A week in Addis

We have been in Addis Ababa for a little over a week now. So much has happened since we landed at Bole International Airport Friday, August 29.

We breezed through customs with all our excess baggage...only God could work that out! Roger Kay, the local Anglican priest, met us at the airport - but we needed an extra vehicle for our bags. We are stopping with the folks at the Swiss Mission...a lovely room overlooking part of the city as the photo above will testify.

Bishop Grant and Doctor Wendy arrived on Saturday...what a wonderful reunion! What a privilege it is to be working with such a godly couple.

Grant preached on Sunday on David and Goliath - both of us were facing our own personal Goliaths the next few days. They had to renew their residency and we had to get my work permit and our residency cards. But the Lord has been amazing throughout the process. They have their new residency cards, I have my work permit, and, God willing of course, we will have our residency cards on Monday. Grant says we have set a new record - but it is truly the Lord's answer to your prayers as well as a lot of preliminary work done by Meaza Tifera, the Diocesan Office Manager.

In between visits with new and old friends, we have attended a S***** conference (a very moving experience as these brothers and sisters are on the frontline of persecution), managed to get cardiac surgery appointments for two very sick little children from Gambela, attended a graduation ceremony of EGST (Ethiopia Graduate School of Theology) where Grant was the main speaker, and celebrated one of the best birthdays of my life!

If all goes as we think it will, we will be leaving for Gambela on Friday or Saturday...how our hearts yearn to be reunited with our family there! But this is still hanging in the balance. We try not to look too far into the future here...and perhaps, that is the way that God intended for it to be.