Sunday....Day 3

Sunday morning we loaded up in the vans and headed to worship at Beza International Church......

And worship we did. The service was amazing!

Here is a little clip of worship there...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIAC6gEzW3I

 After church we returned to the Guest House for lunch and then headed out to do some shopping in the "post office district". I have to admit that shopping int he market was the most uncomfortable thing we did while in ET. There were lots of beggars...disabled men, women with their babies, children of all ages. They were asking for money or food or for you to buy what they were selling...maps, gum, toothbrushes.. We had already been warned not to give them things, as much as you would want to, because once you pulled your backpack off your back there would be a mob of people around  you before you even had a chance to blink. I did my souvenir shopping as quickly as possible and then waited in the van for the rest of the group. After shopping we headed over to a larger parking area where some of our team members knew from last years trip that the street kids hung out there. The guys struck up a soccer game, as they did everywhere we went and we hung around talking to the kids who didnt want to play soccer. When I say these are street kids, that is exactly what I mean.....these kids live on the streets and fend for themselves. I would venture to say that there were children as young as 3-4 years old who live on the streets....alone. Many of the kids there sold gum or shined shoes to try to make money. These kids could have definitely used some of the donations that we had brought along, but it just wouldnt have been safe to hand that stuff out there.

 After a little while with these kiddos we headed to Kaldi's to pass some time until our dinner reservations.

 While at Kaldi's we had the chance to get to know some of our teammates better as our van left to go pick
up some special little friends at Korah. These three little guys are sponsored by some of the people on our team and they were able to meet (some for the first time) and spend some time with them. They went to dinner with us and spent a coule of nights at the Guest House. It was a lot of fun to see them be spoiled if not for a short time...

That night we went to dinner at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant which had tribal dancing. It was a night of fun and laughter, although we wondered if we would be allowed to go in. Security was tight because one of the Korean presidents were eating there at the same time. There were lots of police with big guns, but our guide, Maste was able to sweet talk our way in!!

This would be the first (and last) time that I tried injera, the traditional ethiopian cuisine. It wasn't terrible, but I don't think I will be making it a regular in my diet!! Luckily we had Maste with us to steer us away from the raw meat and the tripe!!