This is Christmas

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.


"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.”

Taken from the Bible, the book of Luke, chapter 2.

Mmmmm, Pumpkin Bread

No canned pumpkin so I had to buy the real deal.

With the help of Kevin, we cut it in half and cleaned out the stringy stuff and seeds.

Then, we baked it (in the oven that has no temperature gauge)

The next day, Kadist and I scooped out the "meat."

Later that day, I mixed up the dough and then took it into the office in order to plug the mixer into our one power converter (since the plugs are different here).

Then, I baked it (again, in the oven with no temperature gauge)...and it turned out pretty well! And I still have enough pumpkin left over to make at least 6 more loaves. I'll have to find some other pumpkin recipes maybe.

Getting Around Addis

It seems like we write a lot about our weekend activities. That’s probably because those are more exciting experiences. Our weekdays are filled with language learning, speaking with ministries and churches, and all sorts of various tasks related to Ethiopian documentation and finding things – like a vehicle, home for the girls, office furniture, clothes hangers, and so on. In America, this is a bit easier since there are Walmarts, car lots, classified ads and nice roads leading most places. Here it’s a bit more difficult, especially in getting to places. Here are some examples…

Last Saturday we wanted to go into town to find a desk. The paved road close to our home is a four-lane road – usually two lanes going into town and two out of town. Unfortunately on Saturday, the Orthodox church down the road was celebrating a holy day so all four lanes were heading out of the city for over four hours. There was no city ordinance or police controlling traffic, everyone just thought it made sense to take up all the lanes for outgoing traffic. So that changed our plans a little.

The bank we use is very close to our house, again just across the paved road – which they are expanding to make a divided road. We’re excited for the finished product but at this time, the construction creates an obstacle. They have dug a trench that is about 8 foot wide and 10 foot deep. There are a few wooden planks and rickety “bridges” laid over the trench to cross. The locals usually direct us white people to this high quality bridge, complete with sand bags.

If we need to get somewhere specific or need to get somewhere quickly, we can hire a contract taxi. They’re these little blue Russian cars. To start them, sometimes the driver needs to hot wire the car. They aren’t the cleanest so sometimes we get little fleas biting at our ankles. All the drivers love to save gas by shifting into neutral and coasting downhill. The cars are usually running on the borderline between barely functional and breaking down. Two times, our taxi has broken down and pulled over. Once we had to sacrifice our precious water bottle so the driver could douse the engine to cool if off. No matter what the issue, we’re always assured by the driver with the phrase “chigger yellum”, which means “no problem”. With the help of Dawit our language instructor, we’ve learned to reply “chigger allah”, which means “there is a problem”. That usually gets a good chuckle.

Great Ethiopian Run, part 2

After we left Kaldi’s, rejoicing that we had gotten our camera back, we hopped on a mini-bus with Dawit (our language instructor) to go towards Meskal Square where the race would begin. As we got closer, we saw more and more people in the green race shirts we all were wearing. You had to be wearing the green race shirt in order to get the medal at the end.

We found a spot to wait in the midst of thousands of people. The atmosphere reminded me of a high school pep rally: people were dressed up, excited, taking pictures of each other, doing all sorts of silly things.

The “race” began finally began and we took off—walking. For nearly the entire race, it would have been difficult to run due to all the people. The “elite” runners were all at the beginning so they could actually run. But the rest of us were there to just enjoy the event. Along the way there were lots of entertaining things to see. For instance, we saw a rock band made up of foreigners playing along the race route and water spraying out of a fire hose to cool people down. At both of these spots, people just stopped walking/running to enjoy the entertainment. We thought of how great an example that was of the contrast between American “time-orientation” and African “event-orientation.” At most any race in America, people want to get the best time possible, even if they are beginning runners. Here, at the Great Ethiopian Run, (with the exception of the elite runners) people were there to just enjoy the event, regardless of how long it took them!
So we did our best to enjoy it as well, finishing the 6.2 miles in just under 2 hours. We had a blast!

Great Ethiopian Race, part 1

For the past nine years, Addis Ababa has held the “Great Ethiopian Run.” Kevin came across this fact before we moved here however we didn’t sign up immediately because we though a) all Ethiopians run way faster than us and b) we won’t be acclimated to the altitude to be able to run a 10K. Well, we were partially right. We aren’t in shape to run a 10K. However, we found out that not everyone runs this “race” and there are plenty of walkers. So, we signed up.

We signed up as non-residents (all the resident slots were full and officially we’re not residents) and along with paying a higher price, we were invited to a pre-race pasta party. People from all over Europe and the US were there to eat pasta and mingle with other running enthusiasts. We sat by a man from England who is an official race measurer and a doctor from Florida whose husband owns a running store.

Since moving to Ethiopia, we have learned a bit more about one world-famous runner: Haile Gebreselassie. He lives in Addis Ababa, has broken 26 world records, won many medals, and holds the record currently for the fastest marathon. We knew there was a chance he might be at this dinner and sure enough, he showed up! In addition, the world’s fastest female marathoner, Paula Radcliffe, from the UK, also had been invited. They shared a few words and we did our best to snap pictures of them. Something came over us and we decided to try to get a picture with them—and we were successful! Even though I didn’t know much about either of these athletes before that evening, we were so very excited to be able to stand next to them and have our picture taken.

After the dinner, we decided to stop by Kaldi’s (Ethiopian Starbucks) for some evening dessert and coffee before heading back home. We sat in comfy Starbucks-like chairs and reflected on our excitement from the evening. We then found a taxi home and once arriving there I reached in to my purse to find my camera (with the precious pictures on it). It wasn’t in there. Oh, no.

Our option was to race back to the Kaldi’s as fast as possible to see if the camera was still there. By now, it was around 9:30pm. We grabbed the first form of transportation we could find: a mini-bus. From the mini-bus, we took a taxi. Driving up to the Kaldi’s we could see that it was dark. Closed. We were looking in the windows to see if we could see the camera when a security guard told us to stop. The taxi driver got out and the four of us tried to communicate the issue: our camera is in there and we need it back. The guard pulled out his cell phone and gave us a number. At first we thought it was the phone number for the store, but as we were driving back in the taxi, I thought, maybe it’s the owner’s cell phone so let’s try calling it now rather than in the morning. Kevin called the number and again, with the help of the taxi driver, we communicated the issue and found out they opened at 8am the next morning so we could go by there at that time.

After an unrestful night of sleep, we prepared for the race and waited for our language instructor, Dawit, who was going with us, to arrive. When he did, we explained the issue and took a taxi back to Kaldi’s once again. The owner there greeted us and asked us what kind of camera we had left. We were so grateful for his thoroughness. He then went to the back and brought out the camera! I was sooooo relieved! Then, onto the Great Ethiopian race with camera in hand!

November Newsletter

Please click on "fullscreen" for easier viewing.

November Update

Paradise Special

So this Friday we decided to venture out a bit, beyond our walking radius, to a place 2 mini-bus stops away. We found a restaurant and once we confirmed that they actually had food and not just drinks, we sat down. We ordered water to drink but then were informed they were all out (all out of water???). So we ordered hot tea. We also ordered chicken pizza. No, we were informed, there is no more chicken pizza either. But, all the other kinds of pizza on the menu are available. Well, we’ll try the “Paradise Special.”

We should have known better because all the other pizzas had descriptions but this one did not. We asked our waitress about it and she said it has all kinds of things on it. We also ordered French fries as a sort of appetizer (a pretty safe menu item generally). The service was slow and also rather random. Maybe 15 minutes after we ordered, forks, knives, and napkins were brought to our table. A few minutes later, salt was dropped off. 15 minutes later, we received the French fries. A few minutes later, we got our tea. Then, finally, we received our pizza.

This pizza was definitely a cultural experience. The toppings included: typical tomato sauce and cheese, hard-boiled egg, spinach, cabbage, carrots, and lastly, and certainly our least favorite—tuna. Overall, not horrible, but I won’t be ordering a “special” pizza anytime soon. Thankfully, the entire bill was just under $5.

One Friday night

Here's a glimpse into a weekend night in Addis Ababa. After a busy week, we decided we wanted to rent a movie. There were a couple of movie-rental places nearby so we checked them both out. The first one was playing loud American pop music. This store is on a dirt/gravel street where horse-drawn “taxis” transport people up and down that way. We commented on what a mixing of worlds that store illustrated. The next rental place was just off the dirt/gravel road and along a paved road. This store has movies for rent on one wall, and computers on the other wall where people pay to get on the internet. (We used that service a couple of times before we got internet at our home). There we found a movie that looked decent and also looked like it would be in English. (Many looked like they were Chinese versions of American movies). We had to pay 5 birr (42 cents) to rent the movie and put down 50 birr (about $4) as a deposit that we will get back when the movie is returned.

(below is the first movie rental place with 2 very different, yet both commonly seen modes of transportation seen on this road)

On the way home, we bought some bread from a very friendly bread-seller for 25 cents to eat with our leftover chicken. After we ate our dinner, we popped some popcorn in a way I remember my mother doing a long time ago. We put some oil in a big covered pan, heat it up, add a few “test kernels”, and when the oil is hot enough, add the rest of the popcorn, cover, and shake over the heat until the popping slows. The end result was so tasty! Better than microwave popcorn any day!

The movie worked out well for the most part except for the audio was out of sync wit the video, making it seem like a poorly dubbed Chinese film.

We have arrived in Addis!

Much has transpired since our last post. We finished packing with a total of 5 action packers, 3 large suitcases, and 4 carry-ons. Both sets of parents plus Kevin's brother Kyle accompanied us to the Fort Wayne airport in Indiana. We had some extra "goodbye" time that day due to our flight being delayed about 3 hours. Thankfully, we still made all our connections--to Detroit, Amsterdam, Khartoum, and then arriving in Addis Ababa. We were greeted by Gary and Peggy Ifft who took very good care of us for our first two days in the city.

We are getting settled and are truly enjoying life here. God has abundantly blessed us. Hopefully, I will be able to post some pictures soon.

Packing

I can hardly believe this time has come. We've been in various stages of preparation for Ethiopia for many months now. But it finally starts to feel real when you start to think about what to pack. We have our handy rubbermaid "action packers" (thanks to the suggestion from our experienced missionary friends Stu & Lauren) and have started making piles of things that must go and then things that might be able to go with us. Right now it's just a mess really. We're making valiant attempts at trying to keep it organized using a spreadsheet and various sections of the basement floor at the Kipfer parents' home. We also have the airline regulations that will ultimately determine what stays and what goes. We've worked about three hours today on this task and I suspect we'll be working a few hours daily for the next 4 or so days. At least that's my hope. Our goal is to have it done by this time next week. That way, we'll have a few days to just enjoy family before we depart on October 26. Feeling pretty good at this point but we'll see how it is a few days from now!

Back in the States

We made it back from Haiti safe and sound. We had 3 weeks of no air conditioning, cold showers, and living out of a suitcase (because I sure wasn't going to put my clothes in drawers where lizards or bugs could get on them). And yet, our time there was extremely valuable! We’ve actually been back about 3 weeks now. It’s always interesting traveling to and from a developing nation. The contrast in airports and transportation system is vast. It can take a little while to adjust to that change. For our departure, we left Les Cayes airport, taking a very small plane to Port-au-Prince where we were picked up by a friendly Haitian who transported us from the small airport to the International airport. After standing in some long lines with no air conditioning, we boarded our plane to Ft. Lauderdale. From there, we went through customs, then flew to Detroit. It was at the Detroit airport where I knew for sure that I was back in America. I think it hit me as I was walking through a well-air-conditioned tunnel on a moving sidewalk surrounded by waves of iridescent colors synchronized to music holding a café Americano from Starbucks. Welcome to America.

Haiti

Our roomate; our view; our vehicle; our friends:

One crazy trip

June 28-Aug 8
Here’s a condensed summary of the past 6 weeks since we left our home in Morton:
42 days on the road
5600 miles
12 different beds
14 states (IL, IA, NE, CO, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA, TN, KY, IN)


It seems exhausting and in some aspects it was. Thankfully only one of those 12 beds was less than optimal. We got stuck with a smoking room with stained walls, floors, ceilings, at a hotel on our way to Texas. Other than that, we’ve been blessed by the hospitality of many friends and family along the way.

We are in Bluffton now staying with the Kipfers. We had moved all of our belongings to Bluffton before we left so we’ve been able to sort through a few things and even feel a bit more “settled.” We emptied out the Jeep, took off the troublesome used bike rack and boy did that feel good! I’ve never enjoyed using a shop vac in 90 degree heat so much! I think the Jeep even breathed a sigh of relief as it was unloaded.

Now our next stop: Haiti. Sunday, August 16 we leave for Haiti for three weeks. We’ll be spending time with Rich and Amber Pfister and their family who recently moved to Haiti with LSM. We’ll also be getting acquainted with LSM’s Homes of Hope for orphans.

As we continue to travel and prepare for Ethiopia, we very much appreciate the continued prayers and support.

Heritage

Since we've left Texas, we've covered the Southern coast of the country fairly well. We drove east, spent the night in New Orleans, stopped to see a good friend in Gainesville, FL for dinner, and then landed in LaBelle, FL at my grandparents' place, Vic and Dorothy Beer. We enjoyed some quality time with the Beer family, and Kevin also had some time with his side of the family on the east coast of Florida.

I feel very blessed to have been able to spend time with my grandparents. I truly enjoy them so much. I love their sense of humor, their stories from times past(even if a few of the same stories are told multiple times), how they exemplify love, generosity, grace, and their traditions. One of their traditions that I've grown to appreciate more and more is morning devotions spent around the kitchen table. Grandpa and Grandma have their coffee and breakfast and then have morning devotions together and with whoever else is around the house. There's something about the combination of consistency and sincerity of that morning ritual that brings me comfort and joy. I know my grandparents love the Lord and the Word (they live it out every day) and I appreciate their desire to start their day in that way. In addition I appreciate how they gently invite others to participate in this time of devotion. What a heritage! I hope that when Kevin and I are 80 years old, we too can sit around our kitchen table with friends, family, or even strangers and share morning devotions together.

Don't mess with Texas

We thought we'd give a quick update of where we are now. Saturday we arrived in Temple, Texas where Staci (my sister) and her husband Brent just moved. Brent just started his residency at a hospital here in Temple. Staci and Brent have an adorable house decorated beautifully in their modern IKEA-like style with accents from their travels to India earlier this year.

On Sunday after church we drove to an area south of Austin and tubed down a river. Afterwards, we spent a little time in downtown Austin and then went to this great Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was very authentic and delicious! Unlike any other Mexican restaurant I had been to.

We'll be in Temple until Wednesday when we'll be heading East eventually landing in LaBelle, Florida at my grandparents' place.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

MTI Adventures

We've been learning quite a bit here at MTI. Some of the learnings happen in the classroom, while the majority happen outside of that venue through experiences while building community with our fellow MTI-ers or during our free time.

We had one interesting experience just last week. Kevin and I decided to go for a leisurely walk after class one afternoon before dinner. We were walking along and saw a group from MTI heading off on a hike and they invited us to join them. So we did.The hike started out nicely along a clear path. Soon though we were scrambling up rocks and going up some more challenging terrain towards the ridge of a small mountain behind MTI. Part of the group turned around about half-way there, but we continued on with the rest. I was never quite sure of what, if any, path we were on, but hoped our leaders were not leading us astray. Well, we made it to the top and enjoyed some beautiful views.

However, I could not ignore the dark clouds overhead.

We enjoyed the top of the ridge, took some pictures, and then started feeling raindrops. And I started getting a bit fearful. Every afternoon here in Colorado we've had some combination of hail, rain, and lightning so I figured that was coming. Kevin and I decided to go on down the mountain while the other 4 stayed up top. We began our descent. And the rain started coming down harder. And then the lightning and thunder. So we scooted down the steep parts, climbed over rocks, still not exactly sure of the path. Then we came to the wooded area. We could make out a trail maybe half the time. The thunderstorm continued. We just tried to keep descending, hoping to make it to a distinguishable path at some point. I was praying. Hard. Kevin was focused on the task at hand and somewhat oblivious to my concerns.

Finally, my heart racing and my anxiety surging, we made it to the bottom of the mountain, not too far from where we actually began the ascent. We heard some yelling from our fellow hikers who had found shelter at the top to wait out the storm. They had noticed we made it out and were rejoicing with us. We were still about 3/4 mile from our safe haven of the MTI building (where our dinner was awaiting). So we walked for a while, through mud and pouring rain. Then we decided to jog. Still through lots of mud and pouring rain. A bolt of lightning flashed nearby...way too close to my liking. So I just ran harder. Kevin, still not sharing my concerns, jogged along with me.

So, we did make it back safely to our room. Being our introverted selves, no word was spoken about my fear or Kevin's lack of fear during this adventure.

Lessons learned: We both need to communicate more openly. Thunderstorms concern me more than Kevin. Despite these facts, we seem to handle stress alright. Which is a good thing since another thing we've learned at MTI is how much stress missionaries face overseas.

Update - Colorado arrival

We thought we’d give a quick update on our life here lately since we’re behind in our blog posts. Our life has been kinda crazy over the past week – okay, it’s been extremely crazy. We just arrived in Palmer Lake, Colorado for three weeks of training through Mission Training International (MTI). It’s called SPLICE and covers the Spiritual, Personal, Lifestyle, Interpersonal, Cultural and Endure/Enjoy aspects of preparing for cross-cultural missions. We’re excited for this opportunity and time to seriously look ahead to Ethiopia.

Before this we had a whirlwind week of selling a lot of our things at a good ole’ Morton garage sale, then frantically packing the rest to move over to Bluffton to store. During the drive from Bluffton back to Morton, I (Kevin) even picked up a speeding ticket in the lovely town of Wolcott (in a 25 MPH zone???). We packed our stuff up anticipating closing on our home sale in mid-July with a gentleman we had agreed on an initial contract with. Unfortunately, we just received word today that the “gentleman” is pulling out of the deal. This means we get to sell our home while being halfway across the country. Everything should be in place to make this happen, but it’s disappointing and more difficult. Maybe this is part of God’s way of preparing us for the flexibility and perseverance needed in our future jojurney. Or just part of these “adventures” that we wrote about for the LSM blog: Loving Shepherd Blog

Here are some answers to questions we get asked

Where are you going?

We plan to be in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which means “New Flower”. It’s a city of over 2.5 million people and is becoming quite advanced in terms of infrastructure and technology. The United Nations and African Union both have headquarters there. Coffee is the number one export in Ethiopia – they claim to have “invented” it.

What will you be doing?

We are working with Loving Shepherd Ministries (loving-shepherd.org). They currently have a Home of Hope for orphans in the city, most of whose parents have died of AIDS. We’ll be working with that home, starting another one that will house young women wanting to leave prostitution, and partnering with another ministry in the city working with the same population. We’ll be overseeing all LSM Ethiopia operations, and working to develop counseling and vocational training / microenterprise programs to help rehabilitate the women and provide them with another means of providing for themselves. The home will have a house mother to care for a girls and a coordinator to help with operations. There are an estimated 40,000 women and girls trapped in prostitution in Addis.

What language do they speak?

In Ethiopia, the primary language is Amharic. It’s a Semitic language, which means it belongs to the same family as Arabic – making it difficult to learn. We will begin some preliminary self-study and will go to language school once we arrive. We’ll be working closely with Ethiopian ministry workers who will be translating our training materials and adapting them to Ethiopian culture.


When are you leaving?

We leave for Ethiopia in mid-October. Starting the end of June, we’re going to begin more formal training, including time in Colorado for cultural training and also Haiti to observe LSM’s operations there.

Do you need to raise support?

Our personal needs and travel are taken care of. However, the Home of Hope we’ll be working with needs funding for operating costs and startup. The operating costs are about $1,000 per month and the initial startup cost will depend on whether the home is built, purchased, and rented. There is a link at the left side of this page for more info.

"It's like someone shoved a chocolate bar up your nose"

Here's a little taste of Ethiopia. The Bizarre Foods show from the Travel Channel did an episode about Ethiopia's unique food. Here are a couple videos that show an authentic Ethiopian coffee ceremony - something that is an integral part of the culture. The show host has an interesting description of the ceremony, which includes the above quote. To get the whole picture, at least watch the first video and the first minute of the second clip. There are more videos about other Ethoipian foods as well. I wouldn't recommend watching them over dinner :) Enjoy....

“Let justice roll on like a river”

This is a blog that we wrote for LSM's website. You can view more posts from other LSM employees at www.loving-shepherd.org/blog

Over 2,700 years ago, when the prophet Amos wrote these words, he was rebuking the people of Israel for depriving the poor of justice, building lavish mansions at the expense of those in poverty, and oppressing the vulnerable among them.

About three hundred years after Amos, when Nehemiah led Israel to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, the poor of the city cried out to him saying, “some of our daughters have already been enslaved” because they could not pay their debts. They continued saying that “we are powerless”. Nehemiah was not passive, he did not reply timidly. But he writes, “when I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials.”

When Jesus began his ministry nearly two thousand years ago, He pointed to what Isaiah prophesied of Him, saying the Lord had anointed Him to “preach good news to the poor” and “release the oppressed”.

God’s followers throughout history have cried out for justice and spoken against the evils of slavery, oppression and exploitation of the vulnerable. We had the opportunity to visit Park Street Church in Boston a couple weeks ago. At this church, nearly 170 years ago on July 4th, William Lloyd Garrison once again challenged followers of Christ to fight against the Trans-Atlantic slave trade:

“I call upon the ambassadors of Christ everywhere to make known this proclamation: ‘Thus saith the Lord God of the Africans, Let this people go, that they may serve me.’”

As we sit here today, it’s estimated that over 27 million people are enslaved throughout our world and many millions more are exploited physically and sexually because of their poverty. That’s over twice the amount during Garrison’s time. It can seem staggering and overwhelming. Indeed it is. But at the same time we can pray for the vulnerable and we can speak out against the oppressors. We can go to Haiti and set the orphans in families to prevent the oppression. We can rescue exploited girls in Ethiopia, and empower them to live out their created intent. We can join the cause of Amos, Nehemiah, Jesus Christ and our God of justice to let Amos’s words ring true – let justice roll!

Why Ethiopia?

As most of you have probably heard, we are planning to move to Ethiopia this October to work there for about two years. Since it’s been almost two years since we’ve put anything on our blog, we decided it was time to start it up again. We’ve heard lots of questions like: Why would you want to move to Ethiopia? What will you be doing there? What are the conditions like? So we’ll take a little time here to explain the “what” and “why” of our future plans.

We both had a desire to serve the nations in some way. After we were learned more about each other and how God works in a couple united in Him, we began seeking God’s direction for our next life steps and how we could use the gifts He’s given us to serve the needs that burden our hearts. For Erica, that’s her counseling experience and for Kevin, his business and education background. Kevin has had a heart for poverty and disadvantaged youth, while Erica has a passion to serve those who are rescued from trafficking and prostitution. Over the past year, we were reading some in the prophets and Old Testament and God’s heart for justice jumps off the pages of Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Nehemiah, etc. And it continues throughout Jesus’ life.

So how does God combine all this? Well, after much prayer and several steps, God brought Loving Shepherd Ministries and us together. They serve orphans and vulnerable children around the world, especially in Haiti, and were desiring to build a home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for girls coming out of prostitution. Last December, Ed Schwartz, the president of LSM, visited Ethiopia. He spoke with a ministry who was working with girls rescued from prostitution and they voiced their greatest need was for the emotional needs of the girls, and for vocational training and sustainability of the homes. It was pretty evident God was connecting all the pieces better than we ever could have planned!

We’ll share more specifics soon because this post has been long enough…