A Meeting with Joe
Sunday August 16, 2009

Today we were picked up by Joe who is connected with the Children’s Home Ethiopia (CHE) and The Forsaken Children (TFC) The Forsaken Children can be searched online and you can learn more about Joe and what he’s doing. Anyway, Joe took us to worship at The International Evangelical Church, which I believe was started by the NGO (Non Government Organization) SIM (Serving in Missions) Enough with the acronyms. IHOP – ok I couldn’t resist!
The church and the service were just like what we would go to at home except for the many different nationalities that were in the congregation. The Pastor was originally from North Carolina, the music was contemporary and all songs were ones that we knew. The people were very inviting and we had a great time praising God with so many from all different countries. The message was about Leadership, and the importance of truly walking like Jesus ALL the time and not just on Sunday! After church I was telling Joe about a man named Les that we are going to meet up with later in the week, and guess who was standing about 10 feet away. Yup, Les. How cool is that. So we set up Wednesday morning to visit what Les and his wife are doing. He retired from SIM 6 years ago, and has been in missions work for I think he said 42 years, 35 in Africa. When I asked him where he was from he said the states so I said which one in which he replied that he has lived in 14 of them! He is one of 10 siblings, one that lives in Utica. But now they have set up 4 girl’s homes for orphans. Anyway more on Les after we meet (Ha Ha, More on Les! Get it? No pun intended but still funny anyway, or maybe just sleep deprivation)
Alright then, It seem as though working with CHE will work with and for us as a church, so it’s time to go home and see my beautiful wife and kids! Hold it, not so fast, I remind all of you, the week is still young and no decisions will be made until all people have been met with and prayed over. So that is all I’m saying now.
Bryan and I are both doing quite well except for missing our wives and children and other than this slow dial up internet service things are great.(But Praise God it is up and running)
We have met 3 adoptive families and have swapped adoption stories with each other. The Coolest thing is that each story is unique, except for the fact that God has truly moved his hand in each one to make them the same and perfect!
As you can tell from my writing, I need some sleep! So God bless you all, keep up the prayers, and for all the Red Sox fans – Would you look at those Yankees GO!
John~