Well things around here have gotten busy!!

Some days even CRAZY!!!

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As my earlier post showed, Marshal and I have started language school.  With Marshal knowing some of the language already, and me knowing nothing besides bathroom and how to count to ten, I was a little apprehensive about how this was all going to go!  But I have surprised myself in how much I am enjoying learning Amharic, and it is fun to see the faces of the people light up when you can greet them in their own language!

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We have now finished three weeks and the first phase of language school.  For the first two and half weeks we weren’t allowed to talk, just listen, so now it has been fun in trying to actually say the words, and I will say our class has had MANY laughs at some of our attempts.  Marshal’s in a class with all girls who think he is just amazing because of his understanding of Amharic!! 🙂  And I’m in a class with all guys (how this happened I don’t know!!) all from different countries except one is from the states.  Two are studying for the bar, one’s a dentist, and the other’s a nurse.  Can we say smartie pants!  And then there’s me….a mom! 🙂  Not that I am complaining, I LOVE being a mom, but I am realizing how different we think!  The men seriously have to grammatically dissect every word and it’s tenses.  I’m just happy if I can remember the word!

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They are a joy to study with, though sometimes I just have to zone out all their questions!!   and I’m sure in the end they’ll have a better understanding of the language than I will!

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In our team’s ministry, we had some exciting things happen here this week!

For the last couple of days Heli mission has joined with CMF to reach some unreached people groups in North western Ethiopia.  Mostly this has allowed our nurse Allison Fowler to provide physical assistance to these areas, but they were also able to bring back a few tribe leaders for a church conference.

At the end of the church conference Allison, her husband Craig, along with other national leaders hosted a sports camp for the kids in the surrounding area.  This just ended yesterday, so I haven’t heard all the details, but was told it was a great success!

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After all this, Heli mission brought Allison and her three kids into Addis saving them from the (seriously) horrible rainy-season-mud-slide trip into town!  🙂

This means that, yes, a helicopter landed on our compound in Addis…

We were able to get there just in time (from language school and Danny from school) to watch it take off.

The kids LOVED it!!

(Marshal and I did too! 🙂 )

We are so enjoying our team, and the ministries we are now a part of!