Our First Full Day in Ethiopia

Today was our first full day in Addis. We both slept well last night, though we did wake up around 4am when the Muslim prayers began being played over the city speakers. These continued for a couple hours, so I don't think we ever really were able to go back to sleep. Around 8:30 am or so we went to the restaurant here in our hotel for breakfast. We ate with the Stager family from Washington. Zack had an omelet and I just had toast and jelly with tea.   At 10 am we all met in the lobby to go to church. Robel, our fantastic guide took us to his church, the International Evangelical Church (IEC). It was about 30 minutes from our hotel. The church building was a very nice facility. There were probably around 450 people there for service. The service was very much like what we would think of as a contemporary service, with a praise and worship team, drama, and a main message. The biggest difference in this service and what you would find in an America service (and much better in my opinion) was the amazing diversity! At one point, the praise team was made up of people from 7 different countries! Now that is how church should be! It was a beautiful picture of the body of Christ. We truly enjoyed the service and we were so thankful Robel took all of us.   Church lasted almost two hours, so after church it was time for lunch. We ate at the Lime Tree Restaurant. Zack and I shared a pizza- it was different than pizza in the US, but very, very good! Zack also tried a macchiato- I took a sip- it was very strong, even too strong for Zack's liking! But not bad….   After lunch we stopped at a small grocery store to stock up on bottled water as you CAN NOT even get a sip of the water here in your mouth! We also bought some juice- it is very good here!   One thing that really stands out to me about Ethiopia is the sheer amount of people that are always out and about and in the middle of the streets. The driving is probably like most foreign countries in terms of the chaos. What adds to it here is that people are always out in the streets! I thought we were going to hit them many times!   And our course, the poverty is immense, there are shacks made from tin and mud everywhere, and it is very common to see people just laying by the side of the roads. The saddest thing is to see the children everywhere- many will come up to your van when you are stopped and beg for whatever you will give them. It is very hard to tell them no. I can understand now how it would not be uncommon for someone to abandon a baby here- it is not like the USA. I am so thankful that we can help on child (Caleb) but it does break my heart as we can't help them all…..   So, tomorrow is the big day!! We are all so excited and many times throughout the day we have found ourselves talking about our children! We have all waited so long for this day, and it is going to be here in less than 24 hours! It still seems like it can't be real. Please continue to pray for us- we feel great, and so far show no signs of getting sick! Zack is a little more tired today and beginning to feel the altitude, but other than that, we are great! We know tomorrow will be an emotional day, so please pray for us and Caleb on that front too….Of course, we will try to post pictures asap, but the connection is very slow here…That's all for now!