On the Road Again

Sitting here in the terminal of the Oakland Airport using my travel netbook that has sat idly for much too long, it comes to my attention that I have failed you all. After India, my blog went dry. This is when I could make various excuses about lack of internet or time but those are both pretty lame considering that I just uncovered Word documents with unposted blog material.  However, this is an auspicious discovery, for this flight departing Oakland is the first leg of my next excursion to Ethiopia, the precise country I left off on last time! It seems appropriate that we take a look through the archives at this time to enlighten you as to the many reasons why I have decided to go back to the land of Haile Selassie and the Arc of the Covenant.

Now my reasons for returning could be dull as my reasons for not blogging (i.e. this is one of the few places Concordia decided to send a team this summer, they needed more people to make the trip viable, I had to go somewhere this summer, etc.)  While there is validity to all of these reasons, these are by no means my only motivations for returning to Ethiopia.  Many of my reasons for returning were recorded by this great blogger by the name of Wesley Gong back in 2012. Here are some excerpts from his archives:

"Travel necessitates leaving the comforts of one’s home.  This is the appeal of travel, exploring new places and experiencing new things.  However, travelling for a long time can leave the explorer yearning for basic familial interactions and normal day to day activities.  One factor that helps alleviate this desire is hospitable locals who welcome the traveler into their homes and lives.  Along our journey, Ethiopia was the country most characterized by hospitality.  This is not to discount the love that we have been shown by all of the other friends we have met along the way; the fact is just that one cannot talk about Ethiopia without discussing the hospitality we were shown there."

A year and a half later, I still stand by my statement that Ethiopian hospitality is world-class.  We were shown so much love from people who were complete strangers the day before. Whether it was from Pastor Yosef, who made sure our groups arrangements were cared for and that we had the best that Ethiopia had to offer, from Teddy, who helped our group get our out of many a sticky situation, from the medical students, who joyfully greeted us when we arrived in the wee hours of the morning, asking us how God was working in our lives, and then gave up their beds and mosquito nets so our group could be comfortable, from the people we were ministering to, who stopped their daily work to welcome us into their homes and bring us fresh produce from their fields as they listened to our message, or from Grace who slept on her kitchen floor so that our leadership could have a room with a bed, Ethiopian hospitality was above and beyond any of our expectations.

These various contributors to our experience truly exemplified the Good Samaritan, going our of their way to demonstrate Christ-like care to a group of weary travelers far from home.  This hospitality was the carrying out of Christ's call to love our neighbors.  I can only pray that someday I too will learn to love and care for others as deeply and genuinely as my friends in Ethiopia. This is why I am going back. The people. The people here have a passion I have not seen anywhere else. They love God and they love their neighbor.  I hope in the next three weeks I can learn more from them as we go to support them in their ministries.

P.S. A very special thank you to those friends and family members who have supported me financially on this journey, especially from Our Savior Lutheran Livermore and Light of Christ Lutheran Irvine! I wouldn't be able to do this without all of your support! Stay tuned for presentation dates when I return!