Watermark in Africa

Today (Saturday) is our last day in Ethiopia so this will be our last blog post for the June trip.    This has been an awesome week as we have seen God move in BIG ways not only in Ethiopian hearts but also in the hearts of the North Americans.    Our remaining time in Ethiopia will be spent eating some good food, trip processing & re-entry training & getting some rest preparing for the flight home.      Please continue to pray for: ·        Continued unity with our Ethiopian partners  ·        Safety as we travel back to the U.S. ·        1 sick person would recover their strength quickly (nothing major just stomach issues)    ·        The remainder of the team would remain in good health    ·        The new believers faith would be strengthened in the face of persecution  ·        June North American team as they process all that God did this week & how we can remain on mission back home in Dallas 

Today (Thursday) was my favorite day of ministry partly because we had a chance to celebrate all that God has done this week but we’ll get to that.    The day started out with our small team going to a market area where there was lots of foot traffic.    We jumped out of the van & started kicking a soccer ball which brought people out to play with us.    I got a football & started throwing the ball with some young men who were just casually observing us.    The football was new for them as they had never thrown a football before so they were fascinated by that.    After using the ball as a way to bridge the culture gap, I asked if I could talk with them.    I shared my testimony of life change & then asked if I could share how much God loved the people of Ethiopia.    They curiously listened as I shared the gospel & several men said they were Ethiopian Orthodox & several others said they were believers but they didn’t go to church & were not walking with the Lor

Today, we got the opportunity to share alongside a market road where many people of varying beliefs would buy food, drinks and such. In one of these particular tea shops, Joe and I (Daniel) got to share with a couple guys who turned out to be believers. We encouraged them and went ahead to carry on down the road to talk to some other people. As we were walking, we met a man who didn’t speak the common language that our translators spoke. However, after asking around our translators found that one of the men, we had just spoken with previously that we found out was a believer spoke this specific dialect! So, Joe was able to convey the message of the Gospel through our translator who in turn related it to the man. The man was a Muslim, and remained fairly quiet throughout Joe sharing the Gospel; however, he ended up saying that he was ready to accept Christ as his Savior without need for any questions. Praise God! It was incredible to see firsthand how God used another believer in this c

We started the day in a Muslim village not knowing we were sharing Christ right by a Mosque.    I (Alli) started up a conversation with a woman and a teenage boy named Modixu.    They were both practicing Muslims, and I got to share the Gospel with them.    They were both open, and had a lot of questions.    Modixu began asking me questions about the Koran, and I could tell that he was genuinely curious.    It was clear the Lord was doing something in his heart.    Right at that time, a very angry man started getting in our faces and yelling at us to leave their village.    His anger spurred us to quickly leave.    Unbeknownst to us, Modixu followed us.    He was asking so many questions and seemed genuinely curious about the Lord.    I saw all over his face that the Gospel was affecting his heart!!    A group of men ended up taking him into their group and answering his questions.    He ended up following the team throughout the village, watching and hearing the Gospel being preached.

The day started with the North Americans worshiping together with local Ethiopians in a tent church, and then we traveled to an open park where we spent most of the day. As some of us were engaging with teenagers, we had the opportunity to share the news of Jesus Christ with an elder sitting under the shade of a nearby tree. Initially we thought he was understanding the message we were speaking; however, he spoke a different language. With the help from 3    translators we were able to share the Gospel of our Lord and Savior with the help of the Holy Spirit in his own language. As he heard the message he felt conviction within his heart and accepted Christ as his savior.  Another story of how the Spirit moved today was through a young Ethiopian man named Abush. We started by sharing the evangecube with 6 or 7 Ethiopians (who mostly turned out to be Christians, praise the Lord!) and encountered Abush, who we were able to lean in with to learn about his story. He was living with friends

 The June team arrived in Addis Ababa safe & sound.  Praise the Lord that all the bags arrived & everyone is feeling healthy & somewhat rested.  Today we will spend our time training & getting acclimated & preparing for the ministry to start tomorrow morning.  Please continue to pray for our team that God would open up doors for the gospel of Jesus Christ.   We hope to update the blog daily with stories & prayer requests so check back often.  Please pray for: *  unity with our Ethiopian partners  *  rest today for the North Americans  *  open doors for the Gospel of Jesus Christ *  health & safety for the North Americans