How It Feels To Be Back…
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Being back in Ethiopia has been a very interesting combination of surreal and real all at the same time. As expected, when the plane touched the ground in Addis Ababa and the flight attendant said “Welcome to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,” I did start crying. I could feel myself let out a huge sigh of relief. I was waiting to make that sigh for over a year and it actually happened. I thought the ecstasy of being back would last longer, but within a few days, I was starting to re-establish my life here. I moved out of my previous home, moved into a new one with two friends, started a new job, and started reconnecting with local ministries I had been a part of.
This is a new chapter of life here. Half of my friends, both Ethiopian and foreign, have left. The opportunities have changed, mostly for the better. The exchange rate is higher than it was before and people here are having a more difficult time putting food on the table than they were before. Not like it was easier before, but it’s gotten much more difficult now. This is indeed a new season and I am still navigating my way through it, trying to figure out how to make a new chapter of life for myself here. Nonetheless, the place I am most used to and belong to the most right now is Ethiopia and when I came back I could feel that in my soul. It is good to be back in my Ethiopian Home!!!
YeGeta Fikeroo Asdenagi Now (The Love of God is a MIRACLE!)
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
These are the preschoolers at the Center For Women (WAR) at the Saturday program that they have once a month. They are singing a song about the love of God and the first line is “YeGeta Fikeroo Asdenagi Now (The Love of God is a Miracle).” After miraculously returning to Ethiopia and visiting WAR a few weeks ago, I can honestly say that God has definitely confirmed that His Love is indeed A MIRACLE!!!
Theologically and Personally, God’s Love is a miracle. He sent His Son to die for us while we were still sinners. He loves us in spite of ourselves. He accepts us and shows compassion on us when it is the last thing that we could ever deserve. He does this because He is the definition of LOVE and this is what real love is.
Circumstancially (is that a word?), I can also say the the Love of God is a miracle. It’s a miracle that God has given me the gift of getting to return to Ethiopia. I don’t deserve it and God doesn’t need me to be here to do His Work in Ethiopia, but He has decided to give me the gift and privilege of living in Ethiopia and serving Him here.
And lastly, I can say that the love of God is a miracle at WAR, where prostituted women and their children come and experience the grace of God. God is working here and so much has changed and improved since I last was here. WAR is expanding, new staff has been hired, and the programs for children are so much better than they were before. God once again showed me that He does it all without me, because HE’s God and He has the power to change things.
YEGETA FIKEROO ASDENAGI NOW…….THE LOVE OF GOD IS A MIRACLE!!! AMEN!!!
PLEASE PRAY FOR FORTUNA AND HER FAMILY!!!!
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
I am posting this picture of Fortuna again to ask anyone who reads this blog to please pray for her. I sponsored Fortuna with formula when she was 4-7 months old. At the time, her mom was going through the Women At Risk recovery program and was too malnourished to breastfeed her. Unfortunately, Fortuna’s mom has gone back to prostitution and has had a second baby with a different father from Fortuna’s. I have not seen any of them since I have returned to Addis a month ago. You can pray for this situation, and most of all please pray for Fortuna’s safety. One of the staff at Women At Risk saw Fortuna with a beggar and came to the understanding that Fortuna’s mother had “rented” Fortuna to a beggar for the month. Beggars tend to get more money when they beg with children because people tend to assume that the children are theirs, take more pity on them, and therefore give more money. PLEASE PRAY!!!
Lenay, Ante lik ende Yesus neh (To me you are like Jesus)
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
This is my favorite security guard of all time. His name is Kebede. A few weeks ago, I moved out of the house where he was
working. I was sad to leave him. He has become like family to me and I to him. We will keep in touch but I won’t get to see him day in and day out anymore.
When living abroad, it is always a good idea to collect people who become like your family away from home. Kebede is one of
those people. He is a true servant and has always looked out for me. In Ethiopia, people consider themselves above those who serve them. I consider Kebede to be equal or above me. His servant’s heart makes him greater in my mind, much like Jesus who came to serve us rather than lord it over us.
Some information on Kebede….Kebede is an Orthodox follower of Jesus. He is very devoted to Jesus. He has a picture of
Jesus on his wall where he sleeps when he guards the house at night. He celebrates holidays like Easter with a very
vivid reverence for God. He also fought in the Ethiopia/Eritrean War about ten years back, was shot in the stomach
twice and survived.
When Kebede realized that he was guarding a house where mostly English speakers lived, he took it upon himself to learn English and practiced it with us regularly. None of us asked him to do this. He just did it so he could communicate with us better. One time when I caused the sink to overflow with water, he came in and unclogged the drain, drained the water out, and then proceeded to clean the entire sink and kitchen floor (that last part was not in his job description but he did it
anyway). I wanted to not only thank him for this but compliment him as well so I told him, “Lenay, ante lik ende Yesus neh”
(You are like Jesus to me). Unfortunately this offended him. He said he could never be like Jesus. In America, this would have been a big compliment for a Christian but for him it was not. I still wish I could have complimented him in a way that he could understand.
In the last few weeks, Kebede has helped me move my things out of the house, including carrying my wooden bed on top of his
head. When I tried to pay him for such acts of service, he wouldn’t take the money because he said I was like family
to him. I am so grateful to this man for his kindness and whether he approves of it or not, I still consider him to be a
beautiful picture of Christlikeness.
My Sabbatical–A Year In Review
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
I’m still experimenting with how to best insert pictures into a post so the arrangement looks a little funny. Anyways, here are some pictures from this year. They are from left to right, top to bottom…enjoying Fall in North America (don’t really have that in Ethiopia), celebrating Christmas with my family, meeting a new baby, attending my sister’s masters’ degree graudation, going to Yosemite National Park, and visiting my old house (this picture was taken in the backyard) in Los Angeles with my family. Other highlights of this year have been working on projects (photo albums, quilts, family history books), spending more time with friends and family here, getting to meet friends’ new babies, living by the Pacific Ocean again, being a part of a church that talks a lot about GRACE, having really good spiritual counsel, spending time helping my grandparents whose health is declining, depending on God more, and learning to live in America again and enjoy it.
Lowlights (things I’m not grateful for) from this year are multiple bacterial infections that took months to diagnose, a cancer scare, grieving the loss of not being able to go back to Ethiopia and not knowing if I would ever go back, missing three weddings of good friends in Ethiopia and Tanzania, seeing multiple doctors and taking multiple tests which didn’t prove much of anything until months later, ovarian cysts and bloating, not getting to eat fruit for over six months and being incredibly exhausted for much of the time.
That pretty much sums it up. Just being honest.
I’m Back to Blogging and Returning to Ethiopia!!!
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Hello Friends and Family! Here’s a picture of my family and I in our old backyard in Los Angeles. This is partly a test post to see if my newly updated blog is still working, but nonetheless, I am truly back to blogging and returning to Ethiopia. It’s incredible. It’s a miracle. And there’s a part of me that can’t believe that it’s FOR REAL. It has been such a difficult year of being sick and there were many times when I just thought that I should give up on ever going back to Ethiopia. But I guess God had other plans and it’s good to know that they’re His plans and not mine.
So, this is my first post since my sabbatical ended in June. I am leaving for Ethiopia in less than a month so there’s lots to prepare for. The challenge is making the most of the time I have, getting prepared, and not stressing out. I feel like I’m getting better at this because my body won’t let me do more than I can handle. Sometimes it feels like a liability, but it is also a blessing to limit stress in my life. Well, I guess that’s the end of the test post. Now it’s time to publish. Here it goes…
Going On A Sabbatical…
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
It’s funny. As I wrote that title, it made me think of a chant that I used to say to my students called “Going On A Lion Hunt.” There are definitely some similarities between going on a lion hunt and going on a sabbatical for the first time. You’re kind of scared and you don’t know what to expect around the next bend in the road because it’s all new to you and you don’t know what the future holds. And yet there new experiences and hopefully a final prize awaiting you at the end of it.
Due to my health issues that have not been resolved yet, I have decided to go on a 6 month sabbatical. I think my body needs it, although sometimes I struggle to rest. I want to revel in it, but sometimes I resist it. I am caught in the trap of thinking that I have to do stuff to be a person of value, that God just couldn’t love me the same if I sat around and did nothing all day instead of being in ministry. But I think that’s one of the reasons that God has me in this season–to learn from Him and discard some of the faulty thoughts and beliefs that are in my head, as well as the crap that’s in my body.
I’ve taken a sabbatical for a day or for a few days or a week before, but I’ve never been on one for several months at a time. It’s all new to me. Sometimes I’m not sure what to do with the time and then I remember that the point is to not do much of anything except the things that are the healthiest for me and where I’m at right now. So, I exercise every day, eat really healthy, call friends, take care of a few logistical things a day, go to some church activities like Bible Study and Sunday service, do projects that I’ve been wanting to do, spend time with God, read books, and just whatever my body is in need of at that particular moment.
Sometimes it feels rather luxurious to rest. I think it’s something that not everyone can do very easily and that makes me think that I’m spoiled. But I’ve found that when I think these thoughts, God reminds me that it’s not about other people. It’s about Him and what He’s doing in my life. Okay, that’s all for now folks! Gotta go rest! : )
HEALING–Natural and Supernatural
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Having really been through the ringer in my search for health, I have found some interesting information on how Christians define healing….
My least favorite philosophy is that some Christians believe that it is your destiny as a Christian to get healed, no matter what or when. They think that the only reasons you wouldn’t get healed are because it was your time to die or my least favorite-because you didn’t have enough faith in God to heal you. What a load of crap. Now that’s not to say that I don’t believe that God can and does heal people supernaturally. I know He can and does, because I’ve heard about it. So, why hasn’t He healed me completely yet? I’ll never know, but I know that He has a purpose in it. Sometimes I wonder if God allows difficult circumstances in our lives to prevail because what we learn from them is so valuable. There’s something about the learning process in the midst of pain that somehow seals the new insight gained completely into your heart and soul. And yet I think we just live on a fallen planet, and as much as we wish there was an explanation for everything that happens to us, sometimes circumstances just don’t provide us with one. All that to say, I honestly think that supernatural healing is part of the picture, whether it’s the only way God uses or not. I can speak from experience that whenever I ask for prayer for a physical health problem, the prayer makes me feel better. It has not cured me yet, but I certainly can’t deny that God does something through it.
And now for a word about natural healing, and I’ll try not to go too long on this one because I have learned a lot about this. I’ve decided that the Western Medical community in America is good for some physical health problems. They’re good at the major, icky stuff like cancer, heart disease, etc. They are not, however, good at treating chronic illnesses that although are unpleasant, certainly have not become life-threatening yet. Yet is really the key word in that last sentence. A health problem that weakens your body certainly can leader to something much worse. The natural health community (sometimes referred to as hippie health where I live in NorCal, and no, it does not involve smoking pot! : ) prefers to go more on the preventative medicine side of things–suggesting dietary changes, excercise regimens, herbal supplements, and vitamins and minerals that particularly help whatever ailment one has. As someone I know once said, “Preventative health is not flashy.” I totally agree with her. Preventative health is not prestigious in anyway shape or form it seems to me. It takes dilligence. It means choosing to eat right, exercise, rest well, and listen to your body. It takes perseverance and self-discipline. You don’t always see a miracle right away with total, improved, back to normal health. It takes time. Someone once told me a quote that “Success is faithfulness” and I think this totally applies to natural health. If one continues to be faithful in taking care of their health on a daily basis, they will find more success and prevent disease.
So, how does the natural health thing line up with supernatural health thing? Well, God gave us brains to go figure out what works best for our bodies. In fact, He can guide us in this–leading us to the right information and care. I have definitely found this to be true for me. He also is working and moving in the medical and health communities as people look for better solutions for health problems. I have total respect for the medical researchers in our world. Their dilligence in experiementation really does cause lives to be saved.
So, do I depend on God for healing for my health woes? Oh yes, definitely! I really believe the supernatural and natural healing go hand in hand and I need Him to guide me in this. It just doesn’t always come directly from Him. Sometimes it comes from others that He’s working through. So for all of you dealing with a health issue–be open to trying new things. Research it first. Keep what works and let go of what doesn’t. And keep praying throughout the process, asking God to lead you to what will work the best for you!
WAITING (Advent)
Sunday, December 12th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Today at church, we had a sermon on waiting, as it is the Advent Season–a time when we can identify the waiting that took place for Jesus’ birth. I appreciate this time more so than before, because I am in a season of waiting. I am waiting for physical healing of my body. The speaker at church said something really significant today in his prayer, “Help us to know that waiting is not a waste of time.” I really relate to this statement. Sometimes waiting for physical healing for months and months feels like a waste of time. It feels like a detour of life, like I’m waiting for the real living that there is to be done once this period is over. But that reminds me of another quote, “Life is what happens when you’re waiting for what you want” or something to that effect. So much of life has to do with waiting–waiting to grow up and be an adult, waiting to finish school, waiting to meet someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, waiting to have kids, waiting for the doctor, waiting in line at the grocery store, waiting for things to change (whether they do or not). So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?
In the Bible, sometimes there are only small sentences or phrases to represent this waiting time. In Abraham’s life it says things like “Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave him his son, Ishmael. (next chapter) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God said…” For this one we have to do the math and figure out that it’s been 13 years since Abram had a son with Hagar when God speaks again about how He will give Abram descendants from his wife Sarah. Abram has already been waiting a long time for the fulfillment of God’s promise. This is a lesson in itself. Abram tries to fulfill what God promised himself by having a son by his servant instead of his wife. Abram had a difficult time waiting on God’s timing, because it took longer than he wanted.
Sometimes it seems like God waits until the last possible minute to intervene as well. Jesus showed up to heal Lazarus after Lazarus had died and ended up raising him from the dead. For Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha, this seemed to be too late, at first. Abram and Sarah conceived a son Isaac, whose descendants made up the Jewish people, when they were in their nineties. Elizabeth and Zachariah conceived a son John, who prepared the hearts of the people for Jesus’ coming, after Elizabeth went through menopause. Sometimes it seems like God is just too late and yet the timing of Him helping people shows that He is completely in control.
So, this is all very encouraging in theory, but what happens when you’re waiting for deliverance from something and you don’t know if it will ever change? Can you hold to the promises of God and trust in Him even when things don’t go your way for days, weeks, months, and maybe even years on end? I want the answer for me to be yes.
Thank You God For Past Vacations!!! (because being sick isn’t one!!!)
Sunday, November 21st, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
I would just like to say, that as a missionary, sometimes I feel rather guilty about taking vacations. When you’re surrounded by suffering, hurting people who barely have enough food to eat, it’s easy to feel bad about having the privilege of some time away.
And yet, having been sick for almost four months now, I am sooooo thankful that God put it on my heart to take some vacations. At first I thought He was crazy, but now I see the rhyme and the reason in it. I clearly sensed God calling me to visit friends in Colorado and a friend in Oaxaca when I was in California earlier this year. At first I thought that was nuts, but I went and am so glad that I did. And God used the trip to Oaxaca to call me to my next vacation–Turkey, where I went in June. Again, I thought He was crazy, but it was a much needed break. Then in August, just as I was getting sick, I got to go to Calgary to my friend’s wedding.
Now fortunately, I didn’t use any missionary money to do this but sometimes I wondered if all of this vacation money spent was a bit of a waste–as much as I love to travel. Now I don’t see it as a waste at all. God was giving me some time to relax before I embarked on the struggles of poor health for months at a time. Every day for the past four months I have gotten to do things that people would normally do on vacation–watch TV, read books, talk to friends on the phone, spend time doing my hobbies, etc. But I can tell you that waking up with a condition that you don’t fully understand which is getting worse instead of better, is not a vacation.
So, thanks God for those vacations. Now I totally see what You were thinking! : )