Will Work For A Family

The Butler kids in Washington decided they wanted to ‘Adopt A Family’ in our Adoption Ministry 1:27 program.  So their dad (who just happens to be the program director) gave them a job to do to earn one month’s support!

Thanks to those hard-working Butler kids for their big hearts and excellent car-washing skills!  Is there a line forming down the street?

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If you’d also like to sponsor a family in Ethiopia  - either a guardian family or an at-risk family – for $40 per month, be sure to visit our Adoption Ministry 1:27 webpage.  Join us in addressing the orphan crisis in Ethiopia through our orphan prevention program.
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Setting an example

As is the case with so many of our adoptive families, their children have a heart for the people of Ethiopia and they want to DO something to help!

Thirteen-year-old Rachel Gallegos recently gave a presentation at her AWANA group and took a two week collection of spare change to buy water filters for Ethiopia from our YWAM Gift Catalog.  The children brought in over $200 in that short time!  They were such cheerful givers, too – they gave all they had in their pockets!  These donations will buy 5 portable water filters which will be delivered through our in-country representative to several communities where clean water is not available.




Rachel’s mom, Michelle, said “We had no idea what God was going to do in our hearts through adoption.  We did not know He was going to break our hearts for the widows and orphans of this country or that He was going to give us such a love for Ethiopia and a desire to advocate for the needs we saw.  We also did not know what God was and is doing in the lives of our children through adoption – especially our oldest daughter.  We have witnessed God using her to bless the people of Ethiopia in many ways.  It all started with God calling us to adopt and it is amazing to watch the UNEXPECTED things God does, molding us and our children.”

1 Timothy 4:12  Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

THANK YOU to Rachel and to her Awana group.  Many families will now have clean water to drink and avoid getting diseases like Typhoid that are spread through dirty water.

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Be sure to visit our YWAM Gift Catalog to find ways you too can make a difference in the lives of widows and children in Ethiopia.
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Mattress Delivery in Korah

The mission team from the University of Kentucky spent their last day serving in Ethiopia bringing much needed beds to several families in Adoption Ministry 1:27’s program in the community of Korah in Addis Ababa.  Here are a few photos from Friday.  


Some of the homes in Korah…





Tesfaye told the team about several of the families they would be delivering mattresses and bedframes to before they began.



Stepping into these homes is an extremely humbling experience.  These are truly deplorable living conditions.





People sleep on cardboard, tarps or share one bed for many adults and children.




You can’t drive down the narrow paths to some of these homes so everything has to be carried in.









As always, there are children who come to watch…








“But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us —see that you also excel in this grace of giving.”  2 Corinthians 5:12




We are so grateful for this team of folks who came to serve and to give!   Thank you Jason, Joker, Leslie, Larry, Mike and Matt – you guys were awesome!





For $40 a month, you can sponsor a family in our Adoption Ministry 1:27 program and make a huge difference in the lives of Ethiopia's poorest.  Please visit our website here to find out more!
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A Day to Play

A mission team from the University of Kentucky spent the last two days in the village of Gutumuma, conducting sports camps for children in the government school there.  Here is a photo diary of their time there…

Just a ‘few’ kids showed up for the sports camp day!  T-shirts were handed out, teams were assigned (kind of) and lines were formed.

The team also made some repairs to the faucets at the compound…



and everyone enjoyed the cool, clean water!

Coming up next:  A day spent at Korah visiting several sponsored families in our Adoption Ministry 1:27 program.
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Home Improvement in Addis

A mission team from the University of Kentucky is in Addis Ababa. 

I’ve been so happy to have had some good communication with Jeff from Ethiopia via email and also Skype.  Believe me when I say that I don’t take that for granted.  It’s not unusual to have phone calls fail and the internet be down.  I’m glad to be able to share these photos and try to fill in a bit of what I’ve heard about the team.

*Update at end of this post!

Univ of Kentucky Mission Team 2012

Coach Joker Phillips and his wife Leslie

On Monday, the team went to Hope Enterprises to serve lunch to many homeless men, women and children.



Today (Tuesday) the team prepared to do some work projects at Adoption Ministry 1:27’s newest program site in Addis.   Bed frames and mattresses were purchased and loaded onto the van to be given to 10 families.










Then the team went to three homes of widows living in this community to paint the interior walls of their homes.  What an amazing sight it must have been for these dear people to see this team of big, strong ‘ferengi’ arrive to serve them!  Just look at that smile!





Prep work was done…







and the painting began!






Soon cement floors will be poured to cover the dirt floors that are now there.  No cement mixers deliver the materials – instead, they arrive by donkey.  (Poor donkey!)



There were quite a few onlookers…



with varied reactions to the white faces they saw!



A grateful recipient of the team’s work insisted on giving them a coffee ceremony.

A new pair of shoes were given to this woman to replace her old canvas shoes.

It was a day of hard work and the team left this community full of gratitude and humility as they were able to give to those who so gratefully received!



Tomorrow the team heads to Gutumuma where they'll conduct sports camps for the children at the government school there.  I'm not sure how much communication I'll have but I hope to keep you posted!


Abebe (our in-country representative) reports that the church who works with us to identify families to sponsor for Adoption Ministry 1:27 was SO blessed by the work this team did and the money they gave.  Both have energized this congregation to keep on helping the poor in their community and in their congregation.  Basically, the church leadership was blown away (our phrase not theirs)!  The church will be able to follow up, putting ceilings in, painting and setting up bedrooms where there were none.  The team itself helped 3 families directly with their muscle power but 7 other families will be helped after the team has gone as a result of their giving.  
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