Ethiopia 2012, Team 3, Day 3 ~ Church, Market, Divine Appointment

We had an awesome day on Sunday! 

One of the things I LOVE about my organization is that we have people from so many different denominations and walks of faith join our teams. In one of our group meetings I have people share if they go to church, don't go to church, and  if they do, then what denomination are they. For those that do go to church it is awesome to see just how many different church groups are represented. I always tell them for me it comes down to the foundation of the Holy Bible. Every denomination represented believes in that, and that is what we keep our focus on. It doesn't matter what denomination you are. Even if you don't have much faith, we are all coming together to live out Jesus's example on earth and try to be His hands and feet the best we can through serving and spreading His love. I think through that, ALL of our faith grows and we find our purpose in life become a little clearer, and we are all challenged to GO DEEPER.

There is a church in Addis that I just love! It is called Beza church. We always try to visit with our teams because it just lifts the spirit to see people from across the world coming together to worship God and give us an avenue to bring all the different walks of faith on our team together. It's an awesome church! 

The Pastor's message was awesome! He challenged us all to go deeper in our faith. He quoted the scripture in Luke where Jesus challenged them to leave the shallow water and go deeper. It would cost them something but once they did they found there were so many blessings waiting for them. 

He has called us all to something and has blessings waiting once we leave the shallow water of our comfort zone and step out into the deep. It is sometimes scary and might cost us our time, energy, friendships, and many things that we are comfortable in. 

But once we do, we find miracles waiting for us. 

Every day of this trip we are all finding that to be true. It has cost this team something to be here. 

It takes a lot to pick up and go on a trip across the world, not really knowing what to expect once you get there or knowing the people you are with. But God knows and He has planned so many blessings for these team members and those who they have been called to help. I'm seeing this every single day on this trip. 

 Everyone just loves the kiddos that live and hang outside our guesthouse. Lincoln thought it would be a great idea to invite them to church with us. He gave them some birr and directions before we left and told them to take a taxi. They said they would try. We got to church and while the music was playing, what do you know, about 8 little dudes walk in with big smiles on their faces and fill up the row in front of us. They were so precious! It was the first time they had been to that church and they just loved it. They were clapping their hands and swaying back and forth. The joy of the Lord immediately filled that place. We were so glad to have them there with us! You can see them in our team picture at the top of the page as well. I think many on our team were touched and challenged by the service.

Every team member seems to find their special someone on this trip that they feel a connection with. It is awesome to watch!

I LOVE hanging with my little Sisay. He is my sponsored child and I try to spend as much time with him as I can while in Africa. I invite him to help us serve on some of the days we are out locally. It is so neat to watch this little guy whom I met living in Korah with no hope, blossom into a young man who loves to serve others, help as many he can alongside us, not to mention, he is a great translator. 

 After church we went out for a team lunch at a great restaurant. 

It took three tables to fill us all. This is my largest team yet! 

The team dynamic has been awesome!

After lunch we went to the market where the team could buy some trinkets to take home with them from Africa. It's always a fun time. 

We made one last stop after the market to Kaldi's. It is the Ethiopian Starbucks and is so yummy!

 Part of our group down in the corner just busted out into laughter and I found that one team member had asked for pound cake and they brought him pancake. They went back and forth trying to get it right so he finally gave up and enjoyed his plate of pancakes. The language barrier was quite hilarious. 

Everyone got a huge laugh out of it. 

I have the neatest "divine encounter" story but it is going to have to wait until next post. Our internet is extremely slow this trip for some reason and it has gotten me behind. We now have to leave for the day and I will try to catch up more later. I have a neat story waiting for you. :-)