Dear brothers and sisters,

Warm greeting in this new-year month of January, when 2 weeks ago there was the Ethiopian Christmas day on the 7th with lots of celebrations and activities here. May our Lord help us throughout 2002 to be a peacemaker, pointing people to the Savior and making peace between God and men! For indeed "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." (Matt 5:9)

The Lord has been so faithful and good since my return to the field the end of September. For the very first time the Addis Ababa airport Customs officers let me through without opening any of my baggage or carton boxes. All the goods, including 6 sets of archery and a new Panasonic video-camera, got passed totally free of any custom duty. Also, without my knowledge, I returned to Ethiopia only one day prior to the expiration of my return visa. With no question at all, God was leading in response to many prayers!

For the first two months up to November, I was having some respiratory and nasal problems. Very likely that was due to a drastic change from the clean air in Canada too much pollution in Addis. Some nights I had difficulty in sleeping. But praise the Lord that I am much better now.

Our Abyssinia Place, which is on its way to be developed into a camping ministry, is doing fine. The Lord has been keeping the 3 workers (with a Christian couple) and the horses during my furlough. By the way, a pretty foal, a filly (i.e. a female young horse) was born last April. She was the first fruit in our small breeding program with Shemson --  the only pure Arabian horse, a stallion, in Ethiopia. I named her Mulan --the Chinese heroine so well depicted in the Walt Disney animation pictures. Mulan is a vivid illustration, with her beauty, intelligence, and great speed, of the potentials of our breeding program. Now, the mother of Mulan is again heavily pregnant, so was another 22 year-old mare being in foal for about 5 months. The other two young mares may be in foal too. In Ethiopia there is no lab equipment to determine the pregnancy of horses. So we have to observe the mares' heat cycles and other signs.

What a joy when I visited with those few Heywot Injerra (Bread of Life) Home Bible Studies, especially that the studies were going on during my 5 months absence. The Orthodox friends have tasted for themselves the goodness of studying the living Word. At the Kotebe group, with only 2 to 3, they have now finished Matthew and recently entered into Luke. At the Addisu Gebeya area, the 3 youth have reached Matthew chapter 10. The study, held at our Abyssinia Place every Sunday afternoon, was seen with the completion of Matthew and currently is focusing on the 2^nd book in the O.T. the Exodus.  When I participated in these studies, it has always been refreshing and a great drill for my Amharic too. By the way, pray for our Islamic mechanic friend, Rebi, as he will soon resume a weekly Bible study with Herman a missionary from Germany. The study will be in English starting with Matthew the 1^st book in the N.T. 

Concerning the Abyssinia Camp, as you are aware of, we are working hard and seeking the Lord's direction constantly. This e-mail should go forth 2 months ago yet it has been withheld till now because we want to furnish you more concrete prayer directions. Within the SIM family in Ethiopia, our new camping initiatives have been well received. We are working to register the 'Abyssinia Camping Ministries' with the Federal Ministry of Justice as a national Christian, not foreign, services organization. At this stage, there will be 9 people (6 Ethiopian and 3 foreigner) on the Committee of ACM. The structure will also include an Advisory Board, made up of 4 Christian gentlemen (2 Ethiopian and 2 foreigner), to whom the Ministries will be held accountable.

During my furlough, I was sharing about this camping vision. Now we are working up a total budget, breaking down the various aspects of costs, such as drilling a well (including a motor pump, 2 fibre glass tanks, and all the piping system), the 5 bungalows (each can accommodate 12 campers sleeping in bags and not beds), a kitchen and its facilities, a basket ball court (economical and to be paved with vocanic red sand), and other equipments...  With this breaking down of various costs, it will enable a church, a sunday school class, a fellowship, a family, or an individual to contribute accordingly.  Also, with a SIM project, a 3-year operation cost has to be included. Since this will be over US$32,000.00, we have to enter the ACM project into the coming Field Council to be held during May of 2002.  

While our initial total budget is only about 500,000 Birrs  (US$58,823.oo), recent interactions within the Committee and others brought up a very vital issue -- the land. Unlike other Christian ministries, without land there can be no camping ministries. Within the past 3 weeks, we have arrived at this conclusion that we should contract land and not resort on rental. (Note: our camping site is very scenic and within Addis Ababa city limit therefore it could be anticipated of a constant rental increase in the future) We will not budget any land leasing funds payable to the Addis Ababa city government, with the rate of 220 Birrs per sq. metre in that area. By faith, we trust that God will enable our Ministries, a non-profit one, to gain favor with the government, who will grant us free the 12,000 sq. metres of land on a 30 or 50 years of Leasing basis!

However, in our case with the original land contractor, we do need to pay compensation, or to have his contracted land transferred to our camping use, to him and his family. In the present-day Ethiopia, there is no private land ownership. Everybody can only lease or contract land from the government. So with this extra cost of contracting 12,000 sq. meters of land from Ato. Teffera at 35 Birrs per sq. metre, we have to put another 420,000 Birrs on top of the original budget. By the way, a Toyota land Cruiser will cost about 550,000 Birrs here in Addis. In our committee, we are encouraging each other that when God points us a way He will always provide and see us through!

Concerning my personal needs, please pray that the Lord will bring in sufficient Ministry funds. Since my return, the consistent heavy expenses have been on the maintenance of vehicle. While the VW pick-up has been reasonable in its upkeeping, my 1975 Ford Escort was seen with lots of replacement of parts and services. The pick-up is mainly for occasional use of loading things to the campsite while the Ford has been used extensively day-by-day. Since a missionary can claim. 40 US cents per km, Ministry funds will enable him to cover the parts and maintenance. I can also use the Ministry funds to cover some expenses at our Abyssinia Place, such as the monthly land rental and some salary cost. 

Your co-laborer in his harvests,

Joseph --  Addis Ababa