Ethiopia and Back...

Wow, can't believe I spent 9 amazing days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with team of 20 great people from NCC! I am very grateful for an opportunity to go and experience little part of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. It seems like I just left for Ethiopia two Fridays ago and time flew by. God has definitely broken my heart while I was in Addis Ababa and I believe He is continuing to teach me what I learned in Ethiopia. One of the values for NCC is expect the unexpected and there were lot that I did not expect out of the trip. For instance, I am a workhorse and I give 120% or more to what I do but God convicted me that I need to be okay with not having plans and that plans change. God does not expect me to give so much of myself that I eventually break down. I believe that what I think is best may hinder my walk with Christ if I do it with the wrong attitude, wrong intention and/or wrong execution. There was time in the trip when I finally broke down (Monday evening to be exact) and I had to give what was upsetting me all to God. With prayer and talking with a friend on the trip, I came to realization that I just have to go by the flow. Rest of the week was challenging but great. God gave me such peace about everything that was going on in the week that I did not care I was going out of my comfort zone for rest of the week. Every experience I had on the trip I will treasure and remember but here's some of my highlights of the week:

*Visiting home of family who lives on Entoto mountain and drinking delicious Ethiopian coffee(roasted, ground and specially brewed in coffee pot over fire) and eating delicious food.
*Teaching/tutoring ESL
*Co-leading Self-Help group with two fantastic group members
*Designing jewelry and getting it approved to be sold
*Volunteering at a feeding center
*Eating dinner with street kids
*Seeing baptism

There's so much that occurred while we were there and I feel overwhelmed by what I experienced. I need to process what I experience more and I will try to blog more about it as I try to understand what I experienced in Ethiopia. Thank you for all the prayers and may God pour His love over you!