Returning to Ethiopia!

How can I explain the longing, the need to be in a place that is far from home. When Tulio and I left Ethiopia, 14 months ago, we left behind a piece of our heart and soul. We returned home to familiar ground with a child we barely knew, but loved deeply. Our lives were forever changed and our world was rocked by the knowledge that there is suffering and devastation, at such an intense level, in a place that we love and feel so connected to. Feelings that are almost unexplainable and very hard to articulate.

Berhanesh (in Ethiopia) March 2009 

We have watched our daugher blossom, litrally before our eyes and while that is good and exciting; the stares from the fatherless and the touch of the broken orphan is never far away. We wrestle with the injustice of our fallen world and that at the hands of sin and evil; children are lonely, hungry and dying. 

Berhanesh (home in the US) July 2010

"Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes. So when you and I hear staggering numbers and statistics about the poor and needy around us and around the world, we have a choice. We can switch the channels on our mega-TVs and continue our comfortable, untroubled, ordinary, churchgoing lives as if the global poor don't exist. We can let these numbers remain cold, distant, and almost imaginary. Or we can open our eyes and our lives to the realities that surround us and begin considering the faces that are represented by these numbers."  --David Platt

Tulio and I are just a regular, everyday couple. A family that is completly messed up and dysfunctional! We fight, we yell at our kids, we forget to do homework and we often (very often) question, "what the heck are we doing" in regards to operating Into the Streets of Ethiopia. More often than not, we feel inadequate and lack the skills to "think" that we can make a difference in a very disturbed world.

Our lives have been turned upside down and we choose to be open to whatever the Lord has for our family. It is in this place, we are finding a freedom like we have never experienced.   James 1:27, "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." 

"The call to minister to orphans is not an option." -Karyn Purvis.   

In less than 30 days, I will return to Ethiopia. To a land that offered my family one of their very own. It is an honor and joy to be representing Into the Streets of Ethiopia and going on a vision trip with our partner, Adoption Ministry of YWAM-Ethiopia. I will visit and love on the widows and orphans of two YWAM orphanages and witness a brand new maternity home opening in Ethiopia! My luggage will be packed full of life-saving formula that you have graciously provided! I will network with local missionaries and visit with dear friends. I am excited and scared all at the same time!   

Would you commit to praying for Into the Streets of Ethiopia and YWAM-Ethiopia? We need your support! More than anything, I want to let go of any preconceived thoughts or notions and allow God to use me in a way that pleases him.  

***  I am still needing to purchase 25 cans of formula to fill my extra suitcase! The more I take with me, the more Into the Streets saves on later shipping fees. Would you consider giving $12 to feed an orphan? Your financial gift is tax-deductible!  ***