Steph’s wedding was a lot of fun. For me it began the weeks before when Steph asked if I could make a wedding cake for her. Of course I said yes , but the perfectionist streak in me began to fret. I had to have it perfect. In reality in probably wouldn’t have mattered that [...]
The longer I live, the more convinced I am of the importance of discipleship. A few weeks ago a team of volunteers came to Soddo from Real Life Ministries in Idaho to teach discipleship principles. They encouraged us to ask ‘what and how’ questions and gave us concrete examples and excellent teaching. Their [...]
We arrived in Johannesburg one week before Christmas. It was great hanging out with our two South African grandchildren, Faith and Mark. The last few days were spent at Pilansburg National Park where we stayed two nights. We drove through the game park twice and saw just about everything, including [...]
Taking care of orphans, widows and street boys in a developing country can often sound like a rewarding and perhaps exotic experience but the truth is, it can come with a boatload of problems. Each story can have layers upon layers of information that slowly unravels. An example is the following story. Sintayoo, whom I [...]
“Little girls, little girls!” That song from Annie kept running through my head when I taught my first class at the Catholic girl’s school here in Soddo. There are approximately 800 female students at the nearby school. I worked with the sixth grade. Each class has approximately 50 students, all decked out in royal blue [...]
Teacher,” my student asked from the back of the classroom. “We have heard it said that when Americans die, no one cries.” “Is this true, teacher?” His question caught me off guard. My 28 students, all pastors, looked up expectantly, awaiting my answer. They nodded their heads agreeing with the question that had been asked. [...]
I’ve finished up two challenging weeks of Intensive English at the Wolaita Evangelical Seminary. This time I had 28 students, 26 male and 2 female. They were diploma students, meaning their course was two years instead of the degree students who go for the four year degree. The two weeks presented challenges for [...]
Continue reading about Cross-Cultural Connections/Lessons from the Classroom
What a weekend it has been! On Saturday around 5:00 we packed up a Kele Heywet Church land rover and headed out to the countryside. Our group included ourselves, the driver, Mark Launder, Abebe, Tesefye, one of the hospital chaplains/local evangelist and Tamaru, an evangelist friend. Tamaru works as an evangelist in the area we [...]
Mark and I are committed to education. We firmly believe that one of the most sustainable ways to make positive changes in Africa is through education. It is because of the PAACS program that we chose to work at Soddo Christian Hospital. Mark knows that if he can teach these young doctors how to [...]
September is an expensive time of year for Ethiopians. On September 11 the entire country celebrates New Year, which is the first day of the Ethiopian calendar. New Year’s is a big holiday and it is expected that everyone will have a new set of clothes and shoes and eat doro wet, the traditional spicy [...]
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