Making His Name Known Among the Nations-AFRICA

Ethiopia 2011 Trip Blog has MOVED

2011-07-07T13:52:00.002-05:00

If you are here looking for updates from our 2011 Ethiopia teams, we have moved the blog. All updates for this year's trips can be found at http://watermarkblogs.org/africa.

We will be attempting to post updates daily starting Thursday, July 6th. Check back daily for updates and stories of the Lord's work with our teams.

Our God is mighty to save

2010-07-29T13:49:00.001-05:00

Team B (nicknamed Billygoat for how far we hiked up the mountain) had a week of ups & downs. Our team consists of Erica Penick, Erin Donner, Vicky Nguyen, Joel Sherman & myself (Tim Coblentz). Our mission site required us to park the van & walk one hour up the mountain outside of Assela. I have included below a day by day account of how we & Christ were received in the village.
MONDAY- Our first day in the village went well as the people were surprised to see us. We played soccer & volleyball with the kids & blew bubbles which they had never seen before. Our plan the 1st day was just to build a foundation of trust so they would feel comfortable with us. The people in the village are either Orthodox or Muslim with one family who are Christians & they are the ones who are the “disciple-makers” & have committed to do follow-up with new believers. Later in the afternoon we shared Christ with the group of young men & women who joined us on the soccer fields. None professed Christ but they asked some great questions.
TUESDAY- We shared Christ many times with groups of young people & adults. Several people accepted Christ but the mood of the village had changed significantly. People in general were not as open to talking with us & we even found one of our bibles we had given out torn up & scattered in the main street almost as if they wanted us to see what they had done. We met with the “chief” of the village who is Muslim & he made it clear that he was upset that we had not come to see him on Monday. He made a veiled threat that he could have us arrested but admitted that he wouldn’t know what to do with us if he did that. He asked us questions about why we were there & we made the decision to make an appointment with him on Thursday since he could thwart our efforts to share Christ if he wanted to. We also met with a very influential man named Fecadu who is the doctor in the village. He is Orthodox & felt that in order to get into heaven he would have to do “good things”. We shared with him for over an hour about God’s free gift of salvation & he admitted that he thought this message was true but he was not ready to make a decision. We made an appointment to come back tomorrow to talk with Fecadu more.
WEDNESDAY- The attitude in the village changed completely. Fecadu, whom we made an appointment to talk with today said he was too busy to meet with us. The kids stole our soccer ball & volley ball. The people walking on the street wouldn’t even greet us & several people yelled at us & told us to leave or that we would be beaten. We obviously were disappointed by the response but were encouraged that hearts in the village must be open to Christ if Satan was stirring up such opposition.
THURSDAY- Another dramatic turn of events. We met with the muslim chief of the village 1st thing. He was excited to meet with us & I shared my testimony about how a personal relationship with Christ had changed my heart. He was moved as men in this culture don’t share their weaknesses. Our meeting was cut short as they had a village meeting that he needed to be involved in. We spent the rest of the morning sharing Christ with several groups & 1 man & 2 women accepted Christ, what an answer to prayer! We then had a 1 hour walk to the top of the mountain where we had lunch with a Christian family. The young girl of the house took off our shoes & washed our feet in what was a very humbling experience. We then walked down the mountain & had a follow-up meeting with the Muslim chief of the village. Because there were other men in the room & the chief had to maintain his “reputation” we decided not to share Christ with him at that time but to wait until our disciplemakers could talk with him one on one. We gave him several gifts for the village & his face lit up & he begged us to come back & share with him & his village in the future. Our team was so excited to see how our reception in the village changed each day & how Christ had moved in the hearts of 8 people.
Our plan for the rest of the week is to work ½ day on Friday & then start the 4 hour drive back to Addis Abbaba. Saturday morning we will get up & visit an orphanage & then spend a little time shopping before we do our trip debrief & re-entry message. Pray for the hearts of the 145 people who accepted Christ this week & for the disciplemakers who will shepherd & encourage them.

Pray for the local witch doctor

2010-07-28T13:56:00.004-05:00

I am blown away by the Lord’s saving grace and power! He alone is worthy of all praise. Today one of our disciple makers Diriiba invited us into his beautiful home for refuge from the pouring rain. They blessed us with a wonderful lunch of yummy bread with eggs and boiled potatoes and served us coffee. Diriiba then shared his testimony with us.

He was raised in a family that served a local witch doctor. There are many people in Docia the area where we have been this week that go to a local witch doctor. There is much demonic oppression in this area. Diriiba’s parents serve this witch doctor. As a young boy he took care of his family’s cattle by their home in the fields and he slept by them. At night an evil spirit would come over him and make him mute and it would not leave him. When Diriiba told his parents about this they did not believe him.

He told a friend who told him to go into the market and buy a necklace with the angel Gabriel on it. His friend said wearing this necklace would make the spirit leave him. Diriiba followed his friend’s advice, but he become mute again that night. Another friend told him to say the name “Jesus” and that the spirit would leave him. That evening when the evil spirit came and said the name of Jesus and the spirit left him! Praise God there is power in the name of Jesus! That evening he became a follower of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Diriiba is now a disciple maker for his village! He comes alongside baby new believers and prays with them, gets them plugged into church, and teaches them the word of God. He has such a humble heart and he aches for those who are still trapped in the bondage that he was once in. Please pray for the village of Docia, Diribba’s family, and those who worship Satan and see the witch doctor.

On Monday were we able to share the Gospel with Dida, a first year university student and he came to the Lord! We identified him as a person of peace, a future leader of the believers here. He is a natural leader and has great charisma. He told us that he was going to meet us today and bring many friends to hear of his Jesus. We were so happy to be with him again and see his joy in the Lord. We shared the Gospel with four of his friends and after hearing the story of grace, the men loved our story, but said that they wanted to think the message over and that they were not ready to accept.

Diriiba is related to some of these men and he went onto share that their beliefs are a blend of Ethiopian Orthodox and that they also believe in some demonic things. We then prayed for them and Allen Hankins shared his testimony and Dida, our new friend, went onto share his testimony. He again and again talked about “my Jesus” and the peace and joy that Jesus Christ has given him! He said that last night he prayed to Christ and that the Lord heard his prayer. He said he has been reading the Bible that we gave him. I was moved to tears. We shared scripture with him to encourage and build him up. (Philippians 4:4-6)

Three of the men who were not believers left during this time, but one man remained, Zerion. After hearing more truth and Allen and Dida’s testimony Zerion said he wanted to accept Jesus Christ! It was so beautiful! We were filled with joy. Demeka, our translator, and Allen prayed with him to receive Christ. This is just a small taste of what the Lord has been doing this week! All glory, honor, and praise to Him alone who is worthy!

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” Psalm 34:8

Our team went to see the witch doctor this afternoon. Please pray for his salvation that he and his family would give their lives to Christ! Please also pray for the new believers that they would pour into the word, seek their Savior, and to surround themselves with a cloud of witnesses. Also please pray for Team B as their village is very resistant to the Gospel. Pray for our doors and open hearts to hear and receive Jesus Christ!
Story by Lauren Lawson

God's mercy at work in Assela

2010-07-27T11:23:00.005-05:00

From the moment I woke this morning I knew this day was going to be special. The Holy Spirit had given me such a peace. As we sat in church this morning before we went out into the field the Lord laid on my heart John 3:30 “He must become greater; I must become less.” Then my mind was taken to 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 where Paul reminds us that it is in our weakness that God makes us strong. This was such comfort to me as I knew that this was a promise from God. It didn’t matter how nervous I was or how much I fumbled in sharing with the Ethiopians, God would be there. And He was!!

I met a man today who told me that He wanted to believe in God but he couldn’t because of so many difficulties in his life. He went on to say he was a bad man and that he was afraid to die. My heart broke. But as I shared the Gospel with him, you could almost see the weight being lifted from his shoulders. The Holy Spirit was working. The moment that I finished sharing he said that he wanted what I had told him. So He accepted Jesus Christ as His Savior. YES!! I had to turn around to hide the tears that were forming in my eyes. God had used ME…a sinner, so unworthy. This broken man left with a new confidence that he would enter the Kingdom of God despite his past. He now has the comfort that God promises us even in life’s most difficult circumstances.

I wasn’t prepared for what we would encounter next. One of the Ethiopian women that we had spoken with said that her daughter was very sick. We asked if we could go to her home and pray for her daughter. So three of us followed this woman to her home. Inside this dark, tiny (maybe 12 X 7SF) mud home, we found a beautiful girl in her 20s lying on a mat on the floor. She spoke to our translator to explain that her kidneys had failed and the doctors told her to go home to her mother because she only had days to live. We had an incredible opportunity to pray intimately with her and her mother. I was overcome with emotion. As we got into our van to leave all I could do was sob. We are so blessed in America with the privileges (i.e. healthcare, medicine, even a bed) that we have. Even the poorest in our country have infinitely more than this girl. But I have to praise God in the fact that she is now a Believer in Christ. And even though her life is likely coming to an end so soon, the life she will have in heaven will be far better than anything on this earth. It's difficult to understand why things like this happen but we were able to see God use the sickness of this young girl to bring her mother to a relationship with Christ. Chances are her mother would not know the Savior if that had not happened.

There were lots of tears today…tears of humility, joy, sorrow, and gratitude. But in the end, God worked in the hearts of the Ethiopians and even our hearts in a way that I pray I’ll never forget.
Story by Claressa Norrell

The health of our team is great. Everyone is healthy & feeling well. God is opening up doors to share of his mercy & grace. PLEASE PRAY FOR:

• Continued good health
• Unity with north Americans & Ethiopian team
• Muslim hearts open to the message of Christ
• Discipleship & follow-up visits as we start to spend more time with people who have professed Christ

1st day of week 2

2010-07-26T13:33:00.003-05:00

We couldn’t be more grateful for how the Lord has provided for us and our team and has gone before us and answered many, many prayers already! We will try and summarize a few:

- For protection and team unity. Praise God that our entire 2nd team and those that stayed from the 1st team are all free from illness. Yesterday we split up into four teams of five people each, and partnered up with two Christian Ethiopian translators and two Ethiopian Disciple Makers, who will follow up and visit with those that want to know more about Jesus Christ and His Word once we leave Friday. Yesterday and this morning we worshipped all together, Americans and Ethiopians, praising God for His love and asking Him to move the hearts of the people of Ethiopia. We sang all together, first in Amharic song, “Del-bah-del, en-nah ned-da-len…” then an American song, “You are Lord of Lords, you are King of Kings, You are Mighty God, Lord of everything…” Praise God for the oneness He has allowed to form so quickly!

- For God to prepare the hearts of those we will meet. Prepare the hearts of the people in first house, the young man Debale who came to know the Lord today. Debale possesses many leadership qualities and can be a great influence for many others. We are going back to the people of this first house as well as to see Debale and the people he wants us to meet. Gamarehu had a dream the night before that God was sending white people to come visit him! At this house were immediately received with great kindness. We were invited into the home of the community leader chief’s house and were served spicy hot bread which had been prepared for a celebration that happens every 8th year. As we left the house the Lord stirred many people to continue to follow us to which we were able to share the Good News to which it was received.

- For God’s mercy to help them hear His call on their life (Romans 11:29). After lunch we went to a second house which we were able to have the opportunity to share our faith with a young man and his sister and brother Birkay and Tesfah, whose names mean “wonderful” and “hope” in English. Four people in this house prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their savior.

- For God to send someone to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light. At our third and final house for the day our team shared the gospel and numerous stories from God’s word with a women whose husband is a witch doctor. By the end of this meeting, she said that the house that was formally used for the worship of snakes and other things would be used to worship Jesus.

The Lord continues to amaze us with how He can use sinful people l to bring people to know the Creator of the Universe. Today was truly a humbling experience, but one that does not surprise us. God can move mountains, He can soften hearts in a matter of seconds with a simple smile and break chains of bondage in an instant as the Word is proclaimed.

One of the most powerful moments of the day was listening to our Christian Ethiopian brother, our translator Demeka, pray over a house that was very demonic (the witch doctor’s). Demeka comes to the Lord with boldness we have never heard. He truly beckoned and confidently pleaded with the Lord to destroy the strongholds of this household. Woe to us for our weak prayers. May we be challenged to ask God to truly unleash His power. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

WHAT A 2ND ANNIVERSARY, AMEN!
Elizabeth and Andrew Johnson

PRAYER REQUESTS
• Continued good health for North Americans & Ethiopian team members
• Good weather that will allow us to maximize our time here
• Open hearts to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

TRIP 1 ENDS AND TRIP 2 BEGINS

2010-07-24T15:26:00.001-05:00

Quick update from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our first team’s time here in Ethiopia has ended. They were an amazing team and God accomplished some extraordinary things through them. Continue to pray for them as they make the long journey back home.

Team 2 has arrived along with all of their bags (which is always an accomplishment in Africa). Many of them are bleary eyed as they had a tough time catching some sleep on the plane, so pray that they sleep well tonight in preparation for the week ahead. We will begin our journey back to Asela tomorrow after breakfast here in Addis and a short stop at Kaldi’s for some coffee. Thank you all for your continued prayers.

Team 1 Wraps Up

2010-07-23T17:38:00.003-05:00

Good Afternoon,

Team 1 is back in Addis. All is well but the team is exhausted. Tomorrow they will go to an orphanage in the morning to play with and love on some kiddos, spend a couple hours shopping for souvenirs they might want to purchase and then they'll spend some time doing a trip de-brief and discussing re-entry.

Pray for the team as they visit the orphanage. It is tough to see so many children waiting for a home. They will cling to our folks as they soak up all the attention they can get. Pray for the children, that the Lord would provide a family for them.

Pray for the team as they prepare to come back home. It is definitely an adjustment. For some, it will be harder than for others. After what they have seen and experienced, it can be a challenge to come back to life as we know it here. While we know we are not meant to understand this world with its poverty, suffering, evil, hunger and children without parents we trust that one day the Lord will make it all right. As Team 1 may struggle with some of these thoughts, pray that the Lord will comfort them with a peace that surpasses all understanding. A peace that only he can provide.

Pray for safe travels for Team 2 and that that all of their luggage would make it. Pray for the Lord to continue working on the hearts of the people that they'll encounter and that their hearts will be open and receptive to the Good News they bring.

Thank you for your prayers and for checking in with us!

Who's In Your Path?

2010-07-22T21:46:00.004-05:00

One of the last things someone asked me before I left for Ethiopia was, “Aren’t you tired of going back there yet?” My answer was a quickly affirmed “NO.” In the days since travelling, arriving and laboring here in Ethiopia that answer has been re-affirmed again and again. Each day has brought about life reborn as people hear of the gospel (some for the first time) or finally accept the longing in their own hearts.

In my own heart, I feel much like the disciples of Christ. I see miracles occur daily. I hear of hearts changed, and of life reborn. I can see the light of understanding dawn across people’s eyes as the gospel finally breaks through generational tradition and people begin to understand the words given to them.
But I also am like the disciples as I am so focused on the agenda rather than the mission. Like how the disciples, I think first of what I see, not as God does.

One day, after sharing, we had many join the faith. In our minds, we strive to travel through mud and water (on foot) to be able to share with a witch doctor and her husband. While on the path, we pass by several, simply saying “Salam” (which means peace be with you) which is the common greeting amongst people. We don’t stop, we don’t share, we simply move along – keeping the agenda in mind. Because of the condition of the trails, we don’t make it to the witch doctor’s, but instead to another village nearby. On our return to the vans, we discover something. One of the men that we had passed along (passed up), had died when a truck struck him when he crossed under the top of the hill. Just like a snap of a finger, a life was lost.

In the same instance, a thought comes to my mind and wrecks my heart: “Could HE have used a moment to understand of the importance of Christ?” and even more wrenching, “Did he not know Christ, because you failed to share Him?” As my mind ponders of how fleeting my agenda was, a verse comes alive to me.

2 Corinithians 7:10-11
“For Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this Godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment!”

Through this verse, I find a measure of peace. I cannot know what will happen from my actions (or lack thereof), but I can rest that in my grief of what this man may have missed for eternity, God uses this to lead me. EVERY person along the path is important. EVERY person that we pass deserves the time to not just be acknowledged, but also to be known. This extends to more than just the Ethiopia mission, but also throughout our lives. He desires for each person along the path to fully know Him just as much as He already knows them. He desires that His love to us be extended to them. That through our actions to love others that He be known. Just like He tells us in His word:

John 13:34-35
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Story by Scott Eckstein

Our North American team is feeling better after 5 people had some stomach issues yesterday. It is hard to believe but tomorrow (Friday) will be out last day of ministry. We will work ½ on Friday & then head back to Addis on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning we will visit an orphanage, spend some time shopping & doing a trip debrief & processing. Saturday night team 1 flies home & team 2 arrives.

Persevering Through the Rain

2010-07-21T12:51:00.005-05:00

Wednesday in Ethiopia our team is experiencing some challenges. Several of the men are having some stomach issues (nothing major) with enough discomfort that they didn’t go out to do ministry today but stayed close to the hotel for rest & the toilet. The weather is also giving us some challenges as the last 2 mornings it has been raining which makes it very difficult for us to drive on the dirt roads & get out to the mission sites. If you are wondering how we can update the blog from Ethiopia, we are able to do it through the miracle of satellite technology as we have a satellite router that connects to my netbook computer. The response from the Ethiopian people has been amazing. The people in the area we are working this year are much more open than last year. Many times we are sharing with a small group of people & they say things like, “I have never heard this story” or “I believe what you are saying is true”.

Here is what our daily schedule looks like:
• Breakfast in our small hotel at 7:00 am
• Group devotion at 7:45
• Get in vans & drive 30 minutes to mission site at 8:15
• Build relationships & share Christ all morning
• Break for lunch around noon at our mission sites
• Head back to hotel around 4:00 PM
• Dinner at 6:00
• Group worship, daily debrief & team time from 8:00-9:30

Today we continued to witness what the Ethiopians call the “rainy season”. However—amongst the mud, muck, and puddles—God still amazed us with His presence. The day started off with a wonderful and lively worship service at the church in Etaya, a neighboring village to Assela; I think I can speak for all of us when I say that this is the perfect way to start our day. We get to worship as the disciple- makers praise God in their language, and they get to worship as we praise God in ours. After the worship service, my team was able to walk (well, more like slosh) to a village off of the main road. We were then welcomed into a local Christian’s home. I am amazed at how these people can make such a solid, dry, 8x8 one-room house out of mere mud and straw. As we sat down on bags of hay, the teenagers and kids of this village came piling in. We probably had at one point 30 people crammed in this house. My group had an amazing experience getting to know these villagers and their culture. Chris and I, with the help of Erin and Julie, were able to share the gospel with about 15 kids and they immediately trusted in Christ as their Savior. It was truly the best feeling in the world. Wes was able to plant some strong seeds in some of the other villagers. It’s still very challenging for us to evangelize in this area as their Orthodox and Muslim beliefs are much different from Christian beliefs. Some of them can be very stubborn.

I was also able to love on a little three year-old named Yeshi. At the end of the morning she wanted to “come to America” with us, and believe me, I would’ve taken her had that not be frowned upon. After our lunch of granola bars and packaged tuna at the church, we got to play soccer (aka football) and some type of volleyball game with the local kids. It’s really neat to see how we can have organized games with a huge language barrier (during lunch we are
without translators).

The afternoon brought more rain but we were still able to share the gospel under a porch of a random run-down medical clinic in the village. During our time there, 13 more teenagers and men came to know Christ. We are truly amazed here every day. We are what we like to call “the bait” because we are white people that they’ve never seen before. We then present the gospel through our translators and our disciple makers. It’s amazing how God is orchestrating all of this work right now. Unfathomable.
Story by Morgan Blaik

God is working in Ethiopia

2010-07-20T11:32:00.003-05:00

Today was Day 2 of our Ethiopian journey. We woke up to a very wet and rainy morning, not what we would have hoped for today. But the Lord was sweet in giving us some really neat time with the Ethiopians, nonetheless. We started out going to a worship service with our translators and disciple makers. We were at this worship service yesterday but only for a short while. But because of the rain, we listened to our Ethiopian friends sing a number of worship songs. It was unbelievable to hear them worship as they sang & danced before the Lord! I just kept thinking that is was a great representation of what heaven will be like when all tribes and nations come together to worship the King. We also sang a few of our American worship songs as well. It was a great time!
After worship we went to our respective villages and trudged through what felt like miles of mud! We shared Christ with one of our disciple maker’s brothers and his family. They held a traditional coffee ceremony for us and offered us their bread as well. It is humbling to witness people with very little in the way of possessions be so excited to share everything they have with us. One of the older women in this meeting told us that she had 16 children but that 4 died when they were very young. Ethiopians are by far the kindest, most generous groups of people I’ve ever met. In the afternoon, we went back to visit 2 women that we met and shared Christ with yesterday. Both women had prayed to receive Christ and we wanted to bring them Bibles and teach them how to read and study the Word. When we arrived at the house, we were invited inside and began talking with the woman that lived there. We asked if she had had a chance to share with her husband and she chuckled and told us that she was waiting for us to get there to share with him. We shared the gospel using the Evangecube and the husband prayed to receive Christ too! We gave them two Bibles and showed them how to find chapters and verses. The disciple makers were able to talk with them and will continue to follow up with them in the days to come. Despite the rainy morning and the muddy roads, today was an amazing day of watching people cross over from death to life. I can only imagine what the Lord has in store for the rest of the week!
- Story by Kelly Fillingim

PRAYER REQUESTS:
• Weather would cooperate & allow us to maximize our opportunities & time here
• Continued good health for our team
• Open doors & hearts for the gospel

A Great First Day

2010-07-19T14:40:00.002-05:00

Good Afternoon,

I'm sure you are anxious to hear how the team is doing. We apologize for the delay in posting. There is an issue with the satellite router that will hopefully get corrected soon. So this post is coming to you from Kelli Coblentz as I just spoke with Tim on the phone. Hopefully they'll get connected soon and you'll be able to hear directly from the team on some of their experiences.

The team is doing well and had a great first day sharing the Gospel. They are ministering in an area called Italia and are divided up into four teams of 5 N. Americans each. Each team is working in a different site along with 5-7 translators and disciple makers. Disciple makers are believers with the church we partner with and they are committed to following up with the new believers in the area.

Today was a great day for one team, in particular. They shared the Gospel with 114 people and 71 accepted Christ! Praise the Lord for opening up hearts to receive his message! The people in the region all of the teams are ministering are really open to the Gospel so we are hopeful that more will come to know the Lord.

There was also a lady along with her husband who said they were the local witch doctors. The lady told the team that she heard what they said, believed, accepted Christ and then she invited them to her house to pray for the evil spirits to leave. She also plans to join them tomorrow where they'll be evangelizing to hear more.

Please continue to pray for good heatlh of the team. They are all doing well but let's continue to lift them up.

Please also pray for team unity between the N. Americans and the Ethiopians. Thank the Lord for his provision of the translators and disciple makers that allow our group the ability to communicate and share the Good News.

Keep praying for opened hearts and for the people to be receptive to the Gospel. Continue to pray for boldness of the team as they share and that their words would be clear and that the Holy Spirit would move as they speak.

Thank you for checking in and for your continued prayers!

Quick Update from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2010-07-17T22:09:00.002-05:00

Team 1 has arrived safely in Ethiopia with all of our bags. We’re just now waking up on Sunday morning here in the capital after a restful night’s sleep. We’ll eat some breakfast here at the hotel, make a couple of stops here in town (namely at Kaldi’s for coffee which is like the Ethiopian version of Starbucks. Coffee’s 10 times better and 10 times cheaper!), and then begin the 3 hour van ride to Asela where we will spend the week. Tonight we will likely be meeting with our translators and “disciple-makers” that we will be working with the rest of the week and spending some time worshipping with them.

The team is doing great and there have been no issues so far. Continue to pray for the health and safety of our team even as you continue to pray for the hearts of those we will be ministering to in the coming days. Check back tomorrow for more updates.

Team One Photo

2010-07-17T22:07:00.001-05:00

Team 1 Arrives in Ethiopia

2010-07-17T15:23:00.003-05:00

Team 1 arrived safely in Ethiopia, everyone is feeling good, and all of their bags made it. Thank you for your prayers for safe travel. I'm sure the team is tired and glad that they're headed to the hotel and can go to bed. Please pray for a good night's rest and a great day tomorrow as they'll meet the translators they'll be partnering with this week.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Team 1 is Halfway There

2010-07-17T01:30:00.001-05:00

Hello friends! We have made it to the halfway point in our journey, resting comfortably in the Amsterdam airport. We have a short 3 hour layover here and then directly to Addis Abbaba. The trip is going well so far and we are all anxious to get to our mission destination. Pray for continued safety in our journeys and for conversations that a few of us are having with people on the plane and in the airport. Fun to see the team already on mission before we even get to Ethiopia. We'll update again once we arrive in Ethiopia. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Prayer Calendar

2010-07-15T11:58:00.002-05:00

Here is our trip prayer calendar. For a printable version of this, go to http://s3.amazonaws.com/Wccmisc/EthiopiaPrayerCalendar.pdf

Will you commit to praying daily for our teams?

Meet Our Teams

2010-07-15T09:45:00.003-05:00

Today we wanted to introduce you to our teams and let you hear from them on what their hopes and prayers are for the trip. As you pray, we would love to ask that you pray by name for these friends.

Trip Leaders (will be with both teams for the duration of the trip):
Tim Coblentz
Wes Butler
Jessica Ridout

Team 1:
Lauren Lawson, Laura Smith, Chris Wells, Kevin Gober, Scott Eckstein, Amit Nihalani, Bryan Jackson, Charran James, Julie Neis, Katrina Preston, Kelly Fillingim, Lee Batson, Shawn McClure, Erin Gauglitz, Shawna Blake, Lisa Kelsey, Morgan Blaik

Team 2:
Lauren Lawson, Laura Smith, Mo Sadjadpour, Allen Hankins, Andrew Johnson, Trac Cook, Joel Sherman, Erica Penick, Lindsey Lauderdale, Shara Michalka, Erin Donner, Angie Denton, Claressa Norrell, Elizabeth Johnson, Allison Albani, Erin Patrick, Vicky Nguyen

Here are some of the hopes and prayers of our team as we get ready to travel and serve the people of Ethiopia.

That I would personally get to see at least 30 people come to know Christ.
That I would experience God’s presence in an awe-inspiring way like never before.
That I would grow in boldness in sharing my faith.
- Kelly Fillingim

My hope and prayer is that I can trust the Lord to comfort my family in the midst of some difficult times leading up to this trip and that He would draw them near to Him. That the Lord would remove my family's anxiety about me being gone and show them that He is in control of my life and has His hand on me. I hope and pray the words of Acts 2:42-47 and Matthew 9:37-38 for our trip, knowing that God can save souls right here in Dallas and Ethiopia at the same time.
- Erin Donner

My prayers for this trip are that the travel goes smoothly, that our team stays healthy during and after the trip, that we would be able to clearly and lovingly show the people of Asela the love and story of Christ, that God will bless the translators and their families who sacrifice their lives daily for Christ, and that our friends and family back home will come to know Christ by seeing how passionate and adamant we are about Him and spreading His word. It's hard to believe this trip is finally here after beginning to prepare for it way back in November! We have such an amazing team and it's been a blessing to form friendships with everyone. I'm thrilled for us to get to work alongside one another in Ethiopia. God is so faithful and good.
- Morgan Blaik

I pray to learn from the Ethiopian believers who have forsaken everything to follow Christ and make Him known! I pray for fertile soil: for our presentation of the Gospel to be clear, for the Ethiopians to have open ears to hear the Good News, that they will fully understand what Christ has done for them on the cross, and for them to receive our precious Savior!
- Lauren Lawson

My prayers are for the people we will encounter who will sacrifice everything, including their own relationships with their families, to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. I can't imagine what that must take and I am so thankful that the majority of my family knows Christ and supports me in this trip but my heart breaks for the many people have accepted Christ and are literally disowned from their family, as Jesus indicates will happen in Luke 12:52-53, both in nations abroad and even here in the Bible belt. I pray that they would stand firm and be surrounded by a family of believers.
- Lee Batson

My hope is that God will use me to further His kingdom on Earth both in Ethiopia and back home. I am simply a sinner to whom God has chosen to reveal Himself and I can claim nothing but the cross and Him crucified on my behalf. My prayer is that the message of the gospel will tear down enemy strongholds and be a light in the darkness. Thank you Lord for an opportunity to see You work among the nations. "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." Ps 63:3.
- Bryan Jackson

Prayer Requests for Us
• For discernment and guidance as God leads us on this exciting opportunity (Proverbs 3:5-6).
• For unity among our Watermark team (Ephesians 4:1-6, Romans 15:5-6).
• That we would not look for immediate results but trust that God is writing the story of the people we will meet. Whether it’s a seed planted on rocky or fertile soil, that we would be faithful to do the work God has called us to do.
• We acknowledge our confidence in the Lord, knowing that what is impossible with men is possible with Him (Luke 18:22-27).
• For God to be glorified by our team’s time in Ethiopia.
• Specific requests: That we would be diligent in preparing and studying the scripture we need to know. That I (Elizabeth) will not try to “perfect” learning all the parables but would allow God to release me from my perfectionism and control. That God would use our unique strengths to reach others.
Prayer Requests for the Ethiopians
• That their hearts would be open to meeting with us and allow us to share why we came to see them (Acts 26: 17-18, Colossians 4: 3-4).
• That God would help them hear His call on their life (Romans 11:29).
• That their hearts would be receptive to receive Christ and believe in His name (John 1:12).
Thank you for being in prayer for us and being such a critical part of our team.
- Elizabeth and Andrew Johnson

My hope and prayer is that the Lord would give me a greater heart to care for those that are less fortunate and for me to realize that the rest of the world does not live like we do in the US. I also pray that the Lord would use this trip to impact how we love and care for people here in America.
-Amit Nihalani

I pray for Christ to move in the hearts of this team, to be on mission when we are back in Dallas just as we are on mission in Ethiopia.
- Kevin Gober

Praying that we would see God’s glory and outpouring of his Holy Spirit and every knee would bow and every mouth proclaim that Jesus is Lord.
- Allen Hankins

My hope for the next two weeks is for the Lord to be made known, loved, glorified, and desired. May hearts be changed not only in the people we encounter, but in us as well, so that we may forever be a people that seeks to share the Good News and Truth of Christ!
- Laura Smith

An Introduction to Our Trip

2010-07-13T08:09:00.009-05:00

For those of you just tuning into our team's journey, welcome. We are now around 48 hours away from our first team leaving for the adventure that awaits us in Ethiopia and wanted to give you all an idea of what is in front of our team and ask that you would follow along over the next few weeks and pray with us.

We are so blessed to be able to partner with a great ministry like E3 Partners and their staff here as well as their staff on the ground in Ethiopia. Our main task is to partner with them for the purpose of spreading the gospel of Christ to those who have yet to hear and to work with the local church in Asela, Ethiopia to establish new church plants among the villages around that city. Even this week, the E3 staff in Ethiopia has been training the men and women that we will be working with, called "Disciple Makers" who are Christ-followers living in and around those villages to prepare them for their partnership with us as well as the ongoing work they will have once we leave.

Once on the ground, our team of 20 will be divided into 4 teams of 5 and will travel to 4 separate mission sites, each equipped with at least 2 translators and 2 or more "Disciple Makers." Our main activities will be establishing relationships with the people of the village using soccer, hand ball (volleyball), and other games and taking advantage of opportunities to share with the people of the village our stories of God's grace in our lives and the hope that He offers to each of them. We will do this by telling stories from God's Word and using the "Evangecube" a great tool developed by E3 for sharing the gospel. We will also have opportunities to pray for the physical needs of people and be the hands and feet of Christ to people in impoverished areas of Ethiopia.

This trip is the culmination of a long journey of preparation that started back in October of 2009 and has included hours of preparation collectively and individually and the raising of thousands of dollars of support. Our work will follow to 10 hour flights and a 3 hour van ride to get to Asela and will be followed by the same on our return. We have two teams going, one traveling with us on July 16th and returning on the 25th and the second team leaving July 23rd and returning on August 1st. Five of our team will be staying for the full 17 days. The Lord has provided in amazing ways for the members of our team and has provided us with an amazing team. Tomorrow I'll let you hear from some of them and what their hopes and prayers are for the trip.

Starting today, you should find daily updates here and pictures from the field as well as stories of how God is working through our teams, so check back daily. The following is a video we shot last year of the church in Asela (Sagure is specifically the name of the village) celebrating our arrival and praising God for bringing us to partner with them (the camera work is awful thanks to yours truly, but you get the idea).

God's Continued Work in Ethiopia

2010-07-13T08:03:00.005-05:00

Even as we gear up for our trip this week, we are reminded that God's work is in full swing already in Asela and the surrounding community. This past Sunday, we ran DK's story in the Watermark News, a story of how God used DK's faithfulness in sharing his faith with a man named Geda last year. Be encouraged by this great story and reminded of God's loving, relentless pursuit of His people.

http://watermarkblogs.org/stories/07/god-at-work/

Getting Ready for Evangelism

2010-06-14T14:36:00.002-05:00

We are now 3 days away from Team 1's trip to Ethiopia and are continuing to prepare our hearts and minds for the trip. Since the vast majority of our time will be spent sharing our faith with the people of the villages, we did a little exercise with our teams a few weeks ago, breaking them into small groups and telling them to go out and share their faith with at least one person before coming back for our team meeting. One of our team members, Claressa Norrell, wrote about her experience on her blog and we thought we'd copy and paste the story here for everyone to enjoy. Here's her story.

http://claressasstory.blogspot.com/2010/06/africa-update-3.html

Oral Bible Storying as a Tool for Evangelism and Discipleship

2010-05-06T15:13:00.002-05:00

One of the best tools we discovered last year shortly before our trips to Ethiopia was this concept of Oral Storying, or story-telling as a means of evangelism and discipleship in non-Western cultures. Story-telling is the principle means by which people in the majority of the world learn everything from farming to leadership to directions to the neighbor's house. Ironically, if you read through the gospels, you see Jesus using this as his primary means of teaching and training for the crowds as well as the disciples.

Recently, the Lausanne Movement (http://www.lausanne.org/), "a worldwide movement that mobilizes evangelical leaders to collaborate for world evangelization" has posted some thoughts on the value and necessity of this strategy for reaching the unreached people groups of the world. Here are 3 recent posts on this topic.

Oral Bible Storytelling -- Why This and Why Now?

http://conversation.lausanne.org/resources/detail/10042

Oral Bible Storying Part II

http://conversation.lausanne.org/conversations/detail/10217

Bible Storying as Entry, Presence, and Exit Strategy

http://conversation.lausanne.org/resources/detail/10112

Ramping up for Ethiopia in 2010

2010-05-06T14:23:00.003-05:00

That long silence you've heard here on the blog is us preparing yet another two teams for a great week of ministry in Ethiopia. We have spent the past several months casting the vision for these trips, sorting through applications and interviews, prayerfully selecting our teams, and now training those teams both for a week of ministry in Ethiopia and for ongoing lifetime ministry here in Dallas or wherever the Lord may take us.

Tonight, our teams begin a portion of our training where we meet for 5 weeks to do some specific heart and head work in preparation for our trips. Namely, we'll be working on developing our personal story of grace, learning to effectively use the Evangecube, and discovering how to implement the art form of oral storytelling as a means to engage with the hearts of the people of Ethiopia.

Please be praying for our teams as we begin to make these preparations for a trip that is just over two months away now. Can't wait!

What God taught Holly

2009-08-07T10:21:00.004-05:00

I said a couple of days ago that I would be trying to get more stories from our team members so you could hear more directly from them. Well, this is a great story from Holly Holmes on her blog. Rather than post the whole thing here, let me just give you the link and encourage you to read this great story of how God taught Holly what sacrifice, both great and small, looks like.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hollyholmes/journal

The End of the Beginning

2009-08-03T06:37:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few days. We had more than a few issues with phones and internet while away and we were basically in the technological dark for the last few days. Nevertheless, team 2 returned safely back to DFW yesterday afternoon.

As we return, we bring with us the joy and satisfaction that comes from obedience to God and participation in His mission for the world. In moments like this, we are more fully aware of what we were created for than perhaps any other time in life, that is being used up and spent for the sake of God and His glory. There is no greater satisfaction.

The report from last week reads like this: We shared the gospel with over 1300 individuals last week and from that, the Lord saved 297 and adopted them as His sons and daughters. Amazing! Combined with the first week, we were able to see 394 individuals come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. Only God saves and only God accomplishes things like this.

But as the title indicates, this is only the beginning on a couple of different fronts. First of all, our friends Dimecca and Tarikua will return back to Asela this week to train and equip the disciples makers we worked with the last two weeks so that they can effectively follow up with each and every one of the 394. They will equip them to start Bible studies in the villages and it is likely that several new churches will begin in the coming weeks. Please pray for this wonderful couple and the work they have ahead of them in Asela. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, small at first, but undeniable in its majesty in time. The number of believers is merely a mustard seed there currently, so pray that their faith will grow, that they will endure persecution that will surely come, and that they will be emboldened to declare the gospel to their friends and neighbors.

On the second front, this is, for our two teams, the beginning of a new season of life. Most had never experienced any kind of trip of this nature, and it is doubtful that any of us had every experienced a trip like this. We were encouraged, challenged, convicted, and broken over the condition of a world apart from Christ, both in Ethiopia and, now more prevalently for us, in Dallas, TX. We consistently refer to these trips, not as mission trips, but as discipleship trips. Pray for our teams, that the discipleship they experienced during their time in Ethiopia will bear much fruit in their lives here in Dallas, that many of our family members, friends, and co-workers will hear and respond to the gospel as we are newly emboldened to share with them in the days and weeks to come, and pray that this is not merely a flash in the pan, but true change that God has done in our hearts that will carry us as long as the Lord gives us breath.

Lastly, as you've followed along over the last couple of weeks, you've only received a sampling of the stories from this amazing trip. I am going to ask many of the members of the team to email me their favorite stories from the trip and continue to update the blog in the weeks to come with some of the stories you haven't heard yet, so keep checking back. I'll also try to get updates from our friends in Ethiopia about the work that continues there and will update you as I receive that information.

Thank you all again for your prayers, and please continue to pray!

2009-07-30T13:00:00.001-05:00

Between peanut butter and tortillas for lunch, seeing the kiddos along the street yelling, “Ferenge! Ferenge!”, meaning “white people,” and the mystery dinners that are different recipes for the same meals each evening, this is one unbelievable experience. En route to a village on a rainy day, our van could go no further because of the mud, which left us with quite a hike ahead. As we began to walk through the sticky mud, the Lord divinely appointed three horse carriages for the remaining trek! Two carts almost tipped over, the girls were screaming and our horse obviously had a high fiber diet! Laughter is a good medicine.
Holly, Kathy, Lindsey and Troy, along with our Ethiopian crew, made up Team #3. On our first day, the girls played “lamb, lamb, chicken,” instead of “duck, duck, goose,” with the kids, while the guys played soccer with adults. After playing “futbol” for a while, our translator asked everyone to sit with us and hear the story of how Jesus Christ has changed our lives. All but two of the guys picked up their coats and simply walked away. Vicado and Abebe were the two stayed and listened. After Troy shared his testimony and the gospel using the Evangecube, Vicado paused, had a big smile and said, “This is marvelous! I recently had a dream that someone would come and explain what happens to us after we die. I can’t believe it.” We were stunned and thrilled simultaneously. Neither of them trusted Christ, but they both asked for bibles to see if what we said was true. What a “heart” lesson learned…the Father will go beyond our human means to share the glory and hope of His Son.
In our short 4 days, our team had the opportunity to share the gospel with 214 people & 56 confessed Christ as their Savior…how incredibly powerful is the gospel when we dare to declare it. Our hearts have been so dramatically stirred, hopefully to the point of carrying the gospel as a way of life with even greater boldness, intentionality and kindness with the lost, lonely and ‘least of these’ in Dallas. May we be more than just “bought-in” to the gospel, but entirely sold-out. What a blast and blessing this trip has been for all of us. (Story by Troy Dandrea)
Thursday has been our last full day of ministry. We will work a ½ day tomorrow & then head back to Addis Ababa. The entire team is feeling well but emotionally, spiritually & physically tired. Pray for safe travel on the long road back to Addis & rest for the North American team.

2009-07-29T13:42:00.003-05:00

Picture is of a former Muslim young man who just accepted Christ & now is holding his first New Testament.

God has been moving in powerful ways! From seeing over 40 people come to Christ the first day to travelling by horse-cart to a remote village and seeing several people, including a local witchdoctor’s blind husband, saved (a church will now be meeting in their home)…this trip has been an adventure.
Today we hiked muddy roads to two villages even further away from where we had yet been. The first village was Muslim. We played soccer with the children until many adults approached us, curious about why we were there. While Leslie and I played the Ethiopian version of “Duck, Duck, Goose” with tons of smiling children, Jay and Jessica were able to share the gospel with the men and women. Many villagers began taking steps toward Jesus and they thanked us for bringing the good news and even prayed for us Americans. It is incredible how so many of the people here have never heard the name of Jesus.
The second village received us well and made fun of my trying to crack the farmers’ whip that even the little girls can work with ease. One thing that impacted us is how aware the people are of the fact that following Christ will cost them. Some wanted to accept God’s grace, but were afraid; one man would not because he feared his wife would leave him. Also, one of our gospel presentations was interrupted briefly when a witchdoctor found that his son had left his cattle duties to listen to our message. Still, the gospel moved forward today: my team saw many from these two villages receive the free gift of salvation available in Christ. And I finally learned how to crack that whip like a pro…sort of. (Story by Marcus Toussaint)
We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sadly our trip is almost over as we will work all day Thursday & then a half day Friday & head back to Addis. We will spend Saturday in Addis Ababa doing our debrief & relaxing & then early Sunday morning get on a plane to come home.

Tuesday's Update- Open hearts to the "Good News"

2009-07-28T13:20:00.002-05:00

What an incredible opportunity today was. We were able to go to a village several miles off of the beaten path. After a couple of clown car instances of all the translators, disciple makers, and other men in the car getting out to push the van out of the mud we finally reached a beautiful area and stopped the car and walked another mile up to a small village. As we walked to our meeting place, we continued to gather a larger and larger crowd. In all we probably had over 100 people come to play soccer (futbol), Frisbee, have their fingernails painted (including the men J), kids playing duck, duck, goose and singing songs. But most importantly they all heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had several really neat stories today. One of the best was with Kimberly Scheidegger who, through what started as one simple conversation, had the opportunity to share with the entire extended family of one of our disciple makers. Solomon one of our disciple makers lived in the village that we were in and had invited his sister to come and hear what we had to say. His sister invited Kim and one of our interpreters to come to her hut to meet her mother Mara. Mara had heard the story of Christ in the past and had been praying about her decision and today was the day that she was ready to make it. As Kimberly sat down she was ready to pray the prayer. They prayed and we welcomed a new sister into the kingdom and one that was the mother of our disciple maker Solomon, how cool is that? The cool part is that God was not finished. Mara invited Kimberly into her hut for traditional Ethiopian coffee and so that she could share with the rest of her family including Solomon’s sister, his father, grandmother, and eventually the husband of Solomon’s sister. After a good time of question and answer, the sister and husband both came to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord & Savior as well. Solomon had himself quite a day, and was beaming from ear to ear as we left today. The Lord moved in people’s hearts today in this village and this humble man now has over 30 people that he is going to have the chance to disciple. Just another amazing day in Ethiopia!!! Story by Dave Kimball
Here is what our typical day looks like:
7:00 am breakfast, 7:45 devotional, 8:15 leave in vans for mission site, build relationships & share Christ all morning, 12:00 lunch at the mission site, build relationships & share Christ all afternoon, 3:30 leave for hotel ( 1 ½ bumpy van drive), 6:00 dinner, 7:30 group share time & daily debrief
The team is healthy & everyone is excited about what God will do in us & through us tomorrow.

Monday's Experience- Building Relationships

2009-07-28T13:18:00.000-05:00

Team 1 arrived home safely & Team 2 finished their first full day of ministry. Team 2 is working much further away from Assela than Team 1. We split the North Americans into 4 teams & drove almost 1 ½ bumpy hours to the new mission sites. One of the coolest parts of the trip was when we arrived this morning at the host church & we were greeted by a choir singing Africa worship songs. There we worshipped together & met our “disciple makers” for this trip who will be the ones who follow-up with the new believers in the villages.
Upon arriving at our mission site, we were greeted with curiosity when we got out of the van but that quickly changed when we got out soccer balls & starting playing with the men & young kids. Our focus this morning was to introduce ourselves & let them get comfortable with us. The people opened up very quickly & started showing us around the village. Several of the gals took the kids & did an impromptu VBS sharing the message of Jonah & the whale while I spent several hours with my new Muslim friend Ali. Ali is a farmer & since my family are farmers, we had a great conversation talking about the crops they grow like corn, wheat, & barley. I tried to engage in a spiritual conversation but Ali had to meet a friend so we will pick up the conversation more tomorrow.
This afternoon we had some AWESOME conversations with our new Muslim friends. I was speaking to the mayor of the village about our faith in Jesus Christ & even though he said he was not ready to believe, his 16 year old son asked some very good but tough questions. Here are some of the questions & responses we have been giving:
· How can God be 3 parts (God, Jesus Christ & Holy Spirit)? Although it is not entirely accurate since God is all 3 at the same time, I responded with the illustration of water since it can be a liquid, solid (ice) & vapor (steam) yet all 3 are still water.
· How can Jesus Christ be God’s Son yet have a mother & father? I responded that Jesus had an earthly mother but that He did not have an earthly father since Mary was a virgin. I explained that the Jesus gave up his place in heaven to come to earth to be an example of how we should live & to be a sacrifice for all our sins.
We spent several hours this afternoon talking with our Muslim friends, sharing our testimonies of life change & answering their questions. One 18 year old boy named Awel was very curious & asked many questions but said he was not ready to believe this message. Upon leaving to go back to the hotel in Assela we gave Awel a ride & our translator Seguitt continued talking with him. After 30 minutes in the van, Awel told Seguitt that he was ready to believe & prayed to receive Christ right in front of our team. I can’t imagine a better beginning to week two as there are many people who are interested in the message that Jesus Christ provides forgiveness of sins.
Team 2 is healthy & excited about what God is doing in us & through us. Please pray for continued good health, open hearts to the message of Christ & unity among the North American & Ethiopian team.

Team Pics

2009-07-26T08:13:00.003-05:00

Team One Departing

Team Two Arriving

Week One Over, Week Two Beginning

2009-07-26T08:09:00.002-05:00

Week 1 is over and Team 1 is on a plane headed to London as I type this. They will arrive back in Dallas late Sunday night after a very long journey and many of them will return to jobs on Monday morning. Pray that God would give them strength and that they might be a good witness in returning to their jobs, working as faithfully there as they did this past week.

Team 2 arrived early this morning and is just now waking up. We’ll head to Kaldi’s (Ethiopia’s version of Starbucks only 10 times better and 10 times cheaper) for lunch and then make the 3 hour drive to Asela to get ready for next week’s ministry.

The report from last week was overwhelming. Our team of 18 was able to share the gospel with approximately 2800 people, many of whom had never heard the gospel. When we would ask people if they knew Jesus, the most common response was, “We know of Jesus, but we don’t know anything about him.” Stories that many of us have been reading and re-reading since our early childhood were brand new to them and the concept that the God of heaven would send his only Son to be a ransom for their sins was revolutionary. 97 people professed faith in Christ last week as a result of the Spirit of God moving through our team.

From here, the disciple-makers we worked with all week will begin following up with these new believers, beginning Bible studies and even planting churches in these villages. It is likely that 4 new churches were planted this past week as a result of our ministry. To God be the glory.

And tomorrow we get to start it all over again as team 2 will enter into 4 new villages in the Asela region. We will meet our translators and new disciple makers for this week tonight and then we will work full days Monday through Thursday, engaging with men, women and children with a goal to introduce them to the One who has changed our hearts. As you pray, consider the following things.

Pray for:

• Safety for Team 1 as they travel home and strength for them as they return to the workplace this week.

• The ongoing processing of team 1 as they return and continue to think through all that they saw and did this past week.

• Adjustment for Team 2. We did have one team member who is missing a bag, so pray that she gets that soon. Also pray for good health as our team adjusts to life here in Ethiopia.

• Open hearts for the people of Asela and boldness for the believers already living there.

• Courage for our teams and the Christians as we face persecution of various kinds.

• Strength for Tim, Lori and Wes as we enter our second week of ministry (praise God, He has definitely been good to us and we are all 3 excited about a new week with a new team).

Thanks for checking in and we hope to have more for you tomorrow.

Thursdays update

2009-07-24T00:32:00.004-05:00

Psalm 1 "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day & night. He is like a tree planted by rivers of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever he does prospers." The picture below is of a tree that used to be worshiped but will now be a place where people gather to worship the Living God.

Today our team visited the village of Kachiwa, which means “river”. It was our first day at this location, so like every day we faced the unknown as to who we would meet and what their reaction would be to us and our message. At the last village we had started out “guns blazing”, introducing ourselves and then jumping right into our stories and the Gospel message. Immediately, an official began to question us and asked for the papers authorizing our visit (which we were able to produce)!
This time around, we had discussed taking a slightly different road, perhaps introducing ourselves and then starting to play with the children and share our stories on a more individual level, saving the large-scale Gospel presentation for later in the day after we had established some rapport. After we stepped out of the van, our translator Demeka spoke with the gathered crowd for a few moments. Then he turned to me and said, “These people worship Satan. Get your EvangeCube and share the Gospel. Go!” So much for easing into things!
We were able to share the Gospel with these people and with many others throughout the day. After that initial Gospel presentation, most of my morning was spent playing with the kids, kicking a soccer ball, blowing bubbles, flying a kite, and dodging the ever-present cow patties. It really was a team effort, as the three others on my immediate team played with the kids and also were able to walk around the village and share the Gospel with many people in their homes.
One of the most amazing stories from today involved the village chairman, an elderly man named Abera Gezaw. He had become a Christian over 20 years ago, and as a result the largely Orthodox and Muslim village had effectively refused to interact with him in any capacity. He had been praying for more than 20 years for God to send people to witness to his village! What an incredible privilege to be a part of God’s answer to his prayers! With every person who accepted Christ, Abera’s smile grew larger.
As Abera showed us around his property, I noticed a particularly large and spectacular tree. He told us of how he and others used to worship the tree. “But not anymore,” he said, “because of Jesus.” Praise God for delivering people from bondage and the worship of false idols!
Abera’s neighbor was one of the people who accepted Christ today. After this, we saw him and Abera talking. They decided to donate some adjacent land to build a church! Not only did the population of believers increase exponentially today, but they will have a physical house of worship. God is good, and He is building his church!
Tomorrow is Friday, and we’ll have only the morning left to minister before piling back into the vans to Addis. Please pray that God uses this last time in a mighty way. Today we learned that as a result of our ministry over 2,800 people have heard the Gospel, and 97 put their trust in Christ. Amen! Pray that God would call more people to himself – to Him be the glory! Thank you so much for your prayers and support – we couldn’t do it without you. We can’t wait to share these stories in person and testify to God’s faithfulness and power. Story written by Luke Friesen (with a special shout-out to MH).

Wednesday's work, God is faithful!

2009-07-22T23:03:00.003-05:00

DONT CALL THE SATELLITE PHONE, EMAIL timcoblentz@yahoo.com if there is an emergency & you need to reach our team.

Wednesday was another great day for our team. It was a rainy and chilly day, but we were still able to share the gospel and love on the people of Ethiopia. We are fortunate to have incredible translators and disciple makers who have a heart and passion to share God’s love with their people. Because of the rain and mud our car could not reach the village we had originally planned to go to so we spent the morning in the outskirts of that village. We tossed the Frisbee, threw the beach ball and played volleyball with the kids and men. Through those interactions, we were able gain their trust & to share the gospel and other stories of God’s love to many of the people there. It was fun to look around and see our team sharing the gospel with kids, teenagers, women and men. They were friendly and open to what we had to say and there were several who received Christ as their Savior. There were also many who said they wanted to believe but were scared to accept him due to the opposition and extreme persecution they would face from family and friends.
In the afternoon, we went back to the village we visited on Monday. We started the afternoon with authentic Ethiopian tea in a local store and then made our way to the open field where we played again with the kids and talked with the people that were there. Again, we were able to share the gospel to kids and adults. They are very welcoming and engaging. They had many questions and it’s fun to see the truth of the Word of God penetrate their hearts. Our prayer is that one day it would go from being simply knowledge of Jesus and what has done for us, to something that they can’t help but believe and receive into their lives.
There are local believers who are committed to following up with people who accept Christ into their lives or desire to know more about God and the Bible. One of the most encouraging stories for our team this week is a teenager named Gatu. He was one of the boys that accepted the Lord into his life on Monday and the very next day he was helping the local believers identify other young boys who were interested in learning more and growing in their new faith. Due to fear of persecution, Gatu and several other boys his age will be meeting regularly on the soccer field with the local disciple makers. Our hope is that one day he would be leading along with the disciple makers to help carry out the mission of the church in this area.
We’re looking forward to the next few days as we finish the week here. We are blessed to be here, to meet and work alongside the translators and disciple makers. We have learned so much from their faith and love of their Savior and we’re looking forward to sharing more of that with you. Story written by Lori Michael

Tuesdays work in Ethiopia

2009-07-21T23:01:00.006-05:00

If you are wondering how we can update our blog from Ethiopia it is due to the technology of satellite communication. I brought my laptop on the trip & rented a satellite phone & router which enables me to update the blog from anywhere in the world. Due to problems with the satellite phone, IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, DON’T TRY TO REACH US ON THE SATELLITE PHONE BUT SEND AN EMAIL TO ME AT timcoblentz@yahoo.com as we are having problems with the satellite phone.
Tuesday was another amazing day of seed planting and seeing a harvest of our efforts from yesterday. At one our mission sites we traveled back to the same area where we worked yesterday. Even though this was quite a distance, we were overcome by the number of people who made the journey from the first village. Two stories really come to mind today. The first took place with one of the elders from our first village. We talked with him yesterday and shared the gospel. He had many questions and after we finished talking he thanked us, but said he wanted to keep his religion he knew from his youth (Ethiopian Orthodox with a works based view). Today, he brought seven other elders and their wives, their children, and some local residents. We were able to share with the entire group boldly. To God be all the glory, this time he walked away believing in Christ and thanking us for this revelation. The power of Christ is showing all around us. They are so hungry for God’s word they invited us to stay here permanently… they wanted to provide us land, teach us to farm, and have us teach the word of God. Another story from today came as a boy in the village pointed out to our team something that he observed. He said that before, in their village, they were very separate, with Muslims staying separate from the Orthodox and the Orthodox from the Protestant. Motioning to the crowd around us he said, “Look, you have brought unity to our village because of your message.” Through God’s grace and obedience to show Himself in mighty ways, we have seen two villages become believing communities. Though they will face persecution from within, they have selected a meeting place and will be discipled by the Ethiopian church leaders we are partnering with. I wish you could see their faces when they hear the gospel – Christ has risen and he is stronger than sin. Our team is so blessed to be working as one body, boldly growing, and being sharpened. To those reading this, know Jesus is present with us and we are reaching, saving, and healing hearts not by our power, but because he is a mighty warrior for his people. Story from Brad Novotny
Team is doing well & everyone is feeling great except for some minor stomach issues. The gal from yesterday who stayed behind is now feeling great & went out into the ministry sites today.
Thanks for your prayers. Please continue to pray for:
· Unity with North Americans & Ethiopian believers
· Open hearts for people to receive Christ
· Clear communication across cultures
· Courage for new believers who will experience persecution for their new faith

Amazing 1st day of work in Ethiopia

2009-07-20T13:28:00.003-05:00

Photo is of "church service" under huge tree. Kids are in tree so they can hear the message.

We’ve just arrived back to the hotel in Asela from a full day of ministry. Our team was able to work today in 4 different villages within 30 km of Asela and the “Full Gospel Church” that we are partnering with here. With us, we have a translator and a “disciple-maker” (who are local men from the church) for every 2 or 3 of us, enabling us to have great conversations with people and to get to interact with the locals. We have been able to do stories and crafts with kids, played soccer with men and boys, and get to share our personal testimonies with multiple individuals throughout the day. We have also experienced the highs of this type of ministry as well as the lows.
In one of the villages, we shared why were there and explained to the people that we were there to share with them the good news of Jesus Christ. In the crowd there were several Muslim men who wanted to ask us questions they had and ways in which they did not understand our story about Christ and how he was the Son of God. One man, named Abu, asked how we could know that this is true. We pointed out that the Word of God tells us this is true and then shared how we have experienced his work in our lives. He approached us later, saying he was ready to accept Jesus as his personal Savior, and then shared with us that he first heard the gospel 4 years ago and how he has seen that it is a peaceful religion and that now he is ready to accept it. We were able to hand him off to one of the “disciple-makers” who just so happened to be his neighbor. It was such an encouraging thing to see.
On the other side, there is a great deal of persecution here, specifically from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In one village we visited today, there were men who asked why we were there, and when we answered, they told us that they already had one religion and that they didn’t need ours. They told us that we were not welcome there. We shared with them as much as possible, but left after only a short time. It was great for our teams to experience that type of persecution, something that the believers here in Ethiopia have to deal with on a regular basis.
The team is doing great. We did have one of our team members who had to remain back at the hotel today because of illness, and we have a few others experiencing upset stomachs, not too uncommon as we enter this different culture. Our accommodations are wonderful and we are blown away by the believers here, our translators, and the men from the church. We will be back in these villages tomorrow, so please continue to pray that hearts would be softened and that we would be faithful with our opportunities. Thanks for checking in and we’ll update more tomorrow.

Team arrives in Asela

2009-07-19T20:36:00.002-05:00

Good Evening,

The team made it safely to Asela, roughtly 2:00 Dallas time which is 10:ooPM Asela time.

Everyone is doing well! They are very tired yet also very excited for their first day of getting out and about tomorrow to serve and love on the Asela people.

How can you pray for the team tonight?

- Praise God for bringing them to Asela safely!
- Pray for a good night's rest
- Praise God for our partners, Yoseph and Ribka who live in this area and their hearts to make the Lord's name famous and to bring more of their community into His grace.
- Pray for flexibility and patience tomorrow as the go out into the city, and as their expectations may not play out as anticipated.
- Please also pray for unity as a team, including working with the translators.
- Pray for open hearts and for the Lord to do a mighty work through, and to, the team.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-6

Thank you for praying for our friends and loved ones,
Kelli Coblentz

Save in Ethiopia

2009-07-18T22:52:00.002-05:00

Good Evening,

The team arrived safely in Ethiopia and all of their bags made it as well.

Everyone is doing well, though they were tired from the long journey and it was about 5:00AM in Ethiopia when they arrived, about 10:00PM Dallas time.

Thanks for checking in and praying for the team! We'll update you with more information when we receive it, or you'll get to hear directly from the team if all goes well with the internet connection over there.

Kelli Coblentz

Landed Safely in London

2009-07-18T03:56:00.002-05:00

Quick update to let everyone know team 1 has landed safely in London. We had a very smooth flight and everyone caught at least a little sleep. We'll hang out here at Heathrow Airport for a few hours before catching our plane to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia around 2:45 p.m. (8:45 a.m. Dallas time). We'll arrive in Addis around 3:00 a.m. local time and hopefully be able to catch a quick cat nap at a hotel before heading off to Asela late Sunday morning.

Thanks so much for your prayers and we'll update you next from Ethiopia.

Meet the Team

2009-07-17T06:50:00.003-05:00

Well, today is liftoff for team 1 and the one-week countdown for team 2. We're excited about the teams that God has put together and anxious to see how He works through us and in us during this time. One of the most amazing things about the body of Christ is the diversity of his children. On our teams we have teachers, health care professionals, full time ministry directors and support staff, construction managers, consultants, sales-people, marketers, and non-profit ministry staff. Our backgrounds are equally different, some growing up in Christian homes, others coming to faith in Christ later in life. We have all been forgiven much, as we represent a group of people who God has rescued from atheism, adultery, legalism, perfectionism, homosexuality, divorce, alcoholism, gambling addiction, violence, abuse, promiscuity, ignorance, and materialism, just to name a few. As I look at the gospels and the lot that Christ chose as his 12 to run with, I am encouraged by the list I just made, because Jesus demonstrated time and time again that these were the kinds of people he longed to rescue and then use to rescue others. Be astounded by that truth! While we each have unique roads that led us to today, we all share now the distiction of those saved by grace, through faith for good works that God preordained before time began that we would carry out (see Ephesians 2:8-10).

So, rather than continue to hear from me today, I want you to hear from some of them. I asked them what they were most anticipating, hoping for, praying for, etc. and here is what they said.

"I must confess I am a little nervous as this will be my first mission trip. However I am confident that God is in control and he will be magnified as he always is. I am also praying for the health of our team and the patience of each of us, especially being tired and so far from our comfort zone. Let this be a time we reflect how awe-inspiring our Father in heaven really is."
-- Jarid Ghaffari, Team 1

"It is my prayer that we KNOW GOD more. His love, His heart, His character, His purpose and mission....and that we adopt that as our own. It is my hope that the hearts of both the Africans and the Americans are completely rocked by His presence in a way that we could never even fathom imagining. It is my deep desire that hearts are not only moved, but that we are stretched beyond our own comfort....and in that stretching, that He grows us in big ways. I pray for relationships that will impact and shape who we are, both amongst our own team, and with the Africans. My hopes for this trip is that we will all come to the end of ourselves in a way that that we cannot help but be transformed, becoming wholly new and different. My hope....Love God, Love people."
-- Summer Belanger, Team 1

"I am so excited to be sharing the love of Christ with the Ethiopian children! I'm praying that God will completely overcome the effect of the language barrier and make Himself known through our speech, attitudes, and actions."
-- Luke Friesen, Team 1

"As we are getting closer to our departure and finishing up preparation for the children in Ethiopia, my heart is growing bigger for them, their families, and their lives. I LOVE to see children's faces light up when they learn something new, when they feel loved and when they are having so much fun that they can't do anything but smile! I am praying that the Lord will work through me and our team in a way that will change the lives of the children forever...and along with that, I feel that the Lord has a plan of how He will change my life forever from this experience!"
-- Bridget Horan, Team 2

"I am most looking forward to loving on people that in my normal world I would not come into contact with. I pray that I will get out of the way and not let fear control my words but that I will let God's word come through me in order to encourage and show them how important it is to have a RELATIONSHIP with our Heavenly FATHER! I am also looking forward to getting to know the 17 other people that I will be traveling with esp on the plane for 20+ hours!! Thanks to everyone who looks at the blog and prays while we are gone!!"
-- Kathy Johnson, Team 2

"I am hoping that the gospel invades the lives of many of the people that we interact with, and that national believers could be encouraged by their family from the other hemisphere. Also, I'm praying that this trip bears more fruit than can immediately be seen. It's an honor to be used by God no matter where we are, but I'm fired up to see what He does in Ethiopia!"
-- Marcus Toussaint, Team 2

So that you can be praying by name for our teams, here are the names of each of the teams.

Trip Leaders: Tim Coblentz, Lori Michael, & Wes Butler (we will be there for both trips)

Team 1: Summer Belanger, Stacey Fisher, Laura Fredrickson, Luke Friesen, Jarid Ghaffari, Lydia Jackson, Jennifer Kearney, David Kjeldgaard, Brad & Becca (Wahl) Novotny, Emily Schulhoff, Dawn Shaw, Laura Smith, Scott Stouder, and Jim Sullivan

Team 2: Angela Ardis, Kelli Coblentz, Troy Dandrea, Chad Ethridge, Kim Scheidegger, Holly Holmes, Bridget Horan, Kathy Johnson, Dave Kimball, Lindsey Lauderdale, Erica Penick, Jessica Ridout, Jay Thompson, Leslie Thurman, and Marcus Toussaint

Thanks in advance for praying. The next post should be from somewhere on the other side of the Atlantic.

Training and Team Building

2009-07-16T06:42:00.007-05:00

One of the greatest things about trips like this is the opportunity to have an extended and concentrated time of discipleship and training for the trip. We do our best to set the expectation in that training that we are going to spend a ton of time together preparing for "this trip" but remind them that we are really engaged in discipleship that will hopefully last well beyond a one week trip to Ethiopia. Thought we'd share a few of the highlights from that training time.

One of the things we always do is what we affectionately call a "shots party." This is where we take about a half a day, have an organization called Corporate Health come out and administer all the vaccinations that we'll need for our trip, and do some training as we do so. Specifically, we try to spend that time learning about the culture of the country we're headed to so we don't go in blindly.

Another really fun event we do is a team building event at a place called Group Dynamix where we get to play games that involve problem solving, team work, etc. May sound like a cheesy "trust fall" type event, but they really do a great job and it is fun to see some of the personalities really come out, as well as get to see various leadership styles and giftedness of team members.

We also ask that our teams participate in a 5 week class called "Find Your Mission" where we discuss how to share your personal testimony, spiritual gifts, abilities, heart/passions, personality, and experiences and how all of these things are to be stewarded for the glory of God. We had a great time in a real concentrated way of seeing the various gifts, abilities, personalities, etc. of people and how the body of Christ is so diverse and beautiful in the way it works together. We were really encouraged by that.

One of the most intimidating things we do, but typically one of the most eye-opening and rewarding, is send our folks out in teams of 3 or 4 throughout Dallas to simply share the gospel with people. Many on our team had never done something like this and they were crazy-intimidated going in, but everyone seems to have the same reaction afterwards, surprised at how simple it is and how if we'd just take the time to see people, we'd be amazed at the opportunities around us. We don't want to send people half a world away to share their faith who won't walk across the street to do so. And the creativity of people in figuring out ways to engage with the lost is fun to see. We had people who hopped on the DART train and just rode up and down talking to people as they got on the train. There was another group that went to a blood bank to give blood and then shared the gospel with the technicians. We had people descend on malls, Starbucks, and a few other places, places you go every day, but this time slowing down long enough to see dying, hurting people. The best story of the day came from one of our guys who was sharing with someone else at a Starbucks when a guy walked up and threatened to beat him up for no reason. Rather than let it go, he engaged the guy in conversation and he ended up coming to the Porch with our team member a week later where he was able to share Christ with this guy. Awesome to see God at work.

All of this is done in hopes of preparing our hearts for Ethiopia, but with a greater vision of growing our hearts for the mission field God has us on every day. Tomorrow I'll introduce you to a few members of our team and let you hear from them.

Sharing the Gospel through Storying

2009-07-15T10:35:00.002-05:00

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

God has been really gracious to us in our preparation for this trip. This is a new venture for Watermark and we really have very little idea of what to expect once we get on the ground in Asela. We began making plans several months ago for things we thought would be effective or helpful, but have prayed along the way for God to reveal ways we can be most effective for Him. He has been gracious in answering those prayers.

Our biggest turning point came in talking with a pastor in San Diego who has led several trips with E3 to this area of Ethiopia. He shared with us a technique that they have found to be the most beneficial in their outreach to the Oromo called storying.

Traditionally, E3 has encouraged their teams to use the Evangecube, a great tool with pictures that help tell the story of the gospel. However, as we learned, this tool can be offensive to a largely Muslim crowd because their tradition says that they should not have any images of any of their prophets, Jesus being one. So, E3 and members of their team have worked to help teams craft biblical stories to share orally. Again, this is part of their culture. Everything they teach or learn, they do through storytelling. They do not teach or learn the way we do through inductive reasoning, arguments, or three-point outlines. They also are less likely to argue with a story.

So, we've been working with our teams to share their own story of grace, but then to pair that with a "God story" that they internalize and share. Our kids teams are also using this same technique to teach kids, sharing stories of Jesus, and the evenings should allow for us to gather villagers under a tree somewhere and just share stories.

What this will do for our team is really cause us to rely on the truth of Hebrews 4:12 and the power of the Spirit to reveal himself through these stories. If you look at the stories Jesus told, he often ended with the phrase, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." That's exactly what we will do. We will share the story of Abraham and Isaac, for instance, ask if they'd like us to share it again, and then ask if one of them can repeat the story back to us. Then we'll ask about 5 questions (i.e. What did you like about the story? What didn't you like about the story? What did the story teach you about God? What did the story teach you about people? What did you learn in this story that you would like to put into practice?) and pray like crazy that people will hear the truth of God's Word.

This will be a great stretching experience for our Westernized minds and the temptation to present our argument will be there for sure. But as you pray for our team and for the Oromo people, pray that God would reveal himself to them through these stories, that we will be sensitive to the Spirit's leading as we share these stories, and that we would be patient to wait on the fruit of our time, realizing that we may be there merely to plant the seed and others will come along to reap the harvest.

Our Audience: The Oromo People

2009-07-14T10:45:00.003-05:00

And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."

-- The Apostle Paul (Romans 15:20-21 ESV)

In following Paul's example, our trip will present us the opportunity to do just what he was charged to do, to share the gospel with those who have never been told. Imagine for a second that you have never heard the name of Jesus, or that perhaps you've heard his name, but only in the context of Islam's teachings, that he was a prophet, but certainly a secondary one to Mohammad. Not only that, but imagine that there is no access to anyone who HAS heard the name of Jesus, much less is a follower of Christ. There are no churches, no Christian radio stations, no Bibles, nothing. This is the reality for millions of people all over the world, and it is the reality of the Oromo people of Ethiopia who we will be ministering to over the next couple of weeks. E3 and its church partners are committed to planting churches among the Oromo people, and we get to help them in that effort as we reach out, evangelize and connect them with Ethiopian disciple-makers and church planters.

The Oromo people are a large and diverse group. According to http://www.joshuap ro ject.net/, there are over 30 million people belonging to the Oromo people cluster and within that there are 19 distinct people groups. On the whole, it is estimated that only 6% are Christians and the remaining 94% adhere to Islam primarily. To the best of our knowledge, we believe we'll be working with the Arsi Oromo people group which consists of 2.5 million people, 94% of whom have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and who adhere to some form of Islam.

Please join us in praying for the people we will have the chance to share with, that the Lord will open their eyes, that they will have ears to hear, and that the Spirit of God will go before us and be with us so that they might be saved. Check in tomorrow for information about one of the ways we are preparing to share the good news with them.

For more information about the Arsi Oromo people, visit http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rog3=ET&rop3=210581. JoshuaProject.net is committed to educating the church about the unreached people groups of our world and the HUGE need that still exists for the gospel to be taken to people who have never heard.

Watermark in Ethiopia 2009

2009-07-13T14:14:00.003-05:00

Welcome friends! There has been radio silence on the blog for about a year, but we're ready to break that today, even as we're on the verge of sending another couple of Watermark teams to the beautiful continent of Africa. This year, we are privileged to get to travel to Asela, Ethiopia, a small city south of the capital city of Addis Ababa and the villages around Asela. Our teams have been preparing for the last couple of months, getting to know each other, learn what we can about Ethiopia and the people there, and develop tools that we can use while in Africa.

We have two teams of Single Adults going, each with about 20 people. The first team leaves, Friday, July 17th and the second team will take its place, leaving Dallas on Friday, July 24th. While in Asela, we are partnering with E3 Partners, an organization specializing in Equipping, Evangelizing, and Establishing churches around the world and in pairing North American churches with these works. We will be working with their team of nationals there in Ethiopia to evangelize through Vacation Bible School for kids, health training for women, sports ministry for men, and storytelling. Each team will have about 5 days of ministry in two different villages.

We will update the blog this week with various information about the trip and then will have access to the blog throughout our trip and will try to update it each day while we are there to keep you posted on what our team is doing. We should even be able to upload pictures from the trip.

In the meantime, please begin praying with us. Below is a link to our team prayer calendar if you don't already have one. Please take the time to print this out and then join us in praying that God would move in a tremendous way through our team and in our team during our time in Ethiopia. Check back tomorrow for information about the people we will be ministering to.

http://www.watermark.org/fileadmin/pdfs/PrayerCalendarAfricaSummer09.pdf

The Countdown is On!!

2008-07-28T16:04:00.002-05:00

At least it is for me as I haven't seen my husband in 17 days!!

They made their connecting flight to Dallas so they'll be home soon :)

Please continue to pray for safe travel.

Blessings,
Kelli

On US Ground!

2008-07-28T14:31:00.003-05:00

Hi,
The team is in DC, but they have been sitting on the plane, unable to deplane, for about 30 minutes. They only have a 1.5 hour layover and they need to get their bags and go through customs before getting on their next flight.

Pray that they'll get off the plane soon and be able to make their connecting flight to Dallas.

Thanks!!
Kelli

Back in Bujumbura

2008-07-26T16:09:00.002-05:00

Hello,
The team made it safely to Bujumbura today. Tomorrow they begin their journey home (yea!)

Here is their schedule:

Sunday: Depart Bujumbura at 11:50AM local time, 3:50AM Dallas time

Arrive Nairobi at 4:20PM local time, 8:20AM Dallas time

Depart Nairobi at 11:50PM local time, 3:50PM Dallast time

Monday: Arrive London at 6:45AM local time, 12:45AM Dallas time

Depart London at 12:00PM local time, 6:AM Dallas time

Arrive Washington DC 3:12PM EDT, 2:12PM Dallas time

Depart DC at 5:09 EDT, 4:09 Dallas time

Arrive Dallas at 7:30PM local time

Please pray for a good night's rest tonight as they will be traveling for about 36 hours and their only chance for rest on Sunday will be on the plane, until they arrive home Monday night.

Pray for continued good health

Reflecting

2008-07-25T11:44:00.003-05:00

Good morning,
I just spoke to the team and they are in Gitega. They'll spend the day reflecting on the trip, both as a team and individually.

All is well and everyone is feeling good. It has been very difficult for some of the members to leave the mission site. This could be due to the relationships they developed with the African team working with them or saying good-bye to the locals they loved on each day. Or, it could just be because it's hard to leave the experience and knowing that opportunity has come to an end, for now anyway.

How can you pray today?

- For the Lord to reveal to each team member what he would have them take away from this trip.

- For the Holy Spirit to continue working in that community.

- Protection of the team's hearts and minds as they sift through many different thoughts and emotions as a result of what they saw and experienced. Pray that they would lean upon the Lord during this time and that the Holy Spirit would defend the enemy from attacking them in any way.

- Continued safety and protection of health as they travel.

Thanks for your prayers!
Kelli

Final Day of Service

2008-07-24T09:10:00.003-05:00

Good Morning,
All is well with the team as they are finishing up their last day of service in Burundi. The last two days were a little slow for contstruction as they ran out of supplies and building materials, but those were replaced today which provided for a good, productive final day of work.

The VBS activities have been going very well. There have been a ton of kids and lots of opportunities to love on them and share Christ. Some of the team has played soccer with the older kids and teenagers and that has gone really well, too, and allowed them to build relationships and have intentional conversations with those they played with.

The medical clinic is being built on an old soccer field so some of the older mean are not too happy about that. Hopefully that allowed for our team to minister to them in a way that helped soften their hearts as efforts are made to better meet the medical needs of the community.

Tomorrow they will begin their journey back towards Bujumbura. They'll stop in Gitega and spend Friday night there. Saturday they'll travel to Bujumbura, where they'll spend their last night in Burundi. Sunday morning they'll begin the long journey back to Dallas.

Prayer requests for today:

- Strength and endurance as they finish up their last day of work. They are very tired and it's very dusty and dry over there which I'm sure elevates the discomfort factor.

- A couple folks have minor stomach issues. Nothing to be concerned about as this is typical when the food is different and bodies are stressed and tired.

- Safety and good health for everyone as their travels start tomorrow. It's no fun to feel crummy when you're travelling and they've got a long journey ahead.

- The individual with the sinus infection is feeling much better, so praise God for restoring his health and strength.

- Pray for loved ones here in the U.S. that are missing their children, spouse, friend, father, mother, brother, sister, etc... that is on the team.

Thanks for your prayers!
Kelli

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint
Isaiah 40:28-31

Wrapping Up

2008-07-23T16:38:00.002-05:00

Good Afternoon,
I did not get a phone call today from Tim so wanted to at least let you know I don't have any updates yet on how their day went. As soon as I do, you'll be the first to know!

What I am pretty sure of is that they only have 1.5 days of work left. They'll probably work a full day tomorrow and a half day on Friday and then they'll start heading back towards Bujumbura Friday afternoon.

Here's how we can pray for the team:

- Endurance and unity to carry out a strong finish. I'm sure they are tired from the physical and emotional work their bodies have endured. It's easy to get cranky and fussy when we're tired so let's pray for continued unity within the team and with the Africans they're working with.

- Continued protection of the team's health.

- For the Lord to be glorified by their work and for the team's actions and words to make an eternal impact on that community.

Thanks for your prayers!
Kelli Coblentz

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5-6

Declaring His Glory

2008-07-22T15:19:00.003-05:00

Good Afternoon,

Another great day of service for the team. The construction work continues to go very well and a lot of progress has been made. When team one arrived on the first day, only the foundation was laid. By the 5th day, they had almost all the exterior walls & a large part of the interior walls up. Now both the exterior and interior walls are up to 10 feet hight. The walls are made of brick with cement mortar. Some of the team members are helping lay bricks but most of the team helpscarry bricks, large rocks for the foundation, or bring cement to the bricklayers.

The VBS team had a good day with the kids today. Several members of the team had the opportunity to share the evangecube with some kids and adults and had a great conversation with them for about 30 minutes. In the end, about 10-12 people prayed to accept Christ.

The locals are very open to the team and engaged in conversations with them. Tim said there's been a lot of talking with them and it's been a lot of fun for the team.

Tomorrow the Governor of the province is requiring that the nurses of the medical clinic receive training and our team will be able to participate in that. These are maternity nurses and our team will assist with the training but also have the opportunity to spend some personal time with the nurses and share Christ with them.

All in all, everything is going really well!

Prayer Requests:

- For strength and endurance to finish strong these next two days of work. The team is in good spirits, but tired.

- For continued team unity. As they become tired, Satan looks for ways to create a wedge between them. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work through them in how they interact with one another. The locals are watching and let's pray for them to be great examples of Christ's love.

- For the lost to have open hearts and receptive spirits to the Gospel.

- Continued prayer for our sick team member. He is feeling better and was able to rest this morning and join the team in the afternoon. Pray for the Lord to continue restoring his health and energy.

- Praise God for a GREAT day of serving the community. Praise Him for the provision of translators and for the open, receptive hearts of the people. Praise God for boldness and confidence of those who shared the Gospel today.

Thanks for your prayers!

Kelli Coblentz

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Romans 10:14-15

Safe at Home

2008-07-22T08:58:00.003-05:00

Good morning,
All of team one made it home last night to Dallas and all but one person received their luggage.

I spoke with Tim late last night and he said that all is going well with team 2. The construction is going really well and the team is really excited to be there and in very high spirits.

How can you pray today?
- Continued prayer for team 1 as they adjust back to life here in Dallas. Pray for rest and to try and carry on with life as usual. After a trip like that, one can experience a mix of emotions and one of the most common is loneliness. They are used to being so closely knit with their team for 10 days and then all of a sudden they are back home, alone and the normal buzz of the team is replaced with silence. The other common feeling is confusion about what they saw and how blessed they are here in the U.S...and what to do with that feeling? Pray for them as they wrestle with these difficult emotions and that the Lord would draw each of them closer to Him through that process.

- Pray for the luggage to arrive for the individual on team 1

- Team 2 is finishing up their day of work so pray that their efforts, actions and words would make an eternal impact on that community.

- Continued prayer for one team member who is still quite sick with a sinus infection and just very uncomfortable.

- Praise God for bringing team 1 safely home. Praise Him for the work that He will do in each of their lives through this experience. And praise Him for the provision of team 2 to have an opportunity to get out of their comfort zone and love on people in great need of hope.

Thanks for your prayers and for checking in with us!
Kelli Coblentz

Good First Day

2008-07-21T21:12:00.004-05:00

Good Evening,
I had a very brief conversation with Tim today so I don't have much to share, but what he did tell me is that the other 4 team members made it to Bujumbura today and so the team is back together again. He also said that the luggage was delivered today so praise God for two answered prayers! He also said the construction work went well for the first day.

I expect a call from him late this evening since we weren't really able to talk this afternoon when he called. I may have additional information for you in the morning.

Thank you for the prayers about the luggage and the 4 team members to make their flights today.

Prayer requests

- Pray for the Africans and North Americans to work well together and for protection while they work. It is hard, labor intensive work!
- Pray for God to reveal himself to the lost through the actions and words of our team.
- Continued prayer for our one team member who is sick with a sinus infection.
- Praise God for bringing the 4 safely and quickly back with their team. Praise God for delivering the luggage for team 2.

Thank you!
Kelli Coblentz

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 3:10-11

Quick Update

2008-07-20T14:26:00.004-05:00

Good Afternoon,
Team 2 made it safely to Bujumbura and the mission site. We still have 4 members of the team in Nairobi and they'll fly out tomorrow. No one's luggage made it so please lift that situation up in prayer.

Team 1 is currently on their way to London. They will arrive in London at 6:45AM local time, 12:45AM Dallas time late tonight. They are scheduled to depart London at 10:50AM local time for Washington Dulles (4:50AM Dallas time) and are scheduled to arrive back in the U.S. at 2:18PM EDT. From DC, they'll depart at 5:09PM EDT and arrive in DFW at 7:30PM local Dallas time.

Prayer Requests
- Continued safe travel for team 1
- For the 4 folks on team 2 to make their flight tomorrow to Bujumbura
- Luggage to arrive for both teams
- Continued prayer for our one male team member who is sick with a sinus infection and sore throat
- Pray for the lost and that their hearts would be receptive to the gospel. Pray also for our team and the transition to a new, very different, place and that they would work well with the Africans and translators
- Praise God for another great opportunity for a new team to love on those who are in desperate need of a savior. May their interactions with the locals have an eternal impact

Crossing Paths

2008-07-20T07:10:00.002-05:00

Good morning,
Team 1 is headed to London at this time and team 2 made it safely to Nairobi. We got word that Kenya airlines oversold the flight so 4 members of team 2 got stuck in Nairobi and were unable to make the connection to Bujumbura. However, not to worry...ALARM has employees in Nairobi that will pick them up until they can depart tomorrow for Bujumbura, so they will be well cared for.

I received an email from Tim this morning with additional information about the place where they are staying and where team 1 worked this week, which is where team 2 is headed. Here is what he wrote:

The place in Muyange where the team is staying is comfortable. It is on the edge of a huge lake. The only drawback is that we dont have running water so people are bathing in the lake which isnt a big problem except this is Africa & there are rumors of crocodiles around. The food has been good but as always we are having the same thing every day. Fish, chicken, rice & potatoes. We had roast goat one day & it was very good.

The work on the clinic is going very well. When we showed up on the first day only the foundation was laid. By the 5th day, we had almost all the exterior walls & a large part of the interior walls up. Walls are made of brick with cement mortar. Some of our team members were helping lay bricks but most of the team helped carry bricks, large rocks for the foundation, or bring cement to the bricklayers. The 1st couple days it was the North Americans working & the Africans working seperately but by the 3rd day there was an obvious change in that we were no longer 2 different teams but 1 team working together. Kind of funny but Deo heard some of the Africans talking about our team & they were thinking that the North Americans must be all poor people since only the uneducated poor people in Africa do construction & heavy labor. A great testimony that our team was jumping in & getting their hands dirty.

There was some great opportunities to share the evangecube & do some VBS with the kids & that went well also. The 1st team did a great job & I pray the 2nd team will be able to jump in as well. Very impressed with all the ALARM staff. They have gone above & beyond the call of duty in making us feel safe & at home.

And last...a story to make you chuckle..and feel for whomever this was!

I havent mentioned it before as I didnt want it in the blog yet until team 2 arrived, but we have a rat problem in the place where we are staying. 2 of the girls found rat droppings under their pillow 2 days in a row & at the end of last week some of the girls saw the rat in their room & one girl had a rat run across her head while she was sleeping. She woke up & was terrified but it has made for some great conversation.

How can you pray today?
- Safe travel home for team 1 and that all of their luggage will arrive home with them.
- Continued prayer for team 1 as they adjust back to life here in the US after this trip. For some, it will be difficult.
- For the remainder of team 2 in Nairobi, that they'll make their flight tomorrow and that their luggage will make it.
- Pray for the health of one of our guys. It is very dusty, dirty and dry there and he believes he's getting a sinus infection and said he can barely talk. He's got medication so please pray they would quickly take effect.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Satan is already attacking so prayer warriors like you are critical.

We appreciate you!

Blessings,
Kelli Coblentz

Team 2 Update

2008-07-19T19:45:00.002-05:00

Good Evening,
Team 2 made it safely to London. I spoke with them at about 12:30PM today and they were getting ready to board the plane to Nairobi, Kenya...another 8 hour flight. From there, they'll have a 1.5 hour layover and then head to Bujumbura, Burundi. They should arrive in Bujumbura around 3:30 or 4:00AM Dallas time. From the Bujumbura airport, they have about a 5 hour drive through the mountains to the mission site.

While in London, they had an 8 hour layover so they were able to take a bike tour of London and see places like Buckingham Palace, River Thames, Hyde Park and much more. I bet that was a nice break from the airport and traveling!

How can you pray for the team tonight?

- Safe air travel to Nairobi and Bujumbura
- That all of their luggage would arrive in Bujumbura
- Safe travel on the road to the mission site
- Rest on the plane
- Preparation of the hearts of the lost that they'll get to love on

Thanks for checking in and for your prayers!

Blessings,
Kelli Coblentz

Endings and Beginnings

2008-07-19T08:37:00.003-05:00

Good morning!

Team 1 safely arrived in Bujumbura and today is their day of rest and reflection. During the afternoon they'll have some team time, which consists of a devotional and time to reflect on the trip.

During mission trips that I've been blessed to go on in the Amazon Jungle of Brazil, the lives of the villagers made me realize how the many choices here in the U.S. diminish the need for relationships. I would imagine Burundi would be similar in that the people probably live pretty simple lives when it comes to material things, possessions, and how they spend their time. The word “freedom” always pops back into my mind after mission trips. We can pick and choose pretty much whatever we want in life, here in the U.S. We work where we want, eat whatever we are craving, listen to our favorite music, buy from the closest grocery store, email or use cell phones to stay in touch with friends and family…and the choices go on and on. But, is life really better here because we have so much? Thinking about my grandparents life, I realized how far from relationships we have evolved. And yet, with all these choices, we still want more. (I'm guilty of this at times). We long for what we don’t have. (And this one, too) We aren’t satisfied with what we’ve got. Content, few are.

So “who is better off?” A question Tim normally asks the team. A tough question but, in many ways, I think the villagers of the Amazon are. They live life through relationships. Everyone looks out for & serves one another. They care deeply for their neighbor. They love each other unconditionally. House size, type of car, clothing, zip code, or salary doesn’t matter…it’s all about serving each other. Giving to and sharing with one another. Thinking about others first. And they truly are happy people. Simple and content with the most gentle, humble spirits and with great faith in the Lord.

And always smiling. Content with life though, in our opinion, they have so little. But do they?

What a comforting yet humbling reminder of God's provision for his children! As his Word says But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? Matthew 6:30

While this team has finished their time of service in Burundi, their mission continues as they head back to Dallas. Their mission field is all around them...at work, their neighborhood, at the gym, the cleaners, wherever they go. And while this team is wrapping up their experience in Africa, a new journey is just beginning for team 2. Team 2 should be in London right now and is expected to arrive in Bujumbura, Burundi on Sunday.

Prayer for today:

- For team 1 to be still with the Lord. Reflect upon what He is teaching them from this experience.
- Rest & preparation for the long flights home.
- That the Lord would prepare them for, oftentimes, the 'culture shock' of returning home.

- Safe travels for team 2 and that all of their luggage would arrive with them.

- For the Lord to prepare both the team, the translators and the people of Burundi for His plan.

- Praise God for a great trip for team 1. Praise God for the resources to make it possible. Praise Him for keeping everyone safe and healthy, out of harm's way. Praise Him for all of the work He is doing in that country to soften hearts and resolve years worth of conflict.

We are so thankful for you to have journeyed with us during team 1's adventure and for your prayers. We hope you'll stay with us as we 'travel' alongside team 2.

Have a blessed Saturday!

Kelli Coblentz

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him

with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him
also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 1:3-14

Meeting the President

2008-07-18T09:25:00.004-05:00

Good Morning,

Yesterday afternoon Deo from ALARM Burundi, Michael Bambach, Tim Coblentz and Lori Michael from Watermark met the President of the Republic Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi.

A message from Deo:

I informed him that the team has come as a result of ALARM ministry and that this was a response to the request he made when he received Todd (Wagner of Watermark) and his team in October 2006. He told us that the measures he has taken of having children do their primary school studies free of charge, children below 5 having medical treatment free of charge and having women maternity care free of charge has contributed to conflict resolution and reconciliation since these are some of the issues that contributed to the conflict in Burundi.

He highly appreciated the contribution of ALARM in that area especially by building the health center at Muyange, he gave thanks to the team from Watermark for having left their families, others sacrificing their time and holidays, even their resources to contribute to this noble work of availing health care to Burundians. He confessed that there is a lot to be done in the area of education and health, and invited ALARM to continue to give the contribution whenever possible.

One more day

2008-07-17T15:20:00.004-05:00

Good afternoon,

Another great day of work was reported by team 1. They did construction all day, which went really well and held VBS with the kids. The kids learned about Moses and the Red Sea with sock puppets and it went great. The kids really enjoyed that!

A few folks on the team were able to use their evangecube, which is a tool that helps you bring the gospel to life with pictures, and some of the locals accepted Christ. It's a really helpful resource when sharing the gospel to someone of a different culture and language. It helps them visualize what you are saying and also clarify your message to the translator. Sometimes we use words that the translators may not recognize so this tool is great for everyone involved!

Tim, Deo and a few others got to meet the President of Burundi. They went to a ceremony that he was speaking at and were able to spend about 20 minutes with him. Tim said it was a really neat opportunity and that he is a very humble man with a very thankful, gracious heart for what the team is doing.

Tomorrow will be team 1's last day at the mission site. They will work a half day and then head back towards Bujumbura. They'll spend Friday night in a city called Gitega. Saturday they'll head on to Bujumbura and begin their long travel back to the United States.

They'll use their time on Friday evening and Saturday morning to process the trip together as a team and individually. They'll begin mentally preparing for their return home, a place so very different from what they've just experienced. Many different thoughts and emotions could surface; humility, confusion, compassion, rejuvenated spirit for the Lord, changed perspective...and much more.

How can you pray for the team?

- A strong half day of work tomorrow and a lasting impact on those they encounter

- Safe travel through the mountains

- Rest and preparation for the long travel back home

- Praise God for the work he has done through this team.

- Praise God for the translators! Without them, the team wouldn't be able to verbally share the gospel. Such an amazing provision that we so easily can take for granted. Praise him for the hearts of the translators to be the team's voice!

- Continued prayer for team 2, their health challenges and for protection of the healthy. Continued prayer for the Lord to prepare their hearts and minds for their upcoming journey and experience in Burundi.

Thanks for your prayers!

Kelli Coblentz

I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.

Psalm 57: 9-11

Finishing Strong

2008-07-17T08:27:00.004-05:00

Good Morning!

All is well with the team and, in fact, yesterday they had one of their best days yet of work. Tim said the Africans and North Americans really united as a team yesterday as they worked. The two teams came together in a way that, he said, was really a profound difference from how they were working. What an answer to prayer!

Isn't it neat to hear how the Holy Spirit is uniting their efforts and changing the impact of their work? This picture is of Deo on the left, head of ALARM Burundi, along with the Governor of the province (man laying brick). The President of Burundi will be visiting the work site to see the team and thank them for their work.

Everything else is going really well. The kids team was able to have some fun with the children yesterday. They were able to do some evangelism and that went very well. Everyone is feeling good, no one has gotten sick. This is such great news because typically with a new environment, different food and just the emotional and physical stress your body goes through, it's easy to come down with an upset stomach.

As this team is finishing up their last day of work, pray that it would be a strong finish. Ask the Lord to give them strength and endurance to complete the task with perseverance.

While this team is finishing up, we have another team of 14 preparing to leave Dallas tomorrow for Burundi. We need your prayers over this team, too. The enemy is already working hard on a few of them. One girl has a newly discovered stress fracture, one girl has an eye infection, and one of the guys said he was sick yesterday. None of these things would cause them to forfeit going, but it is evidence of spiritual warfare that distract, discourage and test us. Overall, this team is in incredibly high spirits and very excited to go, but we would appreciate your prayers as they prepare to leave and work through challenging situations.

Prayer for today:

- A strong finish for team 1. Team unity, pure motives, strength and perseverance. They are vulnerable to the enemy as they become increasingly fatigued.

- Pray for the President's visit and that we would continue to have favor with the leadership of Burundi. What an incredible experience for the team!

- Open doors to share Christ. Pray for that haven't had the opportunity to share and for those that haven't heard.

- Protection and healing of team 2. Stress fracture, eye infection and sickness. Pray for the Lord to be quick to restore their bodies to good health. Protection for those that are healthy.

- Pray for the Lord to prepare the hearts and minds of team 2 and for those they will encounter to share his Good News.

- Praise God for the work he's done with uniting the Africans and North Americans and really bringing them together in such an impactful way! Praise him for keeping everyone on team 1 healthy.

Thanks for your prayers!

Blessings,
Kelli Coblentz

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:10-18

How did all of this get started?

2008-07-16T09:04:00.002-05:00

Good morning,
We thought you might like to have some additional details on this ministry. You may be wondering how all of this came to fruition. Why Burundi? Or, how did Watermark decide to partner with ALARM?

Burundi was a German colony during the early twentieth century, but it became a Belgium colony after the First World War (hence the use of French language). The population is about 85% Hutu and 15% Tutsi, which are tribes. Burundi gained independence from Belgium in 1962, and there have been power struggles between Hutus and Tutsis about once every 10-15 years, largely driven by extremists on either side often driven by economic disparity and thirst for power. More history is available on the internet. The current president (Nkurunziza) took office in August 2005, soon after peace was formalized from fighting that lasted about ten years. He accepted Christ as his Savior soon after becoming President, and he has a close relationship with Deo, the head of ALARM Burundi. That is how ALARM got involved.

The Watermark elders had been looking for potential partners for global ministry for a couple years, and in 2005 while hosting international pastors at Watermark homes during Ramesh Richard’s RREACH Global Proclamation Academy conference, the elders heard many good things about an African ministry called ALARM. When they learned ALARM’s US headquarters were in Dallas, they met with ALARM leadership and were encouraged. In early 2006, an exploratory trip was done by a few Watermark elders in Kenya and Uganda. They were very encouraged by the ALARM team and the ministry opportunities. As a result, the church sent another team to Africa for two weeks in October 2006. Their primary focus was in Burundi and Congo (DRC) though they spent some time in other countries such as Uganda. The focus of the teaching was leadership and conflict resolution, which are core competencies of Watermark and core missional purposes of ALARM.

After a year of investigating and “testing” with ALARM, Watermark decided to commit more resources (time, talent, treasures) into “learn and lead” discipleship/teaching trips in Central Africa with the potential that the partnership with ALARM could grow and last several years.

The rationale for expanding Watermark's partnership with ALARM is:

1. ALARM's mission is centered on areas where Watermark is both strong and passionate. Specifically, we as a local body are fervent about leadership and conflict resolution

2. ALARM has godly, gifted, equipped people on the ground in these countries that Watermark can partner with. This partnership is a win-win as Watermark can use its core skills while building on ALARM’s network of relationships and influence. We also know ALARM staff is competent in following up with people after leaving; thus increasing the likelihood that the impact is sustained, nurtured and maximized.

3. It's a high leverage equipping opportunity for Watermark. We can help train leaders in these countries (pastors, government officials, women leaders) who can, in turn, train, impact, and influence the thousands of people under their leadership in areas of the world where the church is poorly resourced; ill-equipped; confronted with overwhelming poverty, death, corruption, and godless leadership; and being threatened by organized advances from competing worldviews and beliefs.

4. It's a high synergy equipping opportunity for Watermark. Watermark can use this opportunity to equip/develop its own emerging leaders (members of the team) in addition to the leaders in these nations. Wherever these opportunities to “learn and lead” take place, we are confident that the impact will be even greater in those from Watermark participating than it will be on those being served. These leadership development opportunities are therefore effective in developing ‘fully devoted followers’ of Christ internally and externally

5. ALARM's staff are good stewards, and Watermark feels good about entrusting them with its time and treasure.

So, that is how it started. And since then the efforts have have expanded from the core focus on teaching to also doing orphan care, microloans for widows, water wells, lawyer training (to help develop fair laws and proper representation of the poor), a new trade school, and now a hospital! The primary country focus is Burundi and Uganda, though we are also working in Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, and beginning in January 2009...Sudan

Answered Prayer

2008-07-15T18:48:00.004-05:00

Good Afternoon,

The luggage was delivered today so thank you for your prayers and praise God!!

All is well with the team. They have mainly been working at the clinic since they didn't have any materials to really conduct a VBS type ministry with the kids. Now that the luggage has arrived, they'll have some items to help them reach out to the kids and have fun with them. They were able to do some sports outreach and through that had the opportunity to share the gospel with a few people.

To give you an idea of what a typical day looks like, here's their schedule:

6:30AM - wake up

7:00 - breakfast

7:30 - 12:00 head out to the mission site and begin working

12:00 - 1:30 lunch/rest

1:30 - 6:00 back to work

Here's how you can pray for the team tonight:

- They still do not have running water. They are able to rinse off with lake water. Tim said it's not as bad as it sounds or could be, but I'm sure they would love to take an actual shower.

- The folks that had a rash are doing fine. They believe it must be an allergic reaction to something but it is not hindering them from working or enjoying the trip. Praise God for that!

- Sustained energy and strength to continue the hard work they are up against.

- For the children's ministry team...to love on those kids & to learn from their simple, loving spirits

- For the sports team...to enjoy playing soccer with the locals and that the Lord would open up opportunities to share Christ with the men and teenagers with whom they'll play.

- Pray for the Lord to allow the locals to be receptive to the gospel and that his kingdom would be increased by the testimonies of our team. Pray for boldness of sharing the gospel and for the Holy Spirit to guide their words, for them to be confident and comfortable when speaking.

- Praise God for delivering the luggage!

- Praise God for keeping the team in high spirits and united.

Thanks for keeping up with us and for your prayers.

Blessings,
Kelli Coblentz

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6

Encouraging Words

2008-07-15T09:27:00.003-05:00

Good morning,
I had the opportunity to speak with Tim again last night and, while the team is being challenged of being without (luggage, clean clothes, water to shower, their personal items), they are in great spirits. It was 8:30AM local time in Burundi when he called and they were heading out to begin the day's work.

As I was reading this morning, I was encouraged and reminded of our Lord's faithfulness and goodness by David's song of praise to the Lord and found it to be a great source of praise and prayer for our team.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my sheild and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior - from violent men you save me.
I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
For who is God besides the LORD?
And who is the Rock except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my ways perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.
He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
Your give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great.
Your broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.

2 Samuel 22:2-4; 31-37

Have a blessed day!
Kelli Coblentz

Great First Day

2008-07-14T17:27:00.006-05:00

Good Afternoon!

Today was the team's first day to serve the people of Burundi and they had a great one. The construction of the medical clinic is off to a good start. It is hard work, such as hauling heavy bricks and rocks to build a wall for the clinic.

Tim mentioned that as they were working they were quickly surrounded by hundreds of locals. For some, this is their first time to see a light skinned person. They came from all over and would just stand there watching and staring at the team. A bit intimidating for the team and I'm sure a unique experience.

They are enjoying the food, which primarily consists of fish and rice, and they pretty much eat that for each meal. I would imagine breakfast would be different but lunch and dinner consist mostly of fish and rice.

While the first day of work went well, there are a couple of things we need to pray about. First, a couple of folks have a rash that is spreading. They do have some Benadryl to take so hopefully that will slow down the spreading and ultimately stop the rash. Please pray for these individuals that they would be healed quickly and that they would be comfortable.

The team still has not received their luggage. It was supposed to arrive today, but it hasn't. Please pray for the Lord's timing to be quick with delivering their bags.

The hotel where they are staying is having some plumbing problems so there is no running water, which means no showers. There is a lake nearby but they cannot get in the lake due to alligators. They were able to rinse off but no one has had a shower since they were back home so you can imagine how badly they would like to have water.

Mission trips are all about getting out of your comfort zone and this team has definitely been challenged with that, so let's pray for their hearts and minds during this time. They are tired, without their personal items, probably a bit dirty and this is a perfect opportunity for Satan to attack. Pray that the Lord would use this opportunity to draw them closer to Him.

And let's not forget to praise God for bringing them to Burundi safely. Praise Him for the team's hearts of serving in a way that may be a real stretch for getting out of their comfort zone. Praise Him for the resources to make this trip possible.

Thank you so much for checking in on the team and, most of all, for your prayers.

I typically hear from Tim around 3:00-4:00PM Dallas time so you can expect a late afternoon update each day.

Blessings,
Kelli Coblentz

"He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Luke 10:2

Resting for Tomorrow

2008-07-13T15:31:00.005-05:00

Good afternoon,

I spoke to Tim just a few minutes ago. While in London, they weren't able to take the bike tour but they did take a ride on the Tube, London's underground transportation system, to a small pub where they were able to enjoy the local plate of fish & chips.

The team traveled all night from London to Nairobi where they had a short layover before heading to Bujumbura, Burundi. They arrived about 3:30AM Dallas time early this morning. Once they arrived in Burundi and completed the paperwork to report their lost luggage, which took about two hours, they had a 5 hour journey to the mission site. Tim said there were, what seemed like, thousands of people all over the road. He said it was unbelievable, people everywhere. They believe these are refugees returning to the country. The team's missiong site is right by Lake Tanganyika, which is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world. The team is excited to start working tomorrow.

The team has prepared for this opportunity for about 6 months and it's exciting for the day of service to have finally arrived. From practicing how to effectively share their testimony and the gospel of Christ to learning about the culture of Burundi to team building activities to build unity to discussing the calling of Christ followers to share the love of Christ and tell of the good news found in Him, the team is ready to exercise their gifts and talents by serving the people tomorrow.

Here's how you can pray for the team tonight:

- Please continue to pray for their luggage to arrive. They were informed it is suppose to arrive tomorrow.
- For a good night's rest. The team is extremely tired.
- For team unity among the North Americans and with the nationals they are partnering with
- That the Lord would prepare the hearts and minds of the lost and for them to be receptive to hearing the gospel
- Team health & safety as they. The food is going to be different for some, so it's not uncommon to have a few upset stomachs...and safety as they do construction work.

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples." - Psalms 96:1-3

Thanks so much for your prayers and for checking in.

Have a blessed Sunday!
Kelli Coblentz

Safe in Burundi

2008-07-13T07:12:00.002-05:00

Good Morning,
After about 35 hours of travel, the team arrived safely in Burundi at about 3:30AM Dallas time early this morning; however, none of their luggage made it.

Please pray for their bags to arrive soon. Also pray for the team as I'm sure they are very tired and I'm not sure how much time they have today to catch up on their rest.

As soon as I have more information on the luggage situation and their activities for today, I'll provide an update.

Thanks for your prayers!

Blessings,
Kelli Coblentz

Headed to Nairobi

2008-07-12T14:25:00.002-05:00

Good Day!
The team boarded the plane in London at 1:30 Dallas time and is now headed to Nairobi, Kenya which will be an 8 hour flight. They will arrive at 6:30AM Sunday local time, which is 10:30PM Dallas time tonight.

In Nairobi, they will have a 1 1/2 hour layover and then head to Bujumbura, Burundi and should arrive at 10:35AM local time Sunday morning; 2:35AM Dallas time early Sunday morning.

Thanks for your prayers!
Kelli Coblentz

Safe in London

2008-07-12T09:20:00.004-05:00

Good Morning!

The team arrived safely in London after a long flight from Dallas via Chicago. They have a nine hour layover so they'll be able to have some fun by taking a bike tour of the city.

Please pray for safety as they are out and about.

Please also pray the rest of their travel continues to go smoothly.

Thanks for your prayers. Check back with us as we journey virtually with our friends and loved ones.

Cheers!

Kelli Coblentz

Preparing for our Africa Adventure

2008-07-10T21:41:00.003-05:00

Thank you for visiting the blog of our African Adventure. We are a group of Christ followers from Watermark Community Church in Dallas, TX. We are your typical 25-40 year old young adult living in Dallas who work in the areas of teaching, IT, marketing, sales, etc. While our jobs might be different, we have one thing in common: a desire to demonstrate Christ's love by serving the less fortunate in Africa & sharing of the freedom we have found in Jesus Christ.

Our adventure runs from July 11 through July 29 in the small African country of Burundi. Burundi is located near the Congo & Rwanda & was at the center of the 1990's genocide (think "Hotel Rwanda"). We are partnering with ALARM (Africa Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries) for the purpose of helping them further their mission of “empowering African pastors and other leaders to bring hope and transformation to their communities”. We hope to accomplish this by building a medical clinic, doing sports outreach & VBS for the children.

Why are we going? With the influx of refugees from neighboring countries, the village where we are working has increased from 20,000 to 80,000 & the need for medical care far outweighs the clinic's resources. By ministering to their medical needs, we trust that this will open doors for us to share about the freedom we have found in Christ. With the history of war & genocide in Burundi, God's message of freedom & forgiveness is needed to transform hearts & lives.

Our plan is to call home daily using a satellite phone to give you updates. I hope you come back & visit our blog often & track with us as we experience God working through us on our Africa adventure.

PRAYER REQUESTS
* Safe travel
* All the luggage would make it to Burundi
* Team unity