Sunday, December 10, 2000
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Sunday, December 10, 2000 |
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Water for body and spirit Fayette mission team lays pipeline,shares gospel By PAT NEWMAN "Hello, how are you? Praise the Lord!" These phrases were repeated dozens of times by the mission team from Fayetteville First Baptist Church during its stay in Ethiopia. The purpose of the visit was threefold: to encourage the church, to witness the gospel and to help the poor, specifically by laying a galvanized pipeline down a rocky mountain side to provide fresh running water for the people of Key Afer. But the missionaries returned home and told the "home team" that they received much more than they gave. Wednesday evening, the group shared their Ethiopian evangelical adventure with church members, illustrating their experiences with breathtaking photographs, artifacts and a little comic relief. Linda Bryan described the trip as "Living in the National Geographic... we really got to experience what it was like in Jesus' day," she said, referring to the primitive living conditions in Key Afer. The missionaries slept in tents, and had no electricity, no running water and no plumbing for the duration of their two-week stint in the mountainous village where they set up camp. Getting there was a challenge in itself. Bryan said it took five hours to travel down the mountain and three-and-a-half hours to hike to the village. "Lord, what have we gotten ourselves into," Wayne Corley said he asked himself as they traveled down the treacherous mountain side. "The Lord chose you to do this, I told myself," Corley noted, knowing full-well the Lord would also support him in his mission. "We felt the prayers every day, every minute," Bryan told the congregation Wednesday evening. "I was never afraid and felt so supported." On a typical day, the team rose at 6 a.m. and, following a trip to the corrugated tin shelter which housed the holes, or toilets, the men and women gathered for breakfast which consisted of eggs and traditional bread. Work on digging the trench for the pipeline, which will eventually provide fresh water bubbling up from a spring about a mile and a half up the hill, took up the main portion of the day. Breaking up rocks into gravel was a chore taken on by the women, who were often joined by the school children in the afternoon. Despite the language barrier, the mission party found other ways to communicate through touch, play and song. "We could understand how grateful they were that we were there," Corley noted. One of the things that impressed the Fayetteville contingent the most was the spirit of evangelism demonstrated by the young Ethiopian men from the capital city who accompanied them on their journey. "They didn't pass by five people without telling them of their God," Corley said. "I was so impressed by their ability to walk up to people on the road and share Jesus," commented another member of the team. The evenings were described as the best time of the day. Following a one-pan dinner of vegetables and perhaps meat, such as pheasant or goat, the group had time to pray together, sing and share the word of God with their Ethiopian brothers and sisters. Their hope is that the living water of faith will be channelled into the village of Key Afer just as the spring water will flow into the natives' lives.
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