| Ethiopia Bound | Travel Photographer – Teaching English

July 6, 2011

Josh GarrelsMom and I just sat on the back deck with pecan pancakes, eggs and berries. Definitely the way I love starting off my last full day at home. Beautiful weather + favorite food = can’t complain!

It’s finally here.

It seemed so far in the distance and just a trip I dreamed of going. But we’re actually going. After all the anticipation and preparation, our flight takes off at 7 p.m. tomorrow.

We’ll have a pit stop in Frankfurt, Germany before finally heading to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. After a couple days in the capital, we will head to Jima, Ethiopia where our sister church is located. We’ll experience our first church service in Ethiopia there then finish our minibus trip on an unpaved road to Mettu, our final destination.

Just in case you may be wondering, I’ve listed some fun info about our trip for you below:

Trip dates: July 7 – Aug 10
Group: Renee McCulloch, Teresa Davis, Jeremy Cherry, Me!
Dulles >> Frankfurt >> Addis >> Jima >> Mettu
We’ll be teaching English to high-schoolers to help them succeed in passing the national exam so they may continue to university-level education
Class will be held 9 am – 12 pm each day , some community activities/hanging out with our students after!
Weather: it won’t get over 80 degrees!
I will be taking my camera, of course! — Check back in August for tons of photos!
We’ll be staying on a compound in Mettu
No cell phones, no laptops, no Facebook/Twitter, limited email and landline access = So looking forward to being detached!

Things You can be Praying for:

Protection for our group –protection as we travel by plane and car, etc and for safety against illness
Open hearts and minds
Strength and ability to be true disciples and great teachers for the high-schoolers
Communication in every aspect, especially since it’ll be a different language
For no distractions and full-on loving like Jesus would
Smart and eager minds
For God to use us in big ways and to work in big ways
For lives to be changed —ours and those in Ethiopia!

So, since I won’t be blogging for the next 5 weeks or so…I wanted to leave you with some of my favorite things so you can be looking, sharing, thinking, etc!

Favorite Graphic Designer: My very own Jeremy Cherry >> Check out his new portfolio site!

Favorite Photographer: Jeremy Cowart — He’s passionate + creative, he serves others and he’s worked hard to get where he’s at.

Favorite Band Right Now: Freelance Whales

Favorite Songs Right Now:

Further Along – Josh Garrels

I Just Realized – Matt Wertz

Take the World but Give Me Jesus – Ascend the Hill

Favorite Non-Profit (s) : Mocha Club / fashionABLE

You know this by now…I interned here last summer and loved every minute. You give up 2 mochas a month, or $7, to aid sustainable development projects in Africa. And then there’s fashionABLE. FashionABLE is a venture of Mocha Club‘s that sells handmade scarves by women in Ethiopia so they may have sustainable jobs…sooo awesome! Check out these awesome projects by clicking on the links above and go get yourself a fashionABLE scarf!

Favorites Sites // Where I Waste My Time