New Year's Week

December 30, 2011 – January 2, 2012 (Day 5 – Day 8)

On Friday (Day 5), we had more worship, devotionals and had intercession for the country of Ethiopia. Afterwards, we had a meeting about the church service that we will be in charge of for about 40-50 youth. Taryn will be leading worship, Franzi and Kaitlin are sharing a 5 minute testimony about joy and finding identity in Jesus, and then Peter is speaking about rising from the dust and ashes and finding joy. After lunch, the freedom prayer team met (Richard, Immaculee, Peter, Taryn & Kaitlin) and prepared for praying for the original designs of all the staff. When we started, Richard introduced the team and talked a bit about YWAM and the purpose behind the lecture and outreach phase. Ruth acted as the translator. After, Immaculee did a short lecture on Psalm 139 and how God made us with an original design. After that… the five of us prayed over each person and was able to share what we felt God was saying. It was a really encouraging time as some of the staff had been prayed over before and had a lot of things confirmed.

On Saturday (Day 6), the children’s ministry team played games like “What Time is it, Mr. Wolf?” with the ‘graduated’ kids of Ethiopia Arise.  After they left, we had worship, which Rebecca led. Instead of singing, we all wrote our own version of Psalm 136 and shared with the group. Then Peter led a devotional on Matthew 3. Then we went back to the restaurant and Klaus and Ruth came with us. At lunch, there is a T.V. playing in the restaurant and when we got there, Home Alone 2 was just starting, which made most people very happy to see Kevin McCallister again. After lunch, we prepared for the next day. Kaitlin and Franzi practiced their testimonies and then we practiced a song in Amharic to sing for worship. Although that day was New Year’s Eve, the Ethiopians celebrated the New Year on September 11. And so far it’s only 2004 for them, not 2012. Laura, Kaitlin, Peter and Taryn at least tried to go out for a celebratory macchiato but the only place close enough was only a bar.

On Sunday (Day 7), we all met at the church at 10am and waited for the service to start. What usually happens in the church is all the children from 7 to 18 go into the same auditorium, sing a song together and then just the 13 to 18 aged kids stayed behind as the others left. The church service was half an hour late but overall it went really well. As they were singing their own song, our team and Girum got into a circle and prayed over the ones who would speak and for the kids. We started by standing up and greeting each children with ‘salem’ individually and then we started with worship. Taryn and Rebecca led worship, starting with our Amharic song. We had actions to the song just in case the teens didn’t understand our accents but they didn’t really understand even with the actions. Girum had to quickly explain what we were singing and then there were a lot less blanked out looks. We sang three other songs from our song books that Peter’s dad had made us; ‘Alleluia’, ‘My Redeemer Lives’, and ‘O Happy Day’. After that, Richard explained (with Girum translating) that as we were praying for this group a couple of days ago, there were over six people who felt that ‘joy’ was to be a major theme in this service. He then introduced Franzi, who gave a testimony on thinking that we had to become good enough to be in a relationship with Jesus to realizing that we can come just as we are and that it’s a grace-based salvation, not works-based. After, Richard introduced Kaitlin, who gave a testimony on God’s love and joy in her life in the midst of depression. Then the kids had a five minute period to discuss in their small groups and come up with a few things that they personally struggle with. Afterwards, Peter came up and did a small sermon on Isaiah 52:1-3 about rising up from the dust when struggling. His three main points in helping get past a struggle is knowing our identity, our authority and our value in Christ. Since they started late, the kids were a bit restless towards the end when the main church service had ended and all of the parents came in to get their kids. Otherwise, the kids were very attentive and listening as we spoke. Because of time, we weren’t able to pray for each kid individually for the joy of the Lord like we had planned to. But we were able to spread across the room and do a general prayer out loud to all of the kids.

After the church service, we went to the restaurant ‘Lucy’s’. It was named after the earliest human body found in Ethiopia and the whole restaurant was themed around archaeological things. Later, we got a private bus to take us near the YWAM Ethiopia base for some ice cream. Taryn met a woman who worked at the same school Taryn had gone to. They had missed each other by two years but they knew a lot of the same people. Half of the people ordered ice cream, and the others ordered a pastry. Everything was suuuuper delicious and we had to listen to Black Eyed Pea’s music the whole time. When everyone had finished, the group staying in the container went back in the taxi while the other four and Girum took two separate private busses to get back. Monday is a rest day so for the most part everyone is expected to sleep, relax, and catch up on God-time and, for the girls in the container, having a chance for just alone time.

Godspeed, Immaculee’s Babies