Why Ethiopia?

We got to answer a question on a bio the other day: “Describe your call to missions”

We have also heard this one: “Why Ethiopia?”

Here is our answer:

We have a pastor who has a heart for missions, especially in E. Africa. Hearing him share stories of transformed lives of individuals in Tanzania, Congo, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia created an unexpected “heart-tug” in us, that would not let go. However, growing up in non-Christian homes, where missionaries were nothing short of “crazy”, the idea of us traveling anywhere beside nearby Mexico seemed “foolish”. In fact Tim likes to joke that on all of those career assessment tests, “missionary” fell in to the “not applicable” category. Praise to our unlimited God that He had other plans for us.

Tim journeyed to Ethiopia in 2005 to build a church extension in Shashemene. Following this, he came home and told me we needed to “sell everything and move to Ethiopia”. I was so totally not there. Well, about 2 years ago, Tim took a position as Director of Development for Empowering Lives International (ELI), a dynamic ministry in E. Africa. At this time we were both asked to visit Kenya and Sudan to become familiar with all aspects of ministry. This time in-country confirmed our love and desire to help the poor and oppressed in this area of the world. Over the next year and a half, as Tim worked in the US for ELI, our desire to serve globally increased and was confirmed in many ways. One of the most significant aspects of this confirmation was a vision, followed by seed of an idea expressed to us, which we nurtured with prayer and which ended in appointment by FMWM to serve in Ethiopia.