After a day of recovering from travel, our team started the day today by attending worship at St. Matthew’s Episcopal church.  While the service was conducted in English, those in attendance clearly hailed from all over the world.  I rejoiced to hear how clearly the priest delivered the gospel as he preached on the Transfiguration.  Whaddya know?  The gospel message is the same here as it is in the US.  The context, however, is drastically different.

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

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