"The Sweetest Welcome"

Greetings to our families and friends from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! We apologize for keeping you in suspense in our arrival and first week in Ethiopia...internet speed and connection have been testing our patience! We're actually not even able to visit our blog site, but I sent this update back home to have it posted for us!

We arrived on the 14th of January after a smooth series of flights across the world! In addis, we were welcomed by Berhanu (sports Friends staff), Facil (our coach), and four players from the women's team! We were warmly welcomed with a bouquet of roses for each of us accompanied with many hugs, kisses and beautiful smiles!

I, Sunny, have been so happy to be back- it has been such a sweet reunion with my friends and the culture here! I have thoroughly enjoyed showing off Ethiopia to Sarah and Ali! I think they have quickly fallen in love with the people...a culture of sweet and gentle-spirited people! They truly live their lives on the premise of relationships and putting others before themselves and their work.

We have all come to realize this creates a slower pace of life! We’re still adjusting, so we are enjoying this change in pace!

It is day 9 now for us and we are still figuring out our schedule and exactly what thing will look like. Meanwhile we have been enjoying our time together, exploring the city of Addis! We have also met many other missionaries from around the world that stay on the SIM compound and have enjoyed their fellowship!

WE have had several practices with the women's team, Addis Ababa Eagles, and have quickly developed a love for each of them. We had our first game and tied the best team in the league! It lifted our spirits! Ali had her debut in Ethiopian professional soccer and contributed to the tie!

The altitude is over 8000 ft. so our lungs and bodies are wondering why they are spent after only 5 minutes of jogging!? The well-known phrase, "slow and steady wins the race" can be used in many different contexts here in Ethiopia!!

For those of you who know Sarah, she is thriving in this place as she easily relates to a warm, hospitable, loving, kind, affectionate people!

I think I can speak for the three of us that a highlight so far has been spending time with Genet. Genet is my friend who came to know Jesus through my time here in 2004. She was a player on the Eagles and now is an assistant coach for them. It has been so encouraging and amazing to hear her growth over the past 4 years! She has a fire and a passion for people to know the saving grace of Jesus that permeates her whole life! She is a true evangelist and seeks after people to know the love she has experienced! Genet is 21 years old! She coaches 6 teams, over 150 kids! She has led at least 25 of them to Jesus and meets with them weekly to study and pray! She tells me her father has legs that are sick and needs to be massaged. As she massages his legs, she prays for his salvation. This is the same man who handed her over to demon spirits at birth and kicked her out of the house when she confessed her conversion to Christianity! As I reflect on Genet's life and the people of Ethiopia these two verses come alive.

"We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace ad truth." John 1:14

"...and my people will be filled with my bounty, declares the Lord." Jer. 31:14

Thank you for your prayers and support! Continue to pray for us as we adjust and for the hearts of those we minister to be drawn to the love and grace of Jesus.

Blessings,

Sunshine for Ali and Sarah

The Spirit of Travel

"Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."- Kurt Vonnegut

(PTL for the interweb or I would have no good quote to start this last state-side blog with. :)

So we are dancing huh? I love dancing! Travel, dancing...this is destined to be a stunner of a blog.

I have come into contact with people over the last year and half (totaling my entire missionary career) who seem to think that we do this because we love to travel and see the world. I (along with Alison & Sunshine) would like to dispell that horrible, horrible myth. Tonight, we are the Myth Busters. *(adendum: we DO love to travel, don't get me wrong. It just isn't reason numero uno)

Why we are traveling to East Africa, Ethiopia to be exact:

• To be tools in the Loving & Mighty Hand of the God of the Universe.


• To love a group of women whose culture says they aren't worth as much as their counterparts.


• To demonstrate to a group of beautiful Ethiopian young ladies that God has a destiny, a beautiful story and journey for them in life that is just for them.


• To show them that the Holy Spirit is not the wimpy 3rd part of the Trinity but rather the Gift of Empowerment, Power and tangible Love in our lives that should overflow in us and pour out to others.


• To display an amazing thing: that God truly does use the foolish things of this world (the Game of Soccer) to confound the wise. Soccer is a key to the door of people's lives so Jesus can open the door of people's hearts.


• To lead them to a place where they see that Jesus is calling them to be Warriors for Himself armed with Truth, Love, Healing, Freedom and every beautiful weapon in the Lord's Arsenal.

We aren't going to hang out and see the sights, showers won't always be easy to come by, it certainly will not smell like a paradise. But praise God! Wherever He has called us is a Paradise because He is in us, He goes before us and paves the way. Anywhere we can go with God is an amazing place!!!

Be blessed to know that God is using YOU in our lives as He paves our way with His Presence and the prayers of His Children. He is already moving mightily and we are beyond thrilled to be able to share with you!

Godspeed!

Sarah (for all the sojourners)

A little sampler...

(The taxi stop and juice hut just across the street from the SIM guesthouse)

Blue...the color of every single taxi cab and taxi van in Ethiopia! In 15 days our daily life will consist of wheelin'-n-dealin' with these very taxi drivers just outside the SIM guesthouse where we'll be living! It's quite the event, actually, having experienced it before. Envision this scene with me... I wake up at 5 AM to the calling (over a loud speaker) of the Muslims to prayer, but I go back to sleep of course! I wake up again, several hours later, to start my day. Life in the city is calling my name, so I grab some birr (the Ethiopian dollar) and approach the gate of the SIM compound. The zabunya (guard) opens the gate for me with a huge smile on his face and lets me go like a butterfly out of it's cage! As soon as I place one foot on the sidewalk of the streets of Addis, I immediately am bombarded with greetings, smiles, handshakes, and offers from the dear taxi men just waiting for the next ferenj (foreigner) to come their way! I politely greet them with the little Amharic (Ethiopian language) I know, but walk past the first few men. Curiosity strikes them all and they start to wonder why I would pass them up...some even start to lower their prices as I walk further away from them! I get past some more of them and see a little boy with a rag, some muddy water, and some soap. He doesn't speak English, but it's obvious what he wants...money in exchange for a shoe shine! No matter how many times I explain that you can't shine a pair of flip flops, he still follows me and persists in his salesman tactics! I tell him, "another time," and continue walking. By now, the taxi men are badgering with each other over who's turn it is to take me, all the while, still trying to convince me to ride with them! There's really no point in explaining what I'm doing because they don't usually listen. So, I just keep walking...and smiling...and enter the juice bait (house) where I order a pineapple, mango and papaya mixed fruit juice! Delicious! I finish my drink, pay, and walk back out on the street with the you-know-whos waiting for me...the taxi drivers! And their persistence continues as they escort, or follow, me back across the street! I wave good-bye and thank the zabunya for letting me in the gate!

And so my day has begun...

Waiting anxiously for this day,

Sunshine

Pray, Pray, Pray

Dear Supporters, Loved Ones & Friends,

Grace and Peace to you today! I hope you are all enjoying the upcoming celebration of Jesus, our Light and Life! I for one am ready for this season of celebration and worship Jesus, our God made flesh!

I come to you with a few prayer requests. As many of you know, I have been working for the Charlotte Eagles (www.charlotteeagles.com) for the last year and a half as a soccer missionary. I can stand here and say that it has been the most transforming time of my life and it is an absolute honor to serve Jesus in this way! This coming January, I am scheduled to leave for Ethiopia with two other sports ministers for a 3 month period. We will be working alongside Serving In Missions and Sports Friends Africa by helping start the very first girl’s soccer league in the country of Ethiopia. Each team (approximately 8-16) will be connected to and sponsored by a local church. These churches are going to, among other things, minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ to these young girls and their families in the hope that they will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Our role will be discipling the 8-16 female coaches of these teams. Soccer is the international language and such an unbelievable bridge that spans cultural, language and religious differences. We are excited to get to know and love these women and help them walk into the destiny that God has for them as life-impacting coaches. God is moving in and through Ethiopia and it will be a privilege to be there!

I have just received word that I will not be able to go to Ethiopia until I have all of my money in to our parent organization, Missionary Athletes International. Currently I have $2,300 and my total need is $4,880. For those of you who feel led to contribute to this amount, there are two options.

1. You can respond to this e-mail and I can direct you to more information regarding giving to the Ethiopia project with MAI in my name.

2. You can mail a check to Missionary Athletes International with My Name in the memo to this address:

Missionary Athletes International

PO BOX 1889

LA MIRADA, CA 90637-1889

Phone: (714) 739-8375

On another note, I am always looking for people to join with me in this ministry on a monthly basis. If this is something you would be interested in, the above information still applies! J

Another prayer concern is just for Sunshine, Alison and myself. We have enjoyed these past few months of preparation and prayer as we have been following the call God has on our lives to impact the young women of Ethiopia for the Kingdom of God. Please pray that God would confirm His call on our lives in this point in time and that we will find encouragement in these last few weeks of preparation.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His Glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen!” ~Jude 1:24

Also, please let me know how to be praying for YOU! J

Peace of Jesus Christ,

Sarah B.

The Ballad of The Three Amigas

"One for each other and all for one
The Three Brave Amigas are we
Sister to sister and everyone
A brave amiga

Fighting for justice and liberty
Wherever you find is where we will be
For the three brave amigas are we
We are The Three Amigas
We are The Three Amigas

Over the mountains across the plains
The three brave amigas are we
Stamping out evil till none remains
The brave amigas
The three brave amigas

Wherever they meet us our destinies lead us
Amigas, we are always together
Wherever we go we're three brave amigas
And we'll be amigas forever
We are The Three Amigas
We are The Three Amigas
We are The Three Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamigas
And amigas forever we'll beeeeeeeee!"

Ok, so this is obviously taken from the hilarious, not-even-cheezy-at-all, Three Amigos movie... which, by the way, is one of my favorites of all time! Anyone else with me?!
I couldn't help but envision Sarah, Ali and myself singing this ballad saddled up on our horses in the distant land of Ethiopia, where the sun beats down on our fair skin as we fight off the wild packs of hyenas!
So maybe that won't be the case, but just humor me and play along!
Seriously now, I hope to see this ballad come to life as we, Three Amigas, venture out "over the mountains across the plains to stamp out evil and fight for justice and liberty" all in the powerful name of Jesus!

*Sunshine

Getting the blog rolling.....

Merry Christmas! (and "Hi" Mom, I am sure you are reading this) We are almost 5 weeks away from leaving and being in beautiful and spiritually hungry Addis Ababa! In an endeavor to have a central location for general information, pictures and praise, we have started this blog.

We are blogging missionaries. Blogginaries. Soccer Playing Blogginaries. :)

This is going well so far!

For you our family and dear loved ones, we want to send our gratitude! You prayed for us, supported us, spurred us along in so many ways. In that, you are truly joining with what God is doing first in us and then through us in Ethiopia. Thank you, thank you. I can't describe how it feels to have people who believe in you and the Work God has asked you to do to this extent. It is humbling and uplifting all at once.

So, if you are praying and we happen to pop into those prayers, here are a few things:

Peace for our families as we three single "gals" venture off into Ethiopia.

Our partners, Serving in Missions and Sports Friends Africa, in Ethiopia

Our finances: none of us are completely there

All our pre-trip preparations. There are MANY!

Thank you. We love you.

May you experience the celebration of the Most Precious Gift, Jesus, in a new and life-stirring way.

In the Peace of Christ,

Sarah (For Sunshine & Ali)