Adventures!

How can I put it into words again… there are no adjectives to describe this life of missions and adventure! We had yet another breathtaking and powerful week on Africa’s Horn!!

This last Sunday, after months of prayer and days of preparations… the incredible team launched the vision for Harar Church of Joy!

Harar Church of Joy

Among the people. For all people.

To liberate, transform and equip a generation with the Gospel of Jesus Chrust… in Ethiopia, on the Horn of Africa and to the ends of the earth.

-for the sake of the unreached

Powerful huh???

Monday, my free day, started with my hub, Philip and Erik, coffee, the Bible and the warm yellow sun… perfect.

Fika with the one I love

Then I spent time out in the city, greeting people and reading at Palace Café. I’m reading “Even Greater” by Reinhard Bonnke. It’s a powerful book of 12 testimonies that have taken place under one of the world’s greatest evangelists. My spirit is being stirred…

In the afternoon Samuel and I found an incredible mountain overlooking our Harar. It was actually an orthodox graveyard.. beautiful. Our adventure ended though when Samuel said “Gab look!”… I turned to find a wild hyena crouching in the bushes next to us! Harar is the famous Hyena city.. we are lulled to sleep by their singing every night.. I even fed them raw meet with a short stick in my mouth last year… but you NEVER see them wild in the daylight. Needless to say, we descended the mountain and began our long journey home again.

Sweet love

Adventures are sometimes like scavenger hunts… who knows what you’ll find??

Samuel and I wanted to surprise and bless the team with a roadtrip! We told them to be ready to go at 6am on Wednesday morning… and we just drove… through villages, small cities, mountains, mountains, mountains, out for breakfast of tibs and injera (and lunch of tibs and injera)… so fun! (Tibs and injera – by the way – is goat, ox or camel meat eaten by your hands with spongy, sour, pancake-like break…mmm) By the time we were driving home, we turned around to find all but Philip asleep in the bus… guess they enjoyed the ride :)

My fam!

Me and Kati at the famous Ethiopian Orthodox Church

No matter where you go in Ethiopia… someone is shouting “Sammy!!!”

A few hours in to the journey, we stopped at the top of a mountain in an Oromo village and hiked a small hill.. we wanted to spend some time loving on Jesus with our worship and reading the Word together. To our honor, a crowd followed as well. What should we do? Preach!! Of course preach!!!!

Mohammed gave a simple salvation message in Amerinja and a local young guy who knew how to translate, spoke the message in Orominja. At the end… 8 men raised their hands and immediately went forward to pray the prayer to salvation... with the mountains and wild horizons of Ethiopia practically dancing behind them as far as our eyes could see.

After salvation, we preached and prayed healing… then tied it all together by singing a simple Oromo worship song together. That moment was breathtaking. We all had tears in our eyes.

On our way back through that same village in the afternoon… we met the translator again. He promised to come stay with us in Harar for a few days. We will teach him about baptism in water and Holy Spirit… then send him back to preach the Gospel and follow up with the rest of the people in that village and beyond!!! Hallelu!!!!!!

In the words of Reinhard Bonnke… “Africa is being saved!”

What a life

An Oromo woman.. hearing about my Jesus for the first time :)