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!  ***

ANNOUNCING!!! Into the Streets Etsy Shop

Come shop with us!

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Into the Streets Shop

We have blessed by generous people in the crafting community who want to support Into the Streets of Ethiopia and our mission. Many unique items have been donated to our ministry for the cause of aiding starving children.  We have opened a online shopping site at Etsy.com.  Every item that is featured in our online store is both unique and hand crafted. 100% of the proceeds go directly into the feeding of orphans in Ethiopia.  

Into the Streets Shop is a great place to start your Christmas shopping.  New items are added regularly. Buy a gift, feed a child!

Do you have a handmade item you could donate to our store?  If you would like to donate, please contact us at portilla@intothestreetsofethiopia.com.  

600 cans of liquid GOLD is on its way to needy babies in Ethiopia!

In July 2010, Into the Streets of Ethiopia teamed up with We are That Family and one of the greatest pro-life leaders, Dinah Monohan to meet an urgent need in Ethiopia.  Formula was desperately needed to reach remote orphanges that are operated by YWAM Adoption Ministry.

The need was presented and you gave.  You were gracious to the needy and it honors Him. 

Cans of formula, gifts cards and cash begin to gather at the pro-life warehouse in Arizona.  Potential leads for big donations were given, phone calls were made and God answered our prayers.

Catholic Charity Medical Mission in New York donated 600 cans of Similac formula to feed these precious babies in Ethiopia.  The formula was shipped successfully from New York to Arizona last week.  Over the next two weeks, this liquid gold will be packaged and shipped in 100 pound incriments to YWAM adoptive families that are traveling to Ethiopia in October.  It will be hand delivered to needy orphanages upon their arrival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  

This huge donation will only sustain these little ones for a while.  More and more babies will be found abandoned or reliquished by a grieving relative.  Into the Streets of Ethiopia will continue to look after the widows and orphans.  We will answer the call.  "Religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and the keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Will you join us in answering the call?  You can make a difference.



YWAM-Ethiopia Formula Update!

We received a very encouraging note from YWAM Ethiopia today {from the Gimbie orphanage}: "Change in the babies since they have been getting regular formula is astounding. Growth, chubbiness, more energy, more smiles, better health!"  PRAISE THE LORD!!!  YOU are making a HUGE difference by giving to Into the Streets of Ethiopia!  Babies are being fed and lives are being changed for the glory of God!  Don't stop giving, they need you!  120 pounds of life-saving formula was shipped yesterday to the 4 YWAM orphanages that Into the Streets supports.  PLEASE pray for safe delivery.

"We don't want to simply meet a temporary need but exalt the glory of Christ, expressing the gospel of Christ thru radical generosity."  David Platt

In The News! Into the Streets teams up with YWAM-Ethiopia!

Into the Streets of Ethiopia is excited to announce a new partnership with Adoption Ministry of YWAM-Ethiopia.  Read what Becky Burns {Administrator of Adoption Ministry} has to say about this new relationship, found on YWAM-Ethiopia's blog--That We Might Be Adopted. 

One of the many ways God has blessed Adoption Ministry is through our partnerships with other ministries with the same passion - to meet the needs of Ethiopia’s widows and orphans. Recently, we’ve linked arms with “Into The Streets Of Ethiopia” which is a wonderful ministry asking God to show them where they might provide support in the form of finances and practical helps to the children of Ethiopia.

Tulio and Kara Portilla were very much like many of us – busy raising a family, involved in ministry, living life. Then, in February of 2008, God led them to do something that was quite ‘out of the box’ – they were to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia. During that process, God challenged them to begin leading their family in a “no regrets” lifestyle. Their trip to that country in July 2009 to bring their daughter home only reinforced that call. God began to make real to them the fact that they too are adopted – into His family – and they were forever changed.

They came home knowing their mission was to aid vulnerable children in Ethiopia. As they prayed, they also began doing research on how to create a 501(c)(3) non-profit so that they could support ministries already working in Ethiopia who were reaching out to needy children. “Into The Streets Of Ethiopia” was born!

Adoption Ministry’s connection with the Portillas was truly a God thing! You may have seen links here on our blog to the We Are THAT Family blog, which is written by Kara’s twin sister Kristen. After a trip with Compassion International to Kenya, Kristen’s heart was touched for the people of Africa. She read about our need for formula in our orphanages and immediately thought of her sister’s ministry. One thing led to another and now we are receiving financial donations from Into the Streets of Ethiopia to provide formula and to cover some of the cost of shipping it monthly to our orphanages. A beautiful partnership has begun! We look forward to working with them in many more areas of ministry to the children of Ethiopia.

Right now, through the generosity of a wonderful donor, Adoption Ministry pays for one case of formula per month to be shipped to Ethiopia – and that is not nearly enough! So Dinah Monahan’s “Clothing is Optional – Formula is Life” program has been sending 50 lbs. of formula (or a gift card to purchase it) with every one of our adopting families traveling to Ethiopia for their court and embassy dates, as well as with the mission teams who travel with us. Part of the money that would come from Into the Streets of Ethiopia will be used to cover shipping costs or for the purchase of the formula itself. Our goal is to ship one case per week to each of our four orphanages. That’s 16 cases each month and would cost about $1500 monthly.

God’s ways are absolutely amazing! He is linking together people and ministries who have His heart for the vulnerable and needy children in Ethiopia. We are so grateful to Him and to people like the Portillas and the Monahans. If you would like to donate to bring formula to abandoned babies in Ethiopia, go to the website here: Into The Streets Of Ethiopia

$6 FOR 1 Challenge TAKEN!

A couple of months ago, Angela Wells, contacted Into the Streets of Ethiopia about using our new $6 For 1 campaign in their upcoming Vacation Bible School.   What an honor for us to be highlighted at Graefenburg Christian Church's VBS!  


"June 27th - July 2nd, 38 children attended Graefenburg Christian Church's High Seas Expedition Vacation Bible School.  During the week, we learned that God's Word is true, comforting, surprising, life-changing, and for everyone.  With their adult crew leaders, the children discussed that one way to introduce others to God's Word and His love is to meet their physical needs.  The children didn't just talk about how to demonstrate love to others but through their hands and giving they truly got involved.  Twenty blankets were made to be given to the boys involved in the Children's Future Ethiopia program.  The children gathered with their crews and prayed over each blanket and for its recipient to know and feel the warmth of God's love.  In addition, the children collected $451.15 for Into the Streets of Ethiopia and many committed continual support through the $6 for 1 campaign.  We enjoyed a fun, wonderful, blessed week on the High Seas, but most importantly, the children learned that they could truly be the hands and feet of Jesus and minister to others.....  even those far across the sea!!!! "  *  Angela Wells  *

Check out this video of the Graefenburg kids making blankets for the boys involved in CFE!  Thank you kids--great job!

URGENT Need in Ethiopia!

 "To be happy with God on earth presupposes certain things:  to love the way he loves; to help the way he helps; to give the way he gives; to save the way he saves; to remain in his presence twenty-four hours a day; to touch him in the poor and in those who suffer."

Mother Teresa

Dinah Monahan, is one of America’s greatest pro-life leaders. Besides setting up more than 30 maternity homes in America and her first in Ethiopia, she is using her pro-life warehouse to ship formula into the suitcases of people traveling into Ethiopia. It is saving the lives of precious starving babies in four of Ethiopia’s orphanages, some in remote areas.  

Dinah is running low on formula and that’s where YOU come in: There are hungry babies in Ethiopia and we can help them.

30, 000 children will die TODAY of hunger and preventable diseases.

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one.”

Mother Teresa

Your donation of formula will make a difference to one.   The gift of formula can be a life-saving instrument to a lonely, vulnerable child.  

{babies faces have been blocked to protect their privacy}

Would you give?

For the next 24 hours, Into the Streets of Ethiopia, is partnering with We are That Family.com, in efforts to raise awareness and support of formula and/or financial donations being sent to Arizona (then on to Ethiopia!) 

Here is how you can get involved:

Please leave a comment with how many of the large cans of Wal-Mart (milk based only, no soy), you can send to this address:

Heritage House ’76, Inc.

919 So. Main St.,

Snowflake, AZ  85937

If you do not have a Wal-Mart near you, you can purchase a Wal-Mart gift card online and have it sent directly to the address above. Please make sure you make a notation that it is for formula in the Notes.

{from Dinah: "We will send the formula with work crews and adoptive parents as they go over.  We have shipped close to 400 lbs since April but are running out.  Check out the Post Office one price if it fits and see how many cans can fit in a box}

You may also give a financial donation to Into the Streets (via our donation link) and we will send the funds directly to Heritage House.

Into the Streets of Ethiopia is starting this off by giving the first $500 from our feed the children budget.  *** What a great summer family project this could be!  Take your kids to Wal-Mart and explain what one can of formula could do for a child living in Ethiopia.  Give them a tangible opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus!  ***

Don't forget to leave a comment!