Tuesday

We were in Rogi Village today. The most remote African village you could ever imagine, without water or electricity. These villagers are some of the poorest of the poor, and because of Jesus and the Body of Christ at work, there is hope and the promise of a much brighter future. There is a school run by Hope Enterprises for many of the children, but, unfortunately, not all. They can only take 100, and to qualify they must be the neediest (and only one from a family). The K-1st grade and the 2nd-3rd grade classes each had 50 students and their own classroom. (No class size reduction here!) The funding for this school, which will be expanding is primarily from MPPC. With that funding, each student has been given a new school uniform (teal blue). Many are still barefoot, but the next installment is shoes. They have already been measured. They have two wonderful teachers and soon will be fed 2 meals a day. Their attentiveness and appreciation is something that would be a dream fulfilled for teachers in the U.S.

Our team did a puppet show for them about the Good Shepherd and the lost sheep and how special and loved by God they are. Close to half the students are Muslim, and half Christian. They had not seen puppets before but seemed to really appreciate the short theatre with big smiles and much laughter. They are so loved and cared for in such phenomenal ways, along with their entire families. We took their pictures with Polaroids, and the children got to decorate frames to hang them in the classroom. Probably the first time many of them had seen a picture of themselves. We also took many pictures with digital cameras, and they laughed and pointed when they could see themselves in the digital cameras. Toward the end of our time, the parents and village elders gathered in the classroom. They came from long distances to greet us and to say thank you for "coming to the middle of nowhere" to do such wonderful things for their children and to give them hope for their future.

These children, over the next many years will be educated, trained and loved, and they'll become leaders for their country. They are the ones who will bring 'up there - down here' (the Kingdom of God) to Ethiopia for generations to come! What hope! We prayed together through two translations (Amharic and Oromo), exchanged meaningful gifts and cried tears of joy for the wonderful partnership we share, especially the amazing love of Jesus that binds us together. Matt. 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the children come to Me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."