Ethiopia: Day 3

We woke up early Sunday morning in Addis Ababa to the sounds of the morning call to prayer echoing across the city. The chanting was monotone, drawn out with an occasional shrill. It was definitely a different alarm clock. We went down to breakfast, and afterwards the team piled into three 14-passenger vans for the 150 mile drive to Shashamene, which took only about 5 hours.

The Ethiopian countryside was beautiful. We passed by some many mud huts, which surprised me. I wasn't expecting to see so many huts, but there they were! One of the funny things was all the animals! There were mules, cows, and goats that crossed the highway just about any time they pleased. Sometimes we'd see the young boys herding their animals and the girls carrying water. Everything was fascinating. Seeing it all for the first time.




Once we arrived in Shashamene we unloaded our bags in our hotel room and went up to the dining hall for our first Ethiopian meal. The food was really good. Here's what it looked like:

Something Tibs (Lamb)

Kewot with injera

After our meal, we packed back into the vans and went to the local Kale Hewet church for our orientation with Yoseph and to meet our translators and disciplemakers. It was a different church experience. All concrete with wooden benches and dark in the church, because it was turning to night. The worship was so much fun, even though we couldn't understand what was being said. We introduced ourselves and met our translators and disciplemakers. My translator was Kufa and my disciplemaker was Warkinnea (in the video he's on the far left in the row in front of me.)