Volunteer Program - Visits - Teddy Bear Bread - Visit Beautiful Ayat church - Following the Spirit

We had the opportunity to do some family home visits for the after school program that we sometimes volunteer teaching English called RealHumanitarian. This helps evaluate if the parents see benefits of their child attending the program.

When we entered their tiny mud wall or tin shack they invited us to sit down, which was usually the edge of their bed that they sleep on.

We ran into the father out on the street after we met with the mom and 2 children.

Questions were asked to the parents to see if they think the program is helping them in school. They all answered, "Yes."

Another question asked to the mom was, "What makes you happy?" One replied, "When I am able to feed my children every day." This kind of answer gives you a sense of the challenges faced here.

Another mother was asked, "What do you like most about the after school program?" She said, "My child gets a meal everyday."

One mother said she was sweeping streets for a meager wage, but that it helped her get free health insurance. Another mother said they had no health insurance and one of her children could not get the medical care they need. This program has doners that may help with some of these family needs.

Two of the three households we visited, the fathers were disabled and unemployed.

After the visits we attended a graduation for a few that were finishing and going on to Universities and other schools.

They each had an opportunity to speak about their experience attending the after school program.

They gave a few gifts such as travel suitcases.

And some bread. This is a cultural tradition.

We were invited over to visit some other friends.

Can you tell we had a good time.

They served some food and I asked where they cook it so they showed us.

 

Sister Martin made some banana cake. Many people like bananas as they are in abundance here.

Dinner and Singing with friends at the mission home. President and Sister Cowley have two of their children staying with them temporarily. 

Sister Martin and I were invited to visit some friends that were forced to move away during the city demolition and beautification project.

So she made some Teddy Bear Bread for the visit.

This little boy was in Sister Martin's Primary class. He now attends a different church branch.

They are a beautiful and fun family.

Sister Martin brought her fishing game that she made for the children in our church Primary. 

Of course Sister Martin lead us all to sing I am a Child of God.

After the visit we went to see the Tohiarikis. They asked me to help them book their flights home.

The children above that moved, now attend Sister Tohiariki's Primary class. She is showing Sister Martin her fun Primary room in the Ayat branch.

We were told this small church space is hardly big enough for all those attending here.

Beautiful church grounds and flowers.

After the visit to the Ayat branch, Elder and Sister Tohiariki took us all to lunch. Our driver, Abdi, joined us for all the fun.

Following the Spirit - It's so cool to see the hand of the Lord in our lives - Here's one example

For Sunday church, I'd planned what I thought would be a great lesson and discussion for Elders Quorum on Priesthood Blessings and Ordinances. The younger missionaries had confirmed with me that this kind of EQ lesson would help the newly ordained brothers learn a few details about their responsibilities. I selected parts from one my my favorite talks called, "Healing the Sick" by Dallin H. Oaks. 

I also selected training from the General Handbook of Instructions on Priesthood Ordinances, Consecrating Oil and Administering to the Sick. 

As I began the lesson, the Spirit prompted me to change most things and keep it more basic than I had planned. We had about 6 non-member friends attending that day and others that were not well read in the scriptures. 

Here are a few examples of what the Spirit led me to discuss: 

I started out by asking everyone if they could give examples in the New Testament of Jesus blessing the people? President Abayneh (visiting from the District Presidency) said Jesus blessed the children. Another said Jesus blessed and healed the sick. Another said Jesus blessed his 12 disciples to be the 12 Apostles. I mentioned the last super when Jesus broke bread for the sacrament. I brought up that all these are in His restored Church today. 

I was then prompted with a story I heard one of the young missionaries tell us about how one person they were teaching questioned the need for baptism when they had already been baptized in their previous church. We then discussed Priesthood authority and how anciently the Melchizedek Priesthood was called, "The Holy Priesthood After the Order of the Son of God."  

I then brought up that each Priesthood holder in our Church can trace their Priesthood Line of Authority back to Peter, James and John and Jesus Christ Himself. I took the opportunity to testify of this. 

We talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and specifically how I had felt the Spirit when I had participated in this ordinance in the past. We talked about a brother who was baptized the day before and was given the Gift of the Holy Ghost today. 

Much of these discussions were in Amharic language between different brethren, which was only partly translated to English for me. 

I think we discussed only 20% of the lesson I printed and handed out. I finished by telling everyone that when I was sick several months ago, 2 missionaries felt prompted by the Holy Ghost to come give me a blessing. I hadn't asked them but they came and gave me a blessing and I was feeling better by the next day. My sickness was off and on for several weeks before the blessing.

This gives an idea of what was discussed and I felt blessed to have been given these promptings. Even with all this I was concerned as I saw a couple of the attendees with perplexed looks. After, I talked with one of the young missionaries about my concerns. He told me one friend was not scared away and had confirmed his appointment with them later that day to continue learning the lessons.