Bright Hope School

Home Again

2011-02-27T10:41:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for praying for health, safety and God's direction on our trip. Dave and I arrived back in Billings last Sunday at about 11:30 pm. After being in the "system" for 36 hours we were both pretty exhausted and ready for a warm shower and a comfortable pillow. Sleeping on the flights or in the terminals just didn't seem to meet our bodies need for rest. We were greeted by a nice Arctic Blast as we left the airport to go home, it was all of 1 deg. outside, a far cry from what we were accustomed to in Ethiopia, 75 and sunny everyday. Quite the shocker.

Our work continues here as we try to decipher what God was showing us on our trip. The need is endless in Ethiopia, we just want to be diligent to God's leading in the ministry of Ethiopia Hope and use His resources that He has blessed us with to make a tangible difference in a church in Ethiopia. So your continued prayers for direction are greatly appreciated, as it is still unclear in our minds where our primary focus of ministry in Ethiopia should be. We have wonderful friendships with two different churches, who are doing great things for God's kingdom in Ethiopia, each in their own ways. It is truly a blessing to be a part of either one of their ministries.

Stay tuned for more announcements at Harvest, and in the weekly for future trips to Ethiopia. Here are some pics that might tug at your heart strings. Some of these are from the Compassion project in Modjo, which provides resources for your sponsored children. Enjoy!!!

Back to Addis

2011-02-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we met with the officials for Bright Hope School and visited the school project. They are beginning the last phase of the wall, and have started the second phase of the garden. In the first phase of the garden they are beginning the second growing season, and rotation of crops. It has been a successful first harvest. They are use the proceeds from the sale of the produce and eggs to help supplement a lunch program for some of the neediest children who attend the school. They are also using their resources to provide extra food and some treatment for the children with HIV. These children get an additional boiled eggs each week from the chicken farm that the school is running. This program has been a huge success as they are currently getting about 9500 eggs per month from 370 chickens. They are doing as much as they can to help the children succeed in the classroom.

Today we visited Acacia Village, and were given an extensive tour of the facilities, from Micheal Arrowood, one of CWA's staff members from the North Carolina office. He has been living here in Addis for a while doing some quality control on the facilities. It was a good visit and the building is beautiful. Most of the children were napping while we were there so we didn't see any children, which was unfortunate.

Dave and I are winding down our time in Addis. We have learned a lot about the various programs that Harvest has been a part of over the past two years. God is doing some great things in Ethiopia and were are meerly blessed to be apart of his work in this country. God is really moving in this place. Everywhere we have been there is some much need but it has been clear that God is working in everywhere. Thanks for all of your prayers for this trip.

Aaron and Dave

Modjo

2011-02-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

Hello,
Dave and I are currently in Modjo, visiting the Modjo Mesurite Christo Church and their Compassion programs. One of the programs we visited today was their Child Survivor-ship Program. They explained the what they are doing for the families with children up to 3 years of age. This program gives assistance and training to the mothers as well as food, and medical supplies. We met all 35 mothers who are part of the CS Program this morning at the Church for a coffee ceremony. The welcome we have received at Modjo has been amazing. The Child Survivor-ship Program is making a real difference in this community. They have 15 more openings in the churches program, so it would be really neat if Harvest could support 15 more families in this community. The resources in this program are shared by all the families in the program. It doesn't just change a child's life it helps the whole family, mother and father included. Today we also were privileged to see two daughter churches that have been started in the rural areas around Modjo. At one of the churches the farmer who owned the land gave it to the church in response to what God had done in his life. He had been sick for years, without a cure from the local medical professionals. His wife began praying for healing, after she started praying and attending the church her husband was cured from his sickness. And because of his life change they gave half of their land to the church to start a rural daughter church. They have witness many life changes in their neighbors, as about 30 people have given their lives to Christ as a result of this man's testimony. This is truly an example of the power of a life changed by the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow we have a meeting with the church elders and some of the Compassion Staff, to discuss some of the church's vision and future plans. And then it is back to Addis to continue the last portion of the trip.

Thanks for the prayers as we see where God is directing us with our Church here in Modjo!

Long plane rides, long chats and 24 hours later...

2011-02-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

Dave Ulrichs and Aaron Koenigsberg are traveling to Addis Ababa, arriving on Feb 9th. Please pray for them as they meet with ministries in the Korah District and go to Modjo to visit our partner church. May the Lord be go ahead of them to meet people that will direct us in the path we should be going down with our Humanitarian ministry of Ethiopia Hope.

Evidence of your contributions.

2010-10-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

We recently received pictures from Bright Hope School in Addas Ababa showing the very exciting first harvest of the vegetables and eggs. These represent the ornaments that you purchased at Christmas. In less than a year you have greatly impacted this school, the children who attend the school and the surrounding community. Amesegenalew!!!!

Korah Distrcit Video

2010-08-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a video that was made to help bring awareness to the needs of the people in the Korah District. Our friend Sammy tells a little bit about his story and the people that Great Hope Church are reaching with the gospel

http://www.vimeo.com/13771428

Progress at Bright Hope School

2010-08-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

The Chickens have finally arrived and the gardens are looking great. Here are some updated pics from the school. They will soon have eggs filling the egg laying stations and vegetables for the children when they come back to school this fall.

Vegetable Garden

Egg Laying Hens

Egg Laying Stations

Vegetable Gardens

Progress at Bright Hope School

2010-07-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the continuing progress being made at Bright Hope School. Thanks for all your continued prayers for the projects and the community of Korah. We look forward to a time when can take over another team and continue serving within this great comminity.

Training on how to plant


Planting begins, Tefera in white shirt on left side

Building is complete on the section of wall we were working on in May.

Plastering up the cinder blocks.

Pics from the Bright Hope School Job Site

2010-06-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

Left: Phase 2 of the Wall: 210 meters of foundation almost complete. Below: Chicken House almost finished. Above: Derrick and Jen carrying a rather large rock with a barilla down to the wall. Good Job guys. Bottom: Becky working hard with one of the ladies on the jobsite. Group Photo: Everyone enjoyed a soda on Thursday afternoon in celebration of a good week of work. Friday was a government holiday.

Pictures from Great Hope Church

2010-05-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

Some girls enjoying there enjera for lunch at Great Hope Church in the Korah district.

Here we are walking from the school to the church for lunch. The wall on the right of the picture is what the team in Nov. helped start. Way to go guys!!

Ryan H. spending some meaningful time with the kids after lunch.

Almost Home

2010-05-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we took the day off, due to the Ethiopia's Memorial Day, and spent the morning at Great Hope Church in the Korah neighborhood. This church is the only evangelical church in the community of approximately 130,000 people. There is about 500-600 kids who attend the various programs that are put on by the church. Programs like a sports camp on Saturday mornings, after school teaching/training sessions, a school lunch program for the kids who otherwise wouldn't get any food or water at all. They also have a ministry to the kids who are living at the dump. The list of outreach programs that this church runs is endless. Sound familiar? We really had a good time helping out each day with the lunch program and so we spent several hours on Friday hanging out with the children. Some of the guys on our team pitched in and help sand the rust off of metal bunk beds that they are going to use to for the 30 orphans that the church is taking in from the dump. When we left the church amidst tears of joy, and sadness, we all truly believed that God is doing a mighty work through this small church.

The rest of the day was spent gathering our things to come home, and doing some last minute shopping of gifts for family and friends. We boarded the plane at 11:30 pm local time in Ethiopia. We made it to Frankfurt and had an 8 hour layover so we ventured in to town. We visited a local Cathedral that was bombed during World War II. During the bombing, an ancient Roman Bath house was unearthed, and is currently on display next to the Cathedral. It was nice to get out of the airport and get some fresh air. We got some coffee and pastries at a little downtown cafe and then made our way back to the terminal to catch our flight to Denver. While we were in route there was a medical emergency on the plane and we were detoured to Montreal Canada, to let the passenger off so that they could get her to the hospital. Everything that we know is the she was in stable condition when she left the plane. 33 Hours after we left Addis we arrived in Denver. So, consequently we missed our flight, the last one out of Denver, and are now staying in a hotel for tonight. Everyone is exhausted mentally as well as physically. They all did great throughout the trip, even though we had some adversity along the way. Thanks for praying for us. We arrive into Billings tomorrow morning at 12:48pm. Look forward to seeing or talking with everyone about the trip when we get home.

Sincerely,
Aaron

2010-05-29T22:41:00.000-07:00

Sad when I'm glad.

2010-05-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

“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!

A day without rain...

2010-05-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

Kari writing:

Today was our first full day of work after being rained out early the last 2 days. We could see the rain clouds but thankfully they went around us. The wall is beginning to rise up out of the trench, which is very exciting. We are continuing to build relationships with the Ethiopian ladies we are working with. They are warming up to us more every day. Please pray for our “sistahs” (which is what they call us) and their families: Mentuwo, Cabinesch, Alum, and Dinkay are their names.

Today was Ryan’s birthday so the school surprised him by some of the classes marching down to the worksite, clapping and singing Happy Birthday. They made a circle around him and he was expected to make a speech, which he did admirably. Tonight the group is going out to ice cream in honor of his birthday.

At lunch, we again went to Sammy’s church to help serve lunch to the children in his feeding program. We heard some of the kids’ stories today and they are amazing and heartbreaking at the same time. Two sisters, 8 and 10 years old, traveled 500 kilometers after their parents died of malaria, to end up in the Kori district of Addis Ababa (where we are working). The church took them in and are caring for them and sending them to school.

We also toured the buildings the church has just acquired to begin an orphanage. When the buildings are redone they will house some of the children who now live at the dump. Looking at the buildings through American eyes it is hard to believe that they will be suitable to house children. The buildings have a disreputable past and are now being redeemed by God’s people for God’s work. We prayed for the project in the room that will become a classroom for the children to learn the social skills to be reintegrated back into society and to learn to sing and play and learn how to be children again.

Tuesday's adventures.

2010-05-25T21:15:00.001-07:00

This morning we loaded up in the van and headed out for the jobsite. We noticed that our driver had among other things, a postcard hanging from his rearview mirror that read “Drive it like you stole it.” Very fitting for Sarafel (our driver); he definitely doesn’t waste time on the road! It takes special skill to drive the streets around here and we are glad Sarafel is handling that for us.

Things were a bit calmer at the work site today with just the Harvest team working and all the hellos and goodbyes from yesterday behind us. We spent the morning working on the wall and interacting some with the kids when they were on break or recess. Most of the kids can speak some English so we can ask each other questions and learn a bit about them.

We ate a quick lunch and headed over to Sammy’s church in the Cora district a couple of blocks from the school to serve lunch to a group of 50-60 kids. For many of these kids, it will be their only meal of the day. We call it Sammy’s church only because our main contact at the church is named Sammy. Just last night we had the opportunity to hear from Sammy and Pastor Antenue about their stories and what they are doing in and through their church. This helped give us some background about what challenges they are facing as well as what type of circumstances the kids are growing up in.

Now we have seen unending poverty on this trip, but walking through this part of town on our way to the church was witnessing a whole other level of extreme poverty. What a place – like nothing I’ve seen before. Yet, it was a great time at the church serving the kids lunch and chatting with them to and fro. This church is the only Christian church in this neighborhood of 130,000 and most definitely shining the light of Christ in a dark and hopeless place. Please pray for them.

We had to wrap up work early today because of the rain that cruised in around 2:30. We were bummed out by this but plan on getting to the jobsite earlier tomorrow to try and get a little more time in.

For dinner tonight we wandered over to a local establishment called Sister’s Café (I think). We went a little crazy with the bottled sodas and wracked up a tab for 17 pops! I guess we were thirsty. We are looking forward to tomorrow and seeing God work. Peace-

-Ryan

You say "Goodbye" and I say "Hello".....

2010-05-24T21:24:00.001-07:00

Derrick here writing the blog tonight. Although this is my second time being in Ethiopia to work on the Bright Hope School Project, I’ve been able to manage avoiding the blogging duties up until now. As my wife can easily attest, I’m not the blogger of the family.

As I’ve come to expect while being in Ethiopia, today was very rewarding, a little bit random, and somewhat unexpected.

First of all, it was very awesome to see all of the progress that has been accomplished at the school over the past 6 months first-hand. They have completed the section of the wall that we started in November, are in the process of completing the construction of the 2 chicken houses, and have completed another significant portion of the foundation for the wall on the back-side of the school. It was also very good to see some of the folks that I met on our last trip and how excited they were that not only were we there, but that we had come back for a second time.

As the title suggests, today was a day of hellos as well as goodbyes. While it was the first day at the jobsite for the team from Harvest, it was the last day for the team from Journey, as they will be leaving for home tomorrow. We spent the morning working on the wall and re-aquainting ourselves with the process, which was very similar to the activities we did during the last trip; hauling rock, cement, sand, and mixing cement (just for the record, the rocks have NOT gotten any lighter!). The first day on the jobsite was significantly more efficient than the first time around, as the team from Journey has been able to get the process streamlined over the past week. After lunch, the staff of Bright Hope School held a coffee ceremony in honor of the team from Journey for the past week’s work, which we all participated in (complete with popcorn, music, collo, and of course coffee). We then got back to work for an hour or so, before we were forced to quit due to a tremendous downpour. We took advantage of the downtime to participate in an hour-long lesson in Amharic from one of the teachers (complete with handouts, quizzes, and classroom speaking).

After work, we came back to the Guest House and were fortunate enough to have dinner with our friend Sami (who we met on the last trip here) along with the pastor of Bright Hope Church, which is located very near the school we are working at. Sami and his pastor both shared their story on how they came to the Cora district and how they came to know Jesus. They also shared some of the ministries their church provides to that community. It was very encouraging and also very challenging on a personal level to hear how they are meeting the needs of their community in a very real and practical way.

Well, I need to get to bed, so I’ll end. Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Oh, and a very special hello to Madison, Breanne, and Aliya. Mommy and Daddy love you very much and can’t wait to see you again in a few days!

Derrick

We have arrived!!

2010-05-22T09:56:00.001-07:00

We safely arrived Friday evening after 28 hours on 4 different planes, each offering a different experience. We were very happy to get to Ethiopia and be on solid ground. Aaron greeted us at the airport. We had no problems with our VISAs, passports, luggage or customs. Praise the Lord!! Today we were able to get out and take a drive into the countryside. It was really neat to see another side of Ethiopia. It was very green due to all the rain they have been getting and very beautiful. We drove to a resort type place to see a bridge that was built by the Porteguese during a war. It looked over a wide valley filled with terraced farming. We were all bummed because it had heated up and the baboons had moved up into the higher hills to graze. After a picnic in some random field, we headed back into Addis to do some more site seeing. Some of us visited the National Museum, which offered a little history into the kings and emperors of Ethiopia. We ate some very good ice cream and had pizza for dinner. Tomorrow is the election, so we will be staying close to the Guest House for the day. We have been informed that venturing out could be dangereous, so we figure it is better to be safe than sorry. We will try to post again tomorrow, but the internet has been working very sporactically. Thanks for praying.

First Week is in the Books...

2010-05-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from the work that we did this week. Most of the week was spent working on the wall; however, one afternoon we went over and helped cultivate the garden. Everything here is done by hand. The workers in these pictures are from the community dump and are able to send their children to school while they work on the projects. They are also paid for their daily work. We are all very tired physically, but spiritually and emotionally our hearts are full of joy. We have spent five meaningful days rubbing shoulders with children and workers who have taught us what it is like to be filled with joy.

Tonight the team from our team arrives at 6:45pm local time. I am pretty excited to see everyone and can't wait for them to experience some of the same things that we did this week. Stay tuned for more news from Africa. Oh by the way my Ahmaric is improving, but probably not as fast as the workers English.

2010-05-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Leaving on a jet plane....

2010-05-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

The Harvest team leaves tomorrow for Ethiopia to join Aaron and the Journey Church team. We are all very excited and ready to get on the ground to start working. Thanks to all you who have faithfully been praying for us as we prepare for our journey and who have supported us financially. I have to say that the 20 some hours traveling does not sound like much fun, but I am happy that I am traveling with a great group of people. I am not sure how Aaron survived. Thankfully he is not as much of a social thriving individual like I am. Please be praying that the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland does not impact our journey and we do not get held up traveling to or from Ethiopia. Keep checking back and depending on electricity we will write whenever we can and get some pictures posted.
Resting in His Provision,
Ariel Koenigsberg (and the rest of the team)

Day Three

2010-05-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

We are getting ready to head back to the school for our third day of work on the wall. To this point the physical progress on the wall has been slower than in November. But the relationship building, kingdom impact has been much quicker this time. It has really been awesome to see God's hand at work in the Kora district. It has been a great reminder for us that God loves the least of the least and so should we.

I've got to go. I will post some pictures tonight, Lord willing. The power and internet has been prettty scetchy over the last few days. It has been raining every afternoon for a few hours each day. This causes the power to go out most of the time.

Thanks for your support and Prayers.
In Him,
Aaron

Bright Hope Reunion

2010-05-15T11:11:00.001-07:00

Howdy,

Today we spent the morning at Bright Hope School. We got the grand tour and update of the progress on all the projects. It was a very encouraging time. When we walked up to the new chicken houses, I saw one of the workers, Yallo, whom we worked with on the last trip. I went up to shake his hand and he by passed the handshake and gave me a great big hug. Friends don't shake hands the hug. It was the same with my greetings with Tefera, and Musgabo, both men whom we developed a good relationship with last trip. I was able to get some good pictures of the progress on the wall, and of the chicken houses, as well as the completed section of wall which we started last fall. They have finished the base layer on back side of the property. For those of you who have been here that would be the hill out behind the outhouses. We will be working on the remainder of the footings across the back section of the property over the next two weeks. They are working on the second/third chicken house. Some prayer requests that they have are that the cost of cement has doubled and is getting pretty hard to purchase, so we could be praying for stability in the markets especially the construction industry. God has definitly been at work in this project. Today I saw some of the fruits of our labor in the on the heavenly side. Musgabo thanked us for all the work we have done and he said that he could tell that we were true Christians, that we would come to help them because God loves them and He loves us. It was very neat to see.

Back In Ethiopia

2010-05-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hello from the other side of the world,

I finally made it, safe and sound. After 27 hours of hopping from one plane to the next I arrived safely in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. I don't reccommend making this trip by yourself. The layovers are quite boring without anyone to talk to, or share a meal with. When I arrived in Addis, I was greated by our friend Gecho, the driver for the Guest Home. It was finally good to see a face I knew. It was raining pretty good when I landed, which could make for some interesting days at the jobsite. Please pray for good weather for us. As well as safety in our travels and good health. Ariel will be bringing the rest of our team over on Thursday, May 20th, so you can be praying for their safety, also. I will be here for the next week helping the team from Journey, get their feet wet, literally, at the jobsite. I'll keep you posted throughout the week on our progress. Well, I don't have much else to say about such an event fill time of sitting on an airplane for that long.

Aaron

Bright Hope School Update

2010-04-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

A Huge Thank-you to all of you who bought an ornament in support of the Bright Hope School project. We raised just over $6000 in support of the project.

Chicken House

The protective wall is in phase-2 and the section that our team helped start last November is complete. Members of the Bright Hope community are now digging the foundation. The community has really rallied around the school and the project as a whole. So this work has really had a profound impact on not just the quality of life for the children at the school, but also in their family life at home. Very few things bring a community closer together than working side by side to reach a common goal. This has been evident in the Bright Hope Community. The chicken hatchery is 90% complete. They still have to hang doors and complete the wiring for the ventilation system. The fencing materials for the two garden plots have been purchased, and the ground is being prepared for the planting of vegetables. The well is complete and the children are enjoying the fresh water. The well is being used to not only provide water for the kids, but they also can take containers of water home to bless their families. The well will irrigate the garden and supply water for the chickens. Isn't it amazing that something we take for granted has been used for beyond its basic resource of quenching thirst, but blessing the health and nutrition of the community.

In about a month, we will be boarding an airplane for our second journey over to Bright Hope School. A team of 7 from Harvest church and 9 from Journey will be embarking on another adventure in Ethiopia. Our goal will be to continue the work that the community has started on the wall (phase 2), and continue developing relationships with the friends we made in November.

Stay Tuned for More Updates from our Team Members in May while we are on the ground in Addas Ababa.

Aaron Koenigsberg

Here We Go Again!!!!

2010-02-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are interested in stretching your personal, spiritual, and physical boundaries I have just the thing for you. Bright Hope Work Team May 2010. That's right we are at it again, for round two. We will be taking another group of dedicated servants over to Ethiopia to put in some long days on the school's projects. Stay tuned for updates on the progress.

Now some pictures.

2009-11-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

I hope you enjoy these photos of what the team experienced.

Clayton, 1st day, trying to understand what is being said.

With a couple of eucalyptus branches, nails, and able bodies, who needs a skid steer loader.

This was filled by noon on the first day!

By the end of the day, the wall started to take shape.

Some teachers at the school using the wheel barrel loaded with cement, during a break.

We also learned that we didn't need a cement mixer, although it would have been nice.

A portion of the wall.

Some interaction with the school kids.

How we got our water everyday to mix the cement.

The wall, really taking shape.

Some dancing at the thank you celebration.

What was completed on the wall before we left. Hopefully by Nov. 20 they we able to finish with the cinder blocks.

Back In The USA!!!!

2009-11-13T06:08:00.000-08:00

All of us made it back to the US safely. We parted ways with Kyle in Washington last night, as he was heading on to Cleveland to speak at a youth conference this weekend. And Ariel and I went on the Denver. We made it in to Denver around 12:30 am and are now waiting at the airport to fly home. Our flight leaves at 8:15 this morning and we will be back in Big Sky Country by 10:00. We look forward to seeing everyone and sharing our adventures with you all. Ariel is planning on posting some pictures of the trip when we get home. In Ethiopia, it took an hour sometimes just to write the blog and get it posted so posting pictures was usually out of the question.

See you all Soon,
Aaron

The Sacrificial Lamb comes to life...

2009-11-10T21:04:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, Aaron here on blog duty tonight...

Over the past few days, since the team left, there has been an intense battle going on here in Ethiopia. That battle is being fought in the remote regions of my heart and mind. Daily I have been wrestling with the extremes that we have become accustom to seeing during our travels here. Extreme poverty, living conditions, sickness, disease, and yet on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, extreme wealth, success, progress. And yet I find myself being drawn back to the former of the two extremes. My heart is despirately waging war with the comforts of this life in an attempt to return to the poorer communities, whose lives have touched us beyond all comprehension.

During our trips to the Acacia Village site I have been thoroughly impressed with the level of professionalism that has taken place at this site. It is truly a wonderful project and very much needed for their organization. The job site is very much a commercial project site similar to what you would see in the states, but much more primitive in their construction methods. Everything is built out of concrete and reinforced with re-bar. The scaffolding is built out of euclyptus branches. It was quite the experience walking up three flights of scaffolding on branches. Kyle and Ariel wouldn't try it the second time we visited the site, once was enough for them. It has been very intriguing for me to see some of the construction techniques and procedures that they go through to build a commercial building here in Ethiopia.

But during each visit my mind and my heart seem to wander back to our dear friends at the school and a simpler way of life. Everywhere you turn there is need in this city. Our prayer is that we are hearing God's direction clearly and providing aide where He wants us to, not where we desire to work. Our conversations with the contractors at the Acacia Village have been very promising and they are open for churches like ours to send work groups over when the timing is appropriate during the different phases. This was very encouraging.

This morning, we went back to the Bright Hope School project to see how the progress was going on the well and to work some more on the wall. When we showed up, water was flowing freely out of the well. They got the pump hooked up today and were getting ready to send some samples off to the labs to get tested. Keep this in your prayers that the tests will return positive and that they will be able to use this for drinking water as it is greatly needed. Today alone we began seeing how the well could save the other projects money as they now don't have to pay someone to haul water in for them to mix the cement. Last week we paid someone $2 per donkey per trip to haul water for us. There were 4 donkeys each of which made 6-7 trips per day. That begins to add up quickly as all of you can imagine. Our work today was kind of bittersweet. It was wonderful to be back working at the school, however all of the men that we spent the last week getting to know and working with were not there. We had a new set of workers to get to know and had to learn the process all over again. We also missed having the rest of our group with us, all of you were and have been truly missed this week. You guys made this trip so much fun.

As we were finishing up our work today, we were informed that we would be honored guests, again, in celebration of the completion of the well and what we accomplished on the wall. A celebration such as this consists of buying a sheep at the market and bringing it to the celebration alive. They then procede to slaughter the sheep, butcher it, and then cook it into a meal that is shared by all of the people at the celebration. Kyle and Ariel were present in representatives of our group at the slaughtering. And for all of you who are wondering, yes there is video footage of this event. This event has brought new perspective for all of us on God's sacrificial lamb, Jesus, was led to the cross. He was beaten, mocked and bruised for our transgressions. As the sheep was brought in to the school yard it was mobbed by children, who began to hit it and kick it. It was then tied up close to our jobsite waiting to be led to it's final resting place. Kyle helped drag it to the slaughtering floor. So if you are into comparisons, and trying to compare this event to Christ's walk to the cross, Kyle would be on of the Roman guards who led him to the Cross. Just kidding. But in all seriousness, this really was a real life depiction of what our Savior did on our behalf. And without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. It really did bring that verse to life for me today and I will never be the same because of it.

Hey Everyone..

2009-11-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

Ariel posting tonight.

Sunday we attended church with Haddush who is with CWA. The church is called Beza International. The time was very uplifting. The worship time allowed me to reflect on the week's events and pray for the Kore sub-city in Addis, where we did our work this week.

In the afternoon we toured the National Museum. After this we went to the Lion Zoo. Which has 6 breeding couples and 4 cubs. There was an extra charge for me to carry my camera, interesting. But once inside the area a gentlemen, the trainer who feeds the lions, took me personally around the park He put me in specific places to get the best pictures and get the most for my money. Very cool. They also have a rabbit from New Zealand and monkeys. We also got a chance to try some ice cream. After this we drove way up above the city of Addis, to the old city of Addis. We were at about 10,000 ft. You have to even pay to walk down the path and all along the way there are kids planted that have memorized certain facts about the area. They don't leave your side and want to be paid as you get ready to leave. This area up on the mountain is full of farming areas, much colder, and had refreshing air to breath. It was neat to see the city from above. I just wanted to go for a hike in the woods.

We have also located a little shop near the Guest Home that sells pop in a bottle. Awesome. Pepsi is much better in a bottle. Aaron and Kyle are really liking the Miranda orange soda. So we got to enjoy one with dinner. The chef here at the guest home has been blessing us with great food. He makes this spagetti sauce with some kind of chile powder stuff. Amazingly good. I plan on making it at home when we return. We have also gotten a chance to try avacado in a new way. First we had with pineapple juice for breakfast one morning. Very good. And for lunch one day we had a yogurt, banana, avacado pudding. Suprisingly delicious. Another recipe for me to make when I return home.

Monday, today, we went back to the Acacia Village building site to speak with the contractor. It was a good visit and helped us understand where in the future it may be possible to help with the project.

While here in Addis, we have developed many friendships with the staff at the EGH. They have become dear friends of ours. We taught them how to play dutch blitz and now they are beating us at the game. I can't begin to tell you the amount of good conversations we have had and laughter we have shared. For example the birthday party they arranged for Aaron. We hope that these friendships will only grow as we continue to do work in Ethiopia. But yesterday we received news that one of these friends had received tragic news. His sister had been killed while living in America. He has to find some way to bring her home to Addis. He hopes he can obtain a VISA and go the U.S, but this can be very hard for an Ethiopian. Praise the Lord she knew the Lord as her Savior and is now with Him in heaven and we will all get to meet her someday. The Lord has also provided a friend of hers in America to help our friend in Addis with the logistics in America. So we went and saw him today at his home. To try to offer some encouragment and to just be with him as he suffers through this confusion and pain. Thankfully we were able to just that. He needs our continued prayers as he wrestles with the confusion in his mind and the task of bringing her home. We also are praying that through this tragic situation his own family, that does not know that Lord, would be able to see His blessing and come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. May he give our friend the strength and discernment to lead his family. Will you please pray with us?

Wrecked....Everything

2009-11-07T08:27:00.000-08:00

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

Blood, Sweat, Tears and More of the Truffle Shuffle

2009-11-06T21:12:00.000-08:00

Hello to all of our friends and family back in Montana and across the rest America. This blog comes to you from Aaron, I will try my best to explain in detail today's events. As Kyle said in the previous blog "Tell it like a Girl." I don't do that very well but I will try my hardest. So here it goes...

It's Midnight here in Addis and we just dropped the rest of the team off at the airport for their journey home. They leave the Addis airport at 2am and fly to Frankfurt, Germany. From there they will fly directly to Denver and will be home Saturday evening. Ariel, Kyle and I will be here for a few more days, as we go to see the Acacia Village project that CWA, Christian World Adoption, is doing here in Addis. We will miss having the team with us as we have become one big happy family. I am so very proud of the work that this team has done. Harvest Church and Billings Mt, can consider itself honored to have men and women with the character and convictions such as these.

Today, was a day filled with too many emotions to describe. It was a joyous day, as we were able to complete the almost all of the final rock layer by noon today at the school before we had to leave. I am quite certain that the contractors were able to finish the last 10 meters, 30 feet, this afternoon. To put this in perspective for you all. This morning was full of joy, laughter and tears. On previous mornings when we would pull in to the school to begin our work the contractors would wave at us and then go back to shaping the stones we would use to complete the days work. Today however was different. Each of the men dropped their tools as we pulled in to the school grounds and greated us as we piled out of the vans. Their faces were still glowing from last nights events. Our presence in this community half way around the world has left an eternal mark, which was evident on the faces of five men this morning. We exchanged hugs and handshakes, said Endemena derachu, Good morning in Amarhic, and laughed with eachother about the previous nights celebration. All of this ocurred naturally without any help from our translators. The language barrier had finally been reduced from a large hurdle to overcome to small obstical that everyone on our team nimbly stepped over and kept on going. We truly do serve an Awesome God!!! The relationships that we have developed here are truly amazing.

This week we have had cuts that made us bleed, pour out gallons of sweat and today their were tears. Tears of joy and sadness. Throughout this day we were bounced from ceremony to ceremony, all of which were in honor of the work that we had accomplished this week and the hope of the future. The Bright Hope School faculty presented us with two different certificates of appreciation this morning. We definitely felt honored and humbled to be chosen to be a part of this project. We worked until noon at the school, and then had to say our goodbyes to the contractors. After a round of hugs, thank yous, and many tears, we hopped in the vans and left to go to another coffee ceremony at the CHI House of Hope. On a side note, friday is literally called TGIF here and many of the schools let out at noon. It seems that they work very hard for four days and then on friday they kind of take it easy. Everyone still goes to work but their is a more relaxed atmoshpere around the work site. Once we got to the House of Hope we were treated to another celebratory meal and the traditional coffee ceremony. It was all wonderful. We have truly been honored guests of our brothers and sisters here in Ethiopia. When we finished our lunch and tour of the guests house that CHI has we headed off to the market.

Instead of going to the Mercato, Africa's largest open air market, Sammy one of our interpreters who had been helping us throughout the week, suggested that we go to the Alert Hospital to buy some souvineirs. The Alert Hospital, is where many of the disabled, and lepers go to get treatment. It is literally a stones throw away from the school. Many of the men and women at the hospital have children who go to the school. At the hospital, they make all kinds of woven wares, purses, table clothes, shirts, dresses. And then hand carved crosses, animals, and a varity of other souvineirs. This place was very near and dear to Sammy's heart as he grew up in that area and work at the hospital shining shoes as a young boy. Sammy's Dad was a leper and Sammy went to school at Bright Hope. He has seen more in his young 26 years then any of us will ever or should ever see in three lifetimes. God has done an amazing work in his heart and life. Throughout the day I was able to spend some more time gathering information about his life. His life gave me a brief glimpse into what God is doing here in Ethiopia on a personal level. As we were saying goodbye for the night, Sammy told us that when he wasn't working for the Guest Home, he would go back to the school and work with the contractors on the wall. I asked him if the contractors knew Jesus as their boss. He said that most of them are Orthodox Christians but they may not be walking with the Lord. I asked him to water the seed that we have planted in their lives. He was so excited and said, "yes I will water and grow into a big tree for the Lord."

From the hospital we went to the Post Office area market and finished our shopping. We then returned to the Guest House before going to dinner. As I walked in the door I was greeted with a joyous, "SURPRISE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY." Everyone has conspired together and picked up a birthday cake and card, and another coffee ceremony. It was the best birthday I could have asked for. I have made some amazing friends this week. God has truly blessed this trip and will continue to bless the work that will continue here while we are away for a period of time.

Aaron Koenigsberg

Sweet I got to do the truffle schuffle

2009-11-05T13:28:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
Brian blogging for the first time, ever, not sure how this will go but I will do my best.

For those who have little time I will summarize the day. the wall is coming along nicely, hope to post some more pictures tomorrow is what I am told. All of the team is still healthy, very tired, but healthy. Today we mixed 10 batches of cement, laid another 60-70 feet of wall and Brian L has became proficient at cutting rock with the rock hammer. It really takes more skill then it looks to pound a rock with a hammer and get it to break in a certain spot. We also had our first coffee ceremony, it was provided by the teachers at the school to show their appreciation. Then after work we went to a cafe where we were told the sub-city leadership wanted to do a coffee ceremony as well, but that turned out much larger then expected. It actually turned out to be a huge celebration which included fresh cooked lamb and traditional dancing, where we all danced, Patrick and Rachel got the honor of dancing in front of everyone the rest of us got to stay at our tables till the end of the celebration. The thing I pulled away from today is, if hard work is a universal language then celebrations are the fruit of that labor, and today we saw fruit, and you at home need to be rejoicing with us, because we are making an eternal impact that we might never fully realize.

Now, the rest of the story. Since Monday we have been doing our best to learn to make cement without the aid of mixer, in fact we are the mixer. Here's the process, you take about 1 yard of sand, 1 100lb bag of concrete, 2 shovels and water. First you heap the sand, then spread the concrete on the top of the sand, then you turn the pile like your folding flour for bread, then you finally add water until it becomes a sand/concrete slurry. Sound fun?? then add to that the language barrier, because the first day we did this we didn't have an interpreter. the process was basically us watching then jumping in. First day we did about 4 batches of concrete, yesterday we did 10 and today we managed to run 13 batches of concrete through what we now affectionately call the batch plant. One big obstacle that we noticed today was Ethiopian's do not multitask, at all no matter what. The contractors that are showing us the way of rock manipulation couldn't figure out why we wanted to get the concrete started this morning. They were busy cutting the rock that they were going to use and we wanted to be ready with the concrete when they were done, but they just couldn't figure why we wanted to get concrete, their thinking was get rock done first then get concrete. After we got it all straightened out, Clayton who we dubbed the mix master, fired up the batch plant and the concrete and rock started flying up the wall, when you see it in action it is a pretty cool sight. we had 9 of the batches of concrete done by lunch. At lunch we were honored guests at a coffee ceremony the teacher's and staff of the school put on for us. The coffee ceremony is very interesting, they make coffee in a traditional pot over a smoldering fire, they also serve bread and pop corn, kind of strange but really cool. After the ceremony we got back to work. We broke at 4:45 and headed to another coffee ceremony, well that is what we were told anyway. On the way the van I was riding in actually got pulled over, that is a weird thing to. Ethiopia doesn't have traffic cops in cars, the cop stands by the side of the road and if you are breaking the law they give you a 2 finger wave, which consists of the first two fingers in the air and point to the side of the road. we received a ticket for having a van with too many people in it sounds kind of trite, but I digress. We finally made it to the sub city offices to find out the ceremony had been moved to the cafe at the end of the street. When we arrived there were tables and chairs all set up and there was also a keyboardist and people setting up a PA system. We thought that was kind of strange, but didn't think much of it until our interpreter, Sammy, noticed they were getting a fire pit ready. Sammy got all excited and said they were making 'tips', and asked if I wanted to go see what they were preparing. I said I did and we went around the cafe where the principal of Bright Hope school and about 10 other people were preparing fresh meat. Turns out 'tips' as it is called is a huge celebratory meal reserved for holidays, weddings, or special occasions. The meat is fresh lamb that is seasoned like no other meat I have ever tasted and cooked over an open fire. During the meal we were treated to 3 traditional dancers with music from the keyboardist. the dance they preformed was called the Eskesta, which the closest I can describe is like doing the truffle shuffle from teh movie the Goonies. Much to my surprise the dancers were working through the tables and picking people to dance with them, so in keeping with tradition, I got to do the truffle shuffle. I was not the only one, Patrick and Rachel were taken in front of the group and danced with the 3 performers, while the rest of us got the security of dancing at our tables. After the dance ended the sub city leadership was introduced, he read a prepared speach thanking us, C.H.I. and YOU for all the supplies and work being done at the school. After the speach they called us all one at a time to the front to receive a gift, all of us was presented with a traditionally made pullover and a scarf, and here this whole time I thought we were coming to provide them with a gift, silly me. I, along with everyone else, was completely surprised and humbled by the outpouring of love and kindness from the community we are trying to help. The best thing was the contractors,Ulubshet, Anmewu, Demle, and Yalew, that have been working along side us all week were invited by us to this event, they got to share in a meal that most don't have the money to prepare but once every couple of years if that often. These men for the past 4 days have been all business, tonight we saw laughter, joy, and heartfelt thanks from not only the community but from these men as well. We ended the evening with all of us including Ulubshet, Anmewu, Demle, and Yalew, in a large group dancing hugging and laughing the entire time, what a great day.

The day is ending, it is now Midnight Addis time, I am very exhausted, but I wanted to share this before I turn in. I will conclude with this, because of your support and our work on the ground, most families in the community of Bright Hope School don't go do bed with out talking about what we are doing. In the speach tonight the gentleman stated what we have brought HOPE back to this community. I stated earlier that Hardwork was the language used to bridge the gap, but the celebration that is going on over here should and needs to be felt at home as well, the fruit of our efforts will probably never be fully realized. But know this, the people know we are Christ followers, they see the love we are pouring out on this community and asking for nothing in return, and most are asking the question, what kind of church builds a wall in an area that is still known as the leper colony.

AMESEGENALEHU

2009-11-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

The title of this blog has been on my heart all day. It is a phrase we have all learned to say very well. It is the Amharic word for "thank you". I knew I would be writing this blog entry today and I struggled with what the title would be. I was going to come up with something witty and clever, but I decided to make it simple and heartfelt. So AMESEGENALEHU for all of your prayers, love and support. Today was a full day. The past few days have been truly indescribable. This morning I didn't know if things had fully hit me yet. Then I wondered if my brain would allow me to process the magnitude of the poverty that we are surrounded by, then I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I wouldn't be able to function. I woudn't be able to sit in the van while riding to the Bright Hope School each morning and not jump out and DO SOMETHING for the people I see sitting alongside the road. It's hard for me to believe the things I'm seeing are actually REAL. That I am not seeing things through a looking glass. But now as I am writing this, I am starting to process the things I have seen. I have seen terrible things and amazing things. God is good, very good.

Word is spreading like wildfire that we, thirteen Montanans, are here. The villagers are just baffled. When we arrived on Monday to work, I don't think they knew what to think of us. We are the first Americans most of them have ever seen. We started working and they literally came up to us and took the tools out of our hands. Not speaking the same language, we just thought it was because we were doing it wrong. I have been fortunate enough to have cultivated a friendship with DeSalan, an 8th grade math teacher at the school. The team has nicknamed me "Ambassador" because DeSalan and some of the other teachers have been seeking me out each day and he asks me question after question. Questions that I know only the Holy Spirit has put in my mouth to answer. DeSalan told me how the villagers are so glad that we are here to help them. It has inspired more of them to volunteer to help in building the wall. They see that we have come from so far away and they are honored and blessed that we would help them. I asked DeSalan why the villagers are taking the work from us. Is that a good thing or does it mean we're doing something wrong?! He explained that when they take the rocks we are carrying or tools out of our hands it is a sign of great respect. That is very humbling. So today, we started reciprocating. It isn't something our culture does, in fact it seems insulting. But when we did it, they handed over their loads and tools with a smile. So relationally, we made huge strides today to bridge the cultural gaps. It seemed like we were speaking the same language even though we didn't understand some of the actual words. They told us we were strong and hard working. The school administrator asked our interpreter to tell the women of our team that he thinks we are very strong. He didn't think American woman could work this hard but now he does. We are shattering misconceptions right and left. All of us are. God is everywhere here. He was there preparing the way long before we came and He will be working here long after we are gone.

Remember how I said that word is spreading like wildfire that we are here? Well, it has been spreading not only with the village outside the gates of the school, but in the city of Addis-Ababa as well! As Derrick and I were carrying loads of sand in a "barilla", (which we built with the villagers and looks like a makeshift gurney) a van pulled up with the local news team. There was a photgrapher, a videographer and a reporter. The reporter asked Derrick if he could help. So the reporter and I carried a load together and he started asking me questions. Then he said he wanted to interview me on camera. He said we were like celebrities. I didn't want to be interviewed alone, so I grabbed Kyle. Thankfully, Kyle did most of the talking. It seemed like the reporter was astounded that we would travel so far to do this work. I don't know if we were on the local news tonight, but I know that God's hand was in that interview in a way that we may never know.

I was also not fully prepared for the reaction the children have had for us. They come out between classes to watch us work. There are 2,400 children that attend this school! So, if you can imagine being rushed by that many children. Of course, not all of them come that close. Some watch from afar. They come down to where we are working and stand inches away, just wanting to be near us. The villagers see them and that it hinders our work and they chase the children away with sticks, hitting some of them. That is difficult to see.

In closing, I am eager and excited to see what tomorrow will bring. Each day has brought change and has opened minds more and more. Amesegenalehu Lord!

Love and Blessings,
Heidi Scheie

Hard work is Universal!

2009-11-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

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

PICTURES

2009-11-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

Part of the 260 ft trench, this was Sunday.

The foundation for the wall, Monday morning, after 2 1/2 hours with about 60 community people

Sunday, Nov. 1

2009-11-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

Today's was a day of encouragement from the church service and amazement at the extreme poverty of the area where we will be working. Tsegay, from CHI took was to a evangelical church that many missionaries attend. The message was in English and was truly needed as we later saw the project we will undertake. The worship was refreshing and really neat to sing some of the same songs we sing with you all back at Harvest. We were even able to share in communion together.
After church we returned to the Ethiopia Guest Home (EGH) and rested before lunch. The food from the EGH has been very tasty. Everyone especially enjoyed the fresh mango juice this morning and strawberry smoothie for lunch. After some more naps, (it was the middle of the night in Billings) we then met with Tsegay to see the job site at Bright Hope School.
As we have been driving around this day we have seen many sites that make us take a second look. For one the driving, I think it was many times today that we almost took out a another car or a person. But we all made it safely to our destination. And to be perfectly honest we all trust our drivers very much. All the kids along the roadside, not with a older adult. Then we all drove into the region of the school, called Kore. We thought we were seeing poverty earlier, but this far exceeded the concept of poverty that any of us have seen. We got a lot of looks as we drove on a very bumpy, rocky road. For some of you, similar to the road to Blue Lake.
At the school we came to the understanding that we will not be repairing the wall, but actually building the wall. On Friday this past week, 200 people, mothers and fathers from the surrounding community, came to the school, moved the existing fence out, and proceed to dig 258 ft trench. This trench is where we will start tomorrow to put in a foundation with rock and cement. (I hope to have pictures tomorrow). This example from the community has been a blessing to encourage them and to help them feel like they have ownership in the school their children attend. And it is an example to their children of service to others. The officials hope this will pass down to future generations. We also found out today that we will not being working under a contractor, but we are the perceived porfessionals . So please pray that we will have courage for the task before us. God has already started to show us He has it all worked out. We all took a tour around the rest of the school grounds. It was very exciting and helpful to be putting the pictures we have been viewing the past months to the actual place. We saw the site for the well, which will start drilling Monday!!! Please be praying that when they get to the water and take it for testing, that it will be drinkable right away and they will not have to raise money for a filtration device. This prayer item is huge for the purpose of the well and how it will serve the school kids.
Lastly, some members got to have some neat interaction with some children that walked in the gate at the school. They loved having there pictures taken, posing and smiling. They loved Edna Mae's gray hair and Kyle even taught them how to pound it with their fists. Which one of the boys took it up a notch by pounding fists, then hitting his chest, all with sound effects. Very funny and cute.
Tomorrow we start work, so please be praying for unity with the team and with the Ethiopians we will working alongside. Pray for the well, continued good health for the team, and stength working in the elevation and heat. Thanks, Ariel

We have arrived.

2009-10-31T22:26:00.000-07:00

Exactly 24 hours later, we walked off the plane in Addis Ababa. 2 hours later we were at the guest home. The guest home had dinner waiting, so after that we headed to bed. We are headed to church soon, so will write more later today. Thanks for your prayers. Ariel

Leaving on a jet plane...

2009-10-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

In Feburary Harvest Church made the decision to send a team to Ethiopia. By August we had 13 people who were ready to make the journey.The team's objective is to help Bright Hope School in Addis Ababa repair a wall and start construction on some chicken houses. On October 30th we will all board a plane and start the journey. It is a group, who is committed to serving the community in Addis Ababa, as well as waiting to see how God is going to change their lives because of what they will experience in Ethiopia. Here's the team, Carol Cusson, Edna Mae Duncan, Rachel Kennedy, Sara Kennedy, Patrick Bickford, Kyle Reynolds, Brian Buehler, Derrick DeWilde, Clayton Zerbe, Brian Longenecker, Heidi Scheie, Aaron Koenigsberg, and Ariel Koenigberg. Please be praying for safety in our travels, for a healthy plane ride and that we will stay healthy while in Ethiopia. Pray for God's direction in our work, communication within the team and the community we will be serving. Pray for wisdom in the decisions made by the leaders for the team.
Stay tuned as we will try to update each day that we are in Ethiopia.

Gate of Bright Hope School

School Children

Neighborhood around the school