Ethiopia: Friday, Day 5

I got very little sleep on Thursday night – maybe 4 hours at best. It was hot and I just didn’t feel sleepy. Thankfully I still feel pretty refreshed this morning, and hopefully will be able to get through the day without being too tired! …

Got packed up and met in the lobby to check out. Desalegn ran into a couple of men that he knows very well. One is the national leader of one of the Ethiopian churches (kind of a denomination group). We made arrangements to meet with them in the afternoon.

Loaded up the van and then walked back to the Rift Valley Hotel next door to meet with area church leaders. The plan was to brainstorm about how we could work together. The meeting was scheduled to start at 8:30. Finally around 9:30 Desalegn decided to get things going. We were supposed to have several of the denomination/fellowship leaders and board members there but for some reason they couldn’t come so we started without them.

Things started very slowly. Brad shared openly about a number of ways that Cross Pointe could help and offer services. The leaders were all very slow to respond. They kept talking about how it was hard to speak when their fellowship leaders were not present. Desalegn encouraged them, telling them it was simply a brainstorming session and they should share all of their ideas. They finally began talking a little bit. At one point a gentleman named Mebratu spoke up. As it turns out, he works at KVI and oversees the sponsorship program. He had some great ideas and we finally started feeling a bit more encouraged.

Brad expressed an interest in connecting more with Mebratu and one of the sweet ladies from KVI that was also in attendance. So they went out into the hall to speak further. Desalegn went and sat with the other 8 leaders to tryand get them to open up about ideas. So we waited while they all talked.

I decided to walk downstairs for a minute - mainly just to move around and cool off a bit. On my way back up Brad stopped me to share something. Back on Tuesday he was insistent that we stop in Ziway. That was obviously God’s doing – because he learned from these 2 KVI team members that KVI has about 5 or 6 orphanages, including one in Ziway! We talked at length about some possibilities in partnering with them. We are going to look into a couple of possibilities.

After the meetings concluded we had lunch at the hotel. Then we went to another hotel and met the 2 gentlemen (from the morning) for coffee. The leader shared a lot with us. He told us his background and much of his story, which I wish I could share on here. But just believe when I say, God has done amazing things in his life. He told us some incredible stories about the work that God is doing through Ethiopia, as well as some details on the structure and growth of the evangelical movement. He and the other gentleman were both very interested in the possibility of partnering, particularly for things like pastoral training.

After that we headed back to Addis. Traffic was bad so it was close to 2 hours in the car. We went to the Bethany offices and dropped off our donations (thanks again to those who helped by donating clothes & toys!). They will use them primarily for the foster families when they receive a new child. Then we went to exchange money and get gas. After that it was back to the guest house to check in.

I really like this place, it is nice, comfortable, and great to be around other Americans, particularly those with a heart for orphans! (all the families here are in the adoption process) There were a few that didn't seem to be believers, so we were able to share about the work we were doing with Bethany and in the process, share Jesus with the.

We had dinner at the guest house (GREAT food!) - and we laughed harder than we had all week, as we shared stories and re-lived a few rather interesting moments from the last few days. After dinner, we were able to connect and talk with family. Another long but great day!