Robert Taylor, a deacon at Abbott Memorial, traveled to Ethiopia for the first time this February. He has offered some reflections on his trip:

I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to go on the most recent trip to Ethiopia. I knew that it was going to be a challenging time for me, not only being away from my family for two weeks, but knowing the conditions under which the people we were going to serve were living. After we adjusted to the new environment and time zone, we really started getting to know the beneficiaries and providing them the help they needed. I was immediately blown away by their amazing outlook on life, regardless of the conditions around them, and it opened my eyes to the many gifts I have been blessed with in my own life.

. I am inspired by the people I met that have put their trust and faith in God and hope that I can continue to be a witness to His unfailing love.

Julius Fisher

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Rob Taylor

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Joyce

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Arch

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Paul

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David and Rob napping

Rose in Triage

Mark cutting paper dolls

I love watching Rose Rode as she greets the beneficiaries with whom she has become good friends over the years she has been coming to Addis.  Just this morning she saw Yerusalem for the first time this trip and they embraced and talked like the old friends they have become.  She is such an integral part of the work here as she is familiar with the inner workings of the project and can answer almost any question that comes up during the course of the day.  She handles each patient she sees in triage with compassion and kindness and she is loved by everyone here.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to not have her here on a team.

Mark Renner has also become an almost permanent fixture with our medical teams.  He is so at home here with the project that I wouldn’t be surprised if they make him an honorary Habisha (Ethiopian).  He loves the kids and they love him.  He is always drawing pictures, cutting out paper dolls, playing games and entertaining the children while their parents see the medical staff.  He, too, is a tremendous help because of his knowledge of Ethiopia, the project and what is most helpful to keep things running smoothly during the day.  He is happy to do kids ministry, home renovation, lead a support group or do a home visit, and whatever he is doing, there is always a huge smile on his face.

I can remember back in October when Andy & Bev visited Abbott and did a presentation on the project in the young adult Sunday School class.  Almost immediately Rob Taylor came to me and asked if he could come on the next team.  Of course, I said yes and was so excited by his excitement about coming.  He has been a joy to watch as he has soaked up every sight, sound and smell of Addis.  He is our resident renovation specialist, going to the homes of beneficiaries and making helpful repairs.  It is also so encouraging to see him learning and growing.  He is stepping outside his comfort zone in other ways and has volunteered to lead our team devotions on Wednesday.  I am really looking forward to that.

Julius Fischer and I have been partners in ministry for over ten years now.  We have been so blessed by both our friendship and our working relationship.  Julius has always stayed at home and held down the fort on my previous trips, but now it’s his turn to experience first hand the work here in Addis.  He has been good to step in wherever needed, but his forte, of course, is and always will be music.  Besides the previously mentioned “knuckle song”, he will now forever be know for “the hokey pokey” and “the chicken dance” songs as well.  This morning we had staff devotions with the team and the Ethiopian staff (there were about 50 of us in attendance) and it was such a joy for me to watch him at the keyboard leading us all in worship.  He has such a tender heart and genuinely engages with every person he meets.

As you know, I usually have one of my own children here with me, but 2010 is a gap year and I have been very grateful that my “nephew”, David Arnold is here with me.  David is an outstanding young man. He is a senior at Mt. St. Joseph High School and has already accepted an appointment to the United States Naval Academy where he will join Arny & Archie this summer.  David is a great athlete (he was named the Baltimore Sun’s high school soccer player of the year this fall) and he has been conducting soccer clinics almost every day with the children in the project.  He, too, has been willing to step in wherever needed, whether in clinic or home renovation. 

I did bring family members with me though.  It has been fun having my dad, “the real Pastor Warren”, and my mom with us.  They have both been teaching and leading support groups.  I was especially proud of them this weekend as they trekked up and down the hills of Lalibela on our tour of the historic rock-hewn churches, something that some much younger people have not been able to conquer on previous trips. 

As you can see, God is working through our church and through the generosity of all of you that have contributed to our coming here.  I frequently sit in a beneficiary’s home and tell them about Abbott Church and the people there that are praying for them.  They always ask that I send you their thanks and their love in return.  I remember Joe Kelly’s line from his time here – “From Abbott to Addis”  . . .

With love and gratitude to God for all of you,

Your pastor, 

-Paul

Last year, I met Estaphano, a HIV positive child who has a significant hearing loss.  In order for him to communicate, he uses some mixture of American Sign Language and some of his own “made-up” sign language.  Tuesday afternoon, Estaphano came to the project office and I played Keep Away with him and tossed an American football.  I asked Estaphano if he would like to hear, and he raised his eyebrows and nodded.  I was able to bring several power, non-digital hearing aids with me and was able to fit Estaphano with hearing aids for both of his ears.  When I put both of the hearing aids on him, he was able to hear sounds for the first time!  His face was filled with excitement and joy and he didn’t want to take the hearing aids off.  Several people on staff for the project began calling his name, but he didn’t respond.  Estaphano does not know what his name sounds like; it has no meaning to him.  He is going to have to learn what sounds are and put meaning to those sounds.   Often, typical hearing individuals take hearing sounds such as the noise of flip flops, shoes walking on the floor, the hum of a refrigerator, horns honking, music playing,rain hitting a roof, children laughing, and someone saying “I love you” for granted.  It is going to be exhilarating to see and watch Estaphano learn these sounds and for him to hopefully produce words.

—Audrey Morrison

As usual, our primary focus has been on medical care.  The clinic yesterday was held at the project office in Lideta and was for the beneficiaries of the project.  Our four doctors – Dr. Charles Kennedy of Rochester, Minnesota, Dr. Rob Balbis of Gainesville, Florida, Dr. Dave Fregeau of Spokane, Washington and Dr. Karen Davis of Columbia, Tennessee – all saw a steady stream of patients throughout the day.  I always tell our doctors to be prepared for anything and yesterday was no exception.  Most of the beneficiaries are women and so we were especially excited to have Dr. Davis on the team since she is an OBGYN.  However, the very first patient that Dr. Davis saw was a man and she was able to diagnose a case of testicular cancer.  Our nurses, Rose Rode and Amy Rose stayed busy all day doing triage and running the pharmacy.

We have also been focusing on doing renovations for some of the beneficiaries’ homes. Rob Taylor from Abbott and Jerod Hugghins from Resurrection Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, NY have been getting very dirty fixing roofs, pouring concrete floors and anything else that is needed.

Julius Fischer and Mark Renner have been doing home visits and working with the children’s groups.  Mark is an artist and has been

teaching art and Julius has been teaching songs and giving simple piano lessons on the portable keyboard to some of the kids.  He announced yesterday that his new claim to fame is introducing “The Knuckle Song” to Ethiopia.  David Arnold, my “fake nephew” has been doing a great job with the children’s groups as well.  It was fun watching him lead about 30 young girls in a game of “David Says” (think “Simon Says”). He is also doing soccer clinics and yesterday had about 35 boys playing together at IEC, the International Evangelical Church.  This afternoon he is doing another clinic for the boys in our Bole project.

One of our returning team members is Audrey Morrison, a pediatric audiologist from Brooklyn, NY.  Audrey brought some hearing aids with her and one of the highlights of  yesterday for me was watching her fit Estefo with a hearing aid and seeing the expression on his face as he began to hear sounds.

This team has more pastors than any team we have had before.  There are four of us – the real pastor Warren, recently retired from Zion Presbyterian in Columbia, Tennessee, Chris Hildebrand from the Brooklyn Presbyterian Church, Tommy Allen from First Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Renton, Washington (Tommy is blogging about our trip here – http://soulhacks.wordpress.com/ ) and myself.  We have been leading community Bible Studies, facilitating group pastoral counseling sessions in beneficiaries’ homes, leading team and staff devotions and preparing for a pastoral training conference that we will be conducting later this week.  My mother has also been involved in leading women’s groups and girls’ groups and making home visits.

Today our medical staff is conducting a clinic at IEC.  Dr. Davis was able to go this morning to the Fistula Hospital to see the campus and observe the work of Dr. Catherine Hamlin.  The Fistula Hospital has become world renowned in part because of Oprah Winfrey promoting the hospital on her show.  (See more here - http://www.fistulafoundation.org/hospital/history/hospitalriver.html )

Continue to pray for us and the work we are privileged to be doing here.  Pray for our health (so far everyone has stayed very healthy with only a small exception – nothing a little Pepto Bismol can’t handle though).  We thank God for the opportunity we have to be a part of this exciting work.

–
Paul Warren
Pastor
Abbott Memorial

Riding through Addis, on the way to church, one can’t help but be struck by the difference in standards of living between those here and those in the US.  At first glance, I wonder what many of the folks here would do for housing if it weren’t for sheets of corrugated steel.  Added to this, much of the city smells like what the sophisticates of Seattle would call a “transfer station.”  As a kid in Florida, we called it “the dump.”

After church, I sat with the medical team as they listened to a briefing from one of the full-time nurse practitioners here.  Basically, the ministry here cares, completely, for around 500 beneficiaries (patients) and their families.  When you include the families the missionaries here care for about 2500 folks.  What that means is that if one of the adults in a family is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, the full-time team here, working with the government, provides not only medical care, but basic housing and food.  Added to this, all of their children are also provided an education.  One thing that enables them to provide this level of care is the fact that 8-10 teams like the one I’m one come here to serve each year.

Besides providing ongoing medical care, the visiting teams do home visitation and clinics for the community.  The pastors on the trip talk with and pray for the patients as well as doing anything else needed to be done—emphasis on anything.

Finally, I spoke with Michael Madany this morning.  A week from Tuesday, I’ll be teaching for him and his ministry’s radio staff—predominantly Somali.  He told me this morning that, after the incidents of 1993, “Ranger” is a household word for the Somalis and, for the most part, well-respected.  If you’re not familiar with what happened between Rangers and Somalis in 1993, read the book or watch the movie Blackhawk Down.  And then pray for me.

In His grip,

Tommy Allen, Seattle, WA