I took the weekend off from writing so I want to share the past 2 days with you. We went to our first Ethiopian-English church service at Beza and loved every second. It felt like we were home with our church family at James River!!! The worship team lacked only one thing … our best “red headed” friend, Trevor Birch!!! Zoie even had children’s church and loved it! When the girls dropped her off, they said she started talking to the other children in English and they were talking to her in Amharic, but ended up just playing with each other. The teacher could speak both languages, so Zoie was blessed at church, too.
I bumped right into one of my favorite boys, B who formerly lived on the streets at the Post Office (shopping area) He was clean and happy and worshiping the Lord with the P61 leaders! The last time I saw him a year ago, he was running away from the boarding school at Shashamene and almost hit by a truck. He fully rejected the free gift of education and I was heartbroken for him. Today, I told him how proud I was that he made a great choice and could see how much his heart had changed!! I love that God will always give us a second chance. Roger also met an old friend from the Post Office formerly living on the streets without hope. The woman he fed four years ago and every year he came back with teams was standing behind us with her 3 year old son. She almost fell out of her seat when her eyes saw Roger. After the service, she told him she had a job and was providing a home and food for her son now. We still have no idea why she was there on Sunday at the English service, but it was a God moment for sure!!
We spent the rest of the day with our new friends at EGH going out to lunch and picking up Mercy at Korah for her sleepover with our family.
Mercy did not get her medical visa on Monday. They allowed both Roger and I to go with Mercy to the scheduled appointment. I was a nervous wreck, but Mercy told me she was not nervous at all. Your prayers definitely touched Mercy’s heart. It was difficult watching people go up to the window with big dreams of going to the USA and then hearing “denied.” One man was so irrate, they had to call security. His spirit was broken. The officers behind the window truly hold all the power in 2 simple words … YES OR NO!! Here’s the funny part of our story. When we climbed to the top of Entoto Mt in Addis, we bumped into 3 American women. We started chatting and they remembered seeing us at the Hilton on our first dinner out. They told us they all worked for the US Embassy issuing visas and sure enough they were the faces behind the window on Monday morning. The gal with brown hair actually denied 2 of my good Ethiopian friends their visas, so I joked with them on Entoto and said … “I hope you will give us our visa on Monday” She smiled and told us if we had all the correct documentation there shouldn’t be a problem. She did smile at me when we walked by her station (whew!)
When it was our turn, my heart was pounding. We ended up sitting with my friends, Sumer Yates and Denea. They were also there helping two P61 boys get their travel visas (they were approved!!!!!) When Mercy’s name was called, we headed for window #10 and smiled at our new friend from Entoto Mt. For our case, the US Embassy needed 2 more documents … a letter from mother, Mulu stating she grants her consent for Mercy to travel to the United States and the letter from Mercy Hospital in Springfield, MO that is taking care of all her medical needs. We will go back on Wednesday with renewed hope and more paperwork!!
Please pray for our family and the favor from US Embassy with Mercy’s case on Wednesday, June 27th at 8am. As soon as we have the medical visa in hand, we will PARTY with you and need your help raising the $5,000 to buy her flights to the USA and living expenses!! We are so grateful to have your help and appreciate your support and prayers! You can donate to OPERATION: MERCY on the top right side of the blog. Every penny you donate will be used to care for Mercy’s needs.
What is one word of hope you can leave Mercy today? I will read all your comments to her personally!!!
