Hey Everyone!

Hey Everyone! 

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas & Holiday season filled with lots of joy and laughter. 

This year Christmas looked different than what I’m used to! God has so graciously showered me in His peace and has made it easy to stay present here in a season where it could be really easy to be constantly homesick. 

One of the teams has been so amazing in making this Christmas super special. Our house has been constantly filled with Christmas music and there have been lots of afternoons filled with watching Christmas movies. Team Towdah did a 12 days of Christmas countdown filled with ugly Christmas sweater competitions (interesting when you live in the middle of nowhere and use nature and the craft closet supplies to get creative), wreath hanging ceremony, handing out paper snow flakes, a Christmas riff off, making hot coco, baking until 3am the night before Christmas, hanging up ‘stockings’ (any spare socks we had), planned a Christmas Eve service, sang us their version of the 12 days of Christmas & decorated the house. 

We have had a lot of time to remember why we actually celebrate Christmas and to be renewed in hope & joy. God gave us the coolest Christmas gift on Christmas Eve, after we had worship service. That’s normally the time when my family opens presents and so it was so incredible to walk outside and see this sky filled with the most breathtaking stars I have ever seen. Shooting stars everywhere and a sky that was actually twinkling. It was the sweetest gift I could’ve gotten. When we woke up on Christmas morning I walked outside our bedroom to find notes on the ground with our name on them. One of my teammates had written a bunch of notes with cookies for our team and the guy’s team since we live in a different house at the bottom of the hill from the squad. I walked up to the main house to find our big table set with Christmas placemats, our socks with notes from people on the squad and balloon animals for each person. People were making cinnamon rolls for breakfast in the kitchen. It was a day to just sit and spend time with God and the squad. Such a good and joyful day that I’m so grateful that I got to experience. 

Life here is really simple. There squad has been helping at a reforestation site, building a wall around the garden, cleaning kids’ teeth, fixing the road, helping to cook meals, cleaning the house, walking the kids to school, playing with the kids, spending time with the house moms, cutting grass, cleaning out the fish pond, working with the bee hives, cleaning out the chicken coop, taking care of the chickens and whatever else HOPEthiopia needs. We live in the middle of nowhere and are surrounded by so many fields and mountains. It gets pretty cold here (40 at night) and only gets to about 70 during the day. Going from hot and humid to dry and cold was a strange change. Altitude was also a huge factor in adjusting. 

The biggest thing that God has told me in this season in Ethiopia is that this is a time to just sit. I love to go go go, but God keeps reminding me that He has specifically ordained these days to be slower and simpler and a time for me to seek Him. He has spoken so much to me in this time of sitting with Him. I am constantly reminded of God’s faithfulness and goodness in my life. Reflecting on where I was a year ago to now is a testament to the good gifts our Father not only gives, but showers us in. 

I hope that in this holiday season you are able to rest in Him and remember the joy and hope that comes in Jesus Christ. He’s just so dang good! I hope that you enter 2019 with a heart that is open for all that God has for you in this next year! 

-Elena 

PS Hopefully I’ll post again in mid January when I go to mid point debrief in Adis Ababa. I’m actually not even the one posting this blog – my teammate Gracie is since treasurers had to travel about an hour and a half to get Wi-Fi to turn in an expense report to Adventures in Missions (wifi is far away + super expensive). She’s been a huge blessing in the way she had stepped into this roll as I have transitioned from previously being treasurer to team leader.