Greetings from Ethiopia,
For those who enjoy the quick summary of the day I have chosen to give you the option to stop reading at the end of the two paragraphs and then to choose to either continue reading, save the rest for later, or leave for someone else to read - your choice.
It is with great pleasure and honor to write the blog entry for the day. We are still doing well and continuing to be blessed by the people here. Saturday night we concluded with a fun game of “Fictionary”. The owner of the guesthouse, Ray, joined our group, adding an excellent addition to the game (it was actually his idea to play). In the game each person takes turns picking an obscure word from the dictionary. Then each person has to write a definition of what the word is. The person picking the word writes down the actual definition and then everyone tries to guess the correct definition. I highly recommend it to anyone, not simply because I am a school teacher, but it is quite entertaining to listen to what people come up with. If you haven’t noticed already, our blog has an interactive theme going. I hope all of you have taken the time to answer the dessert question. In true form, below you will find a few of the words from Saturday nights “Fictionary” for you to try and figure out the real definition amongst the fake ones. Give yourself one point for guessing the correct answer. This will have to be based on the honor system, trusting people will not look up the definition until after trying. Please reply back with your total score. I am sure we can find some kind of prize for the winner. But, I don’t want to promise what I don’t have (that is one of the original Viking codes-good code).
Ask Susan for your prize when she gets back.
In case you were wondering, because I know there are some inquisitive minds out there (especially if they are reading this blog), we will actually start our ministry tomorrow. I assure you that you haven’t supported us to come to Ethiopia to simply play games and tour the city. At the International Church today there was a guest speaker who had spent 15 years as a missionary in Ethiopia. He spoke from the passage in Isaiah, 11:1-10. He made the parallel between the contextual situation of Israel and the current situation of the world. Both the Israelites and our current world seem to be on a downward trajectory with no apparent hope. Yet, Isaiah offered hope to the people reminding them that out of the stump of Jesse a root will grow and out of that a branch will grow. Even though it may look bleak, there is hope in God who fulfills his promise. Isaiah was giving them hope of a savior who will come giving perfect justice, peace, and righteousness. Similarly, we have hope that Jesus will return again, restoring justice in our world. Thus, just like Isaiah giving hope to the people of Israel, we too have hope in this passage waiting for the return of Jesus. After church today we gathered all of our school supplies and organized them and started planning for the coming week. We were initially supposed to start working at a school but their exams haven’t finished yet. Tomorrow half of us will be going to Hope Enterprises morning feeding program and serve the children food and then have a quick English lesson. Erstwhile, the other half will go to a vocational program where they teach men and women woodworking skills. There we will be building relationships with the workers, have them show us what they are learning, and help them with various needs they might have in English. In the afternoon, those at the feeding program will go to the wood working place and the rest will go to another vocational program that works with women in ceramics. We will be doing similar work at the ceramics shop as the woodworking shop.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers. God Bless. Below you find the interactive portion of the blog and additional highlights
Stephen (Karen, Susan, Victoria, Katie, Joe, and Josh)
Additional Highlights:
Cutest little boy in a suit at church today - the girls were quite smitten with him
Met some people at church today and had dinner with them
Ate at an authentic Ethiopian Tex Mex restaurant for lunch
Discovered “Coke-Floats” - basically “Rootbeer-Floats” but with coke. For the die hard traditional Rootbeer-Float drinkers you will be mildly disappointed by the taste; but quite good for the novice drinker
Another discovery: unsure if salsa is edible for North American stomachs, but the guacamole is fantastic
Today we watch a video shown to us by a pastor from Dallas about the revival happening in Fiji - “Let the Sea Resound” - it is an amazing story about what God will do when his people respond.
Interactive Blog - Whoa!
Word of the Day Game:
The last two days a few of us have tried to incorporate a word that doesn’t seem to be heard very much any more in everyday language. We are trying to bring back these words and expand are ever decreasing lexicon despite the ever increasing amounts of words found in the dictionary. Try to the find yesterday and today’s word in the blog and reply back - give yourself a million points for finding them or a pat on the back from us - again, we like to give people options, or ask Susan for a prize.
FICTIONARY
Such a game demands to be completely capitalized. Enjoy and remember the honor system.
A. Ostracod
1. a dolphin that has been ostracized from its pod due to engaging in playful activities with humans.
2. the pile of ashes left at the scene of an arson fire.
3. the offspring of an octopus and a cephalopod.
4. a fish that has been banished.
5. completely removing oneself from society.
6. a person whose is an outcast from the community group.
7. a minute fresh water crustacean with a carapace.
8. a feline with a binary uterus.
B. Ultravirus
1. a disease carrying parasite that makes humans glow when exposed to light
2. a filterable virus
3. an easily transmitted disease with no known cure.
4. a theoretical virus created from the overuse of the antibiotic agent triclosan
5. a comic book villain infamous for spreading disease among unsuspecting civilians - arch nemesis of the Superhero Ultra-vaccine.
6. a plant disease discovered by the French biologist Surivart Lu.
7. a general term doctors use to describe an internal disease.
8. a virus whose form has mutated to such an extent making it impervious to treatment.
C. Decuple
1. the ability of a plant to flower annually.
2. a ten hour session of time.
3. tentimes; tenfold.
4. the segregation of two teams in a sporting event.
5. a common word in Canada used to describe a pair of animals; ex: Did you see decuple of geese-eh?
6. the tenth rib protrusion from the thoraxial cage.
7. the act of separating one railcar from another.
8. to break apart from a political party.
D. Eisteddfod
1. an object used in South American religious ceremonies; often considered sacred.
2. a traditional harvesting tool used by the Aborigines.
3. the harsh corrosive ester CH2Si3O, as used in chromate coating on metals.
4. a type of food developed by traveling Romanian circus groups.
5. a small deep water ocean fish dependent on iridescence for navigation.
6. an annual gathering of Welsh authors and poets.
7. an organic spread found primarily in Southeast Asia.
8. a small intricate tool used to cut tiny pieces of wood.
