Ethiopia Update

When our friends returned from a trip to Ethiopia in June, we invited them over to hear about their experiences.  One experience they shared stuck with both of us - a visit to a ministry called Bring Love In.  Both Andy and I were captivated by the model this ministry was using:

Bring Love In is a community (not just an organization) that exists to show the love of God by giving families to children who have none.  We are based out of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where we couple orphans who are given to us by local authorities, and widows from within local Christian church communities, to create new forever families here in Ethiopia.

We discovered the founder of this ministry had written a book, and we both read it.  I started reading his blog. We began praying for them.  We both bought a t-shirt.  :)

A month later we made the decision to go to Ethiopia.  And even among all the upheaval and uncertainty, the one thing we knew was that we had to go visit Bring Love In.  

Two weeks ago, Andy sent an email to the founder of Bring Love In.   He explained that he was a dentist, that we'd be there for a week and would like to visit, and did he have any dental needs that Andy could possibly help with.

He wrote back the next day: "It just so happens that the very same week you are going to be there we will be hosting a dental team.  On Friday they will be seeing all of our children plus another 200 who we have arranged to come for dental care!"  He suggested we contact them and see if we could meet up with them.

Andy found the contact information for Ethiopia Smile and wrote a short message explaining  the situation.  The leader, Moody Alexander, emailed him right away saying he'd love for us to join them, and let's talk soon to see how to make that happen!

Ethiopia Smile was created after he and his wife made several trips to Ethiopia and witnessed the enormous dental needs there.  Ethiopia has a population of over 90 million people, and there are under 100 trained dentists for the whole country!!

Their mission is to take short-term trips and connect with ministries on the ground to provide free dental care to those who otherwise would have no access to it.  From their website: We will continue taking dental/medical trips to help ministries care for the physical needs of their people. We will continue to love and partner with the people of the remote village of Dube Bute in southern Ethiopia. We are looking into opportunities to help create a more permanent dental clinic in Addis Ababa, the opportunity to partner in the creation of a home for special needs orphans and are open to other doors the Lord will open.

  
Andy emailed back and forth a few times with Moody and then we had a conference call and started working out the details of how we could meet up with them. We are still in the process of solidifying our itinerary, but as of now the first part of the week we will be visiting some ministries our church has visited previously - Women At Risk (empowering former prostitutes), Embracing Hope (serving vulnerable children and orphans), and Bring Love In.  We will visit some orphanages.  Midweek we will meet up with Moody and his team and join them for two days in their clinic.  Andy will jump right in with the dental needs (extractions for people in pain) and I will be a "buddy."  

From their website: Keeping with the mission to love the people of Ethiopia as we felt Jesus would, we had a “buddy system” in place. Non-dental friends partner with a patient and walk them through the various stations as they receive treatment. Holding hands, rubbing their backs and stroking their hair broke down the language barrier and calmed their fears as most of them had never seen a dentist before. This gives me the chance to serve while Andy is providing the dental care. We are both really excited about this opportunity!!

The thing that gave us both chills was when Moody explained who they would be ministering to during those two days - Bring Love In (we knew), Women At Risk, and Embracing Hope - the SAME three ministries that we were interested in and had already planned on visiting!! In addition to that, Moody shared with us that they would be missing a dentist during those two days and could use Andy's help!

This seems to be the reason we haven't been able to make solid plans for our trip for the past few months.  It's been unsettling not knowing what is going on and watching as our plans changed constantly.  We see now that God was orchestrating the details for something we NEVER could've imagined or come up with ourselves.  We are in awe of the way He brought these details together!  

We're both still a combination of scared and excited.  We still have lots of planning and details to nail down before we go.  But our God has been faithful (in His own timing) and we are going to keep trusting Him as we move forward!  Thank you for your kind words and prayers and for all of you who have listened and gone out to lunch and called and emailed.  We are so grateful for your support and encouragement and we are looking forward to sharing more as it all unfolds!

~Katie

God said, "My Presence will go with you. I'll see the journey to the end."  Exodus 33:14