Proverbs 16:3 states so succinctly: "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Currently there are indeed many things that 'Abyssinia Camping Ministry' has been involved in or is planning to do. Let me present this entire report under the guiding light of this excellent verse from the wisdom book in our Bible.

Commit to our Lord every financial need of ACM:   During the past few years since the inception of ACM, we have been experiencing His timely provision from time to time in spite of our weak faith. Our Lord always provides in a moving manner, not an enormous amount but through His children, whether a family or a fellowship or some individuals. Take the case of our small Kia truck, which has been serving ACM so well as our work horse and in transporting kids, came mainly from the contribution of 2 sisters in Hong Kong a few years ago. We asked the SIM Hong Kong Office about who they were, but the two chose to remain anonymous. Take another case of a retired lady missionary in western Canada, who wrote years ago that God told her to pray and to give for our camping ministry. And she has been giving regularly C$20.00 since then. Or just about 3 weeks ago, an e-mail came from a sister in Toronto area, who wanted to give us C$2,000, which is just about the amount we currently need to set up a metal house for the well and for storage, plus a water pump which costs 2,100.00 Birrs!

     In close conjunction to a very major objective of ACM in becoming a self-supporting indigenous ministry, we have been committing to our Lord of this pursuit. Les Williams, who has graciously accepted ACM's invitation to be on our Executive Board, threw in some light some months ago. He pointed out that ACM should recruit more Ethiopian professionals and business people to be our members. These brothers and sisters may be very occupied in their business, yet they could contribute generously in this area of finance. How beautiful in the eyes of our Lord when our Ethiopian believers are giving sacrificially and joyfully for the cause of ACM! And we are working solidly on this giving plan: such as how much for a toilet or a shower (4 toilets and 4 showers in all for boys and girls) and how to give for one bunker bed (that can sleep 3 kids and we need 6 of them in our 3 cabins), and how much for a new desk-top computer (2 will be ideal for ACM), cabinets, and desks and others for our cute container office, which was already transported to our site on the 23rd of October.

Commit to Him the physical development of ACM:    As has been presented in Joseph's Sept., Quarterly Report of our well with over 12 meters depth of water, currently we are pressing forward for the completion of this vital water supply system. Let me share His guidance virtually in every twist and turns. At first, I am thinking to have a metal structure to house the well, the electric water pump, and to be a storage as well. But before very long, we were led to see that the metal house should have two compartments: the small one for the well whereas the wider one for the storage. Our Lord gave us sound judgment even in physical thing. Then we began to see the advantage to have a workshop, a 4x4 sq. m. metal shed to extend westward sharing the same back metal wall of the one for our well and storage. We all see the tremendous usefulness of our ACM workshop, when equipped with press drill stand, metal and wood cutter, welding machine (one is already with us)....  In the days ahead, our workshop can economically make various types of metal frame structure, such as for a stable to move all our horses out from the camp site to the meadow, to build fences on our own, and for maintenance so necessary in any camp setting.

Commit to our Savior all the program of ACM:   The highest goal of ACM is definitely heavenly and spiritual: in sowing seeds and in pointing boys and girls to our Savior! Take our Genesis Clubs, a all-year-round program at ACM. We are working on to have at least 4 Clubs A,B,C,D, with the possibility to embrace two more E and F. With quality and not just number always on our mind, we limit each club to have no more than 10 kids and to have one big brother and one big sister plus another back-up volunteer for each club. With the increasingly high English standard among the juniors these days in Addis Ababa, one to two clubs can be operated in English instead of Amharic. The leaders at ACM fully recognize that the big brothers and big sisters are the key to fruitfulness in this creative outreach arm with great potentials. In the past, I have to admit that in recruiting these volunteers, who are to give just around 5 hours per week, we were using more human methods in making connection rather than in consistent prayer. Our weakness being in the failure of keep on asking our Lord of harvests to sending His laborers, in the form of big brothers and sisters, to the Genesis clubs. 

    Much have been learned and upgraded in those past clubs. Take one current club with 4 boys and 1 girls, who will be finishing soon the 10 books in the O.T. and the N.T. Our hearts have always been refreshed in hearing their reciting scriptures from week to week, often fluently if they had practiced the 'Sword of the Spirit' exercise during the week. Our joy come from the hope that the living word of God have thus been sown in the field of their young hearts, and to sprout in His own good time. The leaders also asked each kid in the Bible quiz time 10 to 14 questions, covering the 7 chapters such as in the Book of Leviticus and another 7 say from the gospel of Luke. Through the results of these quiz we know pretty well whether they have done their home Bible study, 2 chapters per day, faithfully. Those, who failed in the 'Sword of the Spirit' exercise or in the Bible quiz, will forfeit the highly favorable horse-back riding. But they still can participate in group sports and games such as football, softball, archery, hiking and fishing etc. We also commit to Him our future overnight camps, scheduled to start late Friday afternoon after school, the whole Saturday, and to be dismissed early Sunday morning. If we use 2 tents, at this stage, we can accomodate 25 boys and girls, with 15 sleeping in our 3 cabins and 10 in tents. With a  break of the Genesis clubs say in every 2 months' time, ACM can hold at least 6 overnight camps per year, and more if we use the 2 month-long school break during the  rainy season. If we were to have six Genesis clubs, there will be 6 big brothers and 6 big sisters plus 6 back-ups --- quite sufficient to serve in our overnight camps. Then, taken into consideration of the highly feasible English camps, short-term volunteers from abroad can function in that capacity!

Commit to our sovereign Lord our land leasing from the government:   ACM has been praying and planning diligently in this crucial aspect of land leasing. After our first General Assembly to be held in the afternoon of the last Sunday of November, we will take the appropriate step to submit our application of land leasing to the Municipality. It is an indispensable legal status that ACM must obtain from the government. Without the Karta, i.e. the  'Land leasing Certificate', ACM will never be able to get legal building permits, and not even able to register with the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation in the name of ACM.   Our ardent prayer thus rises to the sovereign Lord for free land leasing. We understand that a social or a sports entity are very favorable before the Addis Ababa government, and a church or a purely spiritual organization have very slim chance of getting land free. Though registered as a Christian spiritual ministry, ACM, in reality, embraces social and sports elements in our overall program. Therefore, with the help from above, we still have high hope to get our 9,000 square meter free from the authorities! 

Updated news : 2006.11.14