Yates Family In Soddo

We've been sharing a lot about the personal process that we have each been going through to get our families to Ethiopia, but we haven't necessarily shared much about Ethiopia. We have all been learning tons about Ethiopia, it's culture, history, and it's social and political systems. We humbly admit that we won't really KNOW Ethiopia until we we've "walked a mile" there. Until then we get to learn by reading the blogs of the wonderful people who are volunteering there now. One of the things we have learned is the hard reality facing the people in Ethiopia. Here are some medical statistics that we learned. 50% of the population is under 15 years old 40% of the population lives in extreme poverty, less than $1 per day 1 in 6 children die before the age of 1 1 in 10 die before the age of 5 1 in 70 women will die while giving birth 6% of births have a trained attendant present In all of Ethiopia, a country with a population of 91 million, there are only 1...

Recently I was encouraged to read more about George Mueller. I really, really love to hear about real life heroes, their struggles, and their victories. In fact Adam makes fun of me because if any movie says it is based on a true story, I almost always love it. If you have time to read or listen to this biography by John Piper about his life, I highly recommend it. http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies/george-muellers-strategy-for-showing-god During this season we are going forward with our support raising, and it is humbling beyond belief.  It is a strange position to be previously a very independent person and then to become dependent upon the kindness, generosity and grace of God lived through others.  But I guess that is a part of the process.  It is wasy to believe the lie that we are independent creatures, when in actuality we are all very much so dependent upon God for every good and perfect gift. George Mueller raised over $7,000,000 at the turn ...

It's normal to have the ebbs and flows of excitement, fear, doubt and joy during this season of our life.  Recently I, Michelle, have really been struggling with how to end well with my job and my patients as we prepare for the next step... And God has been so faithful during the process. Friday was such a busy day, a full morning starting at 3am to get all my hospital and clinic work done.  I was exhausted, and emotionally drained.  I walked into my very last patient of the day's room.  She is a 400 pound ex-meth addict with no teeth in a powerchair unable to walk due to her size and chronic pain and a sweet christian woman. As we talked about her medical problems, she stated quite bluntly, Dr Yates, Are you leaving to go on a mission trip? I responded vaguely, well, ummm, only as the Lord leads.  You see I haven't told anyone really at work that I'm preparing to move and serve in Ethiopia because I don't want to create early or unnecessary turmoil. "Well, God...

I will be writing a few blogs over the next couple weeks to describe different specific ways we have been preparing ourselves for the work ahead and the move to Ethiopia.  The first installment is about RMI24, an awesome experience I, Adam, had the opportunity to be a part of at our home church, Reality. Last summer, I was thinking about our life and our upcoming big changes and I realized that I needed to do something different in my life if I was actually going to be spiritually and mentally ready to move my family to Ethiopia. I was having a desire to free up time in my schedule to read good books about working overseas and about God's plan for us to be part of his work on earth. I was also having a desire to connect to some mentors that could walk with us through this season. The first step was to start working less at my job at Applied Minds and carve out the time to do this, but I had no idea what the next step would look like.  I figured I would just have to get really ...

Praise God for his continued faith and calling to lead us to Ethiopia! It has been a long journey for our two families, but full of God's leading and faithfulness. We just found out that we are both going to be receiving grants from Project Medsend . " MedSend enables highly qualified and dedicated healthcare professionals to serve spiritually and physically needy people around the world in the name of Christ. We do this by making their monthly educational loan payments while they serve. Without MedSend, these healthcare professionals would need to spend years working in the U.S. to pay off their educational debt before going and being able to answer God’s call to serve – and many would never make it to the mission field at all." That is a great burden off of each of our families.   In addition they told us that they would pay for us to attend a great conference, the ECHO conference in Florida this fall.  This is a conference we had heard about and wanted to go, but didn...

I used to think that peace was the way the God directed my steps because the places where He has led me, although challenging I found peace.  I love to quote his word: Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:6 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.  For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace – as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.  1Cor 14:33 You will keep in perfect peace those you minds are steadfast, because they trust I you. Isaiah 26:3.  That being said, God has recently challenged me that dying to myself involves pain, that as Satan challenges us as we walk along God’s path it involves pain.  CS Lewis writes in   The problem of Pain that “the full acting out ...

A person plans his course, but the  Lord  directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9 This past week has been a week of "next steps" in our team and in each of our families. First, we are excited to announce that we have officially been invited to partner with Soddo Christian Hospital for long term service! This is a HUGE "next step" for us. We have been stretched in our faith as we pray through this process and trust that all the pieces will come together for us to serve at Soddo. Not everything is settled yet, but this is the step we were waiting for so that we can define all the details with the amazing volunteers that are already working and living in Soddo. Here is a taste for the fun that daddy gets to have with his boy when mom is away at work! Next, Michelle has gone back to work after an amazingly blessed maternity leave. She is starting back slow at 1-2 days per week this month, ramping up to 3 days per week next month. This is a big next step! In this season, I h...