So teach us to number our days 
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love, 
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 
Make us glad as many days as thou hast afflicted us, 
and as many years as we have seen evil. 
Let thy work be manifest to thy servants, 
and thy glorious power to their children. 
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, 
and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, 
yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.  

Psalm 90:11-17

A hymn: Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus

Read to the end – it’s not all ho-hum (and I’m not going to spoil it here)! 

Sunday, Oct. 4: I attended church twice. First, Hussein* and I went to a congregation where a lot of ex-patriots (non-Ethiopians) go. As a litmus test to know the covid situation here, I emailed them the week before leaving the US to ask if they were having services yet, and they said this would be their first Sunday with regular, in-person services again. Lunch was with Hussein & Hawa in their home - a privilege and delight.

This Sunday I missed listening in to the service I normally attend in the States, but each Sunday since have listened in via WhatsApp. Being seven hours ahead, it’s a very comfortable 4pm for me to listen in.

Thurs., Oct. 8: was the first birthday greeting back to one of the children in the congregation I attend (Hi Salome!).

Sun. & Mon., Oct. 11 & 12: Attended the same congregation as last week, with Hussein, and lunch at their place again. Because of not being formally aligned with any organization here and wanting to at least be known, I reached out to the junior pastor, an Ethiopian, to ask if we could meet and get acquainted, which we did the next day. It was a vigorous meeting, and after 20 minutes he asked if I would be open to a 5 minute meeting with the senior pastor. We went to his office, and the three of us talked for another 45-50 minutes. It’s clear there was interest in both my story and my presence in Ethiopia. At least I was making connections, though cautiously so on my part.

Wed. Oct. 14: I was invited to supper at the home of the director of SIM-Ethiopia, who lives at the SIM-Press compound, a 20 minute walk down the mountain. A very pleasant contact, and one that begins to make linkages with specific personnel, which may become valuable if future work among Somalis develops.

Thurs. Oct. 15: Supper with the senior minister who I met on Monday, and his wife, at their invitation. Another lovely evening, with a lot of discussion. He directly asked, and suggested, various ministries/ outreaches I might be involved in through their congregation (I slowed things down a bit – I need some time to test this further, to take one step at a time). For my part, I asked if the congregation, to the extent of his knowledge, has ever had serious, extended revival? Though sharing of personal experience with revival, he didn’t know that it had, but this expressed my frame of reference and reached beyond the immediacies of the moment to involve core, foundational concerns.

Sat. Oct. 17: Early on I noticed a Pizza Hut (and a Cold Stone Creamery beside it), so thought I’d try a small pizza while looking for a grocery store for some goodies. At Pizza Hut there were two families from the US Embassy – they were just coming out of covid quarantine, and were taking their young children out for a celebration. The real “biggie” though was what happened when I got back to the Guest House ...

For supper, the hostess wondered if I’d eat with them, but that it would be at least an hour later – I said “Fine.” What she didn’t tell me is they had invited a lot of people from their church cluster for a wedding celebration and feast. Someone from the group is living in Colorado and was getting married there, and this was to celebrate synchronously (at the exact same time) with people here. It was an incredible evening of “real Ethiopia” – I was the only foreigner, and everything was per Ethiopian custom, with all the conversation in Amharic.* The food was great – injera* with lamb stew and a ground beef dish, and sodas. After the meal several people spoke: one had a lengthy, original poem of well wishes for the couple getting married, and a wise church elder had been asked to give words of admonition to the many young people there. I later asked later him what he said (I could follow a bit, but it was clear I was missing a lot) – it was an excellent admonition to the young about navigating the path to marriage, taken from the account of Abraham sending Eleazar to find a wife for Isaac.

Sun. Oct 18: Church was at the same place as the last two Sundays (I’ll change next week), and lunch with Hussein & Hawa again. But there was another “event.” The guest house where I’m at is nice, and very compatible with most Western standards (it was built to service Westerners coming to adopt Ethiopian children). Water for the shower is heated by an electric element in the showerhead itself. I proceeded to shower, and on getting out and turning the water off, it immediately began to pour out hot steam, and sounded like there was a short it the shower-head. A bit later there were two bursts of light in the shower-head (it was plastic, so was translucent). I don’t know if electric was coming out through the steam, but by the grace of God, I was out and spared being shocked, or worse. My mother, in our Somalia days, was severely shocked while washing clothes, that our family doesn’t need any more water-with-electric stories. God was good – I was spared, for which I am very thankful!

The part not included in the daily log above is that my graduate classes have been very heavy. The content has been excellent, but I lost most of September that I’m catching up, I’m used to giving homework, not getting it, and I’m going “cross discipline” (from music education to apologetics) that the load is quite heavy. I’ve taken an extension for the one class and dropped another until things find their way better. Excellent classes, but the work is extensive.

All for now. Posts will be getting shorter as I catch up, but more next week!

____________________ 

* See the Glossary for various names, places, and terms used in the blog.