Project Mercy 2012: November 2012

Welcome/Introduction

Welcome to the blog for our journey to Ethiopia. We are a team of 21 people from Northern California who will be heading to Project Mercy in Butajira, Ethiopia on October 20, 2012. We will spend nearly 2 weeks serving the community of Project Mercy by staffing pediatric medical clinics, providing surgical services, developing educational support for the students of the Project Mercy school, delivering public health education, and improving the infrastructure of the Project Mercy facilities.

Far beyond our desire to help with the physical needs of the community, we most want to come alongside our extended family at Project Mercy and extend the healing touch and love of Christ to those living in proximity to Project Mercy. We hope to do this by caring for each person as a beloved child of God, developing relationships, and being authentic followers of Jesus as we treat, share knowledge and live life together. Our hope is that the community sees Christ in us and that we are the aroma of Him to those who do not know his peace and love.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Made it Home!

Nov 4, 9:09am West Coast Time

2 weeks after leaving we returned home to SFO safe and sound....and with all our luggage!

We left Addis at 4:15pm on Friday afternoon and landed in Dubai. We had hotel rooms waiting for us and we set in for a 6 hour rest before flying again to SFO Saturday morning. It was a 15 hour flight - where we gained 12 hours thanks to the time change - and landed at 1:45pm yesterday.

We had a sweet time in the hallway outside the gate after having exited the plane and gave thanks to God for the time he gave us together and the safe travels.

Saying goodbye at baggage claim is always the most difficult time of the journey - you have to leave the people you've just experienced a formative 2 weeks with and reenter your typical world.

Our prayer is that we begin anew with a more mature perspective on how the Lord works in even what seems like the mundane stuff of life. We are thankful for his mercy, his protection, and his work in this world - of which we had the incredible opportunity to be witnesses and coworkers.

MVN

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Celebration PicturePalooza

November 1, 11:59pm

Today was a great day. We began with Ethiopian Zumba blasting downstairs! William Bordessa in particular was keen to participate at 0630 hours but was restrained by his self respect and lack of Spandex..

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast followed by a retreat session facilitated by Mary Ellen examining our motivations and assumptions surrounding short term missions.

In the afternoon, the majority of the team supported the local economy (read: shoppingpalooza) while others went to the UN to tour the facility.

On the way to dinner, we went to Tamoco coffee and bought 90kgs of dark roast Harar beans. (Coffee is one of the ways we know God loves us and wants us to be happy....)

We ended the day at Top View restaurant for a celebration dinner with several honored guests: Mimi, Amenti, Dr. Samson, Seble and Deme. It was a wonderful day - we are now settled back at the Red Cross Training center and getting ready for our final retreat session in the morning. After that, a big airplane heading to Dubai!

Here are a few pics from the last 24 hours: