Juliette's Birthday

We celebrated Juliette’s 12th birthday at Family Restaurant. Known for their nachos and fabulous desserts, this was Juliette’s choice! Our friend Ephrim, two adoptive families and the Triers had a great night. Juliette got a cool purse, a mankala set, a jewelry box, 150 birr and a gigantic wedge of parmesan reggiano. She had a Cookie Mountain Surprise for Dessert. I am hoping to post pictures of the house soon. I am really able to easily post pics to Facebook. So if you feel like you are missing out…log on to Facebook and find me by first and last name.

Where is our focus?

We got here and our immediate focus became “getting set-up/getting settled in”, when our focus should have been Jesus. It should always be Jesus. Of course we know this, but as humans we get distracted, don’t we? Our focus gets blurry. I found myself wondering and having doubt as to whether we would ever have any time to “do ministry” as we are running round, jumping through hoops. Of course, ministry is everywhere and effective not in our power but in that of Christ alone. We have children, spouses, the guest house employees, taxi drivers, adoptive parents and children, children on the street, neighbors… Our focus should be on Jesus and we must be available, willing and prepared for those divine appointments.

I was teaching the kids out of Acts Chapter 3 (1-10) the other day…where Peter and John are heading to the temple via a gate called “Beautiful” . They see a crippled man who has been begging for money there daily for quite some time. The scripture says that Peter looked “straight at him”… it is translated that [he] had [his] eyes fixed on him.^[1] . They did not give him their money, (“Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you^[2] ), yet they also did not walk by this man and ignore him. Instead, they fastened their gaze upon him, commanded him to look at them and then by the power of the Holy Spirit, this man was healed.

Later that afternoon we were walking by a grocery store and a man was begging; not an uncommon sight in Ethiopia. I thought he was sitting on the ground and kept on following my family. Then I stopped dead in my tracks. He was not sitting, because you can’t sit if the entire lower half of your body is missing. But there he was, as I turned around, holding his hand out to me, looking at me. And I had the honor of fastening my gaze into the eyes of this man, going to him grabbing his hand and holding it, and telling him “Xavier ebarke” (God bless you), and I gave him the small change I had.

It wasn’t exactly like the Acts story, because the Holy Spirit did not work through me to heal this man. In fact quite the opposite: the Holy Spirit worked through this man, in that moment to heal me: to heal my blurred and unfocused vision and allow me to refocus and see Jesus in a beggars’ eyes on the street in Addis Ababa.

Settling into Addis

Are we even close? Not so much. We have secured a home which we will move into at the end of the month. It needs some repairs to the leaky roof and non-working kitchen sink. The owner has also agreed to paint it for us. It is not a mud hut, or even a mud house, but it is also definitely not Lake Elsinore or Canyon Lake! Then we need to outfit the house; beds and a kitchen table and chairs to start. Consider this: Outfit a house, there is no Target, Ikea, Bed Bath and Beyond, or even Wal-Mart. I will probably get to visit quite a few places just to get the basics. It’s okay…. I love to shop….don’t I? (This just may cure me of my affection). I did bring a few of my favorite Pampered Chef cooking utensils, and a few spices as well as frosting and sprinkles to make Juliette her birthday cake. We also brought some towels and sheets as they are VERY costly here. Tim is still struggling mightily with being able to complete his schoolwork for Wesley Biblical Seminary, simply due to internet issues. We are working on getting better internet for our home. Right now we are at the mercy of crowded internet cafes, and patchy internet at the guesthouse. Please pray for this…not because we are internet addicts (I admit we have been, but there is no time for that here…it is all business), but because communication is essential to the call God has placed on our family and the threefold ministry to which he has called us. Everyone is healthy, we have started school and the kids are doing great! We praise God for that and so much more. A few items on our list of to do : get residency with immigration so that we can open a bank account, complete our rental agreement details, and register for language classes. We thank you for your prayers. Serving Jesus together,

Tim, Jervaun, Juliette and Timmy Trier.

Update: Celebrated a unique and lovely birthday in Ethiopia. My kids planned a surprise birthday party for me (coffee ceremony and cake), with a lovely dinner out. We also bought some very cost efficient bamboo furniture for the house J

First Week in Ethiopia

Praise God! All of our luggage arrived with only one item removed (how did a lighter get in our luggage?) and one item broken (French Press, this is very sad indeed!). We were shown incredible favor on our flights, with seats being moved into one row from Chicago to Germany. We did not even ask the airline for this, we asked God! We are staying at a guest house in Addis Ababa in a section called Lafto. It is primarily an adoption guest house, so every few days there are new families and new babies and children. It is amazing to see God’s hand in these children’s and families lives. We are vicariously living these adoptions with these families and they are gracious to share baby love with us! Yippee! Holding babies is a great way to soften the loneliness and sadness of leaving home. Besides getting our body clocks in order we have accomplished the following:

-Looked at 6 homes in the Lafto area
-Had dinner at the Letourneaus home. These incredible missionaries have been here for a year and a half.
-Registered at the US Embassy
-Found a store with an adequate supply of Coke Light
-Had a welcome lunch with the entire staff of Ammanuel Light and Life and ICCM Ethiopia.
-Took a public minivan taxi (with Hibret, not by ourselves)
-Had a campfire celebration at the guest house; ate goat and dulet (goat intestines).
-Purchased an iron for all of our wrinkled vacuum packed clothing
-Attended International Evangelical Church (Pastor’s name is Gary, ironic?)
-Attempted without success to purchase a broadband internet card and system. They did not have one in stock. They said maybe in 15 days, maybe tomorrow. Welcome to Ethiopia!

Setting out to do 10 things in a day is unrealistic. Small accomplishments become momentous. God is clearly in Ethiopia, we sense His presence constantly.
The children are starting school today. Bible and Language Arts only; we call that a soft start. Take into account the Amharic, cultural changes, new people, places sounds and tastes, the children are learning much! So are we!
We have great pictures, but cannot load them at this time. Soon and very soon. Until I write again, blessings to you and we thank God for you daily.