September 1999

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! On the 12th of September, Ethiopia marked the beginning of their new year—1992. (No Y2K problems here for eight more years! Don't be surprised if you start seeing 1992 on our letters.) Anne preached at our local Gatcheb congregation in a service that included infant baptisms, the reception of new communicant members (who have one year of instruction in preparation), and Holy Communion. One of the passages for the day came from Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."
Good news! A sure foundation!

While Christ remains the same, the situation in Gatcheb keeps changing. The changes, we believe, mean progress. For various reasons, previous staff appointed to the Bible school have not continued. But as of last month we have welcomed a new staff member, Weizero (Mrs.) Sara Kebede. After years as a primary school teacher, Sara attended the two-year diploma leadership course at the Mekane Yesus Seminary in Addis Ababa. We have already seen a difference in having a full-time Ethiopian staff member with whom to work.
She has been a big help in communication and coordination of one of the last construction projects—the kitchen. And, together with the three other recent graduates of the leadership course, she is planning a short course for parish leaders.

As we write, a local structure of mud and wood is being put up to serve as a kitchen and storeroom. The floor and walls have been plastered to deter unwelcome visitors—the numerous rats that scurry through the grass and have been a plague to our neighbor Caryl Weinberg. (We have been grateful to live in a brick house. The rats haven't yet figured out how to get in.)

Much remains to prepare the facilities. Besides completing the kitchen construction, there is: building bath houses, completing the electrical installation, buying kitchen and dining supplies, transporting 32 mattresses from Addis Ababa, and, still, finding a reliable water supply. (We have managed to live collecting rain water but are not sure how feasible that is for 10–30 residential students.) Then we can work on preparing for teaching.

Highlights of the past six months

In March we were able to travel to two different parishes for training weeks. Travel included car, feet and horse. We had proposed a five day/four night program, but have found the local church folk want you to move in. In the first parish, Gesha, we spent more than a week giving a taste of what the Bible school will offer—an introduction to the New Testament, how to prepare a message, leadership, liturgy, and a discussion on house churches. The parish leaders who attended were eager. It made us realize how ready the church here is for solid teaching.

Our second parish visit was cut short, only three days in Shoa Bensch, as John fell to the surrounding epidemic of shigella. We returned to Gatcheb to get him on antibiotics.

We thoroughly enjoyed these two visits, however. The people were so receptive and responsive. One drawback was that during the two courses, there was only one woman participant. The reason seems to be that very few women have any education and thus cannot read or write. It made us aware that numerous levels of education and training are required for the building up of the church in this area.

One "question mark" that came out of our experiences concerns the physical stamina required. In the first parish, their hospitality just about "finished" us, as we were served ample quantities of meat three meals a day—and in a place where they hardly ever eat meat themselves!

Prayers for the coming months

• We are now a couple of months away from our scheduled interpretation assignment. We are uncertain of the details of our time in the United States and our possible return here to the Bible school in Gatcheb. We appreciate your prayers as we make decisions and finalize plans in the coming weeks. We will let you know as things unfold.
• Pray for the Charles Haspels Bible School. We will be working with Sara Kebede to plan for short courses to be held in the facility in the year 2000. With lack of sufficient full-time staff it is still unfeasible to begin the one-year certificate course.
• Pray for Southwest Bethel Synod in the coming months. They are in the midst of some leadership changes and are coming to grips with a very difficult financial situation. Pray for the leaders to make wise, hard decisions for the welfare of the parishes and the ministry of the Synod.

We pray that you too know the unchanging lordship, love, and grace of Christ as we enter a new year with the new and unknown ahead.

Blessings,

John & Anne Wheeler-Waddell