Pray for our teenagers

Three more days until departure! Remember Deanna, Kenzie and Andrew in your prayers. They will be missing a week and a half of school and will be trying to keep up with their homework assignments during our mission trip. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV) 

Prayer Support

Our prayer warriors here at home have been a tremendous blessing to us in the 13 months we’ve prepared for our trip and will continue to be so during our time in Ethiopia. Every Sunday school class has “adopted” a mission team member and have prayed specifically for “their” team member and his or her needs. I was assigned to the high school class, and they’ve been very enthusiastic in their support. I don’t know of any other team member who has received balloons and a serenade with a revised version of “Jesus Loves Me” from their prayer partners.

 

The picture above was taken at the commissioning service last Sunday as church members gather at the front of the worship center to lay hands on team members and pray for them. Along the front are team members Tom Wade, Bekki Sherwood, Sherridan Poffenroth and Randy Myers.

 

I did some tweaking on the template for the blog after I realized that it didn’t look the same on a PC and a Mac. Everyone should be able to read this version OK. The seven most recent posts show on the main page, and there’s a link at the bottom to take you to the older posts.

Commissioning Service

North Addison Baptist Church commissioned the 12 members of the Ethiopia Team during Sunday’s morning worship service. Dr. Bill Crews, executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention, presented the message from Nehemiah 1:1-11. He said when Nehemiah heard of the need in Jerusalem, he first listened, he had compassion, and he prayed. Also participating were Dr. James Sanders from the convention and Maurice Gress from Dishman Baptist Church, representing the Inland Empire Baptist Association’s Mission Committee.

 

In the picture are (from left) Myron Person, Randy Myers, Sherridan Poffenroth, Bekki Sherwood, Tom Wade, Leanne Wade, Deanna Wade, McKenzie Wade, Annie Matlow, Garry Matlow, Jan Person and Andrew Kercher.

One week to go

In just one week we’ll be on our way to Ethiopia. Please be in prayer for us as we finish our packing. It won’t be as simple as running down to the Walmart if we forget something essential. In the picture above from our packing party last Friday, support team member Jolene Harris and Kenzie Wade pack one of the suitcases containing materials for the projects we plan to do.

A Walk to Beautiful

Sunday morning Pastor Myron mentioned “A Walk to Beautiful,” a one-hour documentary about the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa that aired on the PBS series “Nova.” If you haven’t seen it, it’s available on DVD or you can watch it online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beautiful/ or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w-fOmovijc&ob=av1e.

Projects, we've got projects

Our tentative schedule for the mission trip has on the go from breakfast at 7:30 a.m. to dinner at 7 p.m. In between are work projects at Hannah’s Hope orphanage and a youth rehabilitation center in Addis Ababa and the Bethzatha Orphanage and a second Hannah’s Hope location in Awassa, which is a few hours to the south.

When we return to Addis there will be a tour of the Fistula Hospital (which was featured in the PBS Nova special “A Walk to Beautiful”) and some of us with medical training will spend an afternoon working there. The picture above shows support team members Joy Harris (left) and Melissa Perier sorting medical supplies at our “packing party” last night.

Packing Day

Tonight we had a packing party for the trip. Erica from All God's Children challenged us to fit all of our clothes and personal items into our carry-on bag, so that our two checked bags could be used for donated items and supplies for mission projects. We packed and itemized more than 1,000 pounds of supplies. In this picture, Tom Wade and Annie Matlow are putting bottles of lotion into plastic bags in case they leak. In the background are Melissa Perier and Wyatt Harris, two of our great support folks here at home.

Meet the Team

Members of our Ethiopia mission team are (kneeling) Kenzie Wade, Andrew Kercher; (seated) Tom Wade, Bekki Sherwood; (standing) Garry Matlow, Annie Matlow, Randy Myers, Deanna Wade, Leanne Wade, Sherridan Poffenroth, Myron Person, Jan Person.

The Twelve

Our Ethiopia Team spans the generations with five people over 50, three teenagers and four people in the middle. Our team leader is Leanne Wade, who is accompanied by her husband Tom and daughters Deanna and Kenzie. Tom is our youth pastor at North Addison Baptist Church. The Wades adopted Caleb from in Addis Ababa in 2008. Also on the team are our pastor, Myron Person, with his wife Jan and grandson Andrew Kercher; Garry and Annie Matlow; Bekki Sherwood; Sherridan Poffenroth; and Randy Myers. Keep us all in your prayers as we travel, that God may provide safety and good health for all of us and that He will use us mightily to accomplish His work during our trip.

Wheels up in two weeks

Two weeks from tomorrow a group of 12 of us from North Addison Baptist Church in Spokane, Wash., will leave for a 10-day mission trip to Ethiopia. During our stay we will be working in orphanages in Addis Ababa and Awassa and a youth rehabilitation facility in Addis. At least that's the plan. We've been told that "Flexibility!" needs to be our motto, so we need to be open to last minute changes in plans.