More from Ethiopia

Matt here again. It's 4:30pm here on Thursday, November the 18th. I have the great honor of picking Greta up at the airport at 3:40 pm on Monday. That's 342,600 seconds from now. I liked putting it in seconds because the number gets smaller faster than counting minutes or hours. Did you know that there are 86,400 seconds in a 24 hr time period (boy, I really hope I did the math correctly on this one!)? I do now. And I plan on using every single one of them each 24hrs cherishing the gift of my wife. I know I'll probably stumble, we all do. But, I want to love her so completely so that those incidences occur less often and less often. And when I do make a mistake, I want to catch myself so fast and apologize immediately. Because we as husbands are commanded by God to love our wives as Christ loved the church and be willing to sacrifice everything for them. And when we love God, we can get the supernatural power to love our wives like that. Why settle for good when we can have great? Hopefully by now, you can tell I love Greta with all of my heart.

So, now on to the reason you checked this blog in the first place. Thursday, the team went to the Fistula Hospital. If you don't know what this is, I highly suggest you check Greta's link to a Nova show on it (on this blog page or her facebook). They handed out scarves made by you here along with soaps, lotions, and chapstick. They got to hand them to the girls/women and speak to them thru an interpreter. The women were deeply touched. Greta and the wonderful team she's with got to tell them how much they admire them and their courage and how beautiful they are. They just glowed with their smiling faces. These women got to be given a little dignity and feel loved and worthwhile because of the love of you here that sewed, gave, and prayed. Lots of pictures will come later!

Kechene orphanage was also visited. The children had nothing, were ragged, disheveled, yet so well loved by the great teachers. 55 of them are needing sponsors. Greta said it was great to meet them and tell them there are people in Wisconsin that love them and care about them (ie, future sponsors!). Lots of picture to come from here too.

Finally, Dale, a man on the team from Wyoming, gave Greta a Brewers cap for me to "give" to Biz, our sponsor daughter at Kind Hearts. He saw me wearing mine last night on Skype with Greta. He wanted me to know that Biz just needs a Brewer hat from me. It's funny he should do that, because if you know me at all, you know I have a thing (Greta thinks it's an illness) for hats. The stories she has about the incredible people on her team is amazing. And they all deflect praise on them, realizing that there are so many people involved with this mission, they just happen to be the part that's there on the ground. Greta and I are so thankful for all of your support to make this happen.

Well, keep being prayer warriors for Greta and the team. Pray for their safety, health, mission, the people of Ethiopia, and their safe return. Knowing you are praying for my wife, her work, and her safe return is a source of strength for me. Because as proud of her as I am for doing this, I miss her even more.

Until later...