cleanliness---rainy season brings mud and I'm a mess!  I truly cannot wait to put in a load of clothes...I may wash them twice for good measure.  I have not seen a washi

Showers...such a simple pleasure. But go a while without one and boy howdy!  I let the water wash over me and said 'sweet Georgia brown'---yes, I really did:). Thank The Lord for whoever invented them.  Not too common in the villages of Western Ethiopia:) Having said that---I was torn in leaving Masha. Such a good time with people but Addis does have a few more amenities readily available! Leaving---some people ask for things as we are leaving-not a lot but some. And...it would be so easy to give 1,800 birr (approx $100) and they would do what they want and we would just leave. But that has proven to not help---in fact---it hurts!  Thankfully the church is very 'complete' here and they care for the mind, body and spirit. So various funds (medical, educational, small business) funds have been set up and people can go through those avenues to receive assistance.  In fact, if there is family etc that SHOULD be caring for that person...they will be approached to assist

We had a party!  All the Presbytery and translation families were invited...hosted by the forenjis:). Good times---Ethiopian ladies did the cooking which of course is better than my cooking!  Karen cooks well...but forenji food and this was traditional Ethiopian. It was excellent and I had talked of some games with kids so we were able to do that too. Three legged race---funny!  Of course we got adults involved---fairly competitive folks I must say. Our driver probably the most--he wanted to win!  We did a word match deal too...an English word and a Shekka ( local language) word. Each person had a word taped to them and they had to find their match...now I was shocked on this one.  Ethiopians are pretty quiet spoken for the most part but this group of 40-50 got pretty loud and chaotic!  It was awesome---Andualem (high school director) was with us as well and he did not like the chaos:)...forever a teacher I guess.  We were all outside and the rain stayed away...thank The Lord.   It r

Blog by candlelight today (July 16). The power was on and off the last few hours so here I am! One of my students from 2007, Amanuel Haile, came to see us the other day.  He is working for the beer distributor here in Maasha and taking distance learning (online courses) for Accounting thru the University in Tepi. Yaaaay!   That is great news!  He gifted me today with a bottle of some kind of honey.  It is like a liquid and he said they use it to treat colds etc.  Hmmm...I will ask some more questions to other people to see if I can understand:).  While we were in Tepi we saw the University and they are building a lot. I didn't see any of the students wearing jerseys or sweatshirts with 'TU' on them....and I wonder what the mascot is?!!!  That area is lower elevation and is known for their pineapple, warm weather and bugs (yes-I got mosquito bites!). So I think they should be named the Tepi Pinebugs! Ok...not sure when I can post this...all is well and we head home in

Ok....I think it is official---I will be returning.  Training on computers...some have them here but don't really know how to use them or care for them. Then I will do English---meaning conversational most of all...church leaders and nights/weekends at the local high school. It helps to know the Director!  And some work with kids/youth at the local churches ...sounds good to me!   The housing---yet to be determined but getting estimates on a house to be built---very simple but with water/electricity and plumbing!  Amazing--I keep having dreams of people coming to visit---the estimate is for a six bedroom house!   All the discussions have been very humbling--very kind words and encouragement. Again; life is good-even great BUT God s better! We are in Tepi--better Internet connections---have a great weekend!  

I opened a bank account today...Commercial Bank of Ethiopia!  I think that will help for when I return. When we are in Addis again I have to go to the head office but I have an account book and the whole deal. Kinda makes it real huh?! Excited!   Last Sunday....drove to church as far as we could then had to walk about 30 minutes....MUD!!!!  This past Monday-invited for breakfast to our driver's home---MUD!!! Guess what I did?  Yep---fell each time. First was going up an incline so that was embarrassing but today was going down an incline...I did the 'snow ski' move...fell on my side and popped back up. I felt so bad.  Dumb.  Ahhh well so goes life--I'm thankful we were in Metu and I had a warm shower to clean up.  Now---unpacking the 'real' shoes/boots and we will see if that helps:).   Counting 1-ant 2-ulet 3-sost 4-arat 5-amist 6-sadist (no...not the same) 7-sabat 8- cement  9-zegn 10- asir I like pillows, in fact...love

Ethiopian food is not my favorite but I've been doing good!  I don't think I've offended anybody--I hope not:).  Injera---with EVERY meal. The best I can explain I think is a cross between a pancake and a burrito. It is doughy like a pancake but thin like a burrito. Depending on who makes it--can be sour. I remember sour from last time for some reason but have not had sour so far this year. I'm okay with that! Roll injera out partially on your plate---part of it stays rolled up and you put the meat; lentils, vegetables or what have you on the part that is rolled out. Typical---some cooked spinach, maybe potatoes cooked in some oil, and chunks of beef or lamb cooked in sauce---usually hot but they tame it down for us forenji type.  Sorry I can't seem to upload pictures to my blog:)!   Then...you eat with your RIGHT hand.  Always--never with the left.  You tear a chunk of injera off, grab one or two items and pop it in your mouth. Voila---Ethiopian food. Washing

Well we went 'to the end of the earth' as the people in Begi called it.  Border of South Sudan and it was nice.  We saw two refugee camps and I am very sad to say we could not enter them. The one we thought we were going to; we did not have the correct papers. Maybe that is for the best but I must say I was disappointed. There are 10,000 refugees staying in the camp--- it is ran by the UN and the Ethiopian govt gives food.  Apparently a lot of the food comes from Anerica ultimately so it does not help the local economy.  It had a gated entrance, barbed wire fence around a lot of it but it did look like some people could come and go. Apparently some do attend 3 different local churches.  Majority are Muslim but the local Pastors/congregations do go in and visit, give and put up tents. Most of the structures were tent like...white tarps that had UN on them. Some buildings were near the front--those had tin roofs etc and were offices apparently.  In 2006 there was a Muslim upr

Traveling to a new area for me and it is just amazingly beautiful. We left Metu at about 9:00 and went 225 kilometers (140 miles) and we arrived in Nejo at 4:30. We stopped for lunch, fuel and Dave was sick the last part (not good...he is resting now hopefully) so about 6 hours travel time. The road for the first 150 kilometers (94 miles) was tough to travel.  Comparisons: Cabin in Michigan: cut-across road John Day area:  Canyon Mountain trail but a bit wider California:  off road like where Coleman took me in the jeep to the zip line! Sounds of Ethiopia: 1.  Dogs fighting/ barking/ howling at night, maybe over food? 2.  Horns honking---short honks talking to people and animals on the road. Long honks when fairly angry or they see somebody they know--a wave is added:) 3.  Rain on the metal roof...hail in Addis! 4.  Clapping in a restaurant---to get attention of servers etc 5.  Call to prayer--Mosque 6.  Kids choir practice--listened to them learn a new song--no music to l

Time...it took me two weeks to stop wearing my watch.  Probably should have been two days but...slow learner! We were invited to be at Tesfaye's house at 10:00 ( or 4:00 Ethiopian time) and we got there about 10:30. We were served a cold soda and popcorn/snacks at 11:00.....Hmmm what would have happened if we were 15 minutes early like my parents are to everything?!!!  We will never know but there you have it!  Time is on a whole different level here:). We arrived back in Metu this evening--we will meet with leaders here tomorrow ( some future planning for me--did some this morning as well!).  The accommodations here are nicer than Maasha--loved my shower!  Right now it is raining---metal roofs are the 'nice' roofs here-the sound of rain is like music to me---I love it!  Soothing... Thursday (happy 4th if July!) we head to Begi- a two day trip I think. There is a Sudanese refugee camp we will visit. Could be a bit tough...but looking forward to it actually....think I