January 2003

Dear Friends,

Rachel promised that I would write the next newsletter in order to give you an update on my life with the Majangir people in Ulla Watta. I will do this, but first I wish to express my appreciation to all of you who have remembered us in prayer and provided the financial support that makes our ministries possible. Your prayers continue to sustain us during the long periods during which I am separated from the family. Your prayers are also bearing fruit, for the work is progressing at a much better pace than I could have imagined or hoped with my limited view of how God is moving in the hearts and lives of the Majangir people. Your generosity through Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission giving and contributions to our designated ministries through the Outreach Foundation enable us to continue to implement various projects that sustain the spiritual and community development work with the Majangir. Your generosity has also enabled us to keep Gidada Bible School open to continue its work of training church leaders for Western Wollega Bethel Synod. Thank you for being committed to mission and participating in ways that make a difference for the lives of our neighbors and friends here in Ethiopia.

Some of you have written and asked about my new living circumstances. There are challenges, such as living in a tent for two months. Personally, I found it quite pleasant, but my body has reached an age where it feels obligated to protest by lodging complaints in various locations of my anatomy. There are other challenges like clean water, the discomfort of giardia, and the fever of malaria that form part of my personal story now, but these are rather mundane topics for the casual reader.

There are many adventures associated with my work with the Majangir, such as riding, or more accurately, falling off and pushing a motorcycle through a rain storm on a muddy track. I have developed a special relationship with this old motorcycle. The arrangement consists of a compromise in which I push the motorcycle rather than ride it and it, for its part of the arrangement, provides me with opportunities to benefit from the ministry of others. This allows for personal spiritual growth in the disciplines of humility and patience while giving me a new appreciation for God's sense of humor.

One hot sunny day, while I was still experiencing the afflictions that accompany giardia, the motorcycle stopped functioning in the middle of the place commonly referred to as "Nowhere," which is located just inside the border of "Lord, Anywhere But Here." After pushing the motorcycle up two hills and being confronted with the prospect of a third hill, longer and steeper than the first two, I gave up any pretence to personal piety and cried out to the heavens, "Hey God, how about stretching out that divine right hand of yours and give me a little help with this predicament." Fortunately, God did not answer my impious petitions with a whirlwind. (Petition is plural because there were many other things said in the heat of the moment that should not be found in a missionary newsletter. The general picture is sufficient as it involves a man using his knowledge of the Psalms to call down all manner of imprecations against all things mechanical, especially those that possess an attitude.) Rather, God chuckled through the voice of an Oromo farmer, Samuel, who came along at the right time. Taking in the situation, he took me, a stranger, to his home. He gave me water to drink, food to eat, and comforted me with hospitality testifying to the presence and compassion of Christ living in him. We are friends now and I visit him in my comings and goings.
The work

God has produced visionary leaders among the Majangir and sustained them through faith as they work to achieve their goals. During my time among the Majangir we experienced the joy of baptizing three adult men and preparing 12 young people to receive their first Communion. Today, we have a core body of worshippers that consist of 47 people of all ages and the prospect of many more joining the body of Christ through their witness. We completed construction of the shell of a worship building that will double as a fifth-grade classroom next fall. The walls of this building were constructed with from the forest, a labor of love defined by the blood, sweat, and tears that were required to bring the wood up the mountain. Much of the exciting progress we are making in church planting has to do with the labors of an Oromo evangelist, Mitiku Zwodie. God has blessed Mitiku with gifts suitable for cross-cultural mission work and he uses them to communicate God's love for the people he serves.

In community development work, God has blessed us with a harvest that will feed the community through the end of March. This is a miracle considering the dire situation caused by famine in Ethiopia today. We continue to clear land near the spring for irrigation planting. Three years ago only one man, Tekelegn Beyene, the man who first received God's vision for his people, was engaged in this work. Today, because of his example of hard labor and perseverance, 19 heads of household are using irrigation to plant dry-season crops. There is much more to say about our plans for the future, but they will be reported in coming newsletters.

In the mean time, keep us, Western Wollega Bethel Synod, and the Majangir people in your prayers.

In Christ's Service,

Michael Weller

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 43