Remembering the last weeks of my trip...

Over 2 weeks have passed since I have returned from my trip and I still haven’t put any memories from my last two weeks in writing and I think it is time before the memories slip away from my memory.

Ethiopia was a whirlwind…. After a very fun and memorable weekend in Paris I traveled all day on my 23rd birthday only to be wished happy birthday by the customs agent (to whom it told it was my birthday), the lady who filled out my visa paperwork in Ethiopia, my waitress and the lady at reception who was told by my waitress that it was my b-day. My waitress, at the hotel that I was staying at, even sang happy birthday to me and brought a candle and some flowers to my hotel room. Mind you I arrived in Addis around 8pm and took a couple of hours before getting to my hotel and having a late dinner all alone. What a different birthday!

Tuesday I left very early in the morning to catch my flight to Mekele to meet the team. I arrived in Mekele at 7:30 SO excited to see my dad and then waited for an hour out on the curb before he showed up claiming he heard my flight arrived at 9 AM. But I made use of the time and made friends with a couple of the security guards posted at the airport.

Tuesday I spent the day with dad visiting various government offices to work out the wheelchair details of the shipment that was arriving that week. I loved having so much time alone with my dad after so many months apart. The team was doing ministry at a village about 45 kilometers out of the city, so by the time we were done with the meetings and back to the hotel it wasn’t logical to meet up with them, so we waited at the hotel and I showed dad pics of the months of traveling that I had done since seeing him. SO fun!

That night I was reunited with Ashley…. Definitely a MAJOR highlight of the week. I loved being back together again in Ethiopia hearing all about her time in Romania and how she was slowly and completely falling in love with the girls with disabilities that she is working with. She was planning on coming home, but decided to go back to Romania through Christmas because she loves it so much. Her heart for others is unmatched with any person I have ever met. She is so selfless it’s humbling.

After dinner we went up to the top floor for evening devotions and I was surprised (well not too surprised cause the hotel people had discussed the details with dad right in front of me), but surprised nonetheless to find a cake that said “Happy Persday Katie” on it and ambasha, an Tigrayan specialty bread made for birthdays and celebrations that is DELICIOUS. Mom even sent a little gift over for me with dad and we had a party for me. It was so special… I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate my 23rd birthday! ☺

Wednesday I was finally able to join the team out in a village for an eyeglass clinic day. I was in charge of shining a flashlight into peoples eyes to check for cataracts or glaucoma. I enjoyed meeting each and every person that came through the clinic on both Wednesday and Thursday. They each had a sheet with their name written on it, so I would say hello and then try to pronounce their name… this caused most of the Tigrayans to smile and laugh at me and broke the ice a little before I went shining my light in their eyes. Then I would thank them and direct them to the appropriate station. Many people were seen and helped and I especially enjoyed hanging out with the kids after each person was seen.

After our last day of ministry (Thursday) we had a little celebration ceremony with the nationals, translators and church members to celebrate the weeks success and share testimonies. It was so neat to hear how the Lord worked through our efforts there. One man got up in front and shared in Tigrayan for about a minute about his personal testimony, which of course none of the Americans could understand without a translator. Once he finished his little shpeel an American girl next to me (who will remain nameless ☺) replied, “what?” in an utterly confused tone. I got the giggles and knew that she and I would become great friends seeing as she was also from Temecula area… I have her number now and need to give her a call and meet up…. Hmmm…

That night dad and I stopped by a pizza place (that's right pizza in Ethiopia!) to visit with the government officials that we met with earlier in the week and they surprised dad with a typical Tigrayan (the Northern part of Ethiopia) outfit. I told him that he had to wear it when we got back with the team at the hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel we went into the mens restroom and I was going to help him put the clock on... before we knew it a young housekeeper from the hotel came into the mens restroom and started dressing dad and ordering him around!! It was one of the funniest things I have witnessed in a long time.... made my night.

Thursday night I shared with the team that the people I would be visiting in the Middle East could use whatever antibiotics the team could spare and dad shared that Ashley planned to return to Romania and that she was unprepared for the cold winter that was waiting for her return, so if anyone could spare some warm clothes to bring ‘em over to our room as well. Can I just say God is so good. Not only was I inundated with antibiotics, Ashley received so many different articles of clothing she couldn’t even pack it all!!! It was so awesome to see how team members were led to pack long underwear, wool socks, winter coats, and long sleeved shirts when they weren’t even needed for the trip in Ethiopia and yet Ashley’s prayers were answered and God provided for her to return to Romania without worry. I talked to her today and she was wearing my sweatpants and loving Romania more than ever. ☺ So cool.

Then Ashley informed me that there are no people in Romania who can cut her hair properly, so she asked me to cut it for her!!! Mind you she wanted 6 inches cut off and I have probably BRUSHED straight hair about 2x in my life!! After much debate and many promises that no matter how bad the hair turned out she would still talk to me I grabbed a child size pair of scissors, put her hair in a pony and chopped 6 inches off!! About an hour later and much discussion as to how I should go about styling the haircut (I would grab a piece of hair and ash would watch out of the corner of her eye and encourage me by saying: "yeah I think that's what they do in the salon!" She was so gracious and appreciative... even of my hack job! :)

Friday we left the hotel early to catch our flight back down to Addis… I couldn’t believe I was already leaving! The whole morning dad was telling me that he was praying our flight would be delayed so that I would miss my connecting flight to the Middle East and would have to stay with him for a couple more days, I am not gonna lie, at that point it didn’t sound like such a bad idea after being away from such familiar and warm people for so long. But of course, this was the first time that I can remember Ethiopian airlines was on time and we made it to Addis in no time and I was on my way to the Middle East and had no clue what the next week would bring….

Home Sweet Home

I am back and can't believe it.

It's strange waking up and not having any sort of an agenda, each day I have to consciously decide to put my t.p. in the toilet and brush my teeth with sink water and it takes me at least 10 minutes to sort through my clothes and another 10 minutes to make a decision on what to wear, but it's nice to be home. My first day home as I was walking with dad to a store I realized it was the first time in 5 months that I was in public and was completely relaxed, not having to worry about who was around me or what public transportation I might have to take to get home. It's nice.

I am kicking myself for not journaling about my last two weeks abroad as they have been jam-packed with amazingness each day and God has worked and made himself known in such creative ways through my last days away from home, in the next couple of blogs I will try to re-cap some of the highlights from Ethiopia and the Middle East.