Wrap up for Teacher Trainining in Sendafa, Ethiopia

(7/17) We wrapped up 3 days of Teacher Training in Sendafa. I can not begin to tell you how I see God's hand in this whole orchestration of events.  I had coffee many months ago with a local Ethiopian who's NGO we worked with in Ethiopia last year.  He connected us to the Center for Child Development.  They did not comprehend what it was we did but were trusting their friends' referal.  He told me that the training they received filled a gap that they were missing.  They were trying to figure out how to nurture creativity in the kids but they themselves were not taught how.  The story telling and props were so complimentary to their own program.  The trainees also asked losts of questions on discipline, personalities, etc.  The fruit of this training is like that of a new level.  These trainees will go on to train others.
Let me tell you a bit about the facility.  Those that attended received diplomas from an 18 month program through the Center for Child Development.  The training is funded by Compassion.  May times these are children that were raised by the aid of Compassion and want to give back,  It is pretty incredible.
We are in the process of working with the center to form a partnership.  If you are considering a trip you might want to pray about Ethiopia next year=-)

Training in Sendafa

(7/15) I write this update Wednesday in the wee hours of the morning with the howls of the hyenas in the back ground. 
Fifty5five teams (Kenyan and US) are reunited. Thank you for your prayers. We all arrived safely on Tuesday.
We are very excited to see the Lord work. We had originally intended to go to Tanzania as well as Ethiopia. But, the Lord had different plans for us. It is beautiful to see His plan carried out. Our Kenyan Team will finish their training with us and will take over training in Kenya and maybe more. Liston is a great man of prayer and faith. I feel confident God will use him and his/His team in a mighty way. Thank you to Oak Ave Church for their contribution that helped make it possible for them to travel and meet us.
I'd like to introduce our team.  Our Kenyan Team is Bishop Liston, Sophia, Mary, and Seth. This will be Liston's 5th time with us. Two of those he coordinated the training. The others have attended 2-3 times.  They are all from Kissii.
Our American Team consists of Becky Jo and Linda who are the primary trainers. Bob who's primary duties are to video the training to allow us to get the training to those who we cannot travel to for safety reasons and to leave as a training tool for those we do train. LaVon is part of the core team. She'll be working closely with our Kenyan teams on prep work as well as numerous parts of training. She helps it run like a well oiled machine. Lastly myself, Theresa. I have the privilege of coordinating the trip and the details that come with it. Thank you to all those who support our fundraisers and individual contributions. Thank you to our families at Touchstone Christian Fellowship, Warehouse of Elk Grove, and Lakeside who are instrumental in supporting us. 
Our loved ones make a huge sacrifice supporting us as we travel abroad a couple times a year. For those who have loved ones on the trip please know we are having phone issues but may have wifi. So an emails may reach them. As awesome as it is to unplug it is also valuable to get encouragement from home.
Thank you all for your prayer support.  You are the backbone of this ministry.
Please pray for the teacher training over the next 3 days.

Day 1 Teacher Training

(From 7/16) Training was wonderful. The Center for Child Development brought in their degreed teacher trainers. They will then take the training and teach others.
The people were immediately engaging and animated.
Many are video recording the training. This is confirmation that a video to leave with them is important  (that is what Bob is doing).
The coordinator shared that they do not use props. They also do not nurture creativity and that is their goal. They were so excited to see the storytelling with props. 
Everyone is doing well. Maybe a little sleep deprived but not complaining. The accommodation are missionary top notch. We are housed onsite. It's lovely to save on travel time.

No New Info

Just in case you were wondering, I have had no additional information to post.  Both Jeff and Mike had heard from Lavon and Theresa so they know they are safe.  Please continue to pray for endurance, sleep and an out pouring of the Holy Spirit. 

Texts from Theresa

VBS today and tomorrow.  Over 200 kids.  It rained so hard!

Tuesday a spontaneous 1/2 day teacher training in Addis.

Text from Sendafa

Theresa was able to get a few texts through today.  They are in a remote location called Sendafa. Wonder if it means send-them-far? : )  Probably not but it kind of makes it easier to remember the name when you pray for them there.  They had no real communication abilities for several days and currently it is very limited.

Here are the texts I got:
Teacher training was amazing.  We taught at the teacher training center.  Everyone is healthy (some sleep deprived).

1 prep day.  VBS Sun Mon and a 1 day teacher training then the Kenyan Team will do a practical.  Very fruitful trip.

Town was an interesting journey.  Horse and cart, public transit (van stuffed with locals) another van, and a taxi....ONE WAY!

Please keep the team in prayer for endurance and SLEEP!

Brief update from here at home

Not sure how much connectivity the team has but Lavon was able to get a text through to her husband who shared with us so I am just putting in a brief update but am not the author of the blog.  They are on day 2 of teacher training and it sounds like it may be cold.  They have hot water and are getting 3 meals a day (yay).  I am sure Theresa will post an update when she is able.  ~ Patty H