Friday, April 10, 2015

Easter Celebration

What a fun time we had at this past Monthly Fun Day Program!  Since Easter is coming (Ethiopian Easter is April 12th) we thought we would have an Easter-themed event.  While preparing for the event, I decided that I wanted to do the “Resurrection Eggs” that are very popular in America.  Problem was, I didn’t have the “Resurrection Eggs” kit so I went online and tried to find out if I could recreate it.  While it is possible to recreate the set, I quickly found out I wasn’t going to be able to recreate it that easily in Ethiopia as most of the items are unavailable here.  I left the internet cafe that day feeling sad that I wouldn’t be able to use this creative and visual teaching tool for the kids.

“But God”

Mussie came home later that SAME day with a box from some of my friends at HPC Church in Anderson, SC.  As we were looking through this huge box, completely overwhelmed by the love shown to us by my home church in SC, guess what was all the way buried in the bottom of the box?  You guessed it-a “Resurrection Eggs” kit!  I was so excited.  Of course, Mussie had no idea why I was so excited as he had never heard of these eggs before.  I love how God brings everything together.  He knew that I really wanted a fun, creative, visual way to explain the celebration of Easter to these children and He provided!



But why was it so important for me to have a fun, creative, visual way, you ask?  Because a lot of the children that come to this program are not Christian-most of them are Ethiopian Orthodox.  Ethiopian Orthodox people celebrate Easter but to them, Jesus is not the Savior-not the way to heaven.  We wanted to be able to stress to these precious children that Jesus and ONLY Jesus is “...the way, the truth, and the life” and that “no one comes to the Father except through” Jesus!!  (John 14:6)  And through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are able to have eternal life.

The kids had fun with the “Resurrection Eggs”.  They were interested and impatient to wait to see what was in the next egg!  After the lesson, we split the kids up into groups and had them draw a picture of what Easter looks like to them.  Again, we were pleasantly surprised by some of the beautiful pictures the kids drew.


The "tomb" is empty.  Praise God!


After the kids had lunch, we had fun with Easter eggs.  I know Easter eggs have nothing to do with the true celebration of Easter but it is fun and the kids really enjoyed it.  The eggs were filled with candy that my HPC friends had sent me and some of the eggs had numbered slips of paper in them that the kids could redeem for fun toys that were in that box from the States.


Besufekad picking a prize.

Our beautiful volunteers, Asmara and Zewidtu.




What a great day to celebrate the sacrifice and resurrection of our King!  

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Beauty all around

This past Saturday was our Saturday Fun Day.  Each month we attract more and more children to our group.  I wasn’t aware before just how many community kids we have coming to us but this past Saturday we had 60 kids in attendance and on average we have about 25 kids coming to our Sunday School program.  So that is about 35 community children that are coming to see us on these Saturdays!!  Praise the Lord!

We had a really great time during this event.  I spoke to the kids about Beauty.  We talked about how we spend so much time taking care of our outside appearance but so little time focusing on our hearts…the place where God looks.  I did a demonstration with the kids.  I had two bottles that looked exactly the same and in one I put water, in the other was vinegar.  Yabsira volunteered to be my helper.  

I asked him if the bottles looked the same and he and all of the other children agreed that they did look the same.  I had him sip the first bottle and asked him if it was good.  He said yes, because it was the water.  He then sipped the next liquid but when I asked if it was good, he said “No!”.  The lesson was meant to show that by the outside, the bottles are attractive with the decorative glass and blue top, and they are good because they do everything you need a bottle to do for you.  But it’s not until you examine and experience what’s on the inside do you realize that they are indeed not the same and one is bad and one is good.  We had a discussion about how God defines beauty and how the world defines beauty.

Then, we had art time.  My friends Jamie and Hannah had purchased some really beautiful paint sets for our ministry and I was able to use them with the kids.  They were so happy!  Some of them had never painted before.  They were instructed to paint something they thought was beautiful.  I found out that we have some artists in our group!!

After painting, we had lunch.  We served Misir wot with injera (Ethiopian food) and fruit salad.  A few of the smaller kids didn’t like the fruit but most of them loved it and we had a few squabbles over the left-over fruit!  Fruit salad is a huge treat for them as most families really only eat bananas because other fruit is so pricey.


Enjoy some pics from our day:

My faithful translator...and husband, Mussie!!

Vinegar doesn't taste so great!

What an artist!
Gorgeous!

Abeneezer is proud of his tree!

Some of our blessings from the community.



Monday, January 26, 2015

Saturday Fun Day



We held another Saturday Fun Day this past weekend.  Each time we hold it, more kids show up!  This time we had even more community kids attend than we’ve ever had before.  We praise God that these children are coming to spend the day with us.  I know that their motivation in coming might only be to receive a free meal but if that keeps them coming, that’s fine because while they are waiting to receive that free meal, they are hearing the Word of God!  We are planting the seeds and waiting for the fruit to bloom!

We had a great time singing, playing games, doing crafts, and hearing the Word of God spoken.  My brother Kevin, spoke about who we are in Christ.  That Christ has created us each for a purpose and we may think that we are not gifted or talented, but God thinks so and His purpose will come to light if we trust Him-no matter what we have to offer.  This is so important for our kids to hear because so many of them think that they are worthless.  Because, by worldly standards they have nothing and they have nothing to offer the world.  But we know that God has created each of them for a purpose and we can’t wait to see what God does through our kids.

Abreham and Teshome- community kids that came for the first time!



Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Saturday Fun Day

A part of our ministry is hosting a monthly Fun Day for children.  We invite our Sunday School children and community children to attend this event.  We don’t only want this event to be open to our church kids, but we want it to be open to kids in the neighboring community.  After all, we are meant to reach outside of the church doors to spread the Gospel.  And right outside our doors are children who do not know who Jesus is.

This past Saturday we held one of these events and boy did we have fun!  We had about 40 children attend this time.  Each time we have a Saturday Fun Day, the numbers of children grow, praise God!  We had games, singing, a message, a meal, and cake.  We went outside of the church compound to play games in the open area around the church.  This attracted more community children and we invited them to play with us.  Everyone had such a great time!  

We then had all the children come back inside the church (we invited the community children inside, and they came!) and Mussie preached a wonderful message about Joy.  He tied the message into Christmas and how Jesus came not only to save us from our sins but to bring us Joy.  He explained how Joy is different from happiness and your Joy comes from Christ alone, regardless of your current situation.

Then we served the meal that my family had prepared.  We want to instill a spirit of servanthood into our children and we don’t want our ministry to just be Mussie and me.  We are a family, so our ministry is the whole families’.  All three of our children did a great job of preparing the huge meal and serving the other children on the day of the event.  I was so proud of them!


Enjoy a few pics from our fun-filled day.  











Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Ministry Changes



I know its been awhile since I have posted. . .sorry.  In some of my lasts posts, I talked about change.  Well, things are certainly changing around here!  Mussie and I have left Blessing the Children (BCI).  This is the organization that I first came to Ethiopia with and Mussie worked at for many years.  We have enjoyed serving with them but it is time for Mussie and I to move onto something else, something new.  We have been talking for over a year about leaving BCI but we never stepped out in faith.  When we got married, we had a vision from God for us to serve closely together in a ministry that enabled families to be self-sustainable.  It is scary to step out from under the covering of an organization so that is why we hesitated.  However, you can not live in Gods blessings unless you follow His plan and that is a lesson that we have learned.    

So, what does the future hold for us?  Mussie and I are in the process of starting a new ministry in Debre Zeit.  Our proposed name will be His Living Stones.  We picked this name because I Peter 2:4-5 speaks to us and what we see for the people that we serve. 

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Most often, the people that we serve are rejected by their community, viewed as less than.  But God wants to use the least of these to build His kingdom.  We believe that God is building up His kingdom and we fully believe that God has a greater purpose for the ones that we serve.  We very much desire for them to be a part of Gods kingdom.

One part of the ministry will focus on single mothers.  However, we dont want to be a welfare ministry.  This is where we have seen many ministries go wrong.  I believe that if you always treat poor people as if they are poor, then that is all they will ever think of themselves.  We believe in emergency assistance and a helping hand, but these shouldnt be long-term solutions.  It is hard to balance this and Im sure we will make mistakes but we want to help these women change their lives and in turn, change the lives of their children.  We dont want to encourage them to stay in their state of poverty.

We want to see these women rise up and be productive.  God created us to work and to be productive.  We want these women to be able to fulfill the purpose that God created them for, whatever that may be.  We will assist the women however we can to get them to the point that they can work.  This will look different for every woman, but it could include: literacy training, job-skill training, tuition assistance so they can return to school, etc. 

Of course, when you assist single mothers they bring children along for the ride!  We will also give assistance for the children.  This will include things such as: vitamins, monthly food support, education assistance, and healthcare.

Another part of the ministry will be a rehabilitation center for women coming out of prostitution.  This is something that has been heavy on my heart for just about the whole time that I have lived here.  Sometimes it is really hard to wait on Gods timing.  It has been 2 years since I have started working on this and in my eyes, nothing has come of it yet.  This is really frustrating and hurtful for me.  I think about these women everyday.  I think about the children living in brothels every day and it breaks my heart.  I have come close to getting ministries going or working with other similar ministries but for whatever reason, God has asked me to wait.  There have been setbacks, near misses, and mistakes on my part but God is faithful and I know that it will come to fruition in His timing. 

We are still working through the details of this part of the ministry and a large portion of it will be determined by how many women want to leave prostitution.  But a lot of it will look very similar to the single mothers program: literacy training, job-skill training, etc.  But there will be an added aspect of counseling and rehabilitation that will take place for these women.

Access to the Word of God and knowledge of His love and redemption will be key in everything we will be doing.  We will be partnering with a local church very closely.  We want the women to know that they were created for more and that God loves them.  The counseling and rehabilitation will all be centered on Gods love, grace, and mercy.  We know that no chains of bondage could be broken without Gods intervention and we want the women and children to know exactly where their freedom comes from.

We are also working with this same church to get a Sunday School program going that Mussie and I will run.  There are many Muslim and Ethiopian Orthodox children that come to the church, so it is vital that we get a program running for them that centers on Jesus sacrifice.

This is an exciting time for us but it is also a stressful time.  We fully believe that this is the path that God would have us take, but it brings many challenges for us.  Our first, huge hurdle is we need to get all of the government licenses in order.  This is a very difficult and costly process.  Please join us in prayer that this process would go smoothly. 

When we get the licenses in order, the next biggest challenge is financing.  It will not be cheap to provide these families with this assistance but we serve a God of endless resources.  We have faith that God will provide. 

We are praying now for partners and supporters.  We will need monthly supporters who share the same vision as us.  I will post more information about this as we get closer to the point of having a license.

Please pray for us during this season of change.  There is so much changing and happening but we know God is behind us so we are moving forward with the plan in earnest expectation.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

February 2014 Newsletter Dropbox

((Note: The below is a preview, however the link above provides clearer photos. Dropbox didn't offer an ability to show previews like Scribd did.))

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Art Supply Drive-I need your help!!

When I am in the States in May I would like to load up on art supplies.  I teach 266 kids every week for art class so as you can imagine, I need LOTS of art supplies.  My goal is to bring back 60lbs of art supplies.  Here's how you can help:

My friend Mary Nell will be my contact person who is helping me with this project.  She is a member of High Praises Church so if you are a member you can get the items to her.  If you have questions, or don't go to HPC, you can email her at marynellanthony@anderson5.net. 

The kids absolutely LOVE art class and it is a privilege for me to be able to do this for them.  The vast majority of schools in Ethiopia don't offer art due to the limited supplies.  So this is HUGE for them!




Here is a list of item ideas that would be useful:

Glue Sticks
Pipe Cleaners
Foam Sheets
Pompoms
Markers
Paper plates
Cotton balls
Scissors
Buttons
Googly eyes
Wood clothespins
Craft sticks (all sizes)
Feathers
Tissue paper
Streamers
Watercolor sets

We do not need:
Crayons
Stickers

Other items are welcomed!  Each class has about 35 students so please keep that in mind when getting certain items.  We need enough for each child.

Thank you in advance for your help.  God bless!!