'Travel Logs' Tagged Posts

We are back in Addis Ababa, grateful for a safe arrival to the big city. Before we left Hosanna today, I was thinking about Paul’s mission to the Gentiles as he describes it in Ephesians 3. A phrase in verse 8 was especially meaningful: “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” It’s that phrase “the unsearchable riches of Christ” that struck…

Thank you for praying for our first weekend of ministry in Gohatsion. We are tired, yet happy to be back in Addis Ababa for a night of rest. However, we hit the road again tomorrow for a ministry trip to Hosanna. Usually our ministry trips are spread out, but not this time! We’ll be back in Addis Thursday night. Here are some random happenings from the past few days: We traveled the 186 kilometers to Gohatsion and back to Addis…

Below are four reports Jim sent while on a two-week trip to Indonesia. Please pray now for CCW workers Steve Burchett and Selamab Assefa who have arrived in Ethiopia for ministry in several locations over the next couple of weeks. Report 1 It’s 4:30 a.m. and we just heard the Muslim call to prayer from the minarets across this part of Bandung, where the people live in darkness. We thought of the demons hovering over the city as we listened…

We never should have been passing that big truck. Our driver knows that, now. We were traveling north of Addis Ababa, on an incline, and a sharp right curve was ahead. As we approached the curve, our driver moved out into the passing lane (far too common in Ethiopia). Selamab and I were so deep in conversation that we barely noticed, though I recall mumbling, “Hold on, I hope we’re okay on this curve”—or something like that. I should have been yelling,…

“For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.” (Psalm 135:5-7) Selamab and I thought we (along with Betty and Jonathan) would be leaving America on Tuesday, but…

This month, God gave us the incredible opportunity of spending a month in Rome in order to take a 3-week intensive (and by intensive we mean very intensive!) spoken biblical Greek class. Everyone gives us funny looks when we say we came to Italy to learn Greek, but there happens to be an institute here that we took a class with in Jerusalem which teaches ancient Greek as a living language. It was a lot of work, but we could…

Congratulations. You are now reading the very last of our updates from Jerusalem. Why? You guessed it! We are leaving Jerusalem. I’ve finished my studies here at JUC and we’ve decided to set sail for home. For a long time, we had considered staying an extra year or half-year in order to study some more, but as things stand now, we feel that there are better opportunities for God to use us in Kansas City. We actually leave in less…

Below are a few points from life here. But, the most important comes first: Beautiful, sunny, 70 degree weather. With flowers included. That means more picnics, more studying outside, more walks with friends, just all around more goodness. Other than the weather, life carries on as normal, except for a few changes. Bryan’s parents, sister, and 4 good friends from our church in Kansas City are here!! (Ok, actually this is the most exciting point.) They are doing a 2…

We walked to church last night, with plastic bags over our shoes. When we arrived, we found something missing from the picture. People. Well, there were two people. They also had plastic bags over their shoes. Aside from these two, pretty much all that we could see was the 15 inches of snow blanketing Jerusalem. Clearly church was cancelled. As we slogged back home, nodding to the few other pedestrians on the road, our hearts were filled with grim solidarity…

“You know what I love about living here?” These were the first words I heard from Bryan’s mouth this morning. I peeked my head into our tiny bathroom area where Bryan was carrying out his morning bug massacre to hear his answer. “I love how many problems we have here. It’s great.” You might think this answer sounded Pollyannish, but I understood exactly what he meant. Of course, unlike our escalating bug problem, a few weightier ones we’ve been dealing…

I just finished an outstanding lunch at the missionary guesthouse—mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, dressing, chicken, and a unique salad that included bananas. It was like Thanksgiving in Ethiopia! Not surprisingly, the attendance at this lunch was higher than most days. We hope the people we served in Hosanna this past weekend enjoyed the food for the soul that we gave them. Our plan is so simple: teach the Bible. What else do they ultimately need? And what else has God…

While driving back from a weekend of ministry in a town called Goha Tsion, we learned from a church planter with us that just yesterday (Sunday) a mini-bus crashed into another vehicle on the same route we were taking. 13 people died and 4 are in critical condition. I was able to get a picture of the vehicles as we drove by, although the picture doesn’t illustrate just how devastating the crash really was. It was a reminder to us…

Elliff October Update You know the feeling. You stop paying much attention to the paths you walk (or drive) every day, you go to the same stores and buy the same foods, you see the same people and grow to enjoy their company . . . it’s the feeling of settling in. Though surprises still often tap us on the shoulder, this welcome feeling has been growing in us this last month. Lately we’ve found that a good way to…

“Hello, hello.” “Excuse me, please come in.” To the thousands of tourists swarming through Old City Jerusalem every day, these words, spoken in heavy accents by every Arab shopkeeper lining the narrow streets, may seem endearing and inviting. But now we hear them multiple times a day, on our way to school, on our way to work, everywhere we go. They’re almost offensive to us now, because although we look like every other tourist passing by, the Old City is…