May 31, 2009

We had a great breakfast at our hotel in Addis and then were picked up by a van full of people from DZ and taken to a Meserete Kristos Church. It was a pretty amazing experience even though it was all in Amharic. Their worship singing is very upbeat and actually sounds like it has a lot of Indian influence. No harmonies. It’s all pretty much pentatonic with very intricate melodies. Very loud though with lots of dancing and many interjections from the congregation. Songs are incredibly long here. Usually about 10 minutes each with lots of repetition. By the time the sermon came, the kids were getting restless but the congregational participation kept things interesting even here.

We gathered together for a noon potluck with all the Mennonite workers in the Addis area. Some were with MCC, others with a US Mennonite mission board and a few were Mennonites in Addis working with NGO’s. We were probably over 30 people. Everyone was very friendly and we enjoyed getting to know them. The kids had fun hanging out with a number of children their age. They do this on a monthly basis but will not be meeting again until September. Most of them are going to North American for home leave during the rainy season of June, July and August. Apparently July and August are not great months to be in Addis because it is pretty cool and rainy.

It felt good to get home and unpack. We were only gone five days but it felt longer since we were able to do so much in short period of time. Now we will gear up for graduation which is this coming weekend.