All of us at Ordinary Hero want to thank Phil Chapman, from Illinois, for being such an amazing Ordinary Hero team leader this past week in Ethiopia!
Phil's team was able to bless the people of Ethiopia in amazing ways, and they were also blessed in many ways, themselves. Here is a recap of their week in Ethiopia!
To read the details of Phil's trip, visit Phil's blog, and be sure to click on "Older Posts" at the bottom to see all the days of his trip.
We are super excited about our new life center/guest house and all the ways we intend to bless the people of Ethiopia out of it!
The team had their first outreach in the home with some of the children from the Korah community. The Pastors of the church brought some children from their congregation in order for us to bless them and allow them to have a fun day out.
The team was able to clean them up, give them fresh clothes, and do their hair for them.
The team also taught them some basic hygiene skills and gave them hygiene kits to take with them.
The kids really enjoyed this day camp. It gets them out of their familiar surroundings of Korah and allows them to have a "field trip".
The team fed the children lunch at the life center as part of the children's fun day.
The kids were so excited to be able to take home a personal picture of themselves that they got to decorate.
Pastor Tesfye is holding the bibles that the team was able to give to each child to take home. Big thanks to all of you who purchase bibles from our OH Store! They are truly a gift to the people of Ethiopia!
Thank you, team, for blessing the children of Korah at the new life center!
The team also visited a couple of orphanages throughout the week. These visits allow the team to see and advocate for waiting children and also give lots of love and hugs to the children in the orphanages. It is up to us to be the hands and feet of Jesus and show these children that they are loved while they live in the orphanage and wait for the next chapter of their lives.
Great job, team!!
The team took a day to visit the Korah community. This is one of the poorest communities in Ethiopia.
The team visited homes, offering prayer and some donations. The love that pours out of this community is truly inspiring!
While at the church in Korah, the team was able to hear our guide's personal testimony. Bissy truly is a work of God and has an amazing story to share.
Michelle Daly traveled to Ethiopia last year with Phil's team and Ordinary Hero. Her world was rocked and her life was changed by God last year on the trip. This year she topped it off by returning to Ethiopia and being baptized by Bissy and Phil and the Pastors of the Korah church.
What an amazing and life changing experience for Michelle!
She is a testimony of how these trips truly transform the Ordinary Heroes that come to serve.
The team also traveled out to Hope 4 The Hopeless. This is an amazing ministry that takes in street children and transforms their lives. Our teams always love spending the day with these amazing children.
They made a quick stop for some sheep to serve as their meal for the day for the kids.
They had an awesome day of soccer, visiting, and feeding the children of the orphanage...that is after they caught the sheep. :-)
The team also spent a day traveling up the mountain. Our teams always stop to help the mountain women carry their very heavy loads. These women walk for up to 20 miles a day, carrying heavy loads that often take 4 team members to lift. They do this for about $1 us dollar per day. It is always such a load lifted for them to watch our teams load up their bundles and carry them and the women down the mountain and bless them. It is a blessing for our teams to be able to do this for them to offer them some relief.
Most of these women walk all those miles with only sandals or no shoes at all. The team was able to give them some tennis shoes to help them on their journey.
Once at the top of the mountain, the team eats lunch in a beautiful clearing and enjoys spending time with the children that come out to visit and see who the new guests are.
Even in Ethiopia you can enjoy a nice break at the end of the day at the local "Starbucks".
Happy Birthday to Michelle Hancock! We hope you enjoyed your birthday in Ethiopia, celebrating with the team!
This was an amazing week for this team! Lots to take home and process from visiting sweet children in orphanages and being able to advocate on their behalf, to helping the people of Korah, the mountainside, and Hope For The Hopeless, the relationships that were made, Michelle's baptism, and Michelle H's birthday! What a great week!
As we welcome this team home, we prepare for Crystal's team to make it to Ethiopia in just a few days to start their adventure.
More summer Ethiopia trip updates to come...
Welcome home Phil's team...
Team Members:
Michelle Daly
Abby Hancock
Michelle Hancock
Ashtin Balzer
Lisa Weed
Miranda Weed
Kendra Kirksey
Kayla Linden
Aaron Pirkle
Madelyn Pirkle
Brian Hauser
Renee Anderson
Michelle Gerken
Phil Chapman
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