Ethiopia
Sean
So i went to Ethiopia......
At many times during this trip i found myself asking "God? how did I get here?"
Should I invest time into an intensive photography school with a missions focus? Should I put that on hold to make sure I have the time to fully commit to staffing our Justice focused Discipleship Training School?
Here are some pictures from the moving day
THE KARO TRIBE
This Is Ekre... he is one of the elders from the Karo Tribe... The above Panorama is his backyard... literally. While a beutiful people, they have struggled to let go of their belief in ancient curses. The people of this tribe would declare infants Mingi (cursed) if one of any number of abnormalities occurred in their children, one of which was if a baby's bottom teeth came in before its top teeth. Mingi children were in the past often left in the river by their village to drown, rather than let the child live and have the whole village suffer from the curse. In the past couple of years our ministry was able to start an orphanage so that the parents of mingi children could send the children off their land rather than be left to die in the river.
THE MURSI TRIBE
Kongoga Is a young Mursi Girl around 12 years old. As young girls the process of stretching out their ears is begun. At the age of 17. Mursi women have their lips pierced have begin stretching out their lips with large plates as well. While the people around us seemed well enough, we learned that many of the people in the tribe had severe parasites causing them to hemorrhage blood. I saw the water they were drinking and it made sense.... While there is nothing we could do then and there, the whole "help ministries that provide african children safe clean drinking water" thing took on a slightly more personal note... 'I wonder if Kongoga will make it?' I thought? as we made our way back to the main city.
Mursi Hunter - I asked him if he had a bow and arrow... he pointed to his Ak-47... ha
so yeah... i will bring this blog update to a close... Please pray for wisdom for me as the new year begins... I am so humbled and excited that I get to do the things i get to do.. and consider the doing the things i get to even consider doing... Thanks for all your support...
My attention was brought to this the other day... and it spoke to me a bit... so i'll share it...
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.I will be found by you,” declares the LORD
Jeremiah 29:11-14
At many times during this trip i found myself asking "God? how did I get here?"
Sometimes it was in shear amazement at the beauty of creation..
Sometimes it was out of concern for being stalled out in a car with a dead battery in the middle of a mud pit, in the middle of the bush, in the middle of the night.
But at the end of the day I am generally in awe of the drastic changes God has made in my life.
Sometimes it was out of concern for being stalled out in a car with a dead battery in the middle of a mud pit, in the middle of the bush, in the middle of the night.
But at the end of the day I am generally in awe of the drastic changes God has made in my life.
When I think about what the new year will bring and the things I want to accomplish I know I want to see advancement.. but not in my career.. I want to see advancement in the kingdom of heaven, advancements in things being set to right in a broken world. There is something scary and exciting and freeing about making decisions based primarily on how I can effect the most benefit to others, rather than myself.... yet somehow my own passions and desires are deeply entwined into the options laid before me... I have a few decisions to make this coming year... these are not the type of decisions I EVER thought I would be considering.... again that question "God? how did I get here?"
Should I invest time into an intensive photography school with a missions focus? Should I put that on hold to make sure I have the time to fully commit to staffing our Justice focused Discipleship Training School?
What should i do with the first 5 months of this year? In May I am planning on going to the Not for Sale Academy in California (a two week intensive course on the investigation of Human trafficking... but until then? should I serve at the base in Germany?) or should I go to Kenya to investigate the possibility of our ministry helping support a Kenyan run orphanage?... Maybe pop back into Ethiopia to visit our existing projects there on the way back?
These are the options that i am weighing... and it blows my mind...I am starting to become keenly aware of my smallness in all of this ('this' being my current life direction)... but i suppose thats ok...
When Hudson Taylor THE pioneer of missions to China was asked why God chose him to do all the things he did in China, all he could answer was “I often think that God must have been looking for someone small enough and weak enough for Him to use, and that He found me."
So when I am laying in a mosquito tent in the middle of the African Bush... able to look at the stars and distinguish the milky way easily from the rest of the starry sky, while hearing a lepord fight with baboons across the river... I take comfort in knowing that while I am so so small in this vast huge scene....
He surprises me... but only because I forget who He is or maybe just don't fully believe it yet... The Bible says He is faithful. That if He takes care of worthless sparrows how much more does he take care of me? .....
He does...
He is faithful... over and over...
He is faithful.
and I slowly forget... i wish i wouldn't...... One of these days I will just shout "Of course this happened.. He's FAITHFUL!!!!"
Rather than sit in surprise: "Oh! wow! oh yeah.. I guess He really is faithful!? Jesus, such a surpriser....."
What can I say?.. I'm still learning.. and surprises are nice.. for now. I am such a child...I am small... oh so small...so privileged to take part in all this and as I do, He is so so Faithful.
Enough rambling.......But back to Ethiopia...
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I think the greatest part of this trip was some of the things God started at work in my heart... some of which i just rambled about...
But SOME other things were pretty cool to be a part of aswell...
I was able to visit our Koshe Project in Addis Ababa the capitol city of Ethiopia.
Koshe means "trash" in Amharic... here is a new Video stephanie made about that project..
While we were visiting we were able to secure a new house for the girls to work in and help them move in. these Girls are amazing and its awesome to have been able to see firsthand what God is doing in their lives.
The Koshe Project from Stephanie Eatherly on Vimeo.
Here are some pictures from the moving day
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Aside from visiting our current projects we were also able to visit some of the tribal peoples living in Ethiopia..
From the perspective of a photographer this was an incredible experience...
I am still working on finishing my photos... but.. i think it about time to at least get some rough previews up....
THE KARO TRIBE
This Is Ekre... he is one of the elders from the Karo Tribe... The above Panorama is his backyard... literally. While a beutiful people, they have struggled to let go of their belief in ancient curses. The people of this tribe would declare infants Mingi (cursed) if one of any number of abnormalities occurred in their children, one of which was if a baby's bottom teeth came in before its top teeth. Mingi children were in the past often left in the river by their village to drown, rather than let the child live and have the whole village suffer from the curse. In the past couple of years our ministry was able to start an orphanage so that the parents of mingi children could send the children off their land rather than be left to die in the river.
THE MURSI TRIBE
Kongoga Is a young Mursi Girl around 12 years old. As young girls the process of stretching out their ears is begun. At the age of 17. Mursi women have their lips pierced have begin stretching out their lips with large plates as well. While the people around us seemed well enough, we learned that many of the people in the tribe had severe parasites causing them to hemorrhage blood. I saw the water they were drinking and it made sense.... While there is nothing we could do then and there, the whole "help ministries that provide african children safe clean drinking water" thing took on a slightly more personal note... 'I wonder if Kongoga will make it?' I thought? as we made our way back to the main city.
Mursi Hunter - I asked him if he had a bow and arrow... he pointed to his Ak-47... ha
so yeah... i will bring this blog update to a close... Please pray for wisdom for me as the new year begins... I am so humbled and excited that I get to do the things i get to do.. and consider the doing the things i get to even consider doing... Thanks for all your support...
My attention was brought to this the other day... and it spoke to me a bit... so i'll share it...
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.I will be found by you,” declares the LORD
Jeremiah 29:11-14