Ethiopia having a 'magnificant' time

Team Ethiopia Update: 1

Friends, Family, Lovers, and Others,

Two nights ago we arrived in Addis Ababa. Our trek to the other side of the world was super long. After leaving Seattle, we did get a 5 hour lay over in D.C. where we took a cab to a restaurant. Our waiter’s name was Matt, which is crazy because Matt’s name is Matt, who wouldda thunk it?! There, Annalise used up all Joey’s nice points by drinking all of his lemonade, but Joey was still happy due to the “magnificent” air conditioning. From there, we had a long 16 hour flight to Addis Ababa with a refueling stop in Rome. On this flight there were too many screaming babies, but there were also many adorable children onboard as well. But overall, the flight turned out okay, because we got to enjoyed a nice breeze in Rome which blew through the plane door as Italian men vacuumed and cleaned the toilets. We even posed for a team picture to prove we were in Rome!! We soon found that every white person on the plane was a missionary… and we are pretty sure that we are! Not exaggerating.

We learned that there is a lot of amazing work being done in Africa. God is working through many people and groups here. After all was said and done, we gave out awards; Mikayla set the record for most sleep, Joey for finishing the most crosswords, Annalise for peeing the most on one flight, and Matt for falling in and out of love on the same flight.

We arrived in Addis at 8:30 pm with all of our luggage WOOHOO!We were taken for a crazy ride to the SIM Headquarters by an Ethiopian gentleman that called himself Famous…we couldn’t pronounce his real name. We made it just in time to watch the Euro Cup final, which already made Joey’s whole trip to Ethiopia.

Yesterday we had orientation and walked around the nearby neighborhood. We definitely stuck out like sore thumbs, or just white people in Ethiopia. We had our first experience with their culture, when a little boy came running up to Joey and Matt, and wanted to hold their hands. We are beginning to realize what we have gotten ourselves into and we are slowly becoming more excited and comfortable. We fly to Mekele on Wednesday and are anxious to begin our work at the youth center.

Please pray for continued safety, good health, wisdom in building Godly relationships, as well as ideas for teaching English, and that Ethiopia will begin to feel more like home. Praise God for our bags arriving, safe travels and good health, as well as a good place to stay for a few days. Thank you to those who are praying for us and for all your loving support.

Team Ethiopia
Matt, Joey, Annalise, Mikayla