Things I Miss About Ethiopia

I think deep down we all seek to live life in adventure. We seek so many things. The past five months of my life in Ethiopia are like any of my life with both ups and downs, but there's something great about the feeling of having done something, of having stood up for what you believe in regardless of what other people think, and the satisfaction that comes in coming to a place of knowing and having fought the good fight. Sure I could be depressed or despairing, perhaps judgmental, over not coming even close to my funding goal for this latest missions experience as I really want to help these people, these people...who have become my friends. I miss them the most.

I miss my kids. I miss Dawit and his family. I miss getting to be generous in being the Good Samaritan in making sure Mekonnen (Dawit's dad) got proper medical treatment after he fell from a water tower and broke his arm. I miss shopping days with Behailu. I miss the kisses I got from my kids for having done nothing at all other than just walk nearby, how they ran to me and called my name in their sweet little African voices, shoeless and all. They were shoeless by choice even after I got to buy them shoes. I miss the dust and mud cover fingers, hands that clasped with mine and how skin color did not matter.

I miss football, or soccer rather. I miss playing with the kids and watching them play in the street or on a field at a distance. I miss watching the dust swirl and twirl with them as they ran, and so fast. I miss the giggles and the play fighting, and breaking up the real fighting.

I miss teaching. I miss coming up with crazy creative and sometimes improv school lessons in English, being fascinated with their attempts at speaking my tongue as they laughed at me trying out theirs. I miss how other teachers more skilled than I allowed me to think I was doing something when, well I was, but they had been doing it longer. I miss greeting the guard and shoulder bumps as I entered the school compound. I miss being able to bring the Gospel to the school and watching hands raise to give their lives to Christ.

I miss the coffee. Oh how I miss Ethiopian blend coffee. You see its ground by hand there on the spot so its fresh as can be and strong as ever, with or without sugar - it doesn't matter. I miss the macchiatos and the rare frapachino at Kaldi. I miss the juice - strawberry and avocado with milk became a favorite.

I miss riding in the bajaj and nearly dying 9 times in one day as there are no street traffic lights and animals roam freely, and I experienced it carefree and fully protected by the God Most High. I miss our off road ventures on our home visits. And I miss watching them drive in rainy season and hearing them wonder if it would be best to just pick up the bajaj and carry it.

I miss laughing so hard at when the lights would go out as electricity is about as stable as water and sugar - its not. I miss reading my bible by candlelight and thinking back to what life was like back when. I miss getting to depend on Jesus to be the Light when it did. I miss the risk I had in presenting the Gospel and in bringing out the truth. I miss the stories of other Habeshas who had been warring against the devil longer than me.

There are lots of things I miss about Ethiopia. These are only to name a few. I dream of returning soon to continue these relationships, create more things to miss, and to step into new things God has chosen me to do.