“O LORD, You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways…” Psalm 139:2b-3
What a reassurance to know that God knows exactly what we are feeling as we complete day eight in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Today brought with it a huge mix of emotions: missing my girls back home, compassion for those with those little both spiritually and physically, joy, physical ailments, confusion in knowing how Christ wants me to respond, sadness in saying goodbye, all served with a side of EXTREME exhaustion.
As we began our day, I (along with others on our team) am fighting a cold, so I’m pacing myself pretty well. When the kids came out for recess, I decided that I would break from the work and hang out with them. After about 20 introductions of names I will never remember, we played a game of Ring Around the Rosie. This, I have found out is a girls’ game. The boys don’t like it. (There’s a surprise, I only know girl games.) We played some hand-jive games. Then I started getting requests for singing. They loved the five bars of Michael Jackson’s, “Man in the Mirror,” and then requested Beyonce and Shakira. The next obvious transition was, could I dance? I got lessons on how to dance Ethiopian style and then attempted to teach them the Macarena (after a refresher course from Ariel).
After returning to work, I showed two of the women we have been working with pictures of my girls. They kissed Aliya’s picture and told both Derrick and I they were “koinjo” (beautiful). When I showed some of the kids, one boy said he wanted to marry my daughter… I told him that only God knows about that.
After lunch, our team treated all the hired workers with cokes. It was a huge hit and ended with them all being photogenic. We took lots of pictures and got hugs, amesayganalus (thank yous), and I love yous. Mantuwa, one of the women, gave the HUGEST, LONGEST hug. I felt like it was a testimony to the relationship we had built with them throughout the week…all without a translator for the most part. Ariel had the pictures we took developed and every one of the workers treasured it.
At 3pm, Aaron found out that it would be our last day at the job site because tomorrow is a holiday. The emotion was mixed for most of us. I was slightly relieved because I am so exhausted, but also so sad to say goodbye. These are people that I may never see again and I wonder, did I do enough to show them Christ’s love?
I was excited to see Betty, a 12-year-old girl from the church we’ve been serving lunch at, after school was dismissed (most of the kids stay on the school grounds for at least another hour). She told me she and her family were Protestant, that Jesus loves her and she loves Jesus. She and her friends all sang “Jesus Loves Me.” She also tattooed me on my arm: I love you.
After a long set of hugs and good-byes, we left the school and for dinner were entertained by authentic Ethiopian dancers while trying out authentic cuisine.
“Where can I go from your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost part of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me.
And Your right and shall hold me.” Psalm 139:7-10
Grandma, tell my koinjo girls, momma’s on her way home!
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