What a neat experience to be able to travel out to "Bissyland".
This is the area of Ethiopia that our dear friend and guide, Bissy, is from.
He grew up here until he was 18 years old when he professed his faith in Jesus Christ and was arrested, thrown on top of a bus, driven to Addis for the first time in his life and dumped on the side of the road to walk around in his sheep skin, being made fun of and told to go live in Korah with the Lepers which is where he found his next home. His story is absolutely amazing and we were so blessed to be able to sit on top of the mountain, overlooking this beautiful land where he is from and listen to him share his story. The view is just breathtaking!
Ethiopia 2012 Team 4!
Look at all of our awesome teens on this team!
It's been so great to see each and every one of them be impacted and have their eyes opened on this trip.
This is the orthodox church we are headed to go see. It is filled with monks and people lined up around it to head to the top to be blessed by what they call the holy water you see coming from the mountain and the beautiful waterfall behind it.
This is truly an African experience filled with such beautiful scenery and what you would envision Africa looking like with stick huts and little children running through the countryside barefoot.
And let's not forget the monkeys!! Lots of them in this area. The kids had a blast seeing them.
A highlight of our day was to let it "rain down" blessing bags!
Everyone LOVES seeing a little child walking alone on the road, never expecting a thing, and then they toss a blessing bag out the window for it to land right at their feet!
A BLESSING OUT OF THIN AIR FOR THAT CHILD!
It is matched with the biggest smile ever and they usually always turn and wave to us, so excited!!!
The teens just LOVE doing this!!
We saw a group of kids that looked like they were in need so we pulled the bus over to give them some donations.
Ashley and our driver jumped out to give this little one some new shoes and a blessing bag.
Ashley also has the biggest heart for animals!
You never know what you will have to dodge in the road in the country in Africa!
This little girl was carrying this load on her back and dropped it and ran for the blessing bag. She was so happy!!
Along the side of the road Bissy saw a childhood friend and we stopped and pulled over for him to say hi to him after such a long time.
Some cousins on the team!
As we explored Bissyland we found the most beautiful waterfall that all the kids loved playing in.
Alex is checking out the mud puddle.
"Is it solid or not?" Hmmmm???
NOT!!!!
HAHA! OOPS!
After the waterfall we headed up the mountain to go meet the monks that live in the caves!
Yes, I said "Monks that live in caves!"
This is where they collect the Holy Water in one of the caves to bless people with.
Here is one of the nice monks living in his cave. He was nice enough to invite us in and let us see and then bless us.
Here is another monk just on the other side living in another part of the cave. These monks say they pray 24/7 to earn their salvation. I wish they would believe that it is a free gift. Bissy has tried to tell them in the past :-)
The orthodox church is absolutely beautiful. You feel like you are walking in such a holy place. They make you remove your shoes, hats and gum.
After the tour of the church our day was coming to a close. We headed back down the mountain and back to the buses.
What an absolutely beautiful, amazing day!!
Not to mention that this is the day we found Todela which you can read his story in the previous post!
We are blessed!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING and taking us all along with you. We will return to Ethiopia in August to get our princess. Will Bissy still be in Ethiopia then??? Hoping to catch up with him this time ;) Praying for you all! Abundant blessings!
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