We are home and Photo summary

This is just a taste of what is to come.  I still have a lot of pics/videos to collect/compile from the other team members.  But I wanted to give a you all a little taste of what we were able to see and experience while we were in Ethiopia.  Thank you all again for your amazing support!  It feels good to be home, but it is bitter sweet.  We already miss our dear friends in Ethiopia.  There are a lot of pics and no explanation, but hopefully in the coming weeks we can begin telling the stories behind some of these sweet pictures.

A beautiful Day

Today was a beautiful day...the first with no rain.  After breakfast we sorted and counted the shoes.  We never knew the exact amount of shoes until today...356!  Praise God!

 

After that, we divided into three teams and did home visits in Addis.  I know we were humbled by what we saw in our group and I am anxious to hear from the other teams.  Very, very difficult situations here that requires continued prayer.

 

We are just getting ready for a final farewall meeting with the staff and then off to the airport. 

 

Praise God for an amazing week!  And please keep lifting up this team in prayer.

 

We will see you all soon!

Dan

 

Shopping and an unforgettable campfire

The day started earlier for Nesibu and I (Dan).  We spent 5 hours in the airport today working on getting the shoes.  I am learning about patience and also very good lessons about what it means to live and work in Ethiopia!  Praise God, we have all the shoes with us.

 

Meanwhile, the rest of the team went shopping with Birtukan and got a few souvenirs.  Though we all tempered our shopping quite a bit because of we wanted to give as much as possible.

 

In the early afternoon, I again seperated from the team for a very effective meeting with Nesibu, Birtukan and Tenkir (YZM Director of Board).  What a blessing to be able to brainstorm and talk about the challenges we must navigate as we continue to partner to care for orphans and vulnerable children. 

 

The team got to spend some time taking the extra money we brought and deciding how we will give it.  I LOVED handing off that job to the team and seeing the excitement of pouring out blessings to the staff, families and overall organization!

 

Finally, tonight we had a campfire with many of the Addis staff members.  We started by unpacking the shoes we brought and celebrating the amazing gift there!  Not amazing because we are good, amazing because God is good!  We prayed and celebrated together and got lots of pictures and videos. Then we enjoyed some wonderful time together with the staff while the served us...again! 

 

Such a blessed day!  It is hard to believe we head home tomorrow.  We are anxious to see our beloved families, but it is definitely bitter sweet.

 

Tomorrow we will meet a couple child headed families.  Pray for us...it will be difficult! 

 

We will see you all soon!  We love you!  We ask you to keep praying. 

 

God Bless,

Dan

A day of fun

We were blessed to be able to treat the YZM staff to a day at the
Woliso Hot Springs today. Probably one of the few days something like
this happens for many of them. Normally they get a few days off in a
year, but this year has been especially busy. So outside of holidays,
they have been working so hard. And trust me, this is not pencil
pushing work. They are in the trenches of orphan care.

Watching the staff enjoy themselves was beautiful. We have all come
to love these folks so much. And their self sacrificing, servant
attitudes is honestly so touching...and sometimes even frustrating as
we can never seem to out-serve them.

We had some great "processing" time tonight as we were finally able to
gather, study the bible and discuss what we have been seeing the last
couple days. It is a lot to process. Houses with dirt floors, no bed
and holes in the roof are not conducive to raising children, but we
now know a Christ loving woman who does just that with joy in her
heart. Living in a unbelievably cramped, dirty, wet home with three
children and another baby due any day is not ideal for a single woman
with no family to care for her...but it is happening. We have seen
it.

There have been many tears, many prayers and just great discussion on
what we have learned about God, ourselves, other people. We look
forward to sharing these stories about about the wonderful work
Yezelalem Minch is doing and God willing will continue to do for a
long time.

Please keep praying! We need these prayers! Pray for health (so far
just a bit of tummy issues with Mike but otherwise great). Pray for
our hearts. Many times these trips expose things God has been trying
to tell us for a while so on top of overwhelming experiences we can be
overwhelmed with that as well.

Thank you and I hope to give a positive update about the shoes hung up
in customs tomorrow.

God bless,
Dan

Big day today!

We had an amazing day that will be difficult to completely capture,
process and report about. We spent most of the day in Sebeta/Alemgena
where most of the Parkview sponsors live. We had a wonderful time
playing with the children and learning from them. They are so joyful
despite their circumstances.

After a special lunch with the staff, we visited many families. This
was where the overwhelming time came. The poverty we witnessed today
is quite astounding. But this is good. This is why we came and what
we really need to see to understand what breaks God's heart and why
orphan care is important.

More to come. We are now leaving for a special dinner at a
traditional Ethiopian restaurant with dancing.

All the team is doing great. Thanks for your prayers.

God bless,
Dan

Sorry for the lack of updates

We are doing very well here and are having a wonderful time.  The internet availability has been a little spotty so I apologize for not being able to update you as much as I would have likes.  We will certainly try to do some more thorough reporting when we return.  We are getting lots of great pictures and videos, but I have not been able to share them quite yet.

 

Today we head to Sebeta!  We will get to meet our own sponsor children as well as many of the children sponsored through Parkview folks.

 

The time is going quickly.  Partly because it continues to be a challenge to get the donated shoes through customs.  We are one step closer and hopefully will be able to pick them up on Monday.  Praise God. 

 

Please continue to lift us up in prayer!

 

God Bless,

Dan and the team

Thursday

It was a great start to our time today here in Addis.  We spent the day with YZM staff and visiting the Group Home.  At the group home today they were distributing school supplies and uniforms to children in the program.  It takes a while to do these things and we were all amazed at the patience of the children and caretakers there.  And it became very apparent why God chose to send two 14 year olds on this trip.  They were able to engage the children and play games in ways that are more difficult for the adults.

Tomorrow we visit Holeta!

God bless and please keep praying.

Dan

We are HERE!

We are in Ethiopia and doing very well.  After a great breakfast, we are ready to start the day.  Thank you so much for your prayers.  The travel went quite smooth except for some hang-ups through customs with all of the shoes we brought.  We would appreciate your prayers on that matter as they work out the details.  Pray that God gets the most glory, whatever the outcome is.

 

Dan

SAFE in Germany

We are hanging out in Frankfurt...in a McDonalds of course.  So far the travel has been going smoothly, except for the close connection in Chicago.  Thanks for your prayers!

Dan

Barely made it!

We barely made our connecting flight in Chicago, but praise God we did!

Heading out!

Today is the day. We fly out of the Eastern Iowa Airport at 4:17pm. We appreciate prayers for safe travel and fruitful time in the airports/airplanes.

Also, please ask for no hassles with getting all of our luggage there...most of which is donations.

We will try to give an update when we get there. God Bless!

Dan

Welcome Newbies

If anyone is visiting for the first time, Welcome! I am excited to post pictures and stories about our trip to Ethiopia in the coming weeks. Until then, enjoy a few stats about this years trip.

WHO: The team consists of Doug & Hannah Schillinger, Renea & Abby Pickard, Mike Farley, Kathy Smith, Tiel Howard, Dan & Shadley Grimes

WHEN: We depart September 13 and return the 21st.

WHERE: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to visit our dear friends at Yezelalem Minch and the blessed people they serve in 5 different cities in and around Addis

DONATIONS: We are excited to take over 250 pairs of shoes to distribute to the children recently inducted into their program. These children have never experienced the benefits of YZM before and we are so excited to be a part of this. A big thank you to Parkview Church and all of those people who graciously donated these shoes. We were blown away by your generosity!

SPONSOR CHILDREN: Many of the members of our church sponsor children in Ethiopia. In fact, almost the entire Sebeta project (250 children) are sponsored by Parkview people! So we are excited to spend some extra special time with these children we have only seen in pictures. And we are excited to take over some special packages from many of these sponsor families who were excited to share their love through a small simple gift.

And here are a few of my favorite pictures from last year - enjoy!