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Dear
brothers & sisters, Warm
greeting in the midst of a chilly and raining season now in Ethiopia! Before my
updates let me first quote some verses from my current devotional study:
"Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say... All
this also comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in
wisdom." (Isa 28:23-29) Indeed if and when we did consult our Lord in
everything, he will direct us with his wonderful counsel and magnificent
wisdom! The
summer months are frequently time of vacation. True here also in
Ethiopia. Quite a few missionary colleagues, and Ethiopian friends as well, are
taking time off for vacation. Sometimes I was asked why not taking a leave for
vacation. My reply was that there was no personal funds to fly off for a
vacation. In fact I have no plan for a personal vacation. However I do pray
and look forward for a trip (used as a split furlough) to the Pacific Rim
countries of Hong Kong, Singapore (possibly Malaysia), Australia, and New
Zealand in the months ahead. For a personal vacation a missionary has to resort
to his or her personal funds. Yet for such a trip, in visiting churches and friends
(and my mother in Hong Kong as well whom I haven't seen for some years) and
also in promoting our new Abyssinia Camping Ministry, I can use funds in my
Ministry. Yes, our Lord can provide for this trip! About two
weeks ago an e-mail came from the SIM Hong Kong Office, imparting the news that
2 sisters in HK had contributed $50,000 Hong Kong dollars (i.e. US$6,426.00) to
Joseph. My first reaction was that this contribution would be more than enough
to print our 3rd Gospel booklet entitled 'Born Again'! However, to be realistic
since my Support level up to the end of July turned out to be Canadian $6,738.00
short, that gift should go to Joseph's Support. Do pray that our Lord will
faithfully fill up all my basic Support requirement (C$2,247.50 per month
for a missionary from Canada) till the end of this fiscal year by the 30th of
September -ending in black (not red) again as in 2001. As for
the printing of the gospel booklet, let us trust our Lord for his timely
provision! During
this Clump (meaning wet season in Amharic) months, asthma and flu and other
weather-related sicknesses are very common in Addis Ababa. I have been affected
by flu several times, including a most recent one just a few days ago.
About a month ago, due to a stop of water supply on my living compound while
plumbers were changing the whole piping system, I hurt my back badly
in lifting heavy water containers with an incorrect body posture. It lingered on
for over 2 weeks during which time I couldn't even bend down to tie my shoe
lace. But thank God that my back is OK now! The
Heywot Injerra studies and visits have been going on steadily. We are about to
making new contacts and absorbing new students. Weeks after weeks I have been
overseeing our Abyssinia Camp site regularly, often transporting sand, timbers,
cement with our VW pickup since the crude fence has broken and fallen
here and there. In comforting our two employees there, I pointed out to
them that, in future construction, our Camp would be fenced with stone
foundation with metal network on top. Thus no more hassle of constant
repair during our 3 years there. Also, Mulan - the young filly now 1
year and 4 months old, has been sold for US$1,000, i.e. 8,500 Ethiopian Birrs.
We are proud of Mulan, the firstfruit of our small breeding program. She is
very feminine yet as fast as an arrow, a living sample of what kind of
horse has been produced by using Shemson our pure Arabian stallion! That
8,500 Birrs will be sufficient to cover 1 year expenses of hay (around 6,000
Birrs) for our Stable and the rest for other expenses for the horses. Since
there has been no charge of any kind for families and boys and girls
in riding at our Abyssinia site, we are grateful that the sale of Mulan did help
in some way. By the way, all the other 3 mares are heavily pregnant and
expecting babies in only a few months' time! Finally,
praise God that ACM (Abyssinia Camping Ministry) has been officially signed
and approved by the General Director of SIM! The Project - called Abyssinia
Camping Ministry, has also been given this project number - ET 92769.
Therefore any contribution can be forwarded to any SIM Office designated to
the Project with its assigned number. However, instead of giving you the details
of the ACM budget, hereby let me just layout for you a summary. Details of ACM,
with a bird-eyed view of the Camp site and the Sport Complex and a broken-down
budget, will be sent to you through air-mail later. OVERALL
TOTAL BUDGET OF ACM:
1) Land Contracting .
451,000
Birrs
2) Drilling a well & piping sytem 65,100
"
3) Camp Site ..... 252,212.48
"
4) Tana Sport Complex....
349,675.90
"
5) Equipments & Furnishing....
80,844.50
"
6) 3 years' Operation Expenses...
138,600.00
"
_______________________________
1,337,432.80 Birrs (One
US dollar = 8.54 Birrs)
i.e. US$156,608.05 * Add 11% of the Project cost to
_______________________ Grand Total Cost of ACM: US$173,834.94 Abyssinia
Camping Ministry stands on the principle of no credit and no debt and no loan of
any kind. As the Lord provides so will we proceed and spend accordingly. From
Joseph -- Addis Abebe Updated
News : August 29, 2002 |