return

Just wanted to let you all know that I made it home safely! More will follow soon, once I am over my jet lag - I wasn't able to update in Hawassa or Zeway, but I have much to tell! Thank you all again for your prayers and support. You might have felt very far away, insignificant, or unhelpful, but we know for a fact that those prayers were holding us up while we were on the other side of the world.

Film Festival, Ethiopia, 2012

And it's over.

I finished editing our film literally ten minutes before we set out for the festival, around four this afternoon. The past few days are just a blur, but thankfully not a stressful one. There was never a moment where I felt like I just couldn't do it anymore, or couldn't get through to the other side; it was just a matter of pressing on. And now the festival is behind me, and our films were received well. We had a great turnout - the room was packed full, and after each film there were questions for everyone to discuss amongst themselves. One of the questions was, "Have you ever attempted to do something beyond your capabilities?" and the little boy I wrote about before, who was cast in one of the films, got up and said, "Once I tried to give my brother a bath!"

It feels so good to be done, but strange that it's over, and we've done what we set out to do. Tomorrow we'll go out for a few last adventures - and last Chinese food! - before it's time to pack for Sunday.

The Laurens. Coincidentally, we are roommates, and we both ended up as the directors of photography on our film crews. 

The film track girls! Rachel, Sarah, Lauren, Priscilla, and me.

The door of the Sheraton Hotel. 

Our coffee ice cream with the sketchy prune.

Today, shortly after we woke up, a pair of pigeons launched themselves at our balcony and scared my roommate very badly. About fifteen minutes later they returned peacefully, and very calmly walked into our room through the open window. I tried to get a picture of them inside, but they flew off. 

I took pictures from the top of the TK Building before the film festival. 

This is Epherem! He was on my film team helping me set up lights and move things around, and he was also on my team when we went out sharing our faith near the university campus. I don't think I've ever met anyone who loved talking about Jesus more than this guy. He could also make an extremely good silent film actor. 

Our hotel prepared a coffee ceremony for us when we got back tonight! She roasted the coffee beans right there. So good. 

other places.

Physically, I have been in Africa for the past twenty-four hours. In my head, however, I have been many other places and have repeatedly forgotten where I am.

We went to a Mediterranean restaurant called Enya's last night. Enya (sadly, not the vocal artist) was a very kind older woman who hugged everyone like family. The ambiance in the place came from lights made out of cheese graters and strainers, even the bathroom was candlelit, and I had some of the best Greek food I've ever eaten. (Who knew I would find it in Ethiopia?) Priscilla and I split roasted lamb and potatoes - surprisingly, the most expensive meat around here is not beef or lamb, but chicken. Afterwards we went out on the balcony and watched the blinking motel sign across the way, and the only thing in sight that looked like Africa was the scaffolding made out of sticks next door.

When our bus finally arrived, we went to the Sheraton Hotel for dessert. I'm still not exactly sure why, because by then it was ten thirty at least and the bakery was closed. But we wandered around for awhile, just looking around - it was like a palace, and very out of place in the middle of Addis. The rumor is that Will Smith stayed there recently. There were chandeliers and marble staircases everywhere, high ceilings and an enormous swimming pool - oh yes, and we found out that there was a man in the men's bathroom whose job it was to squirt perfume on the guests as they walked out. I think more than a few of us were feeling uncomfortable by the grandiosity of it all, in light of the things we've seen during our stay here. It might have been the lateness of the hour, but our visit felt more like a dream than anything else.

There was a live band outside, but they told us that we had to be twenty-one to go into the bar area, or else we'd have to watch from some area far away that they vaguely directed us to. Back inside, Amy and I went up a staircase that resembled the one in Titanic and were approached by a man who asked too many questions about why we were there and what we were doing before saying, "So, you want to go out and have some fun?" We pointed hastily to a couple of guys on our team in the distance and ran off. Most people here are just curious, but every once in awhile you run into a creep.

We found everyone else in the restaurant area and ordered coffee ice cream. It arrived in a fancy glass topped with a little pink umbrella, a candied cherry, a prune, and a pecan cookie. Strange choices, to my thinking. It was quite good though, aside from the prune, which I did not eat.

And today I spent the entire day in the fourth floor lobby editing our film. The entire day. Except for when I was in our room editing our film. So much editing. I'm awake at one in the morning for the second time in a row, and I'm getting up in about six hours to edit some more. I feel like it will never end, but it has to be finished by noon tomorrow. The staff at this hotel are just the nicest people; we kept ordering up food because we didn't have time to go out, and then Sam knocked a chair over and broke a plate and they wouldn't let me pay for it.  They don't even like it when I carry my own cappuccino up the stairs; they always want to carry it up for me.

So my world today was the fourth floor of this hotel. I stuck my head outside once and saw a few kids in the street, and suddenly remembered I was in Africa. Not a good time to forget this, considering I only have a week left to enjoy my time here.

God continues to bless our teams; one of the editors lost his entire project twice but somehow managed to find it again, so we're all backing up our files repeatedly. No one's project is perfect, but there have been no major mishaps or missing pieces, and the three films are coming together. Our film festival is tomorrow evening, and we are praying for a good turnout. More people showing up means more people talking about the gospel!

pictures at last!

Einjera: our first authentic Ethiopian meal.

Their machiattos are to die for.

Packed in the bus.

The view from my balcony.

This is where we had a coffee ceremony and watched Ethiopian dancing. 

Joe, our cinematography teacher. We all miss him.

My roomies, Lauren and Rachel!

Lighting class outside.

A common sight around here.

The soccer field we filmed on.

Our favorite hangout!

rice and glitter.

So much has happened this week, and it is only Tuesday evening. A lot gets crammed into twenty-four hours around here.

Starting with Sunday: our bus was late picking us up from church, and as we were all quite hungry, a few people in our group decided it would be a good idea for all of us to walk to our favorite Chinese restaurant, which is (I think) in Bole. It ended up being around a two mile walk, we had to ask directions several times, and a few people lost their spirit of adventure and hopped in a taxi halfway there. Actually, I don't blame them: I'm surprised we made it okay. Lauren nearly got hit by a bus, we had to walk past the most disgusting dumpster I've ever seen in my life (complete with a hunk of something's leg on the sidewalk nearby), and we walked under the awning of the restaurant literally right as the rain started coming down.

But the part that made it all worth it: we walked through the nice part of the city and finally found the Lion of Judah statue, which I've been dying to see since we landed in Addis! I screamed and startled a few people when I saw it. It's amazing.

At the Chinese restaurant, my table made the mistake of ordering five bowls of rice, thinking that they were individual-sized servings. To give you a good picture of our situation, all eight of us could probably have been happy with one bowl for the table, maybe two if we were very hungry. So much rice. Five platters of rice. It was a plethora of rice.

Catching a taxi back to the hotel was another adventure. They wanted to charge us 250 Birr for all of us, and when we countered with 200 (which is still more than we normally pay) they tried to tell us that the driver was with the Ethiopian mafia. Mathison said, "Two hundred or pull over now," and they kept going. Oh, and the driver was listening to an Amharic soap opera on the radio that had the most dramatic transition music every two minutes; it was fabulous.

After dinner everyone went up to the fifth floor to watch The Lion King, which was a perfect ending to a perfect day. The hotel has been so kind, letting us have our parties and late-night game sessions in the conference room up there, in addition to the classes and prayer sessions that go on during the day.

We began editing yesterday, and after that was Women's Night (and Men's Night, separately). We went to one of the nicest places I've ever been to in my life; the first floor was a hair salon, the third floor did manicures and such, and there were restaurants and other things on the other floors. Most of the girls went up to get their nails done, but Sarah and I stayed downstairs and got our hair trimmed. It was the most relaxing experience. On the way there I'd been wishing I could have a Swedish massage just on my head, and that's basically what I got. She spent about fifteen minutes shampooing (twice) and conditioning my hair. It was all warm and golden in the back of the salon, even though it was cold and wet outside, and there was gorgeous artwork all over the place. And even though the guy trimmed my bangs a tad shorter than I would have liked, he did a fantastic job straightening it; my hair has never been as clean or shiny or soft as it was last night. Never expected to have that experience in Africa.

What was weird, though, was that the bathrooms were just stalls inside the steam room. Not sure who came up with that idea.

Yesterday was Aaron's birthday, and when Priscilla, Matt and I went out to buy "editing snacks," in the afternoon, Matt got two huge party poppers and a hat that said "Happy Brithday." (There are a lot of comical typos around here. Peeper steak, anyone?) Some of the girls threw balloons and streamers around his room while he was out, then we came up behind him with the poppers and surprised him. There was a so much glitter everywhere, and afterwards we couldn't find a broom, so my roommates and I swept it up with our hands so the maids wouldn't hate us.

I woke up sick again this morning, but managed to go back to the orphanage again and then get some editing done here at the hotel before it really hit me. At the orphanage, we separated into teams and led different stations. My station led the kids in "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and a few other easy songs, and afterwards we played in the yard 'til it was time to go. And I nearly had a whole scene edited before my stomach turned violently against me for no apparent reason: I pretty nearly felt like death for about an hour. Luckily one of my roommates didn't go sharing on campus with everyone else, so she went and got some medicine for me, and I mostly feel fine now. Just really tired.

Sadly, we only have four days left in Addis Ababa. On Sunday we're getting on a bus to spend the night in Zaway, and after that comes debriefing in Hawassa. Our project leader's wife, Lisa, told us yesterday, "You all have it so nice right now that you probably don't feel like you're in Africa. You are about to officially go to Africa." Apparently we're headed for the land of mosquito nets, hippos, and semi-occasional hot water. Time for the malaria pills!

Things I have been missing or craving, for understandable reasons or not: chicken strips, pinto beans, bathrooms with toilet paper, real cheese, Goldfish, vegetables, apples, and thoroughly clean clothes that have not been laundered with "washing powder with blue specks!" in the sink.

Too bad I never crave rice. That would have come in handy.

scene 1, take 56

Today was an adventure, an escapade, a fiasco; in other words, it was our first day filming in Ethiopia during the rainy season. But in all its chaos, it was also entirely marvelous.

I feel that we were blessed by the crew assigned to us. Not all of the Ethiopian students can be relied on to show up on time, but it seems that many of the more punctual ones are on our team. They all want to do everything they can to help - sometimes they can be overly helpful, actually - and they're all just so sweet and willing to serve.

We all met downstairs at seven thirty to load our equipment up and drive to today's location, which was a soccer field at a nearby orphanage. While we waited for our tripod and script supervisor to show up, we tossed construction rocks off of the field until Sam, our assistant director, found giant ants in a very unpleasant way. (About ten minutes later he split his finger open on his pocket knife. He had a wonderful day.) Our first few shots went well, but we had to redo them because our sound man had been pressing the wrong button. Things went well for a good while after that, until the camera overheated. So we broke for lunch...and then the storm clouds rolled in. So we went out to get as many shots in as we could before it started to rain.

We stayed out as long as we could; Ephraim, our gaffer, held a black cloth over my head, and one of our grips held a big pink umbrella over that so the camera wouldn't get wet. It was coming down somewhere between a sprinkle and a shower when Sam asked, "Wait...has anyone seen lightening today?" And I had. So we ran for it, and about forty-five seconds after we made it to the classroom building it started to hail.

Ephraim took the opportunity created by our rain break to share the gospel with all three of our actors, and by the time he'd prayed with them the rain was over, and everyone else was out playing soccer in the puddles. After the field dried up a little bit we were finally able to finish shooting, but everyone was so damp and muddy by the end of it.

All in all, it was a good day. A wet day, but a good day. Holding the shoulder rig for several hours was exhausting, and my arms feel like noodles, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute nonetheless, and for reasons unknown I'm looking forward to shooting all day again tomorrow.

We begin filming today!

Please be praying for my (very stressed out) team, as well as for good weather and cooperative actors. And patience. Lots and lots of patience.

pre--production and city life.

When I think about all we have to do to make these short films possible, I get so overwhelmed that my head spins. But I have the most incredible team, and we're getting things done one step at a time.

Yesterday was our last location scouting day. Aaron, Fasil, Abinezer, and I had to cross the highway and climb over mounds of construction dirt to get to a taxi, and the rest of the day stayed on a similar note. There are so many people everywhere you go, and they all want you to buy something. Don't anyone tell my sister, but we pass skinny horses on the sidewalks all the time; apparently if they're just out there all alone, they're free to anyone who wants them. The same goes for donkeys. We found a soccer field that we really like, in the back of a church, but then we discovered that they don't have lawn mowers in Ethiopia and so the field was no longer an option. I suggested that we just bring in a herd of goats, but they laughed at me.

Today was casting day, and the Lord definitely answered a few prayers. We were afraid that no one would respond to the casting calls, but the lobby of our hotel was filled with people who wanted to audition; around seventy-five, for just three short films! And Mehiret told us that some of them were really famous Ethiopian actors, too.

I spent the afternoon story-boarding and writing up shot lists with the first assistant director, and then watched Cars with a few film track people on the first floor. We watched Cars mostly because this adorable little boy in a suit and dress shoes came up and wanted to hang out with us. He took my roommate's iPhone eventually and took about fifty pictures of himself, then found an app that sends voice messages to people. His first message, to her sister, said, "Hey. How are you? Where are you? If you are safe...I will find you." And his second, also to her sister, said, "Hey. How are you? When you hear me speak...you need me. I know it." We died laughing, until he told us, "Hey, don't make jokes of me!"

Tonight on the bus on our way home from a team social, we saw a sign with the McDonald's M and everyone flipped out...until they saw it was false advertising for a little booth selling burgers, and they were furious. Everyone is getting pretty tired of rice and pasta, I think. There is a lot of that at the restaurants here.

Today was apparently sick day; nearly everyone is under the weather. Thankfully I'm fine, but if the guy on the first floor keeps filling the stairwells with smoke, that won't last long.

Oh, and I narrowly escaped being pick-pocketed the other night. I was trying to close an umbrella, and when I turned around some man was tugging at my bag. I'm luckier than some; a few people have had things stolen. One girl on the campus track nearly got dragged away by a crazy lady on the street who really wanted to take her home.

For the most part though, it's pretty safe to walk around the city, as long as you keep your bag in sight and watch out when the kids come up trying to sell you stuff. People yell at you a lot - they just say "You! You! You!" or "Ferengi!" (derived from "Frenchy") but they don't mean any harm. There just aren't a lot of white people here. The kids get so excited if you wave at them, and some people just want to come up and practice their English. There was one man, though, who cornered some of the guys and started talking about "the man who is destroying America" and someone coming from outer space, and he finished with, "I will find that man. And I will kill him." And then he made a dramatic exit.

Time to go see if the front desk sent up our towels. Thanks again for your comments and prayers - keep them up! I love hearing from you all.

adventures!

My team went location scouting for our short film today. While the writers and art directors stayed behind to work on the script breakdown and props, I went out with Kelsey, Aaron, Fasil and Siraj to find a soccer field and a house, which are thankfully the only two locations we need.

We couldn't get a taxi to the first location, so we walked two miles to a Christian orphanage that had a soccer field. We're not sure if we'll use it yet; we talked to the director about a price, but we won't know until tomorrow. The orphanage was very nice; it was more like a self-sustaining village than anything else.

Afterwards we got a taxi to Meganagne, then hopped on my first public bus to get to the house of Siraj's best friend. It was an extremely nice house; three stories, marble staircase, kitchen with cheerful yellow cabinets - so strange to see in the middle of a neighborhood with muddy roads and broken down buildings. Siraj invited us to a coffee ceremony at his house afterwards, and his friend offered to drive us since it was raining.

His house was smaller, but he had the most beautiful children I've ever seen: a little girl who showed us all the A's she got in first grade, a smaller boy who never stopped dancing, and a newborn boy with enormous eyes. They served us popcorn that had sugar crystals sprinkled over it when it was hot, and small cups of coffee - incredibly delicious coffee, I might add.

Siraj's friend, who was so gracious and kind to us, drove us all the way back to our hotel just in time for me to catch up with the girls going out for women's night. We went to a Chinese restaurant by the stadium and ate the BEST spring rolls I've ever eaten, which made me happy because all I had for lunch was peanut butter and crackers. I was especially happy to have two good dinners in a row, because last night was Mexican night at the STINT house. They asked for two of the girls to volunteer to go early and help cook, so Lauren (my roomie) and I had an adventure catching a taxi all by ourselves and getting all the way to Gerji. (We ended up walking halfway.) I had SO much fun cooking though; I made the guacamole, and helped Lauren with the rice. Everyone was ridiculously excited when they found out we had avocados and fajitas; you can tell we're all missing food from home.

I'm starting to be able to decipher the taxi driver lingo. When they're going to the stadium, they shout something that sounds like "cheddum, cheddum!" And when they're going to Gerchoula, they just say, "Chouda, chouda!" The best one is when they're going to Bole, and it sounds like they're saying "Booty booty booty!"

Our short film team seems to be the only one that is getting along - the other two teams are having problems with being unified and getting everyone to do their job and their job only. I'm praying very hard for them, and I'm sure they would appreciate more prayer; two of my friends are directors, and they're getting pretty stressed out. We have until Thursday to find locations, actors, props, get our script finalized, and be done with all the rest of preproduction, and then we film all day Friday and Saturday.

I'm finally nearly through being sick - thanks to everyone for your prayers and comments, they mean so much to me! We're visiting an orphanage tomorrow, possibly the same one I went to today, and I am ridiculously excited.

narrow escape.

Today I have a much shorter story to tell than my last one.

We had a lazy, rainy Saturday morning today, and we were able to sleep in for the first time since we've been here. After my roommates and I went down and got coffee at the bar, they went on ahead upstairs and I stayed to read for a little while.

When I was ready to go up, I walked to the elevator and saw that there was a man pushing the button repeatedly, and the elevator didn't seem to be coming down. The doors finally slid open, but I had the sudden feeling that I should take the stairs instead.

I was on the second floor when I heard the siren. A maid was standing at the top of the stairs, and she ran to the elevator and started pushing the button, but nothing happened. I was frozen on the top step, just watching. When the siren stopped, I could hear the man inside the elevator, faintly calling and banging on the door. All I could think was, "That was almost me."

The rest of the day was nice and calm, after that. We had a free day, so some of us spent it watching Aladdin upstairs, playing guitar on the fourth floor, and going on an adventure to Megananya, during which we couldn't get a taxi so we had to walk there and back. And all we did when we got there was get pizza, so it was kind of pointless. But I bought a sweater, so I'm happy.

ready for the fight.

My latest story begins last night, and it wasn't looking like it was going to be a very good one. Thankfully I am now on the other side of it, and can now tell you that this story has a happy ending.

Our project leaders, the DeGarmo's, are staying in the STINT house in Gerji, which is about two miles away from our hotel, and we go there twice a week for dinner. Last night was a STINT house night, so we set out in the rain to catch a taxi and arrived at the house to find that the power was out. So by candlelight, we sat around the living room to listen to Mehiret's testimony while we waited to eat. Mehiret is the director of the Great Commission Ministry here in Addis, and his story is a powerful one. But while we sat there in the dark listening to him speak, I suddenly felt extremely oppressed. You may know the feeling: suddenly your heart is heavy, and a hundred lies are pouring into your head. Doubts were running through me like wildfire, my soul felt completely crushed, and I had to go to the third floor bathroom to try and clear my head. I kept thinking things like, "Why am I here? I'm not going to do anything worthwhile. I can't help anyone," and other equally ridiculous things that didn't even have anything to do with project.

Throughout dinner and another testimony, and all during the walk back to the hotel (in the rain), this terrible feeling wouldn't go away. I knew in my head that none of what I was feeling was the truth, but it felt like a weight that I couldn't lift off of myself.

I prayed until I fell asleep and then spent all this morning praying even more, rebuking the lies and praying that my allergies wouldn't prevent me from going out this afternoon. You see, today was the day that the film track would finally get to go out with the campus track to talk to people outside the university, and I was beginning to have an idea that the enemy was trying to prevent me from going. At the very least, he was doing what he could to steal my joy, and at first he was doing a pretty good job.

We all met up at lunchtime and divided into teams of four. Kelsey, my Bible study leader, loaded me up with cough drops, and my partner, Emilee, found me some non-drowsy cold medicine. With that and all the tea I've been drinking, I decided I was feeling well enough to go.

We started out at the Discipleship House before we actually went out into the city. As soon as we got there, a group of kids ran into the courtyard and started talking to Emilee, since she sees them every few days. When I went over to meet them, a little girl ran up, grabbed my hands, and just started jumping up and down, giggling and turning us in a circle. The rest of them caught on and all wanted a turn jumping in circles until the boys on my team started a game of soccer (football, that is) in the courtyard. The first two girls I met, Hannah and Beth, hung on to my hands while trying to kick the ball at the same time. Needless to say, my heart was captured instantly.

We sat down by the wall and they played with my hair, with my lion necklace, and asked me my name. I told them, "Lauren."
They said, "Lay-on."
"Lauren."
"Li-on."
And I said, "Close enough."

Another group from my team arrived, and the girls left to greet them. An older girl, about eleven, suddenly ran over to me and gave me an enormous hug. She hung on to my arms and asked my name, then hugged me again and said, "I love you so much!"
She spoke some English, so she asked me about my family and told me that Hannah was her sister. Then she tried to teach me to count in Amharic, and she kept her arms around me until I had to leave. The other kids wanted to sit in my lap, play clapping games, touch my necklace; they wanted affection so incredibly much.

So then it was time to go out. Ephraim and Iamb were our translators, and they led us to a park across from the university entrance. Ephraim is possibly the sweetest person I've ever met, and his love for Jesus is visible on his face when he talks about Him. I was very glad he was in my group. We approached the first man we saw, sitting on a bench, and asked if we could show him one of the short films we had on an iPod touch. He agreed, and we spent the next hour talking with them. He was quiet, but he listened as we went through our tract and talked about the film, nodding and looking serious. Finally he said that he wanted to accept Jesus, but that he had a problem with stealing and wasn't sure if he could overcome it. Ephraim talked to him for a long time, and he finally told us that he wanted to pray with us, and meet someone later to know more. He prayed the prayer in the tract with Ephraim, and said he was happy about his decision.

Another man in the park had been watching us, and we approached him next. We went through the tract with him and explained the gospel, and I could see the interest growing on his face. He told us that he was living "like a pagan," but he didn't want to live that way anymore; that he wanted a fresh start in life.
"You know the dry bones in Ezekiel?" he said. "I am like that, but I want to rise up."
Though we didn't ask, I was curious about his life's story, because he had large Amharic letters burned across his right arm. After we prayed with him, the smile across his face was enormous, and he looked so happy I nearly cried. He sat in the park for about an hour, just flipping through the booklet we gave him, smiling and crying and listening to us talk to other people.

My next experience was the most interesting of all. There were two groups who wanted to talk to us, so Emilee and Iamb went to one, and Ephraim and I stayed with the other. We were talking to four students who knew some English, and two of them already knew a little about the gospel. After Ephraim went through our tract someone else wanted to know what we were talking about, so he left me with the students.

The first thing they asked me was where the booklet came from, and if it was part of the Bible. Then they began plying me with questions about Christianity and my own faith. The one who talked the most asked me if I was a student, how long I've been a believer, and how long you have to wait to tell people about Jesus after you become a Christian. He just couldn't believe that you could go out and tell people about your faith without having been a believer for years and without knowing everything about the Bible.

Then they asked, "Does God know if you are going to Heaven or Hell when you are born?"
I said yes, but that He gives you a choice, and they had the hardest time understanding. "Why does it matter what I do with my life if He already knows what's going to happen to me?" they kept saying.
When we finally got through with that, they wanted to know, "What about people in poverty? What does God think about them?"
And after that beautiful conversation, they asked what the difference is between God and Jesus, and what it means to be saved, and how I became a Christian. One of them said he wanted to quit smoking, and would Jesus help him do that? "Does the Bible say anything about smoking?" they asked. They had so many questions, and the language barrier made it difficult, but I kept praying inside while I was talking to them and hopefully my answers made sense. Finally they said, "Okay, tell us what to do now." I asked them if they wanted to pray with me, and they said yes, but that I had to lead them in English. (One of them seemed really happy when I told him that praying was like talking to a friend, and that he could talk to Jesus all the time.) So they repeated the prayer after me, and then they said, "Okay, now you do it after us in Amharic!" So I very repeated the prayer after them in Amharic, and Ephraim made an appointment to meet with them next week to talk more.

By then we were late, and had missed the taxi that was supposed to take us back. We walked to the Discipleship house and called Aaron, who told us to wait and he would send the taxi back for us.

When we walked up, the kids saw us and came running. One of the girls threw herself into my arms, and then the others wanted to be picked up too, so I was hanging on to the girl in one harm and two little boys on the other while trying not to let my bag fall into the mud. After we called the hotel the kids were all clamoring outside the courtyard, so we spent half an hour playing with them in the muddy street. K'dst, the eleven year old, found me and hung on the entire time. Every once in awhile she would throw her arms around me and exclaim, "I love you so much!" They all just wanted to be held, wanted our hands, wanted to kiss us and keep our attention.

When the taxi arrived, it took several minutes to say goodbye to them all, because they kept coming back for another hug and reaching up to kiss my cheek and shake my hand. I just wanted to take them all home with me!

Looking back, I'm so happy that I didn't let my illness or heavy-heartedness keep me in the hotel. Most of the other teams had a discouraging report of being chased out by guards, or having unsuccessful conversations, but we prayed with about ten people today and hopefully they will all show up to meet with someone from our team next week. Most of them seemed excited to know more. I feel like this was the best day of project so far - and to think I almost missed it!

We went out to eat this evening, (I gave in and got a pizza) and my table got into some deep discussions on the rapture, and pretty much every other heavy topic in Christianity except predestination, so dinner was a blast. Everyone is upstairs watching a really bad bootleg copy of The Avengers now, but I've seen it four times and I really wanted to get this day down before I go to sleep.

The girls also taught me that lion in Amharic is "Ambe'sa," and they were really happy when I came back and still remembered it. The one word that everyone knows is "Ameseganalow," which is thank you, and I also know "Exabier" (God), "wendem," (brother) "mehiret" (mercy; we know two people with this name), and "sock" (smile).

I hope you are all well, and that you were able to get through this extremely long post. Thank you for your prayers; as you can see, they are needed and highly important.

The internet has been pretty sketchy for the past few days, so I haven't been able to write for awhile. We've been in Africa for eight days now, but so much has happened in that time that it seems far longer.

About four nights ago, we had our first "cultural experience," in the form of an Ethiopian dinner and dance. The dancers were phenomenal, (I've never seen anyone move like that before) and after a few dances they started pulling us in one at a time until we had this conga line thing going. It was all fueled by the strongest, most amazing coffee I've ever tasted (which kept me up until 2:30 in the morning playing Catchphrase with other caffeinated people) and it might have even been a better night than when we were extras in that film last week.

Our classes have been pretty great, and our teachers are just wonderful. Today the cinematography teacher, Joe, told us that he is now our teacher for life and we can e-mail him any time with questions, so now I feel like I have a great source of information whether I go back to school or not. They're all really encouraging and open, and what's awesome is that they're not just our film teachers; they're leading our devotions in the morning and praying for us. It's just wonderful.

So, my first non-exciting report: I got sick two days ago. The girls have been going down one by one, and apparently it was my turn. Weirdly, though, it wasn't the Ethiopian food that got me: it was plain old macaroni and cheese. I went to bed around eleven the night before last, and pretty much didn't get up until this morning. It felt sort of flu-like - chills, soreness, etc. - but thankfully it seems that I just needed to sleep for 25+ hours and get over it. Being sick on another continent is hard, because all I wanted to do was be in my own bed watching Disney movies, but everyone was really sweet and they were all praying for me, and it wasn't so bad.

Please be praying for everyone's health though. I finally ate something for lunch just now, and I'm not feeling like that was the best idea.