Ethiopia Day 3
I am sitting in our hotel room in downtown Addis Ababa with the window opening and listening to some amazing Ethiopian music coming from somewhere on the streets below. I’m not sure if they do this every night, we just figured out that the window opened!
Apart from my body still refusing to adjust to the time change and not sleeping, It has been an amazing trip so far. Let me catch you up on a few of the highlights from yesterday and today.
Friday:
We started out the day with a pretty “touristy” outing. We went to a place called Unity Park. https://unitypark.et/ This is a fairly new project in Ethiopia and gives an overview of the many different cultures within the country. It is built on the property of the Prime Minister’s palace about 10 minutes from the airport, so that those with a long layover could experience “all of” Ethiopia in one quick trip. It is part museum, part zoo, and all beautiful! We brought Feven’s brother and mother with us on the trip. For those who don’t know, Feven has been a member of Hope Church since arriving in the US as a 12 year old. She was adopted by Brenda Renzulli, who met her on one of Hope’s trips to Ethiopia. Feven’s father passed away when she was only 5 days old and her mother wanted to give her a chance at a better life. Feven arrived in CT barely speaking any English. Today, she is a graduate of Liberty University, in law school, and one of the sweetest people you will ever meet!
Feven’s family had never been to this park. As we made our way to the entrance, there was an escalator. It never dawned on us that this might be the first escalator that her mother and brother (Rachel and Sofi) had ever seen! Safe to say that Sofi was a HUGE fan, Rachel…not so much! It was a stark reminder of one of the small things that we take for granted in our lives that are a brand new adventure for others!
We learned a lot about the culture and history of Ethiopia. There was a lot about the famine in the 80’s, which brought back memories of all the commercials I saw as a kid to help feed the children of Ethiopia as well as the song “We are the World.” I had forgotten that this was written to raise money and awareness for this famine.
As we toured the former throne room, an Ethiopian man approached me with his camera. I thought he was asking me to take a picture for him of he and his friends. Nope! He wanted a picture with me! Suddenly, there was a line of about 10 people that all wanted their picture taken with me. I don’t know who they thought I was but it was cool to be a celebrity for 5 minutes! They found out I was a pastor and for the rest of the tour, every time I would see one of them they would yell out “Pastor!” and give a huge wave and a smile!
In the afternoon, we went back to HOH. We got to hang out with about 130 kids who are a part of the program there. We brought some different crafts and Erin, Brenda, and Nadine each did crafts as the kids rotated through the rooms. Before I left the US, I grabbed an Instax camera from Best Buy and all of the film that they had. This is like the old Polaroids and kicks out a picture immediately. I had film for 130 pictures. They brought the kids to me and I took a photo for each kid to have of themselves. When all was said and done, I had 4 pictures left and the battery ran out after the last child was done! It worked out perfectly! It was such a fun day!
Saturday:
Today is really what this trip is all about. It has been an emotional day! We attended a Christmas celebration back at HOH, it was so much fun to see the kids again. The program was over 2 hours and those kids sat perfectly still and well-behaved! They had several graduates of the program there to share. These men had all been in the Orphanage and were now college graduates with jobs in healthcare and engineering among other things. Nadine got to connect with a boy (now a man) that she had met on her last trip to Ethiopia 13 years ago! It was a sweet reunion. One of the men speaking turned to us at one point. With tears in his eyes, he thanked Hope Church for all that we’ve done over the years. He said that he came out of nothing and that HOH and the support of Hope and others gave him the chance to “be somebody.” It was a powerful moment. For me, I often give to things like this without any real thought as to the people that are on the other end. This was a great reminder that what we do and how we steward what God has given us, matters. All of you who support God’s work at Hope Church, have had an impact on these kids.
We spent the afternoon at the local church that HOE ministries works through to support over 40 kids in the community. Tom Mustico’s name came up often. The leaders, the pastors, the Elders, and especially the kids all love “Mr. Tom.” I had absolutely no idea how large an impact Tom has made in this place. No one is going to “fix” the poverty in Ethiopia, but Tom and HOE ministries is making it possible for so many kids to hear the life changing gospel of Jesus, and to get a life changing education which they can use to make their country a better place. We got to give each of the kids a bag full of gifts that came from your generous donations! There were so many smiles, squeals, and hugs! We ended our time there by sitting down with the Elders of the Church. They each expressed their thanks to Hope Church for our partnership over the years.
It was a good day!
As I sit here to write this, I’m a little bit ashamed. As pastor, I really had very little clue as to the scope and impact of HOE ministries. If I couldn’t really have articulated it, chances are pretty good that most of the church members couldn’t either. This trip is giving me a renewed commitment to doing missions well at Hope. From how we communicate, to how we give, to creating opportunities to go, we can definitely do better. God is moving at Hope, God is moving in Ethiopia, God is moving across this world and we have such a privilege to be a small part of what He is doing!
Dan
