Falling short

I got home from Africa 22 days ago...22 days have passed and I STILL am not ready to explain my trip.  It's so weird to me.  Normally, I can find words for anything (many would say - too many words at times)...and for this, the most significant trip I have taken, there are NO words.

No words that will explain what we saw, what we smelled, who we met, how we helped.

The truth is, I haven't posted because I KNOW my blog will fall short.  I know there is no way possible to express my experience and my heart to get people to truly understand that journey.  

Knowing that I can't share everything...I am hoping what I really do want to share comes out.  So, here's to non-ramble, heart stirring writing...

Day 1 - Gotta start somewhere

You know what's funny?  I don't really know where the real Day 1 is...between that trip to DC, 5 hours there, 14 hours to Africa, huge differences in time zone, etc.  For me, travel days don't count because I didn't journal them SO Day 1 is Sunday ok? 

We woke up Sunday to breakfast at our guesthouse...wait, first let me show you our guest house.

our "family room"...where coffee was served every morning.  A place to congregate, meet others not on our team, and work together on team projects.

the "dining room"...where we ate breakfast and dinners when we didn't eat out.
It is also the spot of an intensely fun and wild night of pictionary that bonded our team forever.

and then, one of my favorite rooms....our Suite.

it was like girl scout camp only "funner".  1 queen, 3 sets of bunks, another twin, a balcony, and a large "kitchen" that we used as our suitcase storage.  7 girls...lots of snoring, laughing, and welp, a few spiders!

Ladies and gentleman...our shower!  It was an interesting shower...hot water not guaranteed.  See that little white tank on the wall?  That's the water heater you turn on - when there's power!  To the left of the shower the SHINTABIT (Amerak for Toilet!)  I kid you NOT - that word I could remember ;) :)

And, lastly...our view at night.

All in all, I LOVED our guest house!  The first day was a bit of a culture shock..I walked up the uneven porcelain stairs a few moments after hearing the word "no wifi" and had a moment of weakness....it was A LOT to take in.  Probably comparable to an inexpensive hotel or motel here but, the guest house is like a Ritz in Ethiopia and I felt blessed and even a bit shamed to have it "so good" and seeing what was around us.

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Ok, so Day 1..Sunday.  We went to church after breakfast.  It was one of the highlights of our week!  The Beza church was AMAZING!   It is also an English speaking church and I would assume one of the wealthier churches in Ethiopia.  Worshiping together, in a church full of mostly locals, looking around and seeing the Ethiopians that are doing well financially, seeing families together, watching their culture and our culture mesh into a perfect worship and service...it was the PERFECT way to start our trip!  Oh, that music!!  During tough moments later in the week, I would pull energy from that worship or remind myself of the sweet families I saw that day...not everyone is terribly poor in Ethiopia, not every mother is alone, not every kid is an orphan and that was refreshing to see!  

here is a quick glimpse of some of our worship time...but, it doesn't do that day justice.

As God would have it, there was a missions team singing at Beza that day and guess where they were from....DENVER, CO!  I kid you not!  I traveled over 8,000 miles to see a band play from Denver!  We had a chuckle at that one.

From church we went to lunch...one of my FAVORITE places all week!  It was called Sishu and was very modern and stylish!  They had american burgers and fries and Sprite and Coke in bottles.

Sishu:

After lunch, we went to a village called Bole.  The women of Bole, make beads and I even got to try my hand at bead making!  My bead was good and the women kept it for a necklace!  Mission Ethiopia buys the women the clay and then their job is to make the beads and then Mission Ethiopia sells them for money for the women of the village and their children.  While moms working, the kids get to play outside.

These kids have friends to play with, playground equipment to play on and mommas who love them and work hard to provide what the can.

my buddy that afternoon.

Soccer - it's a Universal language.

After watching the women make beads and playing with the kids we were asked to see two of the ladies homes.  These houses was something I wasn't prepared for.  Dirt floors, walls made of sticks and a mixture of mud and manure and SMALL.  About the size of my dining room.  

One of the women we visited was the mother of my little buddy.  We came in and she asked us to sit down.  Andrea and I sat there, on her bed (blankets on the dirt floor).  It was a moment I will never forget.  Our whole team gathered and asked her questions about herself through our translator.  Then, she asked us to pray for her.  When we asked if there was anything specific she would like us to pray for, her response left me in total shock "nothing, life is so good".  Speechless.

I will talk more in depth about this as my posts go on, but to hear this women so content with her life...it brought me peace.  In a whole new world, seeing a whole new way of living and circumstances I am not even sure how to look at let alone live in and to hear her total contentment and peace...it was aw-inspiring.  This moment has helped me A LOT on my journey post Africa.  If I remember how hard they have it, if I think too long about their beds, their houses, their income, it's too hard BUT, when I remember that this is the only life they have ever known it makes it easier.  They don't know what we have, that kind of living is completely unfathomable for them.  It is something they never think about, never wish for because ignorance is bliss and they are happy where they are.  

 see the house?  it's a duplex.  It did have a BEAUTIFUL view.

End of Day 1 - total and complete aw and success!