Remember Me?

Our women’s ministry team joined with Great Commission Ministry’s Lydia Ministry to visit women with HIV/AIDS.  These women and their families have been ostracized from society, have difficulty finding employment, and live in extremely poor neighborhoods.  Here is Hannah M.’s take on the experience.

As the group of girls walked into the straw and mud plastered house, we knew we would forever have a new perspective on life.  This was the women’s ministry team’s first time going into the homes of the HIV positive Ethiopian women. Our main goal was to go into the homes of the women who have been diagnosed with the virus and to talk to them and ask about their lives and pretty much show them the love of God. Then to finish off we would pray with them. This would normally take up to 10-15 minutes, and with four groups assigned to 5 women each, it took about 3 hours.

These women who we were talking with suffered depression, lost family members, and saw little or no hope in life. But even with all these miseries, they still had some of the most giving hearts we had ever seen. They all wanted to make us food and coffee. Some of the women even wanted to give away their valuables, such as the only picture they had of their son. This all happened just because they wanted to be remembered.

 When our group debriefed and discussed all that we had seen, we all agreed that it was emotionally draining; it was bitter-sweet. The second day we went out, one of the groups had the privilege of seeing two women pray to receive Christ.  What a blessing.

Just reflecting on all that occurred, I can say that every one of those girls that went to the HIV visits has had a whole new perspective on value. Just a few days ago we were complaining on not having hot water and the electricity going out every other hour, but after seeing the homes and the lives that the women lived in, we will never forget how blessed we are.

You Give and Take Away

Hey folks, sorry this didn't post yesterday - we had a huge storm that knocked out the power along our whole block.  But now we're back! So here's part two - Courtney R.'s experience working with kids at a local orphanage.

Giggling girls; eager boys; joyful eyes; desperate hearts; only a few years left to live. These are the things we found on our recent orphanage trips. We have been to four different orphanages in our ministry teams, and everyone has come away with so much, but also left a little of themselves behind.

On Monday my team went to AHOPE Orphanage – a refuge for HIV positive kids. We played games, sang songs, and acted out a Bible story. The kids were so excited to play with us; I loved seeing their eyes lit up when we spoke to them! My favorite part of the day was when one of the girls braided my hair. I had just commented on how pretty their hair was and before I knew it I was on the ground and my hair was being twisted and turned. It hurt like crazy, but it was definitely worth it! Minus the fact that it is blonde, my hair fit in perfectly! Well, at least for a few hours…

Overall, it was a beautiful day and I loved getting to make a small impact on their lives. 

Here are some thoughts from other students:

Campus Ministry

We have three main ministry teams - Children's Ministry, Women's Ministry, and Campus Ministry.  Students from each of those teams have written about their experiences serving on those teams.  Here's part one - parts two and three will be posted tomorrow (hopefully). The Campus Ministry team focuses its efforts around Addis Ababa University and its many campuses.  Here is Chris T.’s overview of some of the work that they’ve been doing on campus.

A Day in the Life of a TCK

Here is Lizzy G.’s account of a typical day in the life of an MK on our project. I hope you enjoy reading about all the fun things that take up our days!

MK Life
MK2MK is not only known for its spiritual impact but also for its ability to throw a party. As soon as one MK sees another, they become the best of friends. And when you only have one month, you want to go deep with someone as fast as you possibly can.

A Few Images...

Hey folks, I know I said last post that there would be a slew of blog posts coming up, and that still holds true.  In fact, they're on my thumb drive ready to go.  However, due to some technical difficulties (and not wanting to waste our precious internet time while I try to figure them out), I'm not able to upload them right at the moment.  We've got posts about our kids ministry, women's ministry, campus ministry, and our team's daily life, so be looking for those once we get our act together over here.

In the meantime, here are a few images from Jeremy, one of our many talented photographers.  At least I think the images are there.  We can't actually view the blog from over here, so I'm going on faith and your comments that these things are actually posting.  If the images don't show up, please let me know, and I'll do my best to fix those technical difficulties, too.  This is Africa, after all.

We're Halfway!

Happy Fourth of July!

We just got back from church - hundreds of people worshipping the Lord in Amharic with high energy singing and dancing.  We were able to understand a good portion of the service thanks to the sweet older gentleman who took it upon himself to translate for those of us fortunate enough to sit in the front row - and got himself a job up on stage translating the sermon for us!

It's been a busy week - we've had groups working with children at several different orphanages and with the children of the Ethiopian national staff.  We've also had a large group go everyday down to the university campuses to share their faith with Ethiopian college students.  Next week looks to be even busier, as we add in our women's ministry team (teaching marketable skills to low-income women) and a team working to repaint one of the orphanages where we've been working.

It's hard to believe we're already at the halfway point of the project - please be praying for our health and stamina and that we will be able to maximize every minute of our time here in Addis.  Several of our students are working on blog entries about their ministry experiences from this past week, se we should have a slew of entries in the next few days to tell you all about the things we've been doing.

We're so thankful for your prayers and encouragement.  Keep your comments coming - everyone loves hearing from you!

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!!!

We're here!

Seulam from Addis Abeba!

This will be short because I'm sitting in an internet cafe, but we wanted to make sure you all knew that our whole team made it in safely (and only lost 1 bag!).  We've been really busy these past few days getting acclimated to the altitude, the food, and the weather (which is beautiful when it's not raining).

We've also been doing a lot of training for ministry and learning about Ethiopian culture because tomorrow is when we start our first day of ministry on the university campus!

Here are a few ways that you can be praying for us:

• For our time on campus tomorrow to be fruitful and encouraging
• Health - no one's sick yet, and we'd love for it to stay that way
• For our outreach on Saturday distributing food to children

Hopefully we'll be able to update again soon with stories from our first few days of ministry.  Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Plan A

Since we leave in two (two!) days (excitement/stress level has been turned up to 11), it seems about time to post a new blog entry and give you all an idea of what we're planning to do in Ethiopia.

Our MK2MK staff and volunteers have been working extremely hard to put together some unique ministry opportunities in Addis Ababa.  If you've been on (or followed along with) MK2MK projects in the past, you know that our M.O. is student ministry.  We go into high schools, build relationships with students, share our testimonies, hold English Clubs, that sort of thing.  We also try to incorporate any and every unique talent and gifting our students have into our ministry.  Sometimes that involves making balloon animals.  Other times it involves storytelling.  One time, it involved juggling fire.

This  year, though, we're trying to take a slightly different approach.  On each project we've tried to incorporate some form of service ministry - things like working in orphanages or impoverished neighborhoods - but this year, we're making it an integral part of what we're doing in Ethiopia.  We'll still be doing plenty of student ministry, but we'll be splitting out time 50/50 between that and holistic ministry.  We've been working closely with the Ethiopian national staff to set up opportunities to serve in communities throughout our time there.

Some of what we're planning to do after the jump...

Welcome

Welcome to the official project blog for MK2MK's Ethiopia Summer Projects!

There are many people around the world praying for us and supporting us that we thought it would be a good idea to set up a place for you all to track with us on our many adventures in Africa (especially for those of you who have teenagers who may not be the best at keeping in touch on a regular basis).  Our internet access will be limited, but we'll do our best to post semi-regular updates. 

A little breakdown of how this will work (subject to change as all well-intentioned plans are)...