Happy Birthday Sister Martin! - Ancient Rock-Hewn Church? - Last Amharic Class - Debre Zeit - Immigration - AJS - Welcome Duffys

 Today - Happy Birthday Sister Martin!

Since we came to Ethiopia, Sister Martin and I always wanted to visit the ancient rock-hewn churches in a place called Lalibela. Due to the civil unrest and battles going on in the Amhara and various regions of Ethiopia, we were never able to go. When we were visiting the Hilton hotel recently, there was a big mural of a rock-hewn church. So we grabbed this selfie. (Interestingly, the sunlight on my face is the same direction as the sunlight on the tree in the picture.)

Here's a copy of the latest battles map report that I refer to that is available online.

We had our final Amharic class with our teacher that we met online nearly 2 years ago.

We will miss her as we have had a lot of fun together learning a few words in the Amharic language. She also taught us cultural things and more. 

We decided to drive to Debre Zeit to visit the Branch and attend the meetings there. This was our first and last time attending this branch. Sister Martin and I were asked to give our testimonies and a few words. We saw returned missionaries, Elder Haile and Elder Bobo who lived upstairs from us when we lived near University Branch, but we didn't get any pictures. Elder Haile translated for us and Elder Bobo is the YSA representative.

While there, we stayed at a nice hotel called Kuriftu.

Beautiful grounds.

They had a water park connected to the property. It was complimentary for guests, but most of the slides were closed.

 

Sister Martin loves Plumeria tree's and was delighted to find so many of them on the grounds. 

We invited our District President and his wife for dinner. 

She brought her two week old baby boy. 

Does Sister Martin look happy holding him?

We enjoyed watching the birds and liked everything.....except for the mosquitoes.

We went to the immigration office to get our exit Visa since we are leaving to go home soon.  It is a long process! Other young missionaries are also preparing to finish their missions as well. Elder Muzahnje lived above us when we first arrived. We had to borrow their kitchen range as ours was not hooked up. 

Saying Goodbye is not as easy as saying hello to some of our cherished friends.

                       

     God be with you until we meet again.

We conducted our final AJS (Accelerated Job Search) and Education class for the soon to be returning home missionaries. They are all so great! We know as they continue trusting in God that he will bless them with their future success. 

Elder and Sister Slaugh joined us because they will continue teaching this class in the future.

Role plays...practicing the "Me in 30 Seconds"

Welcoming a new Senior couple to the group, Elder and Sister Duffy from Coeur d'Alene, ID.  Elder Duffy has a some jet lag.

Fun, shopping with the new seniors.

This store Bambi's has been recently remodeled. It has mostly imported goods. 

One of the great miracles from our weekly miracle call.