Celebration of Marriage Day- Mary's thoughts on Sunday

What a day! I think that this was the day that most of us were most excited and nervous about. We prepared quite a bit for this day, and God was so faithful.

Shortly before we left for Africa, we learned that Chad and Tara were speaking to the whole congregation, as a part of the Sunday service. (This church has a membership of around 1000 people.)

We left our hotel and arrived at the church in time to meet the elders and pastors of the church. We also got to visit with many of the children at the church.

Once the church service began, it was so fun to see the African culture of music and worship. Our friend, Wondimu, was kind enough to translate the songs for us. Truthfully, though, the translation wasn’t completely necessary. It was such a sweet spirit in that place. I loved, loved, loved, every minute of it.

After the main church service was over, they served the church bread and soda (for lunch) and then it was Jerry and Susan’s turn to speak. They did so well, and Susan received multiple rounds of applause. They loved her! Robert and I (Mary) finished out the seminar with our session.

After church, we met with the church elders to discuss the implementation of ROTOM in Ethiopia. Wow, was that encouraging. The work that they are doing here is incredible. Also, it was very humbling to hear that over 50 members of the Ethiopian congregation are sponsoring seniors. Wow! We got to present ROTOM with a monetary gift to help them get started, and that was such an honor. These are lovely, beautiful people with good hearts I’m just so in awe.

We left the church, and went to coffee with Wondimu at another local hotel. We got to witness an Ethiopian wedding reception, which of course made me very happy.

Finally, back at our hotel, the manager has graciously given the 8 of us a “tour” of some of the other lakes surrounding Debre Zeit (which is beautiful, by the way). We stopped at a lovely hotel and enjoyed a traditional Ethiopian meal. YUM!

I just really can’t express how honored I am to be here. This is amazing. Seriously, just plain amazing. I’m so thankful!