Yates Family In Soddo

Merry Christmas from Ethiopia! መልካም ገና (Melkam Gena)! Christmas cards are usually about all of the amazing things from this past year, but let’s be real: It’s not always like that, and it has not been like that for us this year. I was reading my favorite missionary community blog and I was reminded that even the first Christmas, the day God gave his best gift to mankind, was a day of “violated expectations”. “The very first Christmas was also greatly anticipated. Prophesies about Jesus had been spoken for centuries. The world was awaiting the “long-expected Jesus,” but how he made his arrival violated many expectations.” You can read about Mary’s, Joseph’s, and Israel’s violated expectations at the Velvet Ashes blog. We are excited to celebrate this Christmas season in Soddo. But that excitement isn’t without our own “violated expectations.” The weather is dry and sunny, not wintery. Some of our teammates have left Soddo either for a short visit home for the holidays or forever and so ...

Nothing in Ethiopia is simple. Everything feels hard and complicated most of the time. Today I was so discouraged, when God heard my cry and answered my prayer. One of our hospital employees has an ASD and has had worsening shortness of breath, although in general she shows early signs of heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. She was told by a cardiologist in Addis that she has to go to the US for heart surgery. Our missionary staff was approached by her asking for help. I tried and tried and could not find anything at a reasonable price in the US or any place that offered significant discount. One of my partners, Sok, contacted Tenwek hospital in Kenya and found they could safely perform the surgery for about $2,800 USD, with few additional expenses for travel, room and board and outpatient evaluation. We started our fundraising and encouraged Kebebush to do the same. This is not a missionary only donation, even if just $5, we want her and her community to help as they are able. T...

I am listening to a lecture series on cultural intelligence by Professor David Livermore. He is teaching on the importance of cultural intelligence when working in a cross cultural setting. One example he gives is when he questioned three Christian ministers from different cultures why the prodigal son was eating with the swines. The eastern European minister said it was because there was famine. The African minister said it was because no one would give him food. The American minster said it was because the prodigal son squandered his inheritance. Who was correct??? Immediately, I thought like an American, because he sqandered his inheritance. But really all three are correct, it is just the lens from which they read the bible. Luke 15  11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set o...

Ethiopia is full of wonderful people. We have many Ethiopian friends and through our many challenges we have been cared for well by our community here. That being said, sometimes it is difficult as an outsider. This isn't a pitty party, but its just the reality of life whenever you are the minority. You stand out. And therefore become a target. Last Sunday we were walking home for church and a young boy about 8 years old thought it would be funny to throw a rock at a white girl's face. My friend was hit on the side of her neck. Today, we were out for a walk with our family, and a young motorcycle driver thought it would be funny to pretend to hit us. The road was wide open. Adam, Cole, Leah and I were walking on the side of the road and the driver swerved toward us and came a few feet from our path. That is really funny huh??? Luckily, no one was hurt. God is teaching us to have compassion and mercy on those that are the minority in America, others here in Ethiopia and througho...

Our last blog post was in December. We told you about an accident we were in where we struck a pedestrian and we asked for prayers over the situation.  What followed was not easy. We spent 3 weeks helping him with his care until he ultimately died on December 27th.  Michelle wrote this soon after that but with the stress of life we never shared it with you: Our friend, Mr (Ato) Watango was in the hospital for two and a half weeks. He only had minor injuries from the accident. A skin laceration on his left calf and a cartilaginous rib injury, but his is old and his health was not great to start. So, as expected in any county, we had some exacerbation of some underlying health issues. He was given ibuprofen and it exacerbated an ulcer. He has been confused at time and has been withdrawing for a local opiate/amphetamine leaf he chews call khat.  He then got pneumonia from not breathing deeply and developed some fluid around his lung. He got a tube in his chest to drain 1 L o...

We woke up like any other day. We have traveled so much in Ethiopia, that road trips almost feel normal and typical. The 100's of donkeys, carts and people on the two lane highway from Soddo to Addis Ababa almost felt ordinary. But perhaps it is when we take down our guard, and forget to stay vigilant in prayer that the enemy attacks. We were taking our friends to the airport this quiet Thursday morning. We ate breakfast before we got on the road. We stopped to get a hand of those cute apple bananas for our friends in Addis from a young boy on the side of the road. We made it about 45 minutes out of town, when it happened. We were out of any official town between Shone and Halaba. We were headed downhill on a beautiful stretch of road with some small ravines on either side of the road. There was no person or animal on the road, except Watango. Watango is a 75 year old muslim man with significant vision impairment. He was walking along the side of the road for his 10 kilometer trek ...

This was the perfect scene from the hospital last week. We all attended "chapel" this morning, which was really the graduation ceremony of our general surgery residents and one of our well loved general practitioners. We had two graduating residents, speeches and lots of tears of joy as these two young surgeons get ready to leave the hospital to serve the people of Ethiopia well. It was so sweet and a sweet reminder of why we do what we do. The chapel is right next to the morge. There was an adult patient that died at the hospital last night, and his coffin was being carried to the morgue until the family could take the patient's body home. For 45 minutes of the 60 minute ceremony there was deafening, loud wailing as the family mourned over this man's body. This is life here. It is sad and strange that there is so much joy and so much sorrow that can almost seem to happen at the exact same time. It is a weird emotion. The most interesting thing about it all is that it...