Today marks the first day for your group meeting the kids and staff of Bring Love In. The past couple of days though have yielded amazing memories while continuing to connect with locals and deepen our relationships as team members. Jet lag has definitely gotten the better of us for the most part, but we are holding out! The days leading up to meeting the kids at embracing hope, Ishy (our driver) has been AMAZING! by showing us Ethiopia’s cultural foods and sharing stories beyond our comprehension that had us questioning “why is this a thing” or “this is not right.” On top of hearing his personal testimony and how he has become who he is today.

We have not reached the pinnacle of the trip and we are already overwhelmed with emotions and the difficulties they must deal with on a day to day basis. Their cultural dinner was also a highlight for the past few days, though the food was not new to us, it still didn’t fail to be magically delicious! After we had finished our portions, the dancing began and throughout the night continued to get more intense. And close to the end we were invited up to make total fools of ourselves by “participating” in there dancing. Afterwards we had called it a night and went back to the hotel.

The next day was when we went to Embracing Hope. As we arrived, the kids were filled with joy and had grins on their faces no one could wipe off. We did classroom crafts demonstrating Jesus calming the storm, and afterwards we played Simon says and a fun rock paper scissors game. Though our team and the kids could not figure out who Simon was, we continued to have a blast. Hope things continue to go smoothly and we will do our best to keep everyone updated!

– Scott