Hello everyone, Kyle here again posting the blog....
Again for those who want the quick short and simple of what happened today here you go. Today I saw a man die, I meet a future neighbor, and lastly I was kissed by a leper.
Now for the details!
Today we started our journey by visiting Christian World Adoptions (CWA) Acacia Village. It is currently under construction and will soon be a brand new compound consisting of a 300 bed orphanage, a guest house, a medical clinic, and a chapel. They are currently finishing the orphanage house so we got to tour the construction site, it was impressive to say the least and will be a great place for kids someday. After we finished our tour of Acacia Village we headed to CWA's two childrens home, one is for the females and infants, and the other for boys. After touring both childrens homes we headed over to CWA's office to talk about adoptions and how our paperwork was doing for the Harvest families that are in the process of adopting, it was their that we found the info on a future neighbor and soon to be resident of Billings, MT; his name was Asrat. After realizing that he was at the boys home, the one we just visited we quickly made a U-turn and went to find him for a more personal and meaningful greeting. As soon as we entered the gate we received the same warm welcome as before, several young boys ran up to us arms wide open desperately seeking a touch or any form of affection, what else would you expect from the fatherless. We asked the attendant were Asrat was and she informed us that she would get him, moments later a beautiful, bright eyed 6 year old boy popped his head out from the door immediately my heart sank, it was as if i knew him. I didn't know what to do next so I just waved him to come and he came running with a look of confusion and joy on his face, then Haddush, the CWA coordinator began to tell him that we knew his future parents, as the words sank in you could see Asrats face change from confusion to excitement, he then turned to us and gave each of us a big hug and a very energetic high five, it was awesome! The best part is, he was wearing a cowboy shirt with mountains and horses on it, Asrat will be a great addition to the harvest family and to Montana.
After spending some time at the CWA orphanages we returned to the guest house for lunch and then headed back to the Bright Hope School to give the workers pictures we had developed of them and us, unfortunately they were not there, I am sure they were as exhausted as us and needed a break. So on our way back to the guest house we stopped in the community the school was located in to give clothes and shoes to some people that we heard were in need. The clothes and shoes came from the our team that returned early this morning, most of them left all the clothes they brought and their shoes, truly a sign of how impacting this place is and can be. What happened was something I have been dreading for months and months. For a long time I have known about this trip and have spent hours and days wondering how it will effect me, I am a very selfish person and I liked my life, I didn't want it to change.....but when you serve a God as big as ours and as crazy, you can almost expect a good shake up!
Now keep in mind the following...the only thing the bible promises is that it will cost you everything!
As we pulled up to houses made of sticks and mud, and then climbed out of the van with clothes in hand we proceeded through the door into a world of injustice and redemption! As we winded through the walls of mud and rocky paths we peered into homes barely five feet wide and into the lives of those who are in need the most we found ourselves in the home barely suitable for many of our pets. The house maybe 10 feet by 8 was the home of a lady suffering from aids and her 4 children also victims of the HIV virus. The women then proceeded to tell us her story of how she was raped and the impending result of that was HIV and how all her kids now have it but it was not beyond the reach of God's grace and how for her that was enough. After giving her and her family some of the clothes we then proceeded into another home this one 15 x 15 home to 13 people, yes 13 people. This is where our lives were wrecked, the home was not just a family but a community. See there was blind women with leprosy, and a elderly man with one leg who also had leprosy, another man was handicapped and blind, and then there was a man with elephantiasis in his leg, the list goes on. All of them beggars, living together, eating together experiencing the love of Christ together...it was a beautiful collision! After giving them the rest of our clothes and shaking their hands, we left broken and with a new holy discontent for the injustice of this world, tears in our eyes and our hearts heavy with the love of Christ we left confused and burdened.
Now I know you wondering when I am going to talk about seeing a man die, well here you go, that man was me! Today after experienceing the injustice of the world I lost myself to the battle of discontentment, the battle of consumerism, the battle of envy, the battle of greed, the battle of ungratefulness...today I died to myself. As I was leaving the house I spoke of earlier, I realized that I had to be like Jesus and touch people....not love at a distance but embrace those who need it the most! I hugged a man with Aids, I held a child from the slums, and I embraced a victim of rape, but most importantly I was kissed by leper! A man so hidious, so dirty, so forgotten, yet so beautiful, so tender, so grateful, so in love with Christ that he honors me by kissing my hand. Today I watched a man die, and that man was me, today I took up my cross and now with tears and heart burdenend for change I will follow....will you!
Ethiopia Hope is just that, its restoring hope to us and them! What will love make you do?
cho
kyle
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
WOW. Wow. That's all I can seem to say. There are no words. When I stuffed my dirty, raggedy work clothes and shoes into that bag to donate, I never thought that I would ever know who ended up getting them. Thanks for doing that. You guys rock. I wish I would have given away my best. It's hard to think that my worst is better than their best. That my old Adidas shirt that's too big for me and has holes in it is maybe their best item of clothing. I did give some good jeans, though. I hope they get some good mileage out of those!
ReplyDeleteWanna know something cool? In the Denver airport on the way back to Billings, I stopped and got a Starbuck's coffee. (tasted like water compared to the Ethiopia coffee!) I could tell that the man behind the counter was Ethiopian. Remember this is Denver. I wanted to ask him if he was, but before I could he asked me where I was going. After telling him where I was headed, I told him where I spent the last week. His face lit up. He told me he was from a smaller village south of Addis-Ababa and still had family there. There was a line behind me, so I didn't get to say much. But after thinking about it, I wanted to give him the birr that I had left. We couldn't exchange it at the foreign exchange window in Germany. I told the team, and some of them gave me their birr. Before I knew it, I had a big wad in my hand. I walked back to Starbuck's, stood in line. I told him I didn't need to order anything, but wanted to give him something to send his family in Ethiopia from the team from Harvest in Billings. When I pulled out the wad, he was speechless. He wanted my contact info so he could properly thank us (there was a line behind me). So I gave him Harvest's phone number and my email address. I didn't count it out exactly, but I think we gave him close to 300 birr. It hit me later that that is more than the average monthly middle class salary! I love God. I love Ethiopia. I love our team. I love Starbucks!