Great Day!
Today was such an amazing day! I feel like all of the previous experiences of the trip cannot compare to the incredible events of today. Today, we did VBS rotations with the children, a prayer walk around the town, and ended the day with a wonderful discussion about how God is working in our hearts! We split into three separate groups for the prayer walk and walked around some of the neighborhoods where the kids of the care point center lived. This allowed for all three groups to come back with completely different stories but, overall, we came to the conclusion that God was already present and working in the hearts of the Ethiopians.
This week I had the amazing privilege of helping lead the children in praise and worship songs. It is so good to see the Holy Spirit moving through the children even if they do not understand every word we sing in our language. Even though I enjoyed 
seeing the children praise God through song, the most memorable part of the VBS stations was the relationships I formed with a few of the kids. Every one of the kids that I had the opportunity of meeting had a huge smile on their faces that was completely full of joy. This was completely unexpected considering the conditions they have to live in and the lack of material wealth. During the Bible teaching today, Tyler talked about joy. He emphasized numerous times that Americans may have everything they want and still do not have joy. He said that joy came from God and not from possessions. This is something that I definitely struggle with and I found it kind of funny that such a simple message could convict me so much.
The prayer walk today was definitely a life changing experience. Seeing the community as it really is was completely heartbreaking. Everywhere we went a crowd of children would follow us, which really touched all of our hearts. Just walking through these neighborhoods, holding children’s hands, and praying was so powerful yet emotionally draining. God really did a work in our hearts and it was unfathomable the joy that these Ethiopians had. My prayer group had the privilege of going into a home church, something that we do not see very often in America. 
There was a bedroom in one corner and a bunch of chairs around the perimeter of the room. We all crammed in there and Matt Penney read Psalm 46 out loud and then a translator read it in Amharic. It was so overwhelming to hear the Bible read aloud in another language…God is SO BIG! I felt so honored to be a part of that experience that was so simple, and yet ridiculously powerful.
Everyone on our team is doing well and God is doing some amazing things here in Ethiopia through us! Thank you so much for all of your continued prayers. We love you and miss you all so much!
God Bless,
Christi McCarthy
