Full hearts & tired bodies - Friday Ethiopia update

 It is early Friday morning here in Ethiopia (8 hours ahead of Dallas) & today the team heads back to Addis Ababa.  We will spend most of the day driving & then tonight start our Re-Entry training & have a good dinner.  Saturday will be spent having a couple good meals, doing a little shopping, complete Re-Entry training & then head to the airport.  Thanks for checking in & for your prayers for the team.  The team physically is tired & a little run down.  There were a couple people yesterday who didn't feel 100% but nothing that some rest won't fix.  Please continue to pray for:

*  safety for the team as we travel the Ethiopian highways 

*  continued unity as we serve & say good bye to our Ethiopian partners 

*  new believers would stand strong under the persecution 

*  North American team would make it back to Dallas safe with all our luggage 

Below is a story from earlier in the week that I was not able to get on the blog.  

Today was a great 1st day of ministry for the 3rd Ethiopia trip of 2023.  Our team went to an opening ceremony at a local church where we met our translators & Ethiopia disciple-makers.  At the service I was informed there was a death in the community & that today would be the funeral & I was going to preach.  We left the opening ceremony & rented several bajaj (small blue & white tri-wheeled vehicles used to transport people) & took a long drive up the mountain.  Several places we had to get out & push the bajaj as it got stuck in the mud.  I was informed on the way to the funeral that the man who died was a Christian but most of his family as well as most of the community were Muslim.  As we were nearing the funeral service, we could hear people weeping & wailing.  Ethiopian funerals are very different that in the U.S. as the whole community comes to the funeral even if you didn’t know the deceased very well.  I was shocked at the crowd for such a small community & I asked Demeke how many people were there & he said several thousand.  We made our way to the tent that had been set up & saw the coffin.  There were so many people crowded together but they made way for us to move to the front.  Demeke handed me a microphone & said, “you share”.  I had been praying that God would give me the right words to say as I had no idea what to say for an Ethiopian funeral.  I talked directly to the deceased man’s friends & family & told them that we were mourning with them.  I then shared that we do not mourn as those who do not have hope & then shared that death is not the end & that there is an opportunity to see Baracktt (the deceased man) again.  I shared that we must have faith that God exists & that he rewards those who seek him (Romans 4) & shared the story about Abraham who was asked by God to sacrifice his son.  Both Christians & Muslims see Abraham as the father of their faith so the Muslims know the story of Abraham.  I shared about Abraham being justified by faith & not by works (Romans 4).  After sharing about God wanting a personal relationship with us through his son Jesus Christ, I asked those who believed this message to raise their hand.  There were hundreds of people who raised their hands & shouted agreement with the message.  Praise the Lord!  

We will never know the full impact of all sharing at the funeral but what we do know is that thousands of Muslims heard the gospel message & that seeds were planted.  Our disciple-makers live in those remote areas & if someone wants to learn more about Jesus, they can simply reach out to learn more.  It is amazing how God can use the death of one man to share his mercy & grace with thousands of others but that is the kind of God we serve. 

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