Update #6 - Last Days in India and A Week in Ethiopia
It's been about a week since we've been back in San Diego and I've finally decided to set some time aside to write about the rest of our trip.
On Sunday in India, we began our day by attending the service at Avatar Church and it was great. It was similar to a church service in America, but I enjoyed being able to worship the Lord with the Church in India and the people there were very loving. We got to go out to lunch with some of them, including the pastor and his family, and had a great time with them. After lunch, we went to South Mumbai to meet with a financial journalist who is also part of a church plant in Mumbai and is involved with ministering to more affluent people. This part of Mumbai was the wealthier part of the city, with businesses everywhere and cleaner streets. We even passed by the most expensive house in the world, which was ridiculous because you can find a slum less than ten minutes away. After hanging out with this man for a while at the church, most of us went for a walk down part of the Colaba Causeway and on the way back to the car we crossed paths with Homa! Pretty crazy. 24 million people in the city and we happen to see someone from San Diego who happened to be in India while we were. We went back to the church and while most of the team went back to the hotel to get some rest, a few of us got to check out the service there which was pretty cool. After going back to the hotel, Melissa took off to go back to San Diego and Bob headed to Delhi early in the morning.
On Monday, we got to see more of the city. During the car ride, we were told some more stories about people and they were crazy, but God's power in their lives and what He is doing is amazing. That morning we were taken to see how they do laundry over there. They have a bunch of people washing the clothes in water that's probably dirty, beating the clothes on some rocks, then hanging them up. It was pretty interesting. We went to eat lunch, met up with a man who was going to take Rob and I to his house in the slums, then went to the Gateway of India to take some pictures before splitting up. Most of the team went shopping while Rob and I went with this man. We first went through the train station where terrorists attacked in 2008, which was filled with people. After that we went to this man's slum, which was dirty with small living spaces and walkways. We got to meet a couple people from his church and it was cool getting a glimpse of what their community is like. He took us to his house, where we were blown away. He lives with his wife, son, and mom in a 10 by 8 foot house, if even. There were only a few essentials in this place, but this guy was still so joyful. We had a great time with him and his mom, drinking tea and looking through pictures from his wedding. That night we had our last dinner in India, went back to the hotel to hang out for a while, shared some of our experiences from the trip, and left for Ethiopia early in the morning.
We arrived in Addis Ababa in the morning and the atmosphere there was completely different. It wasn't humid at all, it was actually pretty cold, and even though it was still a little crowded it was nothing compared to India. Even though this is a more affluent city in the country, Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and there were definitely signs of that and there is also a huge gap between the rich and the poor there. It's not very developed, there's a lot of pollution from cars, and you can see animals like donkeys and goats nearly everything. We met our translator, AB, got situated at the Ethiopia Guest Home where we were staying at, and went out to dinner, where I got my first taste of Ethiopian food which was pretty good, before calling it a night.
The next day we visited a few orphanages. At each of them, the kids were excited to see us and clung to us from the moment they saw us. The first one we went to was a Christian run orphanage. The kids here seemed well-loved and taken care of. We hung out in the room with the infants and held them for a while. All the stories of the kids in this place were on the wall. Reading these and also hearing some of them was pretty tough. Some of them were born as a result of rape, left abandoned in hotels, or their parents weren't able to support them, among many other sad situations. Next, we went to hang out with the older children. It was fun watching them play games, playing games with them, watching them sing, and just spending time with them. The next orphanage we went to was run by the government. The conditions here were so different, the kids here weren't being taken care of nearly as well as in the previous one. There were so many of them with only a few people taking care of them, their rooms smelled bad, and it seemed like they didn't have very much to do. We got to play with them a little and gave them a ball before leaving. The last place we went to this day was for kids were HIV+. We hung out and played with them for a while before leaving. That night we met a man who works for World Orphans who helped get us connected over the next couple days.
On Thursday, Bob arrived in the morning after a few days in Delhi, India and we met the pastor of a church in Addis and went with him to visit the homes of three children who are part of their home based care program. He was a very loving man and one of the first things that caught my attention about him was that before almost everything we did he asked to pray, which was pretty cool. It was great to visit the homes of these children, see how they are being supported so that they can avoid becoming orphans, and pray for them. After visiting one of them, the girl's uncle, who was the one taking care of her, even gave her permission to become a Christian. It was also surprising to see the living conditions of these people. Small houses made of sticks, mud, sheet metal, and tarps. We saw some kids eating styrofoam, just so they would have something to fill their stomachs. After visiting these homes, we got to check out the head office building for the denomination this pastor is affiliated with, Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church, and it was great to learn about how God is working through these people in Ethiopia.
On Friday, we drove to Waliso, which is more of a rural town with villages, mud huts, and all, to meet another pastor who God is using in great ways as well. He seemed like a humble and wise man, and is involved in church planting, caring for orphans, and training leaders. We got to sit down and talk with him, go out to lunch with him, and visit one of the daughter churches. The story about this one was pretty cool. He leads a congregation of about 2,000 and for this particular church plant 100 members from his congregation moved into the village just to start that church so that the people there may come to know Christ. They meet in buildings made up of sticks and sheet metal, with dirt floors. At the building where this pastor led, the roof wasn't finished because they decided to use that money to start up a new church. It was great to see how committed these people are to spreading the Gospel.
The next morning we went to another government-run orphanage and it was pretty rough. Of course it's better for these kids to be there rather than living on the streets, they still are not taken care of very well with only a handful of people to do that. We went into a room full of crying babies, about 50 of them with two or three to a crib. They just wanted to be held, but there were only two people there to take care of them. Seeing all these orphans helped me realize how much we need to be loved because that's all they wanted so bad, but they weren't getting enough of it. After this we went to the Ethiopian National Museum, had lunch, did some shopping, then went out to dinner with the pastor from Thursday and his family.
On Sunday we went to the church service at a local church. The whole service was in Amharic, the language spoken in Ethiopia, so we couldn't understand much aside from what AB translated for us, but it was great. Not to long after we arrived everyone was singing and dancing with so much joy and energy. It was so fun. They didn't even care about whether the instruments were working or not, they just rejoiced in the Lord. A couple days earlier, the guy who was with us from World Orphans told us about how someone he met told him they worship from the heart because they are free and are singing to God. That's how it should be and we got to experience that during this service. The service was two and a half hours long, but I'm sure these people could have danced and sang all day long. Afterward, we went out to lunch with some of the leaders of this church, then checked out an outreach program that was going on that weekend for kids. After dinner that night, the pastor from Thursday and his family came over to the place where we were staying and we all hung out, danced, and sang it them. It was fun.
On Monday, our last day there, we went to Mount Entoto to check out a ministry started by a church there to reach out to women, who after finding out they were HIV+ ran away from their families out of shame to this area with nothing, by giving them work making jewelry and hope through this. We also got to visit one of the women, who is a part of this, at her home which is probably no bigger than my closet. It was cool to be invited into her home, spend time with her, and give her some fruit as a gift. Afterwards, we had our last lunch in Ethiopia, went to the guest home, hung out, packed, and had dinner before leaving that night to go back to San Diego.
Through the rest of my time on the other side of the world, God continued to open my eyes and my heart, revealing more and more to me. It was great learning about how He is working over there, how powerful He is, and witnessing how the Church functions in other parts of the world. I'm grateful to have been a part of this experience.
"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"" - Acts 20:35
On Sunday in India, we began our day by attending the service at Avatar Church and it was great. It was similar to a church service in America, but I enjoyed being able to worship the Lord with the Church in India and the people there were very loving. We got to go out to lunch with some of them, including the pastor and his family, and had a great time with them. After lunch, we went to South Mumbai to meet with a financial journalist who is also part of a church plant in Mumbai and is involved with ministering to more affluent people. This part of Mumbai was the wealthier part of the city, with businesses everywhere and cleaner streets. We even passed by the most expensive house in the world, which was ridiculous because you can find a slum less than ten minutes away. After hanging out with this man for a while at the church, most of us went for a walk down part of the Colaba Causeway and on the way back to the car we crossed paths with Homa! Pretty crazy. 24 million people in the city and we happen to see someone from San Diego who happened to be in India while we were. We went back to the church and while most of the team went back to the hotel to get some rest, a few of us got to check out the service there which was pretty cool. After going back to the hotel, Melissa took off to go back to San Diego and Bob headed to Delhi early in the morning.
On Monday, we got to see more of the city. During the car ride, we were told some more stories about people and they were crazy, but God's power in their lives and what He is doing is amazing. That morning we were taken to see how they do laundry over there. They have a bunch of people washing the clothes in water that's probably dirty, beating the clothes on some rocks, then hanging them up. It was pretty interesting. We went to eat lunch, met up with a man who was going to take Rob and I to his house in the slums, then went to the Gateway of India to take some pictures before splitting up. Most of the team went shopping while Rob and I went with this man. We first went through the train station where terrorists attacked in 2008, which was filled with people. After that we went to this man's slum, which was dirty with small living spaces and walkways. We got to meet a couple people from his church and it was cool getting a glimpse of what their community is like. He took us to his house, where we were blown away. He lives with his wife, son, and mom in a 10 by 8 foot house, if even. There were only a few essentials in this place, but this guy was still so joyful. We had a great time with him and his mom, drinking tea and looking through pictures from his wedding. That night we had our last dinner in India, went back to the hotel to hang out for a while, shared some of our experiences from the trip, and left for Ethiopia early in the morning.
We arrived in Addis Ababa in the morning and the atmosphere there was completely different. It wasn't humid at all, it was actually pretty cold, and even though it was still a little crowded it was nothing compared to India. Even though this is a more affluent city in the country, Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and there were definitely signs of that and there is also a huge gap between the rich and the poor there. It's not very developed, there's a lot of pollution from cars, and you can see animals like donkeys and goats nearly everything. We met our translator, AB, got situated at the Ethiopia Guest Home where we were staying at, and went out to dinner, where I got my first taste of Ethiopian food which was pretty good, before calling it a night.
The next day we visited a few orphanages. At each of them, the kids were excited to see us and clung to us from the moment they saw us. The first one we went to was a Christian run orphanage. The kids here seemed well-loved and taken care of. We hung out in the room with the infants and held them for a while. All the stories of the kids in this place were on the wall. Reading these and also hearing some of them was pretty tough. Some of them were born as a result of rape, left abandoned in hotels, or their parents weren't able to support them, among many other sad situations. Next, we went to hang out with the older children. It was fun watching them play games, playing games with them, watching them sing, and just spending time with them. The next orphanage we went to was run by the government. The conditions here were so different, the kids here weren't being taken care of nearly as well as in the previous one. There were so many of them with only a few people taking care of them, their rooms smelled bad, and it seemed like they didn't have very much to do. We got to play with them a little and gave them a ball before leaving. The last place we went to this day was for kids were HIV+. We hung out and played with them for a while before leaving. That night we met a man who works for World Orphans who helped get us connected over the next couple days.
On Thursday, Bob arrived in the morning after a few days in Delhi, India and we met the pastor of a church in Addis and went with him to visit the homes of three children who are part of their home based care program. He was a very loving man and one of the first things that caught my attention about him was that before almost everything we did he asked to pray, which was pretty cool. It was great to visit the homes of these children, see how they are being supported so that they can avoid becoming orphans, and pray for them. After visiting one of them, the girl's uncle, who was the one taking care of her, even gave her permission to become a Christian. It was also surprising to see the living conditions of these people. Small houses made of sticks, mud, sheet metal, and tarps. We saw some kids eating styrofoam, just so they would have something to fill their stomachs. After visiting these homes, we got to check out the head office building for the denomination this pastor is affiliated with, Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church, and it was great to learn about how God is working through these people in Ethiopia.
On Friday, we drove to Waliso, which is more of a rural town with villages, mud huts, and all, to meet another pastor who God is using in great ways as well. He seemed like a humble and wise man, and is involved in church planting, caring for orphans, and training leaders. We got to sit down and talk with him, go out to lunch with him, and visit one of the daughter churches. The story about this one was pretty cool. He leads a congregation of about 2,000 and for this particular church plant 100 members from his congregation moved into the village just to start that church so that the people there may come to know Christ. They meet in buildings made up of sticks and sheet metal, with dirt floors. At the building where this pastor led, the roof wasn't finished because they decided to use that money to start up a new church. It was great to see how committed these people are to spreading the Gospel.
The next morning we went to another government-run orphanage and it was pretty rough. Of course it's better for these kids to be there rather than living on the streets, they still are not taken care of very well with only a handful of people to do that. We went into a room full of crying babies, about 50 of them with two or three to a crib. They just wanted to be held, but there were only two people there to take care of them. Seeing all these orphans helped me realize how much we need to be loved because that's all they wanted so bad, but they weren't getting enough of it. After this we went to the Ethiopian National Museum, had lunch, did some shopping, then went out to dinner with the pastor from Thursday and his family.
On Sunday we went to the church service at a local church. The whole service was in Amharic, the language spoken in Ethiopia, so we couldn't understand much aside from what AB translated for us, but it was great. Not to long after we arrived everyone was singing and dancing with so much joy and energy. It was so fun. They didn't even care about whether the instruments were working or not, they just rejoiced in the Lord. A couple days earlier, the guy who was with us from World Orphans told us about how someone he met told him they worship from the heart because they are free and are singing to God. That's how it should be and we got to experience that during this service. The service was two and a half hours long, but I'm sure these people could have danced and sang all day long. Afterward, we went out to lunch with some of the leaders of this church, then checked out an outreach program that was going on that weekend for kids. After dinner that night, the pastor from Thursday and his family came over to the place where we were staying and we all hung out, danced, and sang it them. It was fun.
On Monday, our last day there, we went to Mount Entoto to check out a ministry started by a church there to reach out to women, who after finding out they were HIV+ ran away from their families out of shame to this area with nothing, by giving them work making jewelry and hope through this. We also got to visit one of the women, who is a part of this, at her home which is probably no bigger than my closet. It was cool to be invited into her home, spend time with her, and give her some fruit as a gift. Afterwards, we had our last lunch in Ethiopia, went to the guest home, hung out, packed, and had dinner before leaving that night to go back to San Diego.
Through the rest of my time on the other side of the world, God continued to open my eyes and my heart, revealing more and more to me. It was great learning about how He is working over there, how powerful He is, and witnessing how the Church functions in other parts of the world. I'm grateful to have been a part of this experience.
"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"" - Acts 20:35
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