Hard work is Universal!

Hello everyone Kyle here posting the blog tonight...hope you enjoy!

Well today was quite interesting and quite life changing....so for those of you that want the quick, short, and sweet here it is! Hard work is universal and its speaks even when language doesn't, meeting was crazy and lasted 3 hours and I now have several sermon illustrations. And lastly we're all beat and now schooled in Egyptian construction methods!

Now for the nitty gritty, or as my wife would say "tell like a girl!" so here you go!

Woke up today dreading what seemed to be an unimaginable task for 13 people to do in 5 days, so we prayed and trusted and as a group came to the conclusion that we're all called to be here so God going to show. So we ate breakfast and set out to build a wall with our quasi-positive attitudes, what happened next changed everything. As we arrived to the school after driving through the "ghetto" of Ethiopia a country where the upper class lives on $100 a year, so you can imagine how the word "ghetto" can be redefined as we Americans know it. We pull into the gate and were greeted by 55 eager and smiling Ethiopian adults from the community who showed up to help us. So we quickly mobilized and went to work creating our 86m 8ft tall wall a task that we all thought would be impossible in 5 days. By the time 11:30am rolled around we had the entire footer foundation in place and ready for concrete, yes folks God is crazy! Know let me blow your mind...no power tools, no wheelbarrows, no machinery. Here's what we did have, 4 sledge hammers, 12 regular hammers, 1 saw, some sand, some eucalyptus tree sticks, and corrugated tin roofing and last but not least 10 tons of boulders that needed to be broke down. As you can see we had a daunting task but an unbelievable God! We did it and we did it together...land, culture, an ocean, or even language could stop a group of people wanting to make difference in one of the poorest countries in the world, so now we stand in awe of the what else because God is not done we have 4 more days left.

Here's what else. If you are following the blog you know that we visited the school yesterday (Sunday) so there was no kids. Well today was different , quite different. Bright Hope school is a school of 2400 students, it has now running water, and does not have a cafeteria...process that with me 2400 students and no running water, its crazy. Anyway we showed up to work and didn't really know the kids were there, they were in class until it recess, what happened next cannot be described in words but I will try. The students came out all 2400 of them in there bright teal uniforms and shiny white teeth and there sparkling big eyes of curiosity. Being scared or confused of what 13 white people were doing there they just stopped and stared at us forming an wall of cultural divide, it was at this moment that my heart was tugged. After working so hard with there parents and neighbors and tearing down the ocean that separates us I couldn't believe it was happening again with the students so I grabbed Sarah Kennedy and I said lets go do this, so we walked right up to them and said hi and smiled, the universal hello.They smiled back and the wall came tumbling down. For the rest of the day we struggled to keep the students away from us and the staff struggled to keep us working as hearts were squeezed through the 100's of hugs and hi-fives we gave and receive,  I know its safe to say that we all saw the face of God today whether it was in the eyes of a vagrant or the smile of a child today heaven scraped the pavement!

Finally we closed out out day with the team closing out the day at Bright Hope school, while Aaron and I travel downtown to be honorary guests at the Sub-City planning conference. The Sub-City planing conference was the meeting of the all the schools that operate in the slums of Ethiopia, totaling 23 elementary schools and 7 high schools, there was close to 200 people in attendance. Aaron and I were guests of the minister of education, a friend of Tsegey and a man amazed that someone somewhere cared like he did. The meeting was very interesting it lasted 3 hours and not one word of it was in English! When we first arrived we found seats in the back, that quickly became unacceptable as honorary guests we were moved to the very front of the room and proceeded to take it all in, judging what was frustrating and what was exciting by there inflections we can only imagine what was said. After 3 hours, Aaron and I were quite ready to be done because of our exhaustion and because of our confusion, it wasn't till we debriefed with Tsegey that we fully understood what happened. Bright Hope School has never been to this before, they were a forgotten place lost in the slums until this year. Because of dedicated teachers, faculty, and some crazy church in Montana; Bright Hope was back on the map and has become a model of restoration and commitment to education. The meeting ended with an award ceremony celebrating individual, and various groups refusal to give up or give in, today Bright Hope received 8 awards and including the final and most prestigious I don't know what the award was for but it was last and it was a beautiful trophy, harvest because of your faith and your commitment we helped but Bright Hope back on the map, a small forgotten school in a one of the poorest slums in the world had something to be proud of today, and you helped make it happen.

As I write this blog the smiles of the people the students and even the presenters of the awards, penetrate my soul to the core. In the rhythm of life I feel that for once in my life i am in total sync with the heartbeat of God. Again thank you harvest for being a church that matters, I hope this post inspires and motivates you to find how you can let your heart beat with God's.

peace
Kyle