Ellen and Ethiopia

And Naomi is her name…..”Beautiful, pleasant and delightful.”

Yes, God has placed another one of His own in Ebenezer Grace.  Little Naomi arrived yesterday.  She is approximately one week old and was found abandoned in a local hospital compound here in Hawassa.

Praise report:

Binyam has gained ONE POUND!!!!  Keep praying - we need the rest of him to catch up with the size of those eyeballs!  He looked at me through those precious eyes all throughout our Sunday morning service.  I am blessed.

Rahel is just like part of the gang.  She is doing so well.

Ruth is smiling more and more, helping out with chores and feeling like she belongs.  She loves my friend Steph (pictured below). AND Argaw got her to eat pasta yesterday for lunch!!  Go Arg!

And now for the other less life-threatening answers to prayer, but life-changing nonetheless:

• Butter is back
• Skype is no longer illegal when doing it in the privacy of your home as long as it is a Skype to Skype connection.  So you are not allowed to use Skype to call mobile numbers.
• Worm holes are healing and I’m close to being confident that I am “worm free”.  

Keep up the good work my faithful prayer warriors.

Wow…..more news to report and more prayer requests to share.

Good News - Mekdes has been released from the hospital and is at home with her mother and twin sister, Meron.  God in his faithfulness has answered our prayers.  Thank you, Ameseginalehu!

And now allow me to introduce you to Binyam.  He arrived 2 days ago with his mother Marishet who is 18 years old.  As you can see Binyam is dangerously small.  Rachel weighed him today and he only weighs 3 lbs and 5 ounces!!!  He did go to the clinic and the doctor said he is okay, but needs to gain weight (obviously).  So please, please pray that he can begin to thrive and grow quickly.  He is 27 days old and his mother said that he is smaller now than when he was first born.

And then we were blessed with Rahel just yesterday.  This darling baby girl was found abandoned in a cornfield here in Awassa.  Rahel is approximately 4 months old and weighs 15 lbs 6 ounces.  She is healthy and happy.  Praise the Lord.

So many of you have asked how you can help, so I am coming up with a list of needs for the orphanage.  I will have that list compiled within the next couple of days. 

I think that is enough information for one 4th of July here in Ethiopia.  As you celebrate “Independence Day” please take time to remember our dependency on the One who created us.

…For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.”  Luke 18:16 NLT

Dear Family and Friends,

As I reflect on my time here in Ethiopia over these last three months; I can not begin to thank you enough for your prayers.  I am continually in awe of God’s grace and mercy and how he works things out for the good of those who love him.

Let me share my daily devotional on intercessory prayer:

The Words and Wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Intercessory prayer is also a daily service Christians owe to God and one another. Those who deny their neighbors prayers of intercession deny them a service Christians are called to perform. Furthermore, it is clear that intercessory prayer is not something general and vague, but something very concrete. It is interested in specific persons and specific difficulties and therefore specific requests. The more concrete my intercessory prayer becomes the more promising it is…

All this proves that intercessory prayer is a gift of God’s grace for every Christian community and for every Christian. Because God has made us such an immeasurably great offer here, we should accept it joyfully. The very time we give to intercession will turn out to be a daily source of new joy in God and in the Christian congregation.

“Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you.” 1 Samuel 12:23

I want you to know that I thank the Lord for all of you and I will continue to lift you up to the Lord. asking him to richly bless you for interceding on behalf of his little ones at EGCH, the Ayeles, and myself.  

A few of my prayer requests:

Continue to pray for Ruth, the new girl who is deaf and mute.  Her mastoid infection seems to be much better and she is smiling again, but she will only eat plain bread.  She refuses all other food, and for obvious reasons this must change.  Also, that we may find a most excellent way to show her the love of Christ.  She struggles socially with the children and respecting others.

Pray for little Mekdes, the smallest of the twins.  She is in the hospital with pneumonia.  She can not afford to lose any more weight and is not strong enough to handle much of anything.

Pray for Lantu, that we can determine what medical care will best treat her fragile heart condition.  Ask God to give clarity in providing a course of treatment - the type of surgery, the best surgeon, the financial provisions needed, and his perfect timing.

Pray for protection over the mango fly situation.  Two of the mommas, Beti and myself have all experienced the unpleasantness of their larvae in us within the last 2 weeks.  Praise the Lord no one has developed an infection yet.  I still have several tiny bumps on my wrists that will not disappear, so I humbly ask that they will “get on out of there”.

Pray for wisdom on what to do about my visa.  It will expire the end of July and I would really like to stay until the end of September, Lord willing.

Praise the Lord for how he has provided for the financial needs of EGCH thus far and allow us to trust Him with confidence that His future provisions will be sufficient to meet the needs of His people.

Thank you again for your sweet service to the Lord and His people here in Ethiopia.

Well, you haven’t heard from me for a couple days because I have been experiencing the 5 phases of grieving over the fact that I have mango worms under my skin.  What I thought were flea bites, indeed turned out to be the larvae of the Mango Fly. Of course, I couldn’t have just one or even two…I have several; at least a dozen.  Evidently, when I put my gardening gloves on last week they were infested and so I have a ton of larvae ready to hatch on my wrists.  I also have one on my lower back.  I have been labeled as the “Disgusting Woman” by many nameless close friends.  We’ve used Vicks Vapor Rub, and Vaseline to suffocate them, but not all of them are ready to hatch and wriggle to the top. Evidently, they like the “Disgusting Woman”.  One such nameless, close friend (I’ll refer to her as Rahill) has been “squeezing” the blasted life out of me and those worms over these last few days.   I have been dubbed as the Gold Medalist for the most worms to inhabit a person at one time.  Such an honor to behold this record breaking title.

Below please find a description of my experience with the Mango Fly.  I can only type this now that I have entered the “acceptance” phase.  Do I even need to request prayers??…..you should have started praying once you read “larvae” and “me” in the same sentence.  Lucky for you my camera is broken.

When mango worms get under your skin

Hanging your clothes outside to dry in areas of high tropical rainfall can be risky if they are not ironed properly. Mango flies or myiatic flies are common in these areas, especially during the hot and humid summers.

If clothes are hung outside, it is possible for a female fly to lay eggs on them, especially when the clothes were contaminated with urine or feces. The clothes are then worn and the eggs penetrate the skin. People will usually complain that their body is itching and within three days, painful, boil-like lesions occur. Over the next three days, pus emerges from each sore as it gets ripe. Once the sore is expressed a worm comes out of it.

The fly is found widely in large parts of northern South Africa, as well as large parts of Africa. Dogs and rodents are usually the hosts, but humans often become accidental hosts. (aka….Ellen and other Hoosiers….whose initials are TS).

A strange skin condition

The condition is known as cutaneous myiasis, a skin condition caused by Cordylobia Anthropophaga (tumbu fly, mango fly, putsi fly). According to the Natural History Museum in London, myiasis can be a debilitating and sometimes even fatal condition. It is caused by the feeding and development of fly larvae on the host’s dead or living tissues, usually at the skin surface or in body orifices.

Treatment usually consists applying the lesion with petroleum jelly or liquid paraffin to suffocate the larva. Treatment should be left on for 30 minutes to an hour and then the larva should be pushed out via finger pressure. A course of antibiotics is then followed.

Do your ironing 

It is very important to iron all clothes with a hot iron as it will kill any eggs laid on them. The other possibility is not to wear them for 48 hours after they have dried, as this is longer than the lifespan of the eggs. As another preventative measure, clothes should not be left on the ground to dry. This applies to all garments including sheets, towels and bedding.

If you suspect you may have been infected by the larvae of a mango fly, it is important that you see a doctor immediately. Attempting to remove the larva yourself could cause severe pain, rupturing and inflammation. (Did you read this Rahill?)

Hey everyone!  Since my camera is out of commission I thought I would post a link to a video that was put together by a very special family “The Girauds” from a Calvary Chapel near Grand Blanc, Michigan.  I posted this on my Facebook Wall but also wanted to add it to my blog for the rest of you!  Tony and Gina Giraud along with their three amazing children; Isaac, Ezra and Emma came to serve here in Ethiopia at EGCH for a couple of weeks this month.  They brought tons of gifts—- shoes, clothes, soccer balls, footballs, candy, and all the stuff that did not fit in Pastor Jeff’s suitcases, plus so much more!  They were such a blessing to all of us!  And they got to hang out with me and Oswald here at the Norwegian Lutheran “Resort”.

Check it out:

http://vimeo.com/44555389

Yes, I have all of the above….I think the sight of me and cornrows might have been what broke the camera.

So I woke up this morning with a rash all around my waist.  I thought “Oh no!  I hope I don’t have a bunch of bott flies laying eggs in my belly.”  Nope, just flea bites.  That’s nice.

Later this morning I went to the orphanage and had Sarah one of the daughter’s of the Mommas fix my hair.  Wow!  Pretty much sums it up. Boy do I have a headache.  Not quite sure how I will sleep tonight between my aching scalp and the fear of fleas marching all over me.

Then I had the girls take my camera so they could get a picture of me at my finest and whoops….there went my camera crashing on the ground.  The lens is unevenly jammed and no one has been able to fix it.  Bummer!  How will I survive?

The good news is that Ruth is feeling much better.  She is the new girl that is deaf and mute.  Some of you may know that she has been extremely sick the last few days with a mastoid infection, but today she is much better.  Please continue to pray for her.  Poor little thing.

Ended the day with an awesome Czech BBQ - good food and friends.  Who could ask for more?  

They are no longer orphans - they have the perfect Father.

Did I tell you how much I love Sunday morning worship at Ebenezer Grace?  : ) Let me give you a little taste….

First we have Choir “A” - the children from Ebenezer Grace.

Followed by Choir “B” - the street children from Goitum, Ashanefi and Mitiku’s house. Three college boys who have taken in twelve street children and treated them as their own!  Amazing story!!

And a special treat today from Amomma (Grandma on the right) and company.  These women could not stop praising the Lord!  There was some tribal calls or as I say “whooping” and I was a big ol’ bawl baby - I wish you could have been there, it was amazingly beautiful.

Lord you have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts.  You will listen carefully, doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed so that men of the earth may terrify them no more.   Psalm 10:17-18

Let me introduce you to Ruth Ebenezer!  The newest addition to EGCH.  

She was found on the streets of Yirgalem (the same village where Ben was found just a few weeks ago).  She is deaf and mute and was so full of lice that they had to shave her head and destroy her clothes.  She is absolutely adorable and has the sweetest smile that will melt your heart in a flash.  They think that she is approximately 10 years old - but because she is unable to speak or write, it is almost next to impossible to find out her past.  We are working on it and I will update you if we find some one who knows her story.  She seems to like her new surroundings and the older girls have done a fantastic job of including her in all their activities.

 I pushed her on the swing today and then twisted her up and spun her around.  She loved it!  Please pray for this precious one!  The meaning of Ruth is “friend; companion”.