Thursday, August 5, 2010

Day One - Selam (Hello)

Selam from Ethiopia!
We are here and we survived the 20 hours of flying time without incident, except for the fact our flight out of Kansas City was rescheduled, canceled and rerouted. However, we were able to get back on track and fly through Amsterdam and Sudan to Ethiopia.
We arrived in Addis Ababa at 9:30 p.m. local time, and it was 57 degrees Fahrenheit — a welcome change from the Kansas City heat.
We were greeted by a young man named Teddy, who is in school and serves with LIA, and several other guys his age who helped with luggage and drove us to our bungalows in Addis Ababa. The further we drove away from the airport, there were fewer lights to light our way. We struggled to see what Addis looked like.
Dustin, who made the trip last year, quickly pointed out one of Addis' harsh realities.
"Those bundles on the side of the street — those are people sleeping," he said.
We soon made our way to our bungalows where we were greeted by Gette, who cooked for last year's team and won them over. She's quickly doing the same thing to this team. Waiting for us, after a day of travel, was warm potato and vegetable soup and biscuits — the perfect way to end a long day. I can see why last year's team spoke so highly and often of her.
Our journey to Ethiopia is done. Now we must get some sleep to prepare for our first full day in Addis Ababa.
If you're reading this — thank you for helping us get here. Your prayers and support are our real means of transportation. Please pray that we are effective in our work and are able to serve these people in love.

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