All Praise to the King of Kings

We are in the middle of starting week four in Ethiopia, and it’s been so good!! We are living near a mountain range. The view from our back balcony at the volunteer house is beautiful. Our ministry we are working with is called Testimony 25:40. The name Testimony 25:40 comes from our ministry host, Gadisa’s testimony, and Matthew 25:40. “Gadisa grew up homeless and an orphan, a street child. Instead of letting the situation control him, Gadisa put himself through school and eventually graduated from university. As he says, his testimony “will inspire and give hope to the children to dream big.” The mission at Testimony is “to transform the lives of street children in Addis Ababa by providing them with the tools and support they need to thrive. We focus on holistic development, offering education, healthcare, and emotional support to empower these children to reach their full potential.” The day after we got to Ethiopia, Gadisa told us some of the kids’ stories and how they got to Testimony. These kids come from very rough backgrounds and I’ll share some of them below.

1. One of the girls was sold into slavery. She was forced to do house labor. When she came into the care of Testimony, she had marks on her back from being bitten and hit by her slave owner.
2. Two twin boys who are seven and their younger brother who is five came to the Testimony House after being left on the street to beg for food. Gadisa would see them in a ditch begging for food and knew something needed to be done.
3. Another story is one of the girl’s family didn’t want her anymore because she would have episodes where she would scream very loudly and her body would convulse. A lot of Orthodox Christians believe in witchcraft. Gadisa thinks that through that she became possessed by a demonic spirit, which would explain her episodes. Below is a story we got to experience as a team with this girl.

The day after we heard about her story, we witnessed one of her episodes. We went to play football/soccer with the kids. After we were done, Gadisa dropped us off at the volunteer house. A few hours later he came back over and told us a girl was sick. He brought her inside. She was limp and looked like she had fainted. It took us a minute, and then we realized it was the girl who had the episodes. We started praying for her, and she began to scream and convulse. After about two minutes, she sat up and was alert again. Through the help of the Holy Spirit, the demon was cast out. I had read scriptures in the Bible about people being possessed by demons but had never seen it in real life. It was really real and was crazy to witness. The next day Amanda read Mark 9 for her quiet time. A section of Mark 9 is about how Jesus heals a boy with an unclean spirit. Some verses that specifically stuck out to her were, “And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Amanda wasn’t the only one who had read Mark 9, though. Michael and our other team also read it together that morning. We had gotten three different confirmations from the Lord. The only way for this girl to be delivered from the demonic oppression was by prayer and fasting. A few days later our entire team fasted for 72 hours. That means we only drank water for 72 hours. We had faith that by doing this fast, she would be delivered. On the last day of our fast, we brought the girl over to the volunteer house. She was happy and smiling when she walked in. The minute we started praying for her, she started screaming and convulsing. This time we heard words. After about five minutes, she woke up. Later, in the evening, we asked one of the volunteers if the words were real. She said the demon was saying, “I’m burning, I’m burning” over and over again in Amharic (an Ethiopian language). She had also said that right before the girl woke up, it said, “I’m leaving.” We have lots of hope and faith that the demon is gone for good.

These stories are just a glimpse of what all these kids have been through. Most afternoons and sometimes in the morning, we go to the Testimony House, where all the kids live. During our time there, we have taught them about David and Goliath, Noah’s Ark, forgiveness, prayer, worship, their identity in Christ, how to hear the voice of God, and how they are children of God, and we shared the gospel. They are so curious about God and what it means to have a relationship with Him. A lot of them are believers, but some of them are not. I have grown to love these kids a lot and am excited to get to know them more throughout our last few weeks here in Ethiopia.

We have also been doing ministry at a refugee camp. This is very different. Everyone who lives in the refugee camp is Muslim. Since everyone is Muslim, we weren’t able to say anything about Christianity. The first time we went to the refugee camp, we did house visits. The kids know what Gadisa’s van looks like, so the minute we pulled in, they all swarmed the van. These kids don’t see white people very often. They hit, punch, and pull each other’s hair just to have a turn at holding our hand or arm. It was very sad. When we got to a house, we would have to pry the kids off of us to go inside. Inside the houses we asked questions and learned about the families. As soon as we left the house, we were swarmed by the kids again. Last week we went and taught lessons to them at their school. We taught basic English words, math, directions, how to be kind, how to use your manners, and different ways to calm your body when you have big emotions. It was very challenging because the kids aren’t used to going to school. We still had a fun time.

Two weeks ago we partnered with a local church to do some events. We participated in a prayer and healing night, children’s ministry, and youth ministry. During their Sunday service, we led worship and also got to give the message. I gave my testimony and talked about forgiveness, identity, and grace. You can listen to my message on YouTube with the link below.

https://youtu.be/eRZEM28E7D4

Giving God all the glory, honor, and praise for what’s happened these last three weeks!!

With love,

Lillie