This Is Africa

*Thanks everyone for your all your comments!  All the messages are being delivered, and we're so encouraged to have you all thinking about us and praying for us while we're here.

**Today's blog entry is our very first student entry - so please give a warm round of applause to Courtney from Italy and Lizzie from East Asia who worked very diligently to put this together.  They're already working on a second installment, so anticipate that coming your way soon.


….It all began one foggy morning at 3 am – the students from Europe arrived in Africa and the project was officially underway. The next day everyone else arrived safely, but not until after the bug crisis in one of our four houses. We were all playing cards, happily waiting for our teammates to get here when suddenly our house was swarmed with huge monstrous bat-bugs!!!

Good Morning, We Have Internet!

If you were worried about the bat-bugs, don’t worry – we all survived. By the 20th of June all the students had reached their destination: the Makane Yesus Seminary of Addis Ababa. The staff welcomed us warmly and fed us traditional Ethiopian food. Their specialties are spicy soup called wat and a sour grey sponge bread called injera, which is made from a fiber called teff which only grows in Ethiopia. And yes, we have tried the famous Ethiopian coffee. It’s strong, black, and as rich as the culture which we now find ourselves immersed in. The Ethiopian staff are friendly and open, even calling us their own children. The beautiful green compound where we are staying is filled with cute little kids and people who love the Lord and love to laugh.


However, our sixty-three Americans have added a whole new flavor to this peaceful scene. MK2MK is known for surpassing cultural differences and gluing people together. Here in the shelter of great leaders we crazy teens learn how to change the world. This summer’s theme of being the aroma of Christ encourages us to be a light (or smell) in dark places. Already we’ve made fast friends with the local children and national staff, and though we are wearing out their power and toilet paper supply, there is mutual gratefulness to God for bringing us all together.


Briefing and Tea Break


For the past week, our meetings have taken place in the stained glass chapel of the seminary, our tracts lit by fluorescent lights and our ears serenaded by the rain pounding against the windows. Thankfully, not all of the day is spent inside, because our hosts have provided us with traditional Ethiopian tea breaks. Fifteen minutes of cream and sugar can do a lot of good. It’s a great time to discuss the talks we’ve just heard (or discuss our the shower schedule) with our joyful leaders. The Kushners are here again, of course, providing us with as much cultural insight as we could possibly desire. Also Rich Street and his son, little Rich Jr., have been a blessing to our team. Rich has conducted most of our training, capturing the audience with his casual attitude and easy apologetics, and little Rich has contributed with a love of adventure, soccer and piggy back rides.


This week the students were also divided into main three ministry teams, each focusing on a different aspect of service:


Student Ministry


The campus ministry is divided into two teams. We’ll be partnering with national staff and volunteers to reach out to the Coptic Orthodox, Muslim, and agnostic students through teaching English, AIDS awareness (using CCC materials from Crossroads - for more information go to www.crossroadslink.org), Bible studies, the Four Laws, videos, surveys, translators, and about as many other things as you could name.


Women’s Ministry


Ethiopia is one of the top world source countries for human trafficking; every year over 20,000 women are taken from their homes and put into service in the Middle East. The atrocities that are committed to these women leave them desperate and penniless. The women’s ministry focuses on teaching skills and crafts to women in Addis so they can support themselves and not have to sell themselves. And of course, our teams will be incorporating the Gospel throughout their service.


Children’s Ministry


The VBS (vacation Bible school) team will be ministering to orphans, Sunday schools, and Campus Crusade staff kids by telling Bible stories, teaching English, singing songs, playing sports, and leading bible studies for their moms. They will be ministering to 500 plus kids so please pray for sanity and stamina!


2013


Where should we start? In Acts 20:24, Paul says this: “I don’t care about my own life, the most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me—to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.” This verse perfectly describes the attitude of the Ethiopian national staff. Yesterday we visited their tiny, campus office where we witnessed our hearts being set on fire through their powerful stories.


History Check: Ethiopians are extremely proud of their heritage. It is the only country in Africa that has never been colonized. They are also proud of being an official Christian nation, but the numbers of Evangelical Christians have fallen away, leaving them today with 34% of the population Muslim and 43% Coptic Orthodox.


We had the privilege of hearing Tariku, (Ethiopian, and recently appointed to be the Student Led Movements director for Southern/Eastern Africa Campus Crusade), give a presentation on the organization’s recent activity. He spoke of the huge growth of their student ministry—they have over 1000 key student leaders working around Ethiopia. In the past five years, the teams have planted 500 churches. And that’s just the beginning.


Here the staff in some rural parts of the country are getting beaten for their faith and thrown in prison, but they return and continue to devote their whole lives to serving Jesus. By the year 2013, they hope to send out 10,000 missionaries into the world. We’re here to do our small part, to help see this plan become reality. As Tariku says, “It only takes commitment. It only takes seeking the face of the Lord. You can change the world.”