Third Week of Outreach

January 8 – January 12, 2012 (Day 14 – Day 18)

On Sunday (Day 14), we spent the morning preparing for the church service that would start at 6pm. While the people who were speaking prepared, the rest of us had our one-on-one’s with either Immaculee, Laura, or Richard. After a late lunch, we had a break before we would have to leave. A private bus came to pick us up from Ethiopia Arise and we picked up Girum before heading to the church. When we arrived at the church, we met with the head pastor who invited us. We told him the layout that we had come with (worship, 3 testimonies, a message) and he told us a bit about the church. There were about five churches of the same root around the country and the specific church we were at was only 3 years old. And he told us that since it was Christmas just yesterday, the service would start a bit late as to allow people time. While we were waiting, a couple with their newborn baby came in. The pastor started praying over the baby and then invited us to join. The baby had some sort of disease and was only two weeks old. We spent a long time all interceding for the boy, Emmanuel. When the church service started an hour later, there was about another half hour spent praying. Then, the choir came up and sang two worship songs. They were both very long songs and everyone on the team enjoyed the jumping up and down and dancing. Richard and Girum them went up and introduced YWAM and the team. We started worship with our Amharic song that we learned, “Alleluia”, and “My Redeemer Lives”. Afterwards, Ashley shared her testimony on anxiety and the peace that she now has, Sarah shared her testimony on how God drew close to her in a hard time, and Taryn shared a testimony on the father heart of God and that experience in her own life. Later, Richard came up to share the message on going back to our first love (Jesus) and the shalom of Ethiopia and how the church can be actively involved with moving towards peace. Because we started late, the service ended at 9pm. The taxi dropped the four people off at the bottom of their hill in Arat Kilo and drove the rest of the team back to the compound. Rebecca stayed back again today so please be praying for her still.

On Monday (Day 15), it was a rest day. Most people spent the day at the internet café or tanning outside in the awesome African sun. Laura and Kaitlin also had to pack up their stuff from Klaus and Ruth’s house to get ready to move to the compound on Tuesday. Klaus needed one of the rooms for another guest so on Tuesday there will be seven girls sleeping in the container.

On Tuesday (Day 16), Laura and Kaitlin moved their stuff into the compound and into the container. We had an earlier breakfast and then left to go to the YWAM base in the city. Taryn led worship at the staff meeting and we had intercession for several different things. We met another DTS outreach team from Wisconsin, United States. They were all girls and did a specific DTS like ours. Ours was Wilberforce but theirs was ‘Children at Risk’. We spent lunch and ice cream time with them and the leaders of the YWAM base. When we got back, Sarah was able to call her mom for a bit and Ashfaw told Immaculee and Richard that he would take the team to see some hyenas in the night. When we were all ready (except Ashley and Sarah), he told us that the road was actually dangerous for foreigners and there were lots of robbers out. So the guards of the gate see a hyena in the night, they will knock on the gate and Ashfaw will come get us.

On Wednesday (Day 17), we started the morning with evangelism. We were handing out 25 invitations for a ‘spiritual discussion’ on the Saturday. We went out in four groups, each with a translator, and each talked to and handed out three invitations.

On Thursday, we had intercession and worship. We prayed for the American DTS outreach team that we met at the YWAM base on Tuesday. We split up into teams and prayed for each person individually and as a whole team. For lunch, we were invited by a YWAM couple from India, Sami and Ruth, for lunch. They made us an amazing traditional Indian dinner and, the team agreed, it was the first amazing, filling, healthy meal that we’ve had since the Peachey’s brunch on Christmas day. In the afternoon, we finished with more evangelism and handing out more cards.

Sorry that blog posts are few and far between. It’s very difficult in Ethiopia to update the blog but hopefully, in Rwanda, there will be more internet access. Some prayer requests are for health (lots of team members have been feeling sick) and refreshment.

See ya! Immaculee’s Babies.