Miracle Calls - Sushi? - Ministering Adventure - Cultural Entertainment

A couple of months ago we were invited to join the weekly mission zoom meeting called "The Miracle Call". Everyone in the mission connects and then each zone and missionary has an opportunity to share a "Miracle", a tender mercy or an unexplainable event, recognizing the Hand of the Lord in our lives. Here's a small sample of what we heard.

It is amazing what we've heard these last several weeks. We can see the hand of God in our lives as well

Sister Martin preparing naan bread to feed the young missionaries.

 

You guessed it. I made curry chicken.

We showed them the church history video about the Gospel of Jesus Christ arriving to New Zealand.

Took this picture at church after the services finished. They asked Sister Martin and I to speak in church next week.

The next week we invited 2 members to join us with the young missionaries to make sushi together time but they didn't show up and missed out.

Elder Gomez from Australia had everything to make sushi. He even had Japanese Kewpie mayo. We didn't have fresh fish, so we used canned tuna.

Fun time and good food.

Sister Martin went all out and made chocolate cake served with whip cream. Not real whip cream, but a box mix she added milk to. 

Enjoying a good lunch with our senior couple friends, The Oba's. After a long, stressful drive to a meeting across town we decided to treat ourselves to a nice lunch. They offered a variety of salads, pastas, pizzas and even some curry chicken. Most decided to get one of the salads but what did I pick? You guessed it. The curry chicken with rice. It was Japanese style and was so good.  

Sister Martin went on a ministering adventure. After a van taxi ride at 5 birr (9 cents), and a Bajaj-three wheel taxi ride at 10 birr (18 cents) and a 5 minute walk up hill on a dirt road, she arrived to visit a single sister and her little boy. Sister Martin described their home like a lean-to for goats. Below is a picture showing most of the little place. Her little boy is sleeping on their only bed. Living conditions were definitely meager and in the survival category. The needs are great here in Ethiopia as many people struggle with employment and providing the basics like food. 

Shown here with the young Relief Society President who's been a member a little over a year and wants to help the sisters any way she can.

After the visit they returned the same way. It was a bumpy ride, so hard to take any clear pictures.

These 9 cents/ride van taxis often cram people in so tight others are sitting on top of you. Luckily that didn't happen to Sister Martin. 

 

Many of these taxis were made decades ago and somehow they keep them running.

New additions to Sister Martin's Primary class. Three of these little boys are not members, but they live nearby, so they sometimes come to church. Usually the oldest boy comes by himself and sits through Sacrament Meeting on the front row and then comes to Primary. He speaks a little English, which is nice for Sister Martin.  

We had a group of boys one week and the Primary President didn't come. Elder Gomez came in and translated for her. The boys enjoyed acting out the story of Nephi getting the Brass Plates from Laban.

And they love to color scripture story pages.

You may have noticed we skipped a week in publishing our blog. One of the biggest challenges in Ethiopia is Internet/wifi/power or the lack thereof. About a week and very little internet.

We went to an awesome Ethiopia cultural restaurant. We invited our Branch President to bring a girl and it would be our treat. We ended up having a great time and the entertainment was fantastic. 

He is also the one we call whenever we have an issue in the apartment. Of course that means he's over all the apartments in the mission. I told him he should probably turn his phone off for just a little while and he agreed.

They did these head, neck and shoulder dances that were incredible.