Our God is in the business of changing lives

Today for our 1st day of ministry we were invited into one of the homes of an older gentleman and his family. Apparently his children were believers, but he and his wife were not. After we shared the gospel with them, he said he needed time to think it over. His wife on the other hand, came over to him, on her knees, and begged him to accept Christ. While we couldn’t understand what she was saying, we could hear the urgency in her voice. One by one the old man’s granddaughters also encouraged him to make the decision.  Knowing what we know about Ethiopian culture, it is a BIG decision to accept Christ.  This man was a respected elder in the Ethiopian Orhtodox community & he knew that professing Christ would cost him friendships & status in the community.  We saw the Holy Spirit softening this old man’s heart & he said that we wanted to submit his life to Jesus Christ.  We stood in awe of God, and prayed and worshipped together - it was a truly holy moment. Then, just when we thought we had seen it all, a couple of men who were peeking in the window came into the house because they heard us singing worship songs.  One of them confessed that he was a believer but had fallen away from his faith and wanted to come back to Jesus. He confessed his struggle with alcohol & asked that we pray for him.  We prayed over him, continued worshiping, and were left blown away by what God had done.   

 

What an AWESOME 1st day of ministry.  It is obvious God is at work.  The North American team is feeling great & they are really bonding with our Ethiopian partners.  Please continue to pray for:

·      Open hearts for the Gospel of Jesus Christ

·      Continued good health for the North Americans

·      Safety as we travel the Ethiopia roads dodging goats & donkeys 

Unity with our Ethiopian partners 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ethiopia here we come - August 2024 version

In a few short days (Friday, August 2nd) the 2nd Ethiopia 2024 team will get on an airplane for the long flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.    Our mission will be to share how Jesus Christ has changed our lives & how much he loves the people of Ethiopia.    This will be the 2 nd  of 2 Ethiopia trips for the Watermark Young Adults partnering with E3 Partners this year.    The “journey” to Ethiopia started long before getting on the plane as we had our 1 st  training meeting in early February of this year so we have been praying & planning for this trip for 6 months.    Our training and preparation for Ethiopia has consisted of support raising (learning how to share the financial need in healthy ways), immunizations (shots) party and cultural awareness training, practice sharing the gospel, roleplaying sharing our testimonies, and giving a biblical defense for the gospel for common Orthodox and Muslim arguments. As I think about thes...
Read more

Monday update- Excited to see God work

This has been an eventful trip with lots of challenges already.    Sorry I haven’t been able to update the blog but I’ve just now been able to connect to wifi.    Our team was supposed to fly out of Dallas on Friday morning but due the weather in Newark (our connecting point) our Friday flight was cancelled.    We were fortunately able to get booked on a flight to DC that would connect us to Addis Ababa for most of the group but we had to be at the airport @ 4:30AM on Saturday morning.    Our Saturday flight was uneventful but meant that we had a 10 hour layover in DC.    5 of our group had to fly through Houston & due to weather in DC they never made it & had to spend the night in the airport only to take a flight the next day from NYC.    3 days of airports, flights & layovers & most of the team is finally in Hosanna (our mission site) with the group of 5 expected to arrive late Monday night in Addis to join u...
Read more

Tuesday update- Our God is in the business of changing hearts

Praise God for His faithfulness! This morning as we gathered for breakfast, we prayed over our team, translators, disciple-makers, and the Ethiopian people that we would encounter. Specifically, we asked God to move in tangible ways that would make His presence clearly known to both us and them. Boy, did he ever deliver on that prayer! At multiple moments throughout the day, we found ourselves sharing the gospel with precious children and were shocked at their eagerness for what we had to share and at their hunger for the gospel. It was incredible to witness the Lord break down the communication barrier between the Americans and Ethiopians through His provision of our translators. Through the interactions today, many children as well as adults made the decision to put their faith in Christ & not made made rules & religion.    At one point this morning I had 12-15 men surrounding me & listening intently as I shared my story of life change & how God has changed m...
Read more