May 24, 2009 -- posted by Karen

We had an interesting morning at our little English fellowship. The group is made up of a number of Dutch families that come from a strong Reformed background, a number of Mennonite families that bring an Anabaptist understanding of faith and then Africans from various places, some of which have a strong Pentecostal background. A very interesting mix.... This morning during prayer time, one of the African leaders got very caught up in his prayers for healing. He basically said that true Christians shouldn’t ever get sick because sickness is the devil’s work and the result of sin. We just need to have enough faith and we will be well. And then he prayed long and very loudly (it actually kind of scared Isaac!) for deliverance from every kind if illness and disease. When he had finished the service was supposed to be over but one of the Dutch leaders stood up and shared that their family had been in an accident two years ago where his neck had been broken and son had been killed. He did not feel that this happened because of the devil but rather it was God’s will because he wanted to work in his heart. Richard and I didn’t agree with either one of them but we were not ready to jump into this sudden theological debate. By the end of the service, the African Pentecostal was threatening to leave the church! Quite the morning!

We went out for lunch after church with Carl and Vera to Dreamland family restaurant overlooking Lake Bishoftu. It’s interesting to hear the story of the church in Ethiopia and particularly the College since Carl has been the primary visionary and leader in it’s development.


We were going to go for a walk in the afternoon after the heat had abated a bit but we had a spectacular rain storm instead with the power going on and off. Once that was over, I did manage to get a short walk in with Vera before dark. We went up the hill behind the College where we have a beautiful view of Lake Hora.