Mixed emotions!

It’s with mixed emotions that I report that we have all returned home safely to Australia from our Short Term Mission trip to Ethiopia 2011!  We had an absolutely amazing trip and saw God at work over and over again.  We’re really glad to be back in Australia – definitely the best country in the world (no bias whatsoever!).  But, it’s also sad knowing that the adventure is over for a little while.  I’ve only been home for a few hours and I already miss the team!  I’ve attached our last team photo from the airport in Thailand. 

I’m so proud of our team!  They rode the ups and the downs of the trip with amazing courage and are a true inspiration.  God did some amazing things on this trip, both on a personal level, and on a team level.  If you get a chance, grab someone from the trip and ask them to share a highlight with you – you’ll hear some great stories! 

We may post one or two more entries with some specific stories or photo’s to show some of what we got up to, but this is the last official post of the Ethiopia Mission Trip 2011 blog.  Thanks for following along on our journey.  We hope that the stories and experiences we’ve shared have provoked a response from you!  We serve an amazing God with an amazing plan for each and every one of us. 

All glory to God for the great things He’s done!

Blessings,

The Team.

Just love those elephants!

I couldn’t resist putting one more photo of Abeba, Matilda and me feeding the elephant some bananas.  So fun!

What a blast in Thailand!

Well we had a fantastic time in Thailand!  To break the return trip up into manageable bites, we had a full day and night in Thailand.  We stayed at the First Hotel which is very conveniently located nearby MBK and the Platinum Centre – two huge shopping centre’s with ‘authentic’ name brand clothing, technology etc. 

 

If God hadn’t called our family to Ethiopia, I reckon we’d be doing more mission in Thailand.  What a beautiful country!  92% of the population are Buddhist so there’s a huge mission field there.  By far my favourite thing was getting to ride and feed an elephant!  They are amazing creatures.  So huge, but so gentle with us. 

 

We also had a tour through a Coconut Farm and got to buy some natural coconut products and we were able to experience the famous Floating Markets. 

 

All in all, a great stop over! 

The Fixer Play Ground

We were thrilled to know how much the playground that our team built last time has been used.  So much that the metal rings had worn out.  All fixed now :)  ready for another few years use :)

Potties for Grace

With Aid money that our team has raised we were able to purchase 15 new potties for the nursery at the Grace Centre :)  In total now the Catalyst Mission Team has donated over $4000 USD to the ongoing work at the Grace Centre - this is made up of some money donations and lots and lots of maintenance about the place.

Blue Nile Falls

Still lots of work being done at Grace but this morning most of the team went for some R&R to the blue nile falls in full flow.
On a not so great note please be praying for us as our Monday flight from here to Addis has been cancelled and we are busy trying to get another one organised in the next 2 days other wise we will be in vans trying to make it to Addis for our international flight on Monday night.  Don't panic - just pray :) 

Today

Had an incredible day today - did some paper making with the small business ladies at the Grace Centre and the team went to the Blue Nile Falls.  An then to our surprise we had the best visitor ever - (Adult :))Kidist and Nardos arrived from Addis this afternoon.  Nardi was so excited and didn't want to let go of Murray.  Big cuddles with special friends.