Generations Part 1
8 months ago
Give a Christmas gift that keeps on giving
Is this heaven?
Our pastor started off with the question, “Is this heaven?” Then he answered, “NO, this is Addis Ababa.” He further exhorted that if we were still questioning whether this is heaven, we should just wait until Monday morning while we’re driving to work – then we’d know for sure. But he went onto explain that this is a taste of heaven. People from 60 nations were worshipping with us. Many were wearing their national dress – some with colorful scarves and gowns, others with the traditional white Ethiopian dress or Indian saris.
They asked everyone to stand and represent their home country. Within just a few feet of us, there were people representing over a dozen nations. How wonderful to literally join with the Body of Christ from Norway on one side, Ethiopia on the other, South Korea in front of us, a Kenyan man beside them, with others from Malawi, Canada, India, Tanzania and so many more. There were those representing countries where their Christian brothers and sisters are currently being persecuted. It was a powerful ending as we joined together with “every tribe, every tongue, every nation” singing together about how “all the powers of darkness can't drown out a single word when all God's children sing out, Glory, glory, hallelujah, He reigns.”
Hiking Ethiopia's Countryside
This past Monday was a holiday for Ethiopians and so we had the day off work. A German couple from our small group Bible study invited us to go along with them and some other friends of theirs on a hike just north of Addis Ababa.
We drove about an hour and a half to a place known as Debre Libanos. Getting out of the city is a huge relief—the drive itself was a reprieve from the usual chaos that comes with navigating around Addis Ababa.
Kevin and I, two Swiss, two Ethiopians, and about a dozen Germans arrived and took off for what would be a 5.5 mile, 4-hour hike around a canyon, by a waterfall, and along cliffs. It was gorgeous and a perfect way to spend the holiday.
The kids exploring the waterfall:
We saw so many baboons around the water area.
The four boys eating their lunch together. They all attend the German school here.
We drove about an hour and a half to a place known as Debre Libanos. Getting out of the city is a huge relief—the drive itself was a reprieve from the usual chaos that comes with navigating around Addis Ababa.
Kevin and I, two Swiss, two Ethiopians, and about a dozen Germans arrived and took off for what would be a 5.5 mile, 4-hour hike around a canyon, by a waterfall, and along cliffs. It was gorgeous and a perfect way to spend the holiday.
Here we are getting ready to start out on the hike:
2 of our best friends
Here's a blog in honor of our two puppies that have grown up so fast since we found them last February. I would not have considered myself a dog-lover before but these two guys have melted my heart!
Land of Opportunity
I thought to myself the other day, “America truly is the land of opportunity”. We may scoff at the welfare system, immigration issues, people who seemingly are milking the system, or how our government handles these issues. There are certain situations that may illustrate the lack of opportunity for some in America. But in the end, possibly more so than any other place in the world, people get a chance at life.
I was struck by this when I visited a couple of my former students from Atlanta – who have now finished their freshmen years of college. The students I taught in Atlanta were some of the most disadvantaged in our nation, living in a neighborhood full of crime, most in a dysfunctional family, and already years behind their peers in education. Some of their situations were so destitute that they had little chance to overcome, but most had an opportunity for education and food. If they worked hard and didn’t succumb to the harsh circumstances around them, there would be possibilities to go to college and financial assistance provided. This is extremely far from what we see in Ethiopia. Most adults are unemployed with no financial assistance, many of the handicapped and mentally ill are forced to live on the streets, children slip through the cracks without an education or proper food, and the list goes on. Even if they do all they can, for too many the result is still absolute poverty.
I have a slightly different view of America now. Maybe the Statue of Liberty is speaking truth when she says, “Give me your tired, poor…” Let us all pray that America, and we as American Christians, continue to be a people that care for the poor and disadvantaged among us and around the world. May we use the vast wealth and opportunity we’ve been given to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.
Soccer or Football??
We’re in the middle of an exciting time here in Ethiopia, actually for the entire continent of Africa. It doesn’t make many headlines in the US, but everyday here people are talking about the World Cup – the international football (or soccer) championship that’s currently being played in South Africa. I think it’s about the equivalent of March Madness.
Being from America, soccer ranks probably around 9th place on my favorite sports list. But it’s quickly climbing now this year – I think it just passed NASCAR. As I’ve added many international friends over the years, I realize how much the rest of the world loves this sport, and how we don’t. One of my British friends would say, “so you Americans call that sport where you kick the ball your feet soccer, but the sport where you carry the ball in your hands you call football.” Then he’d just shake his head.
It’s the first time the World Cup has been hosted in Africa. It’s amazing to hear everyone talking about the games each day. We hear the cheers rise from local restaurants or bars when an African team scores. Earlier this year the World Cup trophy was displayed here in Addis and many people bought tickets to just go see the trophy. They televise all the games for the entire tournament on our one TV station, and they have converted the event center here into an 8,000 people theater to watch the games on a big screen. We watched a game this week between Germany and Ghana with our friends from Germany and Ghana. They had their soccer jerseys and national colors on, were cheering for every shot at the goal and jeering the other team.
Not many profound thoughts here, but an appreciation for people’s pride in their countries and continents. I don’t have that much passion for US soccer, let alone for the Mexico team or some Canadian sport. It’s refreshing to see. But the US has made the final 16 teams, and they play Ghana (Africa’s last team remaining) today, so I’m going to try my best.
Being from America, soccer ranks probably around 9th place on my favorite sports list. But it’s quickly climbing now this year – I think it just passed NASCAR. As I’ve added many international friends over the years, I realize how much the rest of the world loves this sport, and how we don’t. One of my British friends would say, “so you Americans call that sport where you kick the ball your feet soccer, but the sport where you carry the ball in your hands you call football.” Then he’d just shake his head.
Not many profound thoughts here, but an appreciation for people’s pride in their countries and continents. I don’t have that much passion for US soccer, let alone for the Mexico team or some Canadian sport. It’s refreshing to see. But the US has made the final 16 teams, and they play Ghana (Africa’s last team remaining) today, so I’m going to try my best.
Longings
Here, there is no such predictability. As a stranger in a foreign land, there are no consistent family gatherings to look forward to. We haven’t been here long enough to figure out the “norms” or to have a solid base of friends. Everyday life is new, changing, and unpredictable. Which can be exhausting for someone like me. For some people new things are energizing; for others they are energy-zapping. At the beginning, even the first couple of months, the newness was exciting. Now however, I find myself longing for something easy, comfortable, predictable, and consistent. The unknowns we face every single day often leave me exhausted. Our lives are changing so much I can’t seem to adjust to this “new normal.” If I step back, I believe I am adjusting and it’s just happening gradually (but it’s hard to step back and get that perspective). At the same time I know I must not only adjust & settle, but also grown in my ability to adjust and change and be flexible.
Here are a few of the strange unpredictable things we face: one day there is sugar, the next day and for weeks afterwards, there is a shortage. One day it takes 25 minutes to get to church; the next Sunday 45. The electricity goes off without warning, and stays off for an extended period of time. One day our househelper doesn’t show up because of some Ethiopian holiday you had no idea about. Half the things on a menu the waiter says they don’t have available at a restaurant.
There are some consistent things here: I can get a half kilo of bananas for 3 birr anywhere in the city. Our two puppies are always happy to see us. When our househelper arrives she will do the dishes and hang out the laundry. Church worship will be wonderful. For all these things, I am very grateful.
When I stop and think about it, do I really want a life that’s always predictable and consistent? There are definitely some parts of it that I would love, but I can also see myself falling into a life of complacency. I would find myself “far too easily pleased” as C.S. Lewis would say.
I read an article recently about contentment and the author quoted John Piper. From her article: “Piper says that when he looks at all the atrocities and suffering in the world ‘it makes [him] tremble at the prospect of living a trivial, self-serving, comfortable, middle-class, ordinary, untroubled American life.’”
Pretty strong words (but that’s typical of Piper). For the missionary in Nigeria who wrote that article and for me, those words help me get perspective in the midst of my longings and feeling-sorry-for-myself times. I have the privilege of living for a period of time in a foreign land, in a foreign culture, getting to know God better and seeing Him work. There are days when the longings are stronger than others. There are days when I can get the proper perspective easier than others. In both of those types of days though, God is at work in me and around me and for that I can be grateful.
Simple Things
Sometimes it’s the simple things…
We’ve had plenty of new experiences here so far, some good and some bad. We’ve planned our trip home for the summer and we’re excited to get to taste and experience some things we miss. It’s kind of amazing how sometimes we just miss the simple things from American life. Here’s the beginning of our list of things we want to make sure we do when we get back…
• It goes without saying, but lots of good time with family and friends
• Lots of good food. A real American hamburger, a good steak (even Erica), ice cream (especially Morton DQ), BBQ, wings at Buffalo Wild Wings, ….Hopefully we’ll find some good American fast food at our first airport we hit when we arrive – or better yet, a big soft pretzel.
• Big pops from the BP station
• Bike rides
• Sweet tea and free refills
• Skiing at Lake Wawasee
• Throwing a football or Frisbee around Peachtree City or the Kipfer front yard
• A walk in a nice park, or any open grassy area. We don’t have many of those here in the big city.
• …and many more!
Needless to say, there are some things about America that we just haven’t been able to find here. Sometimes the best things in life are the simple ones.
• It goes without saying, but lots of good time with family and friends
• Lots of good food. A real American hamburger, a good steak (even Erica), ice cream (especially Morton DQ), BBQ, wings at Buffalo Wild Wings, ….Hopefully we’ll find some good American fast food at our first airport we hit when we arrive – or better yet, a big soft pretzel.
• Big pops from the BP station
• Bike rides
• Sweet tea and free refills
• Skiing at Lake Wawasee
• Throwing a football or Frisbee around Peachtree City or the Kipfer front yard
• A walk in a nice park, or any open grassy area. We don’t have many of those here in the big city.
• …and many more!
Needless to say, there are some things about America that we just haven’t been able to find here. Sometimes the best things in life are the simple ones.
Injustices
I wonder how often the beggars I pass by feel that it is so “wrong” that I would pass by them without giving them any money on my way to spend 6 birr (50 cents) on a drink at a café. They’d be content with far less. At the same time I feel it is so “wrong” for mothers to send their children out to beg around the shopping center that is known for attracting rich Ethiopians and foreigners. Do I give them money knowing they have so little or do I politely tell them “no” and refuse to contribute to that vicious cycle? Many well-meaning foreigners have given to them and so they come to expect it; and won’t leave you alone until they get something. In many developing countries like Ethiopia, begging is a real profession. People know they can make more money begging, or forcing more vulnerable children to do the begging, than they could as a day-laborer or farmer. I don’t want to pad the pockets of those who take advantage of children by making them beg for them. At the same time, I feel compassion for the children, the crippled, the mothers, who sit, stand, or walk along the streets asking for handouts.
As in other blog entries, I don’t have an answer to these tough questions. We’ll get our mirrors replaced (looks like it’ll take about 2 weeks for the mirrors to arrive), and maybe find a way to better secure them, and we’ll be fine. But, we’ll continue to see the beggars and be vulnerable to thieves for as long as we stay here. You can pray with us that we can balance justice with mercy in a Christ-like manner.
February-March Newsletter
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February-March Kipfer Update
February-March Kipfer Update
Far Away
The following is something I (Kevin) wrote for the LSM blog. I modified it slightly and added some things for here.
Seeing pictures and video of the utter devastation in Haiti breaks our hearts. At the same time it challenges us, asking questions of us. In the movie Hotel Rwanda about the Rwandan genocide of 1994, an American newsman makes this remark about the video they will send back to play on television. “I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh my, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners.”
Seeing pictures of poverty and destruction, and balancing it with our own prosperity is difficult. I began to wrestle with this daily while teaching at an inner-city school in Atlanta. Each day you awake to face the challenges of broken homes, violence, lack of resources, limited opportunities, exploitation, disease and the realization that you have been given so much. Some young men and women make it out of that life, but far too many fail to realize their potential, or lose their lives way too young due to the circumstances that surround them.
Now living in a developing nation, the situation is magnified. Everyday we walk among people missing arms and legs, those who are blind with faces disfigured, mothers begging for food with their children, laborers working under horrendous conditions to make a little more than a dollar a day, and many, many more. Just last Saturday we visited a small mountain village outside of Addis Ababa. As we drove up, we passed more and more women, bent over at the waist, often barefooted, carrying seventy-five pound bundles of wood on their backs to the market several miles away. This type of labor is all too typical for people here just wanting to eat.
I came across this song describing the disaster and feelings that some of the Haitian people are feeling. It’s entitled “Far Away” and talks about how it’s easy to think God is far away at times like this and in horrible situations. (it’s hip-hop/rap, just so you’re warned :))
I wish I had answers and good responses to these situations. I tend to waiver between compassion, hope, despair and numbness. Even when seeing it daily, it’s easy to forget the plight of the poor. Let us continually remember them, pray for those in despair and ask God to move us in a wise and loving response. In the words at the end of the video, “help us be the church.”
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Psalm 62:5-7
Seeing pictures and video of the utter devastation in Haiti breaks our hearts. At the same time it challenges us, asking questions of us. In the movie Hotel Rwanda about the Rwandan genocide of 1994, an American newsman makes this remark about the video they will send back to play on television. “I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh my, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners.”
Seeing pictures of poverty and destruction, and balancing it with our own prosperity is difficult. I began to wrestle with this daily while teaching at an inner-city school in Atlanta. Each day you awake to face the challenges of broken homes, violence, lack of resources, limited opportunities, exploitation, disease and the realization that you have been given so much. Some young men and women make it out of that life, but far too many fail to realize their potential, or lose their lives way too young due to the circumstances that surround them.
Now living in a developing nation, the situation is magnified. Everyday we walk among people missing arms and legs, those who are blind with faces disfigured, mothers begging for food with their children, laborers working under horrendous conditions to make a little more than a dollar a day, and many, many more. Just last Saturday we visited a small mountain village outside of Addis Ababa. As we drove up, we passed more and more women, bent over at the waist, often barefooted, carrying seventy-five pound bundles of wood on their backs to the market several miles away. This type of labor is all too typical for people here just wanting to eat.
I came across this song describing the disaster and feelings that some of the Haitian people are feeling. It’s entitled “Far Away” and talks about how it’s easy to think God is far away at times like this and in horrible situations. (it’s hip-hop/rap, just so you’re warned :))
I wish I had answers and good responses to these situations. I tend to waiver between compassion, hope, despair and numbness. Even when seeing it daily, it’s easy to forget the plight of the poor. Let us continually remember them, pray for those in despair and ask God to move us in a wise and loving response. In the words at the end of the video, “help us be the church.”
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Psalm 62:5-7
The Kingdom
I’m sitting here just outside our front door this afternoon. It’s a beautiful day. I decided to listen to one of my favorite CDs—“Can you hear us.” Competing against the beautiful melody is the background noise of construction, traffic, and the call to prayer from either the Muslim mosque or Orthodox church (we have both close to us and regularly hear their calls). Meanwhile, I’m working on our language homework, conjugating past tense verbs. Despite all the noise, the words of the song “The Kingdom” still bring tears to my eyes.
I see a scared little girl, with wise and painted eyes, on a brave man’s back being carried into the light, to a warm little home where little girls can play and sleep alone, and where the sisters teach them how to pray.
The Lord will reign forever. The Lord will reign forever. The Lord will reign forever.
See His kingdom come in every small thing done.
It’s just a little thing, It’s just a little thing, but it will make a change, it will make a change.
I’m reminded of the reasons why I was willing to move to Ethiopia: to help the oppressed, exploited, and prostituted girls and women in Addis Ababa. I had big hopes and dreams in coming here. (Sometimes those hopes and dreams brought me to near panic). Now, being on the ground in Addis Ababa, I must say there isn’t much tangible to show for our nearly twelve weeks here. Sure, we’ve gotten settled and somewhat adjusted to life here, but if someone asked me how many girls I’ve rescued out of prostitution so far I would have to say: none. So, I have to ask myself, is that okay?
I go back to the song I just heard: See His kingdom come in every small thing done.
Then I’m reminded of the verse: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Our ministry here isn’t about seeing how many women we can rescue and how quickly we can do it. I believe God has called us to participate in building His kingdom by being faithful to Him in every small thing done. He’s the one doing the “big” work; he’ll be the one who rescues and rehabilitates prostituted girls and draws them to himself as the Loving Father that he is. I hope to be a vessel in God’s hand that he uses for that work. In the meantime, I want to be faithful in the small things: as we work on establishing the relationship with another organization who will help us start the Home of Hope, as we interact with our househelp, as we pass by beggars every day, as we work on all sorts of details and jump through all sorts of hoops that come along with working here. In every task and in interacting with every person, we do it for our Lord.
I see a scared little girl, with wise and painted eyes, on a brave man’s back being carried into the light, to a warm little home where little girls can play and sleep alone, and where the sisters teach them how to pray.
The Lord will reign forever. The Lord will reign forever. The Lord will reign forever.
See His kingdom come in every small thing done.
It’s just a little thing, It’s just a little thing, but it will make a change, it will make a change.
I’m reminded of the reasons why I was willing to move to Ethiopia: to help the oppressed, exploited, and prostituted girls and women in Addis Ababa. I had big hopes and dreams in coming here. (Sometimes those hopes and dreams brought me to near panic). Now, being on the ground in Addis Ababa, I must say there isn’t much tangible to show for our nearly twelve weeks here. Sure, we’ve gotten settled and somewhat adjusted to life here, but if someone asked me how many girls I’ve rescued out of prostitution so far I would have to say: none. So, I have to ask myself, is that okay?
I go back to the song I just heard: See His kingdom come in every small thing done.
Then I’m reminded of the verse: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Our ministry here isn’t about seeing how many women we can rescue and how quickly we can do it. I believe God has called us to participate in building His kingdom by being faithful to Him in every small thing done. He’s the one doing the “big” work; he’ll be the one who rescues and rehabilitates prostituted girls and draws them to himself as the Loving Father that he is. I hope to be a vessel in God’s hand that he uses for that work. In the meantime, I want to be faithful in the small things: as we work on establishing the relationship with another organization who will help us start the Home of Hope, as we interact with our househelp, as we pass by beggars every day, as we work on all sorts of details and jump through all sorts of hoops that come along with working here. In every task and in interacting with every person, we do it for our Lord.
Christmas Decorations
Pictured here are our favorite Christmas decorations from this past season. (Actually, the only Christmas decorations besides a few colored balls on a tree outside.) We were thrilled to receive 19 26 pictures of friends and family and 13 20 cards for Christmas in our very own post office box here in Addis Ababa. So, a big Thank You to those who sent some Christmas Joy our way this season!
(Also, please check out our December Newsletter posted below.)
(Also, please check out our December Newsletter posted below.)
