Women to Women Team: Already Changed Forever

by Shannon Cline in Ethiopia
Women to Women Mission Team

We are all so blessed and already changed forever. After an incredibly long journey we arrived safely and were welcomed by our amazing hosts hosts Mark and Liane.  One of our team members, Keriana, was stopped at the custom baggage area which made us all a little nervous as the agent literally took every item out of her 70 pound duffle bag. It was filled with so many of the donations she and Zetta brought. We prayed for favor and that they would not confiscate anything  and our prayers were answered. She got it all back! 

As soon as we got into our van we began to see the poverty of this great nation.  The feeling that we were on some kind of movie set was overwhelming. I continued to think that any moment the donkeys carrying straw, the goats and cattle, the massive amount of pedestrians and the desperation in the faces of so many would end and we would see more of the "downtown next to an airport " kind of city we were all so used to. This is just not the case. The traffic was intense with no traffic lights, stop signs or lined lanes. Oh, did I mention no visible speed limit? People, livestock and fast moving cars, buses and taxis racing around.  Again, seeing all these things so quickly flashing by was movie-like and so surreal. 

The first 2 nights we have stayed at a guest house that is gated and very secure. We have been so blessed by the beautiful Ethiopians that work here. Today we got to hold an impromptu ladies conference for 13 pastors wives and wives of leadership. We sang, ate some incredible food and just encouraged these mighty women. Truth be told, I think it was more of a blessing to all of us than to them. They did say how happy they were to help us and they were overwhelmed that we took our time to be there. It's hard to believe that we were there for 6 hours. We laughed and got laughed at :)  We cried, they cried, we all prayed and really touched each other in such  genuine way. The love they have here is absolutely unconditional and absolutely true. They were such mighty, inspirational women of God and we are all better people for being with them. More soon!  

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Here is another blog post from another member of this women's team:

Salam from Africa