{The Purpose}

Before we leave tomorrow I want you to know in depth the purpose of this trip.

The Group
We are a group of college students, a Professor and his wife heading over to Ethiopia.  We are now apart of a collection of groups that go each year that are tied together with what is called the E-Team (East Texas Team).  Several churches from East Texas and now some from Houston have taken on the goal to send a handful of mission groups to Ethiopia each year.  This is done in an effort to build strong relationships with the people.

Why So Many Groups?
When you think of a mission trip what is the first picture that comes to your mind?  Perhaps you think of a couple of people going door to door sharing the gospel.  This is not what we will be doing.  Because the Ethiopians religious beliefs are so integrated into their lifestyle they would only hear us telling them they are wrong and we are right.  Of course that is not our intention so instead we will be showing love to them in every way we possibly can.

What Will We Be Doing?
During the day we will be leading a VBS to about 450 children.  We have a recreation team, craft team, Bible story team and health team.  In the evenings we will have a sort of meet and greet with youth and adults where we will share about each of our culures.  This will be a great opportunity to share what we believe without seeming forceful.  We will also learn better on how to reach them.

Our primary goal is to show them love.  We have to be delicate with our words.  We are the first American's to be going to the village of Bona and our purpose is to lay a good foundation for future teams to follow.  This is important because if we are not careful with how we reach out to the people they could shut down to teams that follow.

Please be in prayer each day that we will be vessels of love to these people.  That they will see Christ in our actions and that we will be able to plant seeds that will grow after future teams come along and as they become more receptive to the local church.

Thank you so much for your prayers.  I cannot wait to share more after I come back!