Sundays in Bozeman have a lazy, restful rhythm. Everyone on the team has been excited to see what a Sunday in Ethiopia would look like. Needless to say, it wasn’t much like what we had in mind. We started off the day with a delicious breakfast and loaded into the van at 8:30 A.M. with no idea of where we were going or what the church was like. Certainly no one expected to still be rolling over a rocky alley an hour later! Although we were about half an hour late, our persevering driver, Tare, did find Beza International Church. We unloaded with great anticipation… only to find that the Amharic service was the one that started at 9 A.M. and the English wasn’t until 11 A.M. Bright side: we weren’t late for church! No one was upset, especially when we realized this left us time for our favorite activity, drinking macchiatos. Tare took us to a nearby café, which was probably the nicest I’ve been in. I’ve never judged an establishment like I do here in Africa. If it has a bathroom, its decent. If it has soap, its respectably nice. If it has a real toilet, its high class. We drank macchiatos while Chris and Dylan did what was likely the easiest cross work puzzle of all time. Example: What do fire fighters need (four letters)? Think about it. We arrived at church a little early hoping to catch some of the Amharic worship service. Instead we just caught a bit of the sermon, which was preached in English and translated to Amharic. Ironic. The church service was probably the most incredible worship experience I have ever attended. The worship leader was amazing. He was so passionate and lively, jumping all over the stage (literally) and singing with power and confidence. The stage was filled with at least eight other singers who were having just as much fun as their friend. I’ve been to my share of charismatic churches, but nothing even resembled the passion and spirit of this service, probably because us Americans would be scared out of our minds if someone came into our church with such zeal. I got the chills immediately, as well as an amazing combination of wanting to cry, dance, and shout all at once. I wish everyone could experience the Holy Spirit in a service like that. The preacher’s message was equally riveting. He preached on Proverbs 30:24-28 which discusses the wisdom of the ant, the coney or rock badger, the locust, and the lizard. I’ve never heard it preached on like that before. He talked about how the wisdom of the ant is that it knows the season and acts accordingly. How often do we who are single wish to be married and those who are experiencing trial wish for ease and so on? Rather than knowing what season God has put us in and maximizing it, we try to force ourselves into the next. He compared it to trying to plant a summer crop in winter and winter crop in summer. First, we won’t experience the harvest of the season we are in, and second, we create rot and contaminate the next season’s harvest. He didn’t talk about the rock badger because it was covered in the sermon from the last week but moved on to the locust. His main point was the locust has great wisdom because alone, its basically bird food, but in a swarm, it is truly an unconquerable force. Similarly, Christians on their own are small and sometimes ineffective, but when we act as the body of Christ, we are an unconquerable force. He lastly discussed the lizard, which after study he concluded was the gecko. The wisdom of the gecko is that although it is small and has no impressive defensive weapons, it has the ability to take hold of something strong enough to resist a foe. In fact, the sticky residue on the gecko’s feet is being studied in hopes of creating a similar glue product. The point was that the gecko’s power is in its ability to take hold of something greater than itself. It is made great by the greatness to which it cleans. If us Christians can cling with a death vice to the promises of God, we too will be able to flee temptation and be part of something great. The pastor preached with similar zeal to that of the worship leader, but the best part was the involvement of the listeners! There were constant amens, words of encouragement, and claps of agreement. A few people would even stand up and point at the speaker when there was a point they particularly identified with. Afterwards we all discussed laughingly how Brian would react if we acted in a similarly passionate matter during his next message. So, fair warning Journey family 😉 We were in church from about 10:30 A.M. till 1:30 P.M. and absolutely famished by the time we got out. We loaded back into our trusty van and headed to our regular spot, Chocolate. Like usual, they had only a quarter of the things on the menu, but we all were able to order something that sounded tasty. Unfortunately, a few minutes after we ordered, the power went out. We could tell by the nervous glances of the waitress that this meant one thing: tibs. Sure enough she came over telling us that due to the power outage, their menu had been cut into tibs and pasta with vegetables. Half of us got tibs and the other half got pasta. When we actually got our food, everyone was surprised by how good it was! Even though no one got what they intended, everyone was happy with their second choice. We ate, watched a little bit of a soccer game, and then headed back to the guest house. For a few hours, everyone separated. Just about everyone took a Sunday afternoon nap, except me. We read and napped contentedly until around 5:30 P.M. when once again, the power went off. This brought everyone from their separate areas and into the living room where we turned on a few battery powered lights and hung out while Kate made dinner. I nearly had a heart attack at lunch when I saw French toast was on the Chocolate menu (although I’m sure they wouldn’t actually have it), and so Kate decided she would make us all French toast for dinner. It was delicious. So. Good. Apparently I’ve been missing out all my life by not putting both peanut butter and syrup on my French toast. Thankfully my tragic error has been corrected. After a fun and tasty dinner, we spent the rest of the evening talking about our team devotional. I can honestly say Sunday was one of my favorite days here, and that’s not just because I’m the one who has to write about it. God has really used this trip to show me how little I appreciate the things He’s given me. Not just things either, but relationships and circumstances. I am so incredibly blessed to have a caring family and network of people who continually pour into me. So often, I neglect them and choose instead things that won’t last and don’t matter. God has made it clear to me that I need to appreciate not only them, but also my current circumstances. He has put me in a season that will surely have a rich harvest if only accept where I am and let Him work through it. I’ll be sad to leave this amazing place, but I can’t wait to get home and embrace with gratitude the incredible blessings God has given me there. Maria

Answer: Hose 🙂