Monday

In the morning we spent the day visiting a Theological college here in Mekele. Dr. Geb had requested that we bring 100 English speaking Bibles. It was so neat to be able to see the heart of these men who desire their students to have an education. They know that without education there is not a lot of chance of them moving forward. They have a vision - to train young men (and eventually women) about the Gospel and also to equip them with a degree to be able to support themselves and further their country for their people. It was so encouraging to hear their vision, but also heartbreaking because they lack the resources (books, educated teacher, computers) to be able to move this vision forward. We had a wonderful meeting with the dean, asst. dean and many of the teachers. What an incredible reminder how blessed we are simply to have an education.

Next we went to Dr. Geb's hospital. When you see the pictures of how buildings are constructed you are reminded again how blessed we are simply to have construction materials. But at the same time you see just how patient people are in Ethiopia. It takes us a few months to get a building up, but here everything is done manually. There were about 8-10 young men (all looked in their teens) who had handmade tools to build this hospital. They would mix the cement by hand and take it to the room they were working on with a small bucket and repeat the process over and over again. To complete one room takes weeks and weeks. Yet, there is no sense of impatience. We were reminded of this when we brought the paint over and started mixing it. We all seemed eager and ready to paint, but at times you could see that our rushing confused them. We then got out all of our painting supplies (rollers, brushes, tarps, etc) and they looked at them as though they were completely foreign. In Ethiopia they have paintbrushes but not rollers. It takes them so long just to paint one room by brush. We were able to complete two rooms in 2 hours. They couldn't believe it. Because the cement wasn't dry we were only able to do two rooms, but we left the supplies and it was like Dr. Geb had received the best Christmas gift ever. He was excited that his workers had learned how to use the rollers and could finish the work much quicker than by just brushes.

When Dr. Geb talked about his hospital it was like he was talking about his baby. He is honored, humbled and thrilled to be able to build this hospital to serve the men, women and children of his country. There are so many who are suffering from HIV/AIDS but also from very treatable diseases. That has been incredibly apparent as our team has played with children on the street. It's hard to believe that there are so many children who live their lives daily with simple diseases such as scabies, ringworm, lice, fungal infections etc. They have no means to cure these things, yet they are so full of joy. We have been incredibly humbled by the people of Ethiopia and especially the heart of Dr. Geb.

After finishing up the rooms at the hospital we all tried to wipe off the paint and realized it was oil based. Some people used gas to clean it off and others just left white spots all over themselves. It's actually quite funny because many of the children think us Firenjes (white people) actually have white freckles!!! It's been hilarious!

There is much more updating to do, and I plan to get to it later today (if there's internet). This is just part of one day. There is SO much more and we have all been broken and encouraged beyond what we ever imagined we could be. Thank you for your prayers and love. They are more than appreciated.

Sending everyone our love,

Kristin, Jason, Missy, Belsa, Liz, Eric, Kiersten, Kjersten, Mary, Maria, Lisa, Chris, Ryan, Almaz & Dr. Geb