Greetings from Mekele!

 

So about the last blog…..we just want to clarify that everything we said in that blog is completely true. Minus the thing about Justin and I not getting along because team dynamics are great! We just wanted a blog to be entertaining for you all to read.

 

This past Saturday we had a carnival for all of the kids which they loved. Played games such as 3-legged race, dizzy bats, face painting, limbo, etc and all of the kids got a little prize bag when they left which is a pretty big deal considering prizes aren't given out too often. Then to celebrate the birth of our country we went to the Nykamps house, 18 of us total (Irish, English, Canadian present) and we had a big BBQ with REAL hamburgers, baked beans, and potato salad. We finished the night with singing patriotic songs and playing catch phase.

 

The North Carolina team just left this morning, which will be a weird transition for us because they have been such a blessing and so much fun to have around. They performed a little puppet Bible story every morning for the children and they had SO many children lined up (usually about 100) outside our gate at around 7am,  a little frustrating for us girls because it was our house and the program didn't start till 9 so they would be pounding on the gate yelling our names.

 

Today is a "day off" for us. We are planning for the transition that starts tomorrow. We will be teaching English classes every single morning so we are attempting to prepare a couple of lessons. They cap the classes off at 60 children so we will see how it goes… The rest of the day we are just spending some team time downtown and relaxing.

 

We are planning this weekend to go to Woodrow (?) to visit some rock churches. Its about a 3 hour drive through the countryside so we are looking forward to that. Women's and Men's Discussion have been going on and so far they have been awesome. The topics that arise have been really interesting and God has allowed us to talk about some taboo topics in this culture.

 

Thank you so much for all of the prayers. Please continue praying for energy and strength to get through each day, health and safety, pouring our love onto each one of the children, and for personal growth in our relationship with the Lord. He has been teaching all of us so many things that it is almost overwhelming to take everything in.

 

Hope you appreciate this less sarcastic blog.

Love, Alyssa, Amber, Jason, and Justin

 

P.S No running water or showers, so continue to pray for that

P.S.S Matt we don't know what you were talking about there is TONS of sugar here. It is actually overwhelming.