Kore

Hi there,

Just wanted to send you a quick update while I have time. 
This week we were in a place called Kore.  It's the poorest part of Addis Ababa.  It was originally founded as a colony for leprosy 80 years ago.  I think it was Germany that established a hospital for leprosy there, and those with the disease came.  Kore is also the location of the trash dump for Addis.  We were working with project 61 as there is an orphanage there and a day program that teaches school over the summer.  The poverty in that area was shocking.  These children have nothing.  The woman who started project 61 came to visit Kore and saw many of the children living there digging through the trash dump to find anything that they could eat or sell.  As the dump frequently catches on fire there were ashes in the air and the kids were covered in ashes.  She named it project 61 after the verse Isaiah 61:3 which says that the Lord will bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes. 

While we were in Kore we had classes for the kids, arts and crafts, english lessons, bible lessons and games.  Every time we got off the bus at project 61 we were mobbed by waiting kids who all wanted to be picked up and loved on.  They would fight over who got to hold your hand and all of the girls had their hair braided repeatedly.  The classrooms were small, and dirty with just a few benches in each.  I couldn't help but think of the amazing potential for more.  We went on a few home visits and got to see where some of the children whose parents were still alive were living.  Although these people have SO little they welcomed us into their homes as honored guests and told us about their lives.  One woman performed a coffee ceremony for us and I swear, I had the best cup of coffee I've ever had inside a small shack in Ethiopia. 

During lunch some of the men from the community come to project 61 in order to be fed.  These are men with Leprosy who have lost all of their fingers and are unable to feed themselves.  One of them men, who wore an orange cap everyday would clap his crippled hands together and sing praises to the Lord.  He was singing about how the Lord has richly blessed him.  What an amazing testimony to have suffered so much, yet still have such a gentle and thankful spirit. 

I love it here. 

Next week we will be at women at risk, helping with a summer program for the kids and improving the factory and store front for the fashionable scarves.  I'm really excited for both tasks.  Please be praying for the team and myself, that we will be able to shine the light of God upon these people.  Please pray that they will continue to be an unimaginable blessing upon us. 

In Him,
Heather  

AHOPE

Hi everyone! 

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Addis Ababa right now, it's pouring rain and hailing outside as I type.  This first week in Ethiopia has been amazing thus far.  My team has been wonderful and we all get along very well.  Please continue to be praying for unity among us and that we will continue to enjoy fellowship with one another. 
This past week we were working with the children at Little/Big AHOPE.  It is an orphanage for children who are HIV positive.  These kids are so amazing and very well taken care of at this organization.  It was great to be able to spend time with them, doing arts and crafts, english lessons, and playing games. The kids frequently stole my sunglasses and wanted their photos taken constantly.

One craft that we did involved making a collage out of construction paper and a young girl (7th grade) named Betti made one that said "Loves God" on it.  I spoke with her more and talked with her about Jesus.  She has such a simple child like faith to her and is just thankful to know Jesus.  The next day we made bracelets with beads, and I made her one that said Jesus<3.  She loved it and gave me the biggest hug and kiss on the cheek.  From that moment on she didn't leave my side while we were there.  She braided my hair for me and showed me some cultural Ethiopian dances (which i'm terrible at by-the-way)!  When we left she cried and it made me tear up as well.

We visited the toddler room at the orphanage as well and myself and another teammate often went back in the toddler room to hold the children.  One called me mama.  Its clear that the women who care for these women really love the children and take good care of them.  

The orphanage we go to tomorrow and the rest of this week will be difficult, or so we have been warned.  They are understaffed and it doesn't have the government funding that AHOPE has.  Please pray for the things we will witness there and that we will be able to show Gods love to these amazing kids.  Pray that myself and my team members will be able to process the things we are experiencing.  That we will be able to bring glory to God in our actions, thoughts and words.   

I just wanted to give you a quick update and let you know how things are going here. 
Hope you are all well,

In Him,
Heather

Ethiopia Day 1

since my blog isn't working at the moment and the internet here isn't allowing me to access it i just wanted to jot down a few things about the trip so far.  this may be more for my benefit to look back upon than for yours, but feel free to read!
The flight was nice, only 12 hours which was shorter then i expected.  I slept for 8 of those hours.  Very thankful for that.  I am not feeling jetlagged at all, but I know a lot of my teammates are.  Everyone is really nice and getting along great thus far.  We have 5 translators: Sami, Su, Abi, Salam and Hannah.  I probably butchered the spelling on those.
Addis is awesome.  It smells like home.  I feel more at home right now then I've felt in years being here.  That probably doesn't make since considering this is my first time to Ethiopia.
In some aspects it's very similar to Nairobi, but at the same time extremely different as well.  Many of the same sights, smells and feeling to it, but a bit more impoverished.  Hard to describe, but thats my best shot.
Staying in a guest house here in addis.  it's very nice, three rooms for the 8 girls and the two guys are staying out in a shed like building behind the house.
We are about to go eat lunch, then we will be going over to one of the orphanages to meet the kids.  looking forward to it.
thats all for now.
heath

just a few more hours...

So, I fly out in a few hours!!!  I'm so excited that I can't sleep, but thankfully it will be a LONG flight.  Plenty of time to sleep then.
I just want to thank everyone for their love and support over the past few months.  It means so much to know that there are so many people out there who are interested in and want to be a part of what God is doing in my life and in my heart.  This experience has been so amazing and I haven't even left the US yet.  It's incredible to know that I am exactly where God wants me to be.  That HIS plan is at the core of my life and I'm just along for the ride.  I can't wait to see the way that God will work during this trip.  I pray that God will use me in ways that surprise me.  I pray that He will use me to bring Him glory.
I also can't wait to see how God will use this experience to change me.

I will update as often as I can throughout.  <3

Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Ephesians 6:19-20

it's official

I now officially am at 100% financial support for the trip to Ethiopia.  I also have many donations to take with me.  Everyone has been so great..

I feel incredibly blessed.

Blessings

Below are the lyrics to this beautiful song that my sister played for me tonight.  I thought it was so great and wanted to share:

Blessings: By Laura Story   (click to see video)

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity 

We pray for your mighty hand to ease our suffering

And all the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things 

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if your healing comes from tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise? 

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear

And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

And we doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if each promise from Your word is not enough

And all the while, You hear each desperate plea 

And long that we'd have faith to believe 

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if your healing comes from tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win, we know

That pain reminds this heart that this is not our home

What if my great disappointments, or aching of this life 

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy? 

What if trials of this life, the rain, the storms, the hardest nights 

Are your mercies in disguise?  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This song is such a reminder to me of how God can use the bad in our lives, the pain and the brokenness and create something beautiful.  He can use the mess to bring us back to Him.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 

He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  

Support

Almost there!!

I have 92.6% of the financial support raised to make the trip a reality.  Thank you to everyone who has been so generous both financially and with your prayers.  I cannot tell you how much it is appreciated.  I'm amazed by the love everyone is pouring out onto me and how many people want to be a part of what God is doing in my life.  It's such a blessing to have each and every one of you.  

I'm getting so excited but I am also a little bit anxious to be honest.  As I get closer and closer to the financial deadline I'm starting to feel some pressure.  I don't know why but I'm nervous about the rest of the money coming in.  I know I shouldn't worry about this and God is going to provide.  I guess that the butterflies in my stomach come from actually stepping out in faith and just trusting.  Putting those lovely words into a restless reality.  I know I will be relieved once it's all in, until then God calls me to trust in Him.