A View from the Mountain Top

Today we visited our last orphanage for our trip.  We have one full day left in this beautiful country before we start our journey home.  We went to an orphanage today that is run by the Catholic Church.  I had asked Deanne early on about children with handicaps and if you ever see them in the orphanages.  I found them today!  Many of team members held the hands of these innocent children and just prayed.  God has not forgot these beautiful children.  He has provided a nice home filled with wonderful women to care for them.  We saw children with hydrocephaly, microcephaly, epilepsy, and spina bifida. 

 

I talked to one of the sisters and she told me that four of the children go to a special school that they pay for one time per year.  She said they are transported to and from school.  This little guy has an adventure ahead of him and will be adopted soon in the US.  Praise God!

 

I am thankful that I got to see this orphanage and that it was on the last day.  In the middle of all of this sadness in this country beauty can always be found.  Today, I found beauty in a rose blooming in the courtyard of this orphanage, the cross sitting high against the clouds, and innocent brown eyes that long to be loved!

We journeyed up the mountain today and witnessed some beautiful scenery.  The city below was beautiful and the drive up was breathtaking!  We sat on the roadside and had a picnic lunch of delicious pasta and bread.  After our lunch we went to see a church.  The church is over 120 years old and is filled with beautiful paintings.  We also went into the older church (over 700 years old), which was a cave and was able to see where many have worshipped long before us. 

We came down the mountain and witnessed a lot of children begging on the roadside.  It is heartbreaking to tell them no.  You have it in your pocket but if you give to one you will be giving to all because there are so many of them.  We went to Kaldi’s Coffee for dinner tonight.  Ally and I ate on $104.02.  Birr that is.  In reality, we ate for just $6.00 total!  Cheap dinner but oh so delicious.

Tonight Ally and I got a taste of home!  We were able to Skype with Adam and in turn he called Scott so we could talk to him as well!  It was nice to hear Scott and see Adam.  He also called my mom so I could check in on her.  I think we are missed just a little bit! 

 

Tomorrow we have church-for 2 hours!  We laughed at dinner and said that Americans would get up and leave after one hour!  We will shop tomorrow as well and start packing up our belongings.  Praying that tomorrow is another God filled day! 

Blessings from Ethiopia,

Tori

The Adventure Continues..

The adventure of the green shirt continues...

The green shirt some how found its way under the tire.. Thankfully we were able to save it! 

The green shirt said goodbye to the suitcase. This suitcase has had several trips in it, but this one did her in. She has been to Germany, Guatemala, moving me to college, Uganda, and the final destination was Ethiopia. 

The shirt made it to the traditional Ethiopian dinner. The things that I tried weren't bad, but we didn't know that there was cow stomach. Anna tried it not knowing what it was and she didn't like it. She spit it out right away. 

The green shirt has been at the Ethiopia Guest House for the week. (Lulu's)

The green shirt was going into the place where they would burn incense at the old church. 

We are now inside where they would burn the incense. 

We have now laid the green shirt to rest.. She won't be coming back with us to the states! See ya later shirt. 

Just kidding.... We kept the shirt! Kaldi's was like a Starbuck's but they had food and ice cream too. It was very good! They had real french fries and we had Sambusa. They are a deep fried pocket filled with meat or vegetables. Mom and I have really enjoyed them and will miss them. 

Happenings Abroad

      A lot has been going on since we last posted!  We have changed countries, watched a traditional Ethiopian dance, played soccer and Frisbee with children, and almost hit a motorcycle.  Yes, I said, we almost hit a motorcycle!  People drive like crazies over here!  Even if there are lines marking your lane-no one abides by them.  The motorcycles or scooters dart in and out of traffic and are not careful at all.  There are cows, horses, goats and people crossing the road all of the time.  I have never seen anything like it! 

    Ethiopia is different when compared to Uganda.  This is more of an urban area and the elevation is much higher.  I noticed that difference the first day.  Even though I had drank 1 liter of water upon arrival that still wasn’t enough.  I woke up with a severe headache and nausea.  Needless to say, I missed the home visits and the first orphanage here.  I finally felt better in the evening and joined the team for dinner.  We always have a debriefing at the end of supper so I was able to hear the stories from the day.  It was heartbreaking and I was sorry that I missed it. 

   Today, we traveled to two homes that are run by Hope for the Hopeless.  The first home is a short-term home for children taken off of the streets.  They try to reunite them with their family if possible and if not they are moved to one of the orphanages.   This home had eleven children and the majority of them were boys.  When I say “home” I am not talking about houses like what we live in.  This had a small space that they worshipped in and small little areas with doors used as bedrooms.  We went prepared with soccer balls, fingernail polish, and jump ropes.  They loved all of the items but just like Uganda they loved our cameras and phones the best.  They love to have their picture taken and want to see it right away.  Several team members have Temple Run on their phones and that is always a big hit.  We spent a few hours at the home and they were very proud to show us their neat rooms.  One thing that we have noticed is that all of the rooms are always neat-beds are always made and pride is taken in their space.  The children are always well behaved and they don’t ask for anything.  Our time and love is enough for all of them!

     Our second stop today was at the bigger home.  This home has 22 children living in it.  Again, 18 boys compared to 4 girls.  It was a very spacious home and the first “home” that we had really been in.   It had a large living and eating area.  There were three boys’ bedrooms and one girls’ room.  Again, all neatly kept! 

We arrived before they got home from school so as they would enter the gates their faces would light up with excitement.  Again, we were armed with Frisbees, soccer balls, fingernail polish, phones, and cameras.  I started playing Frisbee with several of the boys.  They were so much fun and loved trying to throw the Frisbee high so that I wouldn’t catch it.  They love to try and teach us their language and Micah mastered counting!  Since Micah is a fireman they wanted to show us the Fire Department that is in their neighborhood.  We took a walk and while there one of the little guys, “Bob”, gave me a gift.  It amazes me how they have so little and yet are willing to give you something to remember them by.  Bob gave me a scripture card with Matthew 25:40, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.”  Wow, tear moment for Tori! 

Here is a picture of me with Bob. 

   They always ask great questions about America and they have no idea how big it is.  This young man asked me how many universities were in America!  I tried to explain that we have a lot of universities!  They are always amazed at how long we traveled to come here. 

    Before we left, the director wanted all of us to pray together.  We gathered in their living area in a circle and joined hands.  They first sang a song to us in their language.  Deanne said a prayer in English and my friend above gave the prayer in their language.  The director asked us to gather in the middle of the circle and they said, “God Bless You” three times.  Again, they have so little and appreciate so much!  They had us write our names on paper so they could look us up on Facebook.  They followed us out to the van for final goodbyes and we started our journey back to Ethiopia Guest House. 

    Our dinner tonight was a traditional Ethiopian dinner.  It was very interesting and entertaining.  The food was good and spicy.  I didn’t try everything but I kept an open mind and tried a few things!  Towards the end of the night they pulled Ryan, “Bob” up on the stage to dance!  Great job, Bob!

    

    Tomorrow we will visit an orphanage and go up the mountain to see a 700-year-old church.  We are all looking forward to that.  We are all staying healthy and enjoying our time here. 

Blessings from Ethiopia!

Tori

The Adventures of the Green Shirt!!

Every Christmas, Grandpa would take mom and Aunt Tammy shopping for Grandma’s Christmas. One year they were at T.J. Max and Aunt Tammy found the most hideous green shirt that she could find and purchased it.  She decided that she would wrap the shirt up for Grandma and put it from Darin. Aunt Tammy put it into a box and wrapped it up really nice for Grandma!  Christmas morning came and as we were opening presents Grandma said that her package was from Darin.  He kept looking around and whispering to Ashley that he didn’t get Grandma anything.  Grandma opened up the shirt and held it up.  Aunt Tammy and mom could not stop laughing.  Grandma was trying to be nice and say that it was a pretty shirt.  The truth finally came out and so the adventures of the green shirt began.

From that Christmas, the green shirt was passed around.  It has made a few surprise visits to events such as my gift from Aunt Tammy when she returned from Florida or an anniversary gift for Grandma and Grandpa.  The shirt has definitely gotten around the family.

Fast forward to this trip.  Aunt Tammy gave us each a package as we were leaving. She told us that we couldn’t open it until we were on the plane to Dubai. We waited until then and when I was opening mine, I noticed that there was quite a bit of tape on it. I got inside and under some tissue paper was the green shirt. This shirt has come to me more often than to some of the others. I have decided to have a little bit of fun with the green shirt since I have it with me. I decided that I would do the adventures of the green shirt!

The shirt first had lunch in Dubai after we arrived from our 14 hr. flight!

The green shirt went to the tallest building in the world, which is in Dubai. 

Then we went to the airport to fly to Uganda!! 

The green shirt has arrived in Uganda and is at Return Ministries for a couple more days! 

Blessings from Kampala, Uganda! 

Ally