After getting to bed after midnight, the 6:30 a.m. wake-up call came very early for some. Yet the sleep in our eyes was no match for the wonderfully tasty and incredibly strong Ethiopian coffee. (I think Scott must have had five cups, because every time someone was looking for Scott this morning, there he was, with ANOTHER cup of strong Ethiopian coffee in his hand. Remarkably, he has been fairly quiet today. We are all wondering where they have taken Scott and who this imposter is in our midst.)

After a quick breakfast and reloading our gear into the trucks and vans, we started our ten-hour ride North to Dessie. Today was our first time to really see Ethiopia. What wonders! What contrasts!

The ride out of Addis Ababa into the countryside caused those of us never in Africa before to enjoy the wonderment of children. Emily noted for us all that the people of Ethiopia were either working, sitting around talking or walking. She’s right. Although we saw some new road construction and some building, most of the work centered around a subsistence existence – people chopping trees (deforestation is apparent) for firewood, people (mostly women, young and old) carrying firewood, people tending to cattle or goats, and people carrying water. The hardest thing was watching young girls carrying five-gallon cans of water or large loads of firewood on their backs, hunched over from the weight.

In spite of the dust and diesel fumes, we felt lucky to see Ethiopia via van. It gave a perspective of the country and its people. We drove through the high mountains and it was so beautiful and green, because of the rain. We decided to stop on the road and Bonnie warned us about the children selling hats. The kids greeted us and we just kept saying “no thank you” to them. This really pulled on our heartstrings.

We were looking to the top of the green mountain and on the very top were a large group of monkeys. MONKEYS! I couldn’t believe it! The guide told us to go down the mountain more to see the view through the gorge – two mountainsides framing a spectacular view of the valley. This was the moment I knew I was in Africa. The view literally made me choke up. I knelt down, praised God and just fell in love with this land. It was so great and amazing. It looked as if it went on forever. WE WERE IN AFRICA!

We got back in the car Todd began reading the scripture of Philip and the Ethiopian. I told him to read Isaiah 43 aloud. It was great to be affirmed by God’s word.

On the road to Dessie we saw big camels and stopped in a town for Pepsi’s and more coffee. Everywhere we stopped people would ask for money – the blind older women being led around by her very young son, the old man who was “sick” and even young children who flocked our vans in an effort to help support their families. It broke our hearts to continually say “no” or “no, thank you.”

We arrived in the town of Dessie, a big and hectic city of 200,000. It felt great to leave the vans behind after being in them from 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. We unloaded and had a wonderful dinner and met together to debrief. We were weary and worn, crusty and gross, but excited for our time with the children to begin in the morning.
Africa is amazing! This trip is amazing! God is amazing!