Post-engagement news...

This weekend I'm up in Addis with Brian.  Man, the two weeks since we got engaged were so hard!  Not in terms of being engaged, but wow, the Langano Health Project is a monster, Kim has been out of town, and the week I was in charge made me realize I don't ever want to be in charge.  That is not what I came out to do:  manage a clinic.  It is a hard job, and better done by an Ethiopian.

Ethiopia can be a tough country in some ways:  the government is the only internet provider (!!) and its slow, and the cell phone network is patchy outside of Addis.  I am so thankful for texting!

Anyways, we had a really encouraging meeting last week about the Health project, and it was encouraging because we all realize we need to get Ethiopians into these upper level management positions or the project will never last.  I hope we can pull through and get those changes into place!

I mentioned some kind of a seed project- that was just my off-the-wall idea of a way to help out in this time of hunger- backyard gardens growing things like spinach, potatoes, and carrots, that we could water with some kind of drip irrigation system and have a bit of agricultural education happening at the same time.  Well, we have picked two sample gardens so far, one man is digging up his land and is allowing us to use it, the other man has already dug it up and prepared the land.  We have a boy raising seedlings for us, then we'll transplant to those plots.  I hope it can help in some way...

Now I'm in Addis for a few days-- being with Brian is great!  I haven't had time to catch up with many others, but I'll take my time with him.  It is a new world talking about combining~  fun!!  Today we tried to talk through wedding plans.

So now he's back to school tomorrow and I'm off to run errands before heading back to Langano on Tuesday.  Its been a great time up here!!

The Long Version (engaged...)

Well, I guess I should have/ started to see it coming.  Brian and I have found our groove this fall, and we have so much fun down here in Langano.  He comes down usually on his motorcycle and stays for the weekend (in a tent in the middle of all the houses).  We even "checked out" a baby from Mana Abdii the orphan house to practice for the day!

 

This last week was his fall break so he came down to Langano for it.  He brought his car (old Land Cruiser from the 70's fixed up) down with a trailer on the back with three motorcycles.  When I asked who was going to ride the third one, he said, "when we want to go somewhere together!"  So he got here on Monday, and Tuesday our task was for me to learn to ride a motorcycle.  He brought a "Yamaha 250" down for me, explained the gears and all that, and I started riding around the compound a little.  On the long stretch of road I was feeling good and he was walking behind me so I just sped off and then of course fell and the motorcycle fell over and was reving and smoking really loud and I was calling for him while the compound guard wandered over to see what was happening!  Ha!  Then we went outside the compound and he told me to drive though these (TRICKY!) puddles which I did, but then the last puddle I lost control, fell, and hit an old man on the side of the road!  I said "Excuse me."  When I fell I couldn't pick up the bike or restart it so he was very nice and patient about restarting.

 

That was fun.  Then Wednesday he warned me we were going to have a scavenger hunt, so he pulled out this "packet" of papers and showed me page by page my clues.  It was called, "10 Reasons why I love you" scavenger hunt, and at each spot he named a different reason.  He had put so much thought into it, and funny clues, and funny places, it was great.  One was a little soda shop in town that we went to before we went to the mosque on the Eid, so we rode our bikes out (6 kilometers, on my second day!!) there, then to Wenney lodge for lunch, then the last clue was "a place to waterski," so that was his friends house on the other side of the lake.  So we rode the two seater Honda there, and the clue said, "Your prize is in the pocket of the life jacket."  We chatted with our friends for a while, then (it was later than he thought I guessed:  about 6 or so, and chilly and the water was really choppy) he said, "Let's go find your last clue!"  So there was a lifejacket floating out in the water maybe 20 feet out so we got in the water both freezing!!  (He said later that helped him not look nervous).  When we got close to the life jacket I saw there was a bottle tucked inside of it and I said, "Oh, its a message in a bottle!"  So I was dancing around from being cold, and he opened the bottle (which took a long time because it was taped so securely) and out came a little jewelry bag.  Then I knew for sure!  He pulled it out, and dutifully knelt down (putting his face up to his eyes underwater) and asked me to marry him.  I said yes!

 

When we turned around to get out, everyone on the beach was taking pictures!  Christina had towels and a fire ready for us, and then we had a celebratory cake and champagne.  There were a few Ethiopians gathered around and when we were still in the water they were doing their wave sticks/dance/chant happyness thing and I loved that there was a bit of Ethiopian culture there for us.

 

So we enjoyed our lake beach scene with the fire at sunset- it was so beautiful!  Then Brian said he was taking me out to dinner to a lodge nearby, so we got changed and when we pulled into the parking lot I saw plate number 00943 and said, "hey, isn't that the Langano clinic car?"  And when we got there the Langano station was there to meet us!  Brian had invited them out.  So my brain was just swimming, and they were loving it!

 

Since then (Wednesday) Brian has been making all kinds of funny comments now that we can talk about life together.  "I better go see where I'm going to put my horse coral."  "What size bed do you want, king or queen?  I'm going to make it"  "I wonder which [Langano] project I should work on"  "How about making a deck that wraps around that tree over there and stringing Christmas lights around it?"  "What baby names do you like?"  "We're going to have to take that picture down because I want this room to be African themed."  All kinds of things, it is so funny.  We are thinking mostly about living here in Langano but that sort of depends on what he would do- he has options to think about down here that could be great.   We need to pray that God will show him what is best, whether or not it is in Langano.

 

He left this morning, and I am sad without him!  I told him I like his boots on my veranda.  We have quite a challenge these next eight months between trying to seeing each other, communicating with our families, planning a wedding, figuring out how to blend our worlds that are so separate now, language and culture stress, and all our radically different opinions!  I do love him, and I am excited to see things unfold.

 

On Being out Here

Let's see, for me being a missionary involves being far from my family and not having hot showers or fruit stands.  No nectarines, and no itunes downloading.  But I buy strawberries at the strawberry stand in on the side of the highway in my rural Ethiopia for 60 cents, and I live on the edge of a lake with Egyptian geese flying low through the sunset, and hippos in the reeds.  No Thanksgiving dinner tables, but feasted royally on roasted corn and milk last night with my friends in a grass roofed hut.  I'm not sure what is better, but I think life out here is.

 

The conversation over the corn and milk was about the rain.  There isn't any, and these men are wondering how they will feed their families.  I am community health nurse in Langano in the West Arsi Zone of Ethiopia, so these communities we serve with our clinic are seeking our assistance.  "Below God's hand, we are looking to you for help!"  I hear the statement several times a week………

 

My job out here is health and peace- physical and spiritual.  It involves lots and lots of crossing cultures, so sometimes I even start thinking their culture is more normal than my own.  You mean we don't go visit each others' homes when our relatives die?  And we buy our chickens with no heads and no feathers wrapped up in plastic??

 

It can be hard in any culture to find the right opening for the truth of the gospel.  I wonder as I am sitting on low stools in dark huts, how do I explain Jesus?  And why He is important for their eternal salvation?  Where is the open door- their sense of spiritual need?  I am new and haven't answered those questions yet.

 

Another side to my work is growing the Christians around me.  The clinic staff consists of ten people who have all professed to be Christians.  They have the great challenge of caring for and loving over 100 people a day that come through our clinic doors, and these staff are a great gift to our ministry.  I want them to grow in their sense of ministry and purpose.  Tomorrow at our staff meeting I am giving them each a copy of "The Purpose Driven Life" which is available in Amharic, and my prayer is that God gives each of them a magnificent sense of His purpose in their life and work.

 

It is new, I'm fresh out of language school on the ground.  I'm learning as I go, but I do know this:  this is the life for me, a life of adventure, challenge, green fields, land cruisers, dirty feet, roasted corn and new languages around me.  A life full of amazing potential to see God build His church in one of His great world's far corners…

Our House of Hope

There is an old woman walking through the mountains carrying a baby on her back.  She has been sent by her extended family, seeking something for this little baby who needs help.  She is walking to SIM on the edge of Lake Langano.

 

It isn't just one woman: we have found many of these older women on the veranda of our clinic.  Their stories are often similar- she is a great aunt, or a grandmother, or a great grandmother.  The mother of the baby is said to have died in childbirth, and these women are hoping we can help feed the baby in the critical early months of life.

 

So we discuss whether these babies should be admitted to our House of Hope- "Mana Abdii" in the local Oromo language.  This house is a place babies can live for the first nine months of their life, be well cared for, and receive the nutrition they need.  Once they are eating table food they are returned to their families and communities. 

 

To gather information regarding the children's families and communities, we recently decided to make a visit to the home of each baby that came to us.  Which is how, on that Thursday morning, I found myself riding a horse through the barley fields…..

 

Have you seen barely growing?  The green is so bright and beautiful.  "Here up in the mountains, teff does not grow, and we can't grow corn.  So it is barley here."  Our guide explains their farming practices, so different here a few hours' drive into the mountains than our lakeside scenery.  I'm wearing a jacket as it is cool, and enjoying the look of the clouds hanging low over the rolling fields.  Surely Ethiopia is beautiful.

 

People come from this distance to our clinic and for our House of Hope?  I am amazed, as even with a car we are still left with a couple hours of horseback travel through country impassible in our Land Cruiser.

 

And I sit in the saddle and marvel- surely I am at the ends of the earth, am I not traveling further than I have ever been into these mountains, away from all I know?  New roads, new territory, to see the family of this baby seeking help and assess the environment……

 

…but wait, why am I traveling new roads, riding into these far reaching hills?  Not just for some milk powder, or someone's nutrition.  Have my feet not been shod with the gospel of Peace?  Did I not leave my country to share the message of salvation through Jesus Christ?

 

My mind wanders as we move through the hills, arriving at last at the village's central meeting place.  The village elders have gathered to hear what we have to say.  Adanech explains to them after we sit down, "We have a house that can help this baby whose mother has died.  We have come to meet you and learn about your community."  She continued to explain that because of the expense and energy of raising one child to nine months of age, we seek to gather information carefully before admitting the baby to our House of Hope.  The elders listened, nodded, and spoke very cooperatively and warmly to us.

 

"Also," I added, as we finished our business, "we are not here only to help a child.  We are able to help these children because people in our countries want to show you God's love.  Just like this little baby who is helpless to help himself, we are helpless before God.  He gives us the gift of His grace and favor when we did not deserve it."

 

Our House of Hope is made to show God's love to anyone it contacts.  Those listening understood and agreed with our cause, stating they were only grateful we had come and that we were willing to help this family from their community now in need after the death of this baby's mother.

 

So this little baby was admitted to Mana Abdii.  We are grateful to have a relationship with the community in which he will grow up when he leaves us, and grateful that they heard and understand why we exist.  We have been able to lift a great burden from this family at a critical time.

 

 

 

The Eid

 

Another Week...

Things out here are good.  In some ways it is SO nice-weird to finally be settling into the "life/ministry" long-term wise that I've always been preparing for-  I really hope God uses me out here!  I'm grooving on the nurses- a few Ethiopians who are young, single, live here on the compound, and cool Christians.  I think I will have lots of "discipleship/encouragement" type chances with Adanech.  This afternoon at 3 I'm going down to "drink coffee and work on reports" at her house.  Even when there's not that many firenges I don't feel lonely when they're around.

 

Tomorrow is the end of Ramadan (Muslim fasting month).  This morning Joan just told me that she and I were invited to the Alem Bada mosque to "party."  (Be part of the ceremony or whatever).  I'm SO into that, partying with Muslims I think is my favorite thing on the planet.  Doesn't that sound groovy to just join the festivities??  :)  So we'll see.

Weekend Highs and Lows

So there I was sitting on my veranda on Sunday afternoon, in my bathing suit and a sarong, having jumped in the lake for a swim and now feeling the afternoon breeze, sitting with my friends from Addis eating lunch.  We bought a catfish- at least 8 pounds- for less than one US dollar, and now we were eating it fried, with pasta and salad.  Whoa, this IS the life!  Beachside living in the bush in Ethiopia, wow!

 

Brian brought 25 people down over the weekend, some of them new to Ethiopia, some who had never been down to the shores of Lake Langano where I'm working.  Over the weekend they got to see a teeny glimpse of the clinic when we had a delivery on Friday (4 lb. 4 oz teeny little boy!), and got to get a feel for the compound and the lake.  They all seemed to think I was living the greatest life ever, in this quiet relaxing place away from Addis smog and traffic, and I think I believed it by the time we had eaten our catfish and they had left.  I love it out here!!

 

Well, then I walked over to Allyson's because she said she'd cut my hair.  That's when it all changed, because when I sat down and she started looking at my hair she had to inform me that I had LICE all over my hair and she even pulled a few out to show me that they were alive and crawling on her fingers!!!  NOOOO!!!!!

 

Well, now here I am in the bush, no washer, no warm shower, and I have to wash EVERYTHING, and no hot water, so how do I wash it all hot??  And my whole body is itching now and I feel creepy crawly feelings EVERYWHERE and................. I'm dying for the city and forget the catfish...  :)

 

In the end, Workenesh showed up Monday morning so I gave her a huge mound of laundry to wash, and thank goodness Allyson had lice killing shampoo to lend me, and I washed and combed them out.  So, all that to say, with clean hair, I think I still do love it out here....