Things we want and/or need

My visit to the States is quickly approaching!  I am so looking forward to visiting but I know I am going to miss Ethiopia deeply.  But God will provide comfort in my sad hours.  Some of you have already asked what you can send back to Ethiopia with me.  I thank you so much for caring for our needs here.  Here is a list of things I/we need/want:

*Art supplies (glitter, paint, paintbrushes, markers, crayons, construction paper, child scissors, stickers, etc)

*Canned/packaged meat (ham, salmon, tuna, chicken)

*Sports equipment (soccer balls, jump ropes, ping pong paddles & balls, whistles)

*Children’s underwear and socks (ages baby-teenagers for boys & girls)

*Underwear and bras for women (most women here are smaller sizes like 0-6 but there are some bigger)

However, I will have a limited amount of space in my luggage due to airplane restrictions so if everyone donates a lot of varied items I may have a hard time packing it all.  If you would like to donate any of the above mentioned items, I would greatly appreciate it.  But, if you could donate a Wal-Mart gift card then I can purchase items that I can make sure I can pack in an efficient manner.

Every donation we receive is so appreciated.  It is really hard to find high quality items in Ethiopia.  Also, most items are imported making the costs very high.  Some things are impossible to even find here.  Thank you in advance for your help and sacrifice.

Baby with no name

Names.  Are they just a way to identify people and/or things?  Or could there be more meaning and emotion involved?  Are names just a necessity to keep everyone from getting confused?

These thoughts came to mind today when I met a mother that didn’t know her own child’s name.  I tend to see and speak to the same children around Zion Church.  I have spoken to this one particular little girl before but she never answers me.  She was with her friend today (who I see all the time-her name is Fiker).  A friend I was with asked Fiker what the baby’s name was and she replied “Boradoe”.  Boradoe means cockroach so we knew that wasn’t her name.  My friend sent Fiker to ask the baby’s mother what her name was.  She then came back and said “Mitu”.  Mitu is a term of endearment that they use for baby’s here so we knew that wasn’t her actual name. 

The mother then came a short while later and we asked her what the baby’s name was and she said “Mitu”.  We asked her for another name and she said “Boradoe”.  My friend (who is Ethiopian) asked the mother to be serious and tell us what the baby’s name is.  She then said that she forgot what she named her.  Take a moment and let that sink in.. . .

This woman named her baby girl when she was born but she has now forgotten.  I, of course, was wondering to myself how you could possibly forget what you named your own child.  I thought to myself: “Does she mean so little to you that you forgot her precious name?”.  Then I thought:  “Well, how important is a name really?  Maybe it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t know her name.  It’s just a word.”

But I couldn’t actually believe these thoughts.  They were just rolling around in my head because I was trying to come up with a logical reason as to why this woman would forget her child’s name.  I know deep down that names are important.  Just imagine how devastated you would feel if your own mother forgot your name?  It is just a word but it is a word that holds a lot of meaning and emotion.  I know that people whose parent’s suffer with Alzheimer's are devastated when the day comes that they forget their children’s names.  And I know that God thinks our names are important.

Isaiah 43:1 says: “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you: I have called you by your name; You are Mine”.

Read that again.  He has called you by your name.  He didn’t just say “Child 54,839,327,293 of mine you are redeemed”.  No, he said “Jonnett,  you are redeemed.”  “Jasmine, you are redeemed.”, “Rebirra, you are redeemed.” etc.  How powerful is that?  The Creator of the world, the King of kings, and the Most High God has called us by name.

Even though this young mother doesn’t know her own baby’s name, God does and He sent His Son to die for her sins.

One Year Later

It was one year ago that I said goodbye to my family, friends, church, and home country and boarded a plane to Ethiopia to live.  Leaving the States was so bittersweet and I was really unaware at the time of all that would change in my life during the upcoming year.  I am tired just thinking about it all.

Before moving to Ethiopia I thought I had prepared as much as I could.  I did a great job preparing for the logistics of moving and living in a foreign land but I did a bad job of preparing myself emotionally.  I was so caught up in the excitement of this new journey that God had me on that I didn’t allow the fact that I was actually moving and leaving to sink in.  Sounds weird but I prepared to move but didn’t actually prepare to leave.  It didn’t hit me until my last Sunday at HPC.  I am crying now just thinking about how emotional that day was for me.  That is the day that I had to leave the place that God used so strongly to change my life.  

Sometimes I think about my life back in the States and wonder how it would be if I moved back.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t desire to go back but of course it crosses my mind of how things would be “easier” if I go back.  When I have a really bad day here I wonder why God called me to leave the comforts of the States and my family, friends, and HPC.  But God has allowed me to wonder recently why we, as Christians, think that it won’t cost us anything to follow Him.  

Does it hurt to leave all of my precious family and friends behind?  Do I miss not sticking out wherever I go?  Do I sometimes get tired of the culture here?  Do I so long to be back in HPC that it actually hurts?  Yes-all of these things happen-but these are the costs that I must pay to follow Him.  He never said it would be easy but He said it would be worth it.  

And it SO has been worth it.  I have learned so much from Him that I wonder if I would have seen it all had I not followed Him.  I have learned so much about the world, other people, myself, and God.  I have seen things here that I have not seen anywhere else in the world.  Some things I have seen I can’t even adequately put into words.  

God has used Ethiopia to grow, change, and mold me into what He wants me to be.  At times it has hurt and I have fought Him and I won’t even lie and say that I have never told Him no.  Because I have told Him no and there are things He has asked of me that I have refused.  But God is a God of grace and He scolds me and we move on.  But in those times that I have said yes even when I didn’t want to I saw true beauty.  Beauty in a God that loves us more than we can ever imagine.  Beauty in people that truly love God.  Beauty in people that I serve.  Beauty in people that serve me.  Beauty in who God has made me.

Obviously there have been big changes in my personal life.  I never thought when boarding that plan one year ago that I would finish my first year in Ethiopia with a husband and two children.  I knew the children (Fiker and Rebirra) would happen eventually because God told me the prior year but I didn’t know when or how it would happen.  I definitely never, ever thought that God would bring me a husband within my first year.  People had joked that I would find my husband in Ethiopia but I never truly believed it nor made it a priority.  But God had big plans for me and I am so happy that I have followed Him.  It hasn’t been easy and I have had to pay some costs but when I start having a pity party about all that following Him has cost me, I think about all that Jesus paid to follow the will that God had laid out for him.  Jesus paid it all, I can at least pay some “comfortability”, can’t I?

God recently brought the following passage to mind:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:12-14

Sometimes we have to leave things behind to gain what God has in front of us.  We can’t move forward to the life and promises God has for us if we are hanging onto the past; even if those things are great and wonderful things.  People often talk about how you have to leave your past behind to move forward with Christ and usually these people are talking about mistakes and sins from the past.  This is true that we must leave those things behind but sometimes we can stunt our growth in Christ by hanging onto the good things of our past as well.  Sometimes we have to let go of wonderful things, things that are truly blessings from God in order to grab what lies ahead of us.  We may be comfortable in todays blessings but what if we all strained for tomorrow’s blessings and take hold of all that God has for us?

So as my second year in Ethiopia begins I strain for what God has in front of me.  Straining to grab hold of all that He has in store for me, even if it hurts or pushes me beyond my limits.