In January, I got to go to Ethiopia with Indigenous Outreach International. IOI was represented at the Marketplace last fall and is an amazing locally run ministry that supports indigenous pastors in several countries around the world. One of the things that I loved so much about going to Ethiopia was seeing the model of this ministry work. IOI is a true partnership. So what I mean by that is it's not a bunch of middle-class white Americans going to Ethiopia to tell them how to run their churches. Patrick, the founder and director of IOI, lived in Ethiopia several years ago and saw what amazing things the Lord was doing through the local church, and also saw how the ministers were working to support their families by various other jobs....trying to just make it. Patrick has written a short book about his experience there and the birth of IOI...it's a great read if you should be interested. (I think it can be found through the website).
Anyway, one of my dearest friends, Anna, works for IOI and runs their child sponsorship program. It's called the True Light Childcare program (TLC). After Anna returned from a trip in January 2013 and shared of her experience, I knew our family needed to be invested somehow in this good work. And on a whole other level....the Lord had really stirred something inside of me while Anna was away. I would wake up in the middle of the night and find myself praying for her and the people she was meeting and what she was experiencing. One day, while she was gone, I was standing at my sink. My little guy came in the kitchen to ask for some lunch. Well...I hadn't gone to the store and groceries were sparse. As he ran off to play while I tried to be creative in the kitchen....I was overwhelmed by the thought of mothers around the world who may never have enough food for their babies. A place where it is common for children to eat just twice a day. And for a split second, I feel like the Lord allowed me to feel that desperation. Now, all I have to do is run to the grocery store....I know it's not the same. AT ALL. But for whatever reason, I felt it for that moment and all I could do was stand at my sink and cry. Why? Why do I get to feed my baby and other mothers do not?
I don't think I can ever answer that question.
But, what I experienced on my trip this past January showed me a truth about hungering for something much deeper. It showed me how for years my spiritual appetite was being satiated by lesser things.
I began to learn of my spiritual deficiency as I was sitting in a one room "house" with a single mother and her two precious boys. One of the boys, Kedus (which means "Holy" in Amharic), is a boy that our family sponsors through TLC. This is how I got the privilege of being invited into this home.
Kedus's momma had been sick for some time. She had been growing thinner and weaker and was unable to work. Ayele, the man who runs TLC in Ethiopia, was so concerned about her that he made Anna aware of her situation. Basically for $500 she could have surgery and the medication she needed to recover from her ailment. $500. That was the difference of living and thriving or getting sicker and who knows what.
Anna made this need aware to our family right around Christmas. We didn't know how, but we were going to come up with what we could. Thanks to our families who gave us money for Christmas, we were able to come up with most of the funds, and the rest was given to TLC. Her surgery and medication was completely covered.
Ayele gathered all of the TLC parents and guardians while we were there visiting. He had asked us to share a bit. After we did, he got up and began speaking passionately to the 100 or so people gathered in this church. I read once that it can be a gift to not understand a language....because you don't get caught up in dissecting what someone is saying or distracted by a misspoken word....this proved to be true. I had no idea what Ayele was saying. But I knew it was important. As he spoke, Anna leaned over to me and pointed out Kedus's mom. She was sitting in a white plastic chair with a beautiful scarf around her head and tears streaming down her face. I'm not sure how Anna knew what Ayele was saying...but she leaned over to me and said "he is explaining how the Lord provides and is telling everyone that our gracious Lord has provided for her and her surgery". As one can imagine, I could not hold it together. Thankfully. Who really needs to hold it together anyway?
As the meeting was over, I got to go and meet her for the first time. Her beauty took my breath away. Her eyes radiated such warmth and joy. All I could do was hold her hands. We couldn't understand each other's language, but somehow we knew each other. She invited us over to her house....and I had no idea how this moment would be imprinted on my heart and mind.
When we arrived, I quickly knew that this home was filled with love. It seemed to exude from the mudded walls. She had prepared popcorn for us, and began to roast the coffee beans to prepare the coffee. As I sat beside Kedus and his little brother, they were excited to show me a little book that I had sent them. I sent it a year ago. A book with pictures of our family, pictures of Kaplan's favorite animals, and a picture of a bouquet of flowers, because Kaplan wanted them to give flowers to their mommy! Since I had sent the book, they had moved three times. The book was out on the only piece of furniture that sat in that small room. Right on top. And as Kedus showed it to me, he pointed to the first picture and spoke to Ayele. Ayele to tell me, "He said he knows your name is Autry". That's something huh? To be known. To be known by this family....what an amazing privilege! They also showed me some little matchbox cars we had sent. They didn't have wheels on them anymore....looked like they had gotten some good use out of them!
As we sat and enjoyed coffee and popcorn and shared a little about our lives, the Lord began to show me how much I needed this family. I understood in that moment that this sweet family in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has something that I do not. They have a faith that's roots grow so deep that it surpasses any circumstance. They have a joy so abounding that it doesn't depend on the flimsy emotion of happiness. This family exuded a hospitality that I had never quit experienced. Not only did they invite me into their home, they loved me and my family, they pray for us, they keep our picture up in their home. This momma has not even been able to work, she was so frail and thin and she was squatting in this tiny room roasting coffee beans and making us popcorn. And her face. I just can't get it out of my head. The ways her eyes were light and her smile seemed to warm the entire room. She loves her sweet boys the same I do mine. They were playful together and she even laughed as the youngest one sucked his thumb...the same way I laugh at my boy who is too old to suck his, buy yet still finds it on occasion. It was there that I began to understand that we are kin. That we belong to one another.
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to one another."
-Mother Teresa
This mom, halfway across the world, is my sister. When my sister goes without her basic needs met, this should effect me. And not just in an expressed sentiment. In a I'm going to do all that is within my power to help her sort of way. And I just can't stop thinking about her. Every morning when I wake up, I think about what time it is in Ethiopia and about what she is doing. I know she has had her surgery and she is doing great! She has applied for an IGA loan (income generated activity...a microloan model that is being offered through the TLC program), and is getting stronger every day. Why the Lord chose my family to be invested in this families life is beyond my words. But I learned a little something about His pursuit of me....He wasn't content for me to go about my happy little existence....he exploited my ease by showing me her needs. And I'm forever grateful and forever changed.
This experience is teaching me so much. Still. It's teaching me about my sisters right here in Jackson, TN. Sisters that struggle to care for their babies. I don't have to travel across the globe to see that. I can walk two blocks.
This is what I am learning.... how we are all connected and how we all need each other. I need Kedus's momma to help open my eyes to my spiritual needs, and she needs my family to help meet some basic physical needs. We are incomplete without each other.
And while this is a blog about a marketplace event, this experience....this is why the marketplace event was even created. Basically....to put it as plainly as I can, I want you to come shop at this event because I care about your soul and I believe with all my heart the more opportunities we have to be connected with our sisters (and brothers!) here and around the world, the more opportunity we have to grow closer to our Savior. Let us not be content with our small circles of friends. Friends are so great. So needed. But Sisters.....sisters who you don't even know you have?! Sisters who you may just meet once, may just even hear about....oh how that can open our eyes to our own needs. Sisters, who our Lord moves heaven and earth to pursue...just like he does for you and me. We need each other. I need you! And our generation, our influence, our resources....well....can you even imagine what we can do together?!
I can't wait to tell you all the things going on with the Marketplace. Vendors who are committing and so many exciting things happening.....but I had to share this story first. Thanks for allowing me this little space and this little time to share with you.
