Church at the Dump

Written by Liane Wolbert, wife of our Missions Director, on Sunday March 28.  Mark is in Ethiopia now until late April.

Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!!!

I spoke with Mark this morning, which was about 5:30 in the evening Ethiopia time. He spent Palm Sunday in the Addis Ababa dump in a leper community. He acknowledged that it was the most impacting journey that he has ever made and the Spirit of Christ was visible on the faces of the jewels that he visited.

We have a friend who serves with The Forsaken Children in Addis. This is an outreach to street children who live on the streets in Addis - as you can imagine, there are many. Our friend invited Mark to spend the day with him at the dump where he has also been working for several years. Mark told me that there are 15,000 lepers that live in this location--it's like a town! Bisrat, our friend, has started a church for the lepers and it is about 200 people now. That is where Mark was singing Hosanna! He said that the people were worshipping "off the hook." Many were blind and lifting their stumped arms in worship to the Lord! He was humbled to the ground!

After church, they visited many in their homes which house 15 to 20 people. Bisrat told Mark that if he wanted to shake their hands, he should reach out first and then they would respond. (That makes sense as I'm sure that they would normally be rejected.)  Mark said that he would and then asked if he could hug them. The response was astonishment. Mark said that this day of hugging and holding lepers and their children will go down in his memory as walking in a place of holiness like he has never known. He was honored to have been there.

A team coming in April will visit this place to love and share with the children the love of Christ. Mark is hoping to raise money to purchase bags of coal for cooking fires. This is their greatest need. They will also purchase maize. $8.00 will purchase a bag of coal for two families for 2 months. If you check out the website for the Leper Hospital in Addis, you will find that a great work is in place for medicines for this community. Many are serving here. If you would like to purchase coal and maize for the leper community, just send $8.00 to the YWAM office in Puyallup.  (Please make checks payable to Adoption Ministry and designate 'for Ethiopia humanitarian support.')

On the way back to Addis (this is way out of the city), the palms were everywhere - at the orthodox church entrance, in the streets and made into head bands worn by the people. When you are in the city, you can get a glimpse of what a scene of biblical times were really like - minus the cars! Many are still riding donkeys and herding oxen down the roads. Joy, recently back from Ethiopia, said that she saw vultures devouring a dead camel of the road.

After this day, Mark headed to the Internet cafe in the small little community where he is staying to work on his communication back to the States. I could hardly hear him for the noise of all of the people in the background. The Internet was down and so he began a walk back to the YWAM compound. I could hear him puffing as he was walking down the road. He stopped at a little store (they look more like a kid's fort) to purchase a Miranda drink (Ethiopian Fanta) and, to my amazement, he was talking in Amharic to the kids who were selling. (Maybe that was the dialog that he learned this week and he just wanted to show-off!) He was joking with them, they were laughing, money was exchanged and he was on his way down the street. When he shouted "Ciao!" they all responded with "Good bye!"

Mark will be in language school though this week. He will be leading a team of wonderful people coming to serve from Virginia Beach, VA on April 6. They will be staying for 11 days and he'll be flying back to the States with them on the 17th of April.

Thank you for your support and prayers for Mark in Ethiopia!
Liane

Linking Together

Two topics from a wonderful blogger...

Meditations on a Messy Life

Right priorities sometimes leave a trail

and

Playing With Rice

Sensory processing idea

Two topics from one of our own awesome YWAM adoptive moms...

Parent Expectations

A link to a great discussion for adopting families

and

Home School Helps For Kids Just Home

Movies, games, flashcards and books

The Case for International Adoption

An interesting article from Newsweek magazine

First Steps for Starting the Adoption Journey

Can you really do this?

The Forsaken Children
A wonderful outreach to street children in the heart of Addis Ababa.
YWAM mission teams often help at Nega's drop-in center.  Be sure to read
the posts titled 'Zor-zor' (to wander) and 'The Way, The Truth and The Life.'

True Religion

It's in that place of being stretched that God will meet you and bless you.

El Olam - Eternal One
Our God doesn't ever grow weary!

Adoption Tax Credit Extended!

Good news for adopting families!  The Adoption Tax Credit, which had been scheduled to 'sunset' at the end of this year, has now been extended and even increased.  Here's a quick summary:

•The current adoption tax credit has been extended until the end of 2011.


•The value of the adoption tax credit has been increased from $12,170 to $13,170.

•The increase is “retroactive,” meaning that any adoption occurring after January 1, 2010 is eligible for this higher credit.

•The credit is now refundable. This means that even families that owe zero taxes can receive the full tax credit in the form of a tax refund to help with their adoption-related expenses.
 
Please go to the Christian Alliance For Orphans blog to read more about the details.

Photos from T'ede

Earlier this week, I posted a story Joy sent from the little village of T'ede in central Ethiopia.  It was titled Sheep, Lambs and Kids and told about the distribution of many of the things donated through our Ethiopia Gift Catalog.  There is some question as to whether these are sheep or goats but either way, it was a joyous day in T'ede!  Mike and Dinah Monahan, of Just Love Them Ministries, returned home from 11 days in Ethiopia and were kind enough to share these pictures from that day!

These widows are lined up, ready to receive their goats.

Many of these children are sponsored by our YWAM friends in the U.S.

They are anxiously waiting for their turn to draw a ticket to pick a goat!

Mark with one of the 'kids'

Abebe helps a little one choose a ticket

 

Tarikua:  Now let's see... which one should I pick?

 

A pregnant goat means a double or triple blessing!

Can't you just hear the excitement?

This is Tzibt, who lives with her widowed grandmother.

We'll never know the joy they experienced on that wonderful day!

Thanks to all who gave so generously. 

Your gift went a very long way to bless these families!

A Word from Ethiopia

Update from Joy Casey in Ethiopia (written March 22nd)

Yesterday we went to the property where we are building a new Widows and Orphans Home in Adama, Ethiopia. I am so pleased with the progress! When the first floor is finished, we will be able to serve 30 children and 10 widows. It will have a clinic, offices, full kitchen and dining hall. I am so thankful for the contribution of Dean and Deb Hustler who have made this dream a reality. We have yet to build a retaining wall in a ditch running alongside the property and also a fence around the entire property. Those things are very important, and I know God will provide.

 

Trip to Nekemte and Gimbie

Our trip started early in the morning with six tiny babies nestled in the arms of someone.

Tezera, Widows and Orphans Home Director

Mark Wolbert, Missions Director

The road from Nekemte to Addis Ababa is very, very rough, but the babies loved it! They were being protected in a loving embrace and bounced all at the same time! The only time a baby got fussy at all was when we would stop! The drive is a long, dusty one, though, and we were glad when we hit the outskirts of the teeming capitol. Just as we entered the busy, congested streets our bus gave out. The clutch had had it. I called Abebe, our Ethiopian rep, to please get us some other transportation as soon as possible. With bubble gum and string (or similar ingenuity) our bus driver “fixed” the clutch and we went a little further, but the clutch did not hold. After an interminable wait, another van came and we transferred our very tired and extremely dirty selves and babies into it.

Two hours later - well after dark - we pulled into our Widows and Orphans Home in Adama and were greeted by exuberant children and the embraces of the widows and staff. It was so nice to have the nannies take our charges and give them baths to tuck them into their awaiting beds. They were no worse for the wear, but I wouldn’t say the same about us! We were exhausted, tired, and extremely dirty. I blew my nose and all that came out was black dirt! It was heavenly to go to a nice, clean hotel, eat some soup, take a hot shower and fall into bed!

Sheep, Lambs and Kids

Joy Casey, Adoption Ministry's Director, is in Ethiopia and sent this wonderful report of our gift catalog recipients...

Before Christmas last year, we put out a gift catalog for people to buy various things for the poor in Ethiopia. We had a great response and raised close to $3,000 to buy chickens, goats, donkeys, bio sand filters, soccer balls and other things. Money to buy fourteen sheep or goats was given and we had the privilege of going to the village of T’ede to see the fourteen families Adoption Ministry sponsors receive the precious gift of a sheep. But not only one sheep …. all were pregnant and two had already given birth with twins tagging along behind one ewe and one lamb behind another. The names of the families were written and folded on sheets of paper and the children drew the names for each to have a turn to select the sheep they wanted. It was a joyous day for these very poor families to be blessed with such a huge gift and their faces reflected their appreciation and their hugs to all as they left no doubt of their gratitude. I wish every person who gave money for a goat/sheep could have been there! It was such a unique time that one of the people traveling with me commented that he felt we were in a National Geographic story.


Soccer balls were given to the pastor of this village, also. He has a sports ministry with the children and soccer balls have a short life span so he is constantly in need of new balls. The dirt fields they play on are full of rocks and the balls don’t last long. But soccer is the draw for the children so we make sure Pastor Zerahun has plenty of balls. We noticed many of the children were in desperate need of shoes, so some shoe money was also given to the pastor to meet that need. The money donated for uniforms was given to our YWAM Children’s Director as he has a huge ministry to the community children in one of the poorest areas in Addis Ababa.

A bio sand water filter in a home in the village of T'ede

For those who gave money for life giving bio sand filters, we are in the process of having sixteen made! This is a huge gift that will bring clean water and health to sixteen more families (we previously installed fourteen) in a very remote village. There is a shortage of cement right now, so we are waiting on supplies, but hope to have them done and installed soon.

I Saw What I Saw

I love the heart of this song. 
It could have been written in Ethiopia. 
Or Haiti. 
Or in any third world country.
You cannot go there and come away the same.
Because of God's loving heart, you can't stay the same.
Lord, change me!  Break my heart with what breaks Yours.