Yates Family In Soddo

Today, Adam and Michelle started our first day of language school at the Joint Language School in Addis Ababa to attempt to learn Amharic. I was feeling a little bit nervous about starting this difficult language. There are letters (or fidels) in the language. I walk around and feel like I am looking at squiggles and hearing nonsensical noise. But today was awesome! We will be learning via the GPA system. Growing Participator Approach: http://growingparticipatorapproach.wordpress.com/the-growing-participator-approach-gpa-a-brief-state-of-the-art-and-some-practical-illustrations/ Like a baby, we start our language learning with listening and pointing only. This allows us to understand the language first. Later, we will start to talk and finally learn the alphabet and to read and write. Basically, what it looked like today is we heard words, pointed at objects and played with dolls. I hope the rest of the schooling is just as fun! And Cole had a great day with Wendy. She arrived safe and...

We already had our first visitor. What a sweet blessing. On our 6th day in Addis, one of our good friends, James Appel, that lives most of the time in Chad, but we also know from Ventura, had an overnight lay over in Addis. Adam picked him up from the airport, we brought him home to stay in Wendy's bed, before she arrived, and then left early in the morning to be on his way to Monrovia, Liberia to work at an Adventist hospital there. He is a champion in the faith and a courageous doctor. (http://www.amazon.com/Nasara-Dispatches-District-Hospital-Chad/dp/1461074975#) It was a short, yet sweet visit. During the quiet of the morning he was able to pass on one of his missionary and life pearls to me. He encouraged me that when fears take hold of our mind, especially in the middle of the night, and our mind can race with ideas, fears, processing, perfecting, stressing, optimizing etc. It is in those instances, that we need to take every thought captive. We destroy arguments and every lo...

We, the Yates, made it and are getting settled in to life in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. We have spent most of days getting to know the city, running errands, making food and hanging out in our home while our little precious Cole gets some sleep. It took him 7 days to get over jet lag. He was such a trooper, and is now passed that! Our new apartment is great with lots of amenities, and a bright yellow wall (which is my favorite color for all that don't know), but is a tad on the small side. Well, I guess we will just get to know our neighbors really well and enjoy the communal space on the compound we are living. One of the challenges of this past week is getting over my slight guilt that we are here and not really "doing" anything. We are living life, but not going to school or working. For some odd reason that is difficult for me. One of our neighbors told me to enjoy the "snow day" because life is going to get very busy after school and our service work begins. I a...

The Yates family is on our way. After some good and tearful goodbyes we boarded our plane in LA and spent the next 16 hours in the air. We crossed over the north pole on route so even though the flight went "overnight" the sun never set. Cole slept well for a solid 9 or 10 hours and we made it to Dubai with no trouble. We are now waiting for our flight to Addis. Thanks for your prayers!