Long time blog readers will remember that about a year and a half ago I traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a team of around 20 NCCers to work with an outreach to a community of AIDS victims called the Entoto Project, which was started by some folks at NCC’s sister church, Beza International Ministries. In the time since Adam Taylor, another NCCer who went to Ethiopia on a short-term mission trip, has relocated to Addis to work with a different Beza outreach called Change Ministry.
Adam and the other folks from Change Ministry were instrumental in getting 22 adolescent boys off the streets and into school. They also provide teaching and tutoring for the boys. Basically, the Change Ministry staff and volunteers are their surrogate parents.
I’ve been acquainted with Adam for a few years and have the priveledge of leading another team of seven people from NCC to Addis for eight days to work with and support him. In fact, I’m writing this from the plane on the way there.
The trip came together on pretty short notice. NCC’s missions year runs from August to August, meaning that the trip was announced in August, our commitment meeting took place in mid-September, and here we are on the plane at the end of October.
It was a bit hectic getting things together in six weeks, but then, the last trip I was on seemed hectic and we had six months to prepare. In fact, I kinda like the shorter time frame. I’m convinced preparation for something like this will fill all of the time you have, be it six weeks or six months, and I don’t think you’re necessarily more prepared if you take six months.
Anyway, I’m excited about the team God has brought together for this trip. We’ve got an Air Force logistics officer, a consular officer from New Zealand, a culinary expert, a child psychologist, a social worker, a youth worker, and a pastor (that’s me). Each of these people has very different reasons for coming on this trip, and I think God has them here for very unique reasons. I’m looking forward to hearing the stories of how he moves in the lives of this team.
I plan to post updates here throughout the week, so be sure to check back often!
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