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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Matching Grant Monday Recipients Are......



CONGRATS TO ADELINE COUCH AS OUR TOP 
MATCHING GRANT MONDAY RECIPIENT!

Adeline earned $216 in affiliate earnings which will be matched, giving her a total of $432 she earned toward her mission trip to Africa in ONE DAY! 
CONGRATS, ADELINE! 

OUR SECOND TOP GRANT RECIPIENT IS 
SARA GRUBER
Sara earned $104.20 in affiliate earnings through her sales in the OH Store. That will be MATCHED, giving her $208.40 she earned toward her adoption in ONE DAY! 
CONGRATS, SARA!

OUR THIRD TOP GRANT RECIPIENT IS
LORI GREEN!
Lori earned $46.30 in affiliate earnings through the OH Store. That will be MATCHED, giving her $92.60 she earned toward her daughter's mission trip to Africa in ONE DAY! 
CONGRATS, LORI! 

EVERY MONTH Ordinary Hero gives grants toward 
mission trips and adoptions through the OH Store!
If you are not signed up as an OH Fundraising Affiliate, be sure to CLICK HERE and find out how you can get signed up to raise funds for your adoption or mission trip. 

BIG THANKS to all of you who purchased through the OH Store on behalf of our fundraising affiliates! It is because of your support that we have grant recipients each month! 

Sunday, April 28, 2013

April Ethiopia, 2013 ~ Last day in Ethiopia

 We have had such an amazing week in Ethiopia. Our last day in Ethiopia was nothing less than packed with events for the day. We started our day by heading over to 
This is an awesome ministry founded by Jimmy and Rachel Gross, they are dedicated to showing mercy and compassion to people living in extreme poverty in Ethiopia, and beyond.

 They have a Saturday program where they open their doors to the community, to offer women and children a meal along with bible study and fellowship. We were able to show some love to some of the children in this program. 


 We had the awesome opportunity to give chickens to each woman in their program in order for them to have for Easter. We want to thank everyone who purchased chickens through the OH Store. Your purchase on behalf of our fundraising affiliates allowed us to give these chickens. 












 It's always fun to watch Americans as they handle live animals! Ha! 






 It was such an awesome sight to see each woman with a chicken to take home to their family. 

 No Ordinary Love is an amazing ministry! We always enjoy our time there. They have several sponsor needs available. They have a new program of reuniting children who have been trafficked, back to their families. It is truly amazing! If you would like to help with the cost involved in reuniting a child to his/her family, and other sponsor needs, please visit their SPONSORSHIP page
 to see how and who you can help. 

Our next stop was the Korah community. We went to a community church there to feed them the sheep that we brought over yesterday. They had it prepared and ready when we arrived. The word got out that the church community was going to be fed and instead of all the adults packed in there it was filled with nothing but children. The adults wanted to make sure there was enough, so they all sent their children to eat in their place. When we arrived, one of the leaders had all the kids clapping and singing. 


 Our team was able to fill plates for all the children and feed them all one by one. 





 We had a great time with everyone in the church at Korah. 
 Our last visit was to Hope For the Hopeless Drop In center. They were given all the packets that Hillcrest Elementary, in Orem, UT, packed and sent over from their Read-A-Thon! 
 They all were happy to receive their gifts. 
Thank you, Hillcrest! 




 We made a quick stop at the market for some last minute take-home gifts. 
I ran into several familiar faces there. 
 Today was Shane's birthday! Happy Birthday, Shane! 
We surprised him with a cake! 
We all quickly got ready and finished packing in order to head back to the States. 
That evening we all said goodbye to Ethiopia and left with heavy hearts as we thought on all the children we would be missing. We are thankful for all the many lives we were able to touch and the lives that touched our own hearts. There will be some processing to do once we arrive back in the States. I believe each and every team member will return home moved with compassion and with a heart to serve....which is what it is all about. :-) 

MATCHING GRANT MONDAY! TOMORROW!


Fundraisers!! Tomorrow is our MATCHING GRANT MONDAY! Top selling affiliate will have their 40% earnings MATCHED! 2nd and 3rd top sellers will have their earnings matched up to $200! That is a great way to make an extra $400 in one day for our 2nd and 3rd top sellers. Our number one top seller....well, the sky is the limit! :-) DON'T MISS THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY....TOMORROW!! ONE DAY ONLY! Starts at 12:01am Central (in a few hours), ends at 11:59pm central. If you are not an OH Fundraising Affiliate be sure to sign up quick! It's not too late! Happy Selling!! 

To sign up as an OH Fundraising Affiliate or to learn more about our program, CLICK HERE.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

April Ethiopia, 2013 ~ Our Event Filled Day 6

 We started out our day by going to get some sheep to drop off at the church in Korah. We are going to feed about 300 people in that community tomorrow so we are taking the sheep in order for them to prepare them. 
 This is always a new experience for our teams. They have never seen people purchase sheep and load them up on the top of our van. It's a "different" type of market. It makes you appreciate the meat department at the grocery store...unless you are a vegetarian. :-) 

 We dropped the sheep off at the church in Korah and they took them off to get the ready for tomorrow's feast. 
 While we were there we stopped in on some kids that are sponsored by other Ordinary Heroes from the States. It was great to meet these kids. 

 After our visit with the kids we made our way over to the Kore Beth Coffee site. 
This is a very special coffee roasting site! 

This brand new coffee roasting headquarters came from the dream and vision of our friend, Maste. He grew up in Korah and now wants to provide a way for the women to have sustainable income to feed their children and to keep them from living from the trash dump.
Maste met Michael Venable on our trip to Ethiopia last October right after Michael's wife, Beth, had passed away from a brain disease. Michael loved Maste's idea and decided to sow into this coffee business. As a surprise to Michael, Maste later revealed the name of the new coffee business as 
KORE BETH COFFEE!
Beth and Michael's youngest son is adopted from Ethiopia and now Beth's love for this country and her legacy lives on through this coffee. It is the love of one mother being passed on to all the moms that this coffee helps.
This was a very touching sight to see without a doubt!  
 Our team got to all see the women sorting and roasting the coffee, firsthand. 
This is some of the best coffee you will ever taste! 


Our next stop in Korah was the Leprosy hospital. 
 Being in Ethiopia is kind of like stepping back into the Bible times anyway, but when you go to the Leprosy Hospital and discover that there are still so many people today that live with Leprosy, it is so eye opening! 
 We all met beautiful people that weave and make beautiful handcrafted items, and most of them do this with no or limited fingers because of Leprosy.
Seeing their drive and their passion for what they do in spite of the odds is very encouraging. 
It kind of wipes out the excuses that a lot of us have in life.  
 Everyone enjoyed their trip inside the small market where they got to purchase some of these handcrafted items to support the people living there. 


After a quick stop to eat our packed lunch that we brought along, we made one last sheep purchase. We purchased three sheep for our friends at an orphanage in town that wanted to try their hand at breeding them. We purchased two female and one male. One of the female happened to be expecting as it turned out, so hopefully that was an added bonus. :-) 
Big thanks to our big helper and friend, Bira, for carrying the sheep in for us. 
And BIG thanks to all of you who purchase sheep through our Ordinary Hero Store
These sheep bless a lot of people! 

 Our team was excited to be back at the orphanage for one last visit to say goodbye to some of their friends they had met during a visit earlier in the week. 







 BIG THANKS to this large North Dakota group that traveled with us! They were able to donate lots of much needed items to this orphanage. 


 Our team posed for one last picture with one of the Sisters that helps run this orphanage. 
Their hearts for the children here are incredible! 

One of our last visits for the day was back over to Hope For The Hopeless, Countryside. 
Our teams always bond with the children there and everyone wanted to stop in to say their goodbyes and see the children one last time and get their beds all set up and ready for them with new sheets and toiletry items for their rooms. This was the final touch to their rooms after our day of painting that we had earlier in the week. 
While we were waiting for the children to return home from school, we noticed that the village children were beginning to gather outside of the gate. Before we knew it, our guide Bissy had them all lined up in order for them to receive a Blessing Bag. They were so excited and waiting patiently. 


 They each came in about two or three at a time. Our entire team helped get them dressed in their new outfits, complete with wiping the dirt off of their little faces and making them feel fresh and clean. 
These were some of the sweetest little children. 

 We really thank all of you who sent Blessing Bags along on this trip. We can't tell you what a blessing it is to be able to take off the mud stained, torn clothes and replace them with something new for these children who most likely have never had anything new before. 

 The kids feel so good about themselves when they are dressed. 
We watch them transform before our eyes. 
Little smiles light up their faces. 



 It is hard to believe how some of these children live, and yet it is so amazing how something as little as a new outfit and toy can make a difference as we share with them the practical love of Jesus and His provision. 




 We enjoyed a game of soccer with the kids...cowboy boots and all! 
(We have a country boy on our team) :-) 



 We had a great little soccer team! Lots of fun!! 

 Our time with the kids came to a close and we had to say our goodbyes, which is always tough! 





We then headed over to one of the Ethiopian Cultural Restaurants for dinner. 
 We brought along some of our sponsored kids to eat dinner with us, which is always great to be able to spend time with them. 



 This is always a fun experience for our team to get to eat Injera, which is the main dish in Ethiopia,  and see the cultural dances of Ethiopia. 








 Some of our little guys joined the dancers for a song. 
This was a great end to a very packed day! 
We fly home tomorrow night. Our last day on the ground in Ethiopia is coming up as we feed sheep and pass out chickens before we board the plane!