Let me first quote these words of the Apostle Paul, which befits this report beautifully: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." (1 Cor. 15:58) During the past few months our dear Lord has been enabling us to get a glimpse of these encouraging words from his beloved Apostle. Concisely they will be presented hereafter.

He took the Bible with him to the States!     About one year ago, I presented a bilingual New Testament, on behalf of 'Abyssinia Camping Ministry' (ACM), to a 17 year-old young fellow, who had once paid a visit to our camp with his younger brother and played sports with our Genesis Club boys.  The gift was for his leaving for America to be a freshman in a Boston university, where his older sister was. Coming from a very wealthy family, we thought that such a gift might not be taken seriously. But to my great joy, during January of 2007 when he came home for a brief stay, I met him in person and was told that he, not only took the N.T. with him to Boston, but had been reading it consistently. He quoted to me the broad road to destruction and the narrow way leading to eternal life...  Just having arrived home, he opened this N.T., in Amharic and English, and shared the scriptures with his parents!

     On the 20th of January, his returning day to the States and his 18th birthday as well, we were able to present to Miky (i.e. Michael) a gift in a book about John Newton, the author of 'Amazing Grace.' Moreover, we met his older sister for the first time. Our gift to her was a complete Bible in Amharic with an Ethiopian Orthodox cross on its beautiful red cover. The father told me later that she took the Bible with her to America. I asked about her Amharic. The proud dad responded: "Perfect!"

A nice house and a hostel of ACM at Ayat:      Much of my time, during Dec., to Feb,, had been pre-occupied with looking for a house, packing and moving. When the former landlord informed of raising the monthly rental to 4,500 Birrs or be evicted by the end of Jan., I thought how could such a distracting thing have happened among many urgent things to tend to. Having some friends living at the Ayat Estate locating at the border of Addis Ababa, I made enquiry of rental there and asked, in particular, for prayer that a leasing agreement could be reached for 2 to 3 years with no raise of rental year after year. All our prayer were granted, even beyond our expectation, that a nice, spacious one-story villa house was rented at 3,000 Birrs per month, just within our missionary rental allowance for 2 years. Then, for the following another two years, the rental will have an increase of 500 Birrs only.

     After moving into Ayat Estate, it soon became apparent that many boys and girls, mostly from middle-class or above families, could be introduced to our camping program. If driving or riding a motor-bike through a back country road, it took only about 10 minutes or 5 km to arrive at our camp site. Besides, the Servants' quarter can accommodate a house-worker and the driver for ACM. There are 3 spacious bed rooms on the upper floor, 2 can be equipped for housing 4 volunteer laborers for ACM from overseas. Already one room has been furnished and served well for our volunteers for both

Boys' and Girls' camps recently, who stayed at our Ayat house on Friday nights. How grateful are we for his wonderful provision for such a house and an ACM hostel as well!

Our 1st One-day Boys' Camp on 24th/March/2007:          It turned out to be a very memorable one-day camp with 13 boys participating, age from 13 to 17 and with 6 being the first-time comers. We also subsidized six that they paid only half at 10 Birrs each. The morning main session was seen with Dr. Tom Lunsford, the area director of SIM, speaking on the topic of "You can never be a really good boy without Christ! Why?" Talking as a father to sons, and in perfect Amharic girded with lively story illustration and questions time, Tom really got through to these young hearts. Another bonus lies in the following soft-ball games which took place on the meadow, where Tom and his two sons were playing hand in hand with all the others -- an act so appreciated by the Ethiopian boys.

     In retrospect, we are particularly grateful that the word of God had been sown in a natural and unrestrained atmosphere. One boy, who was one of the earliest attendant of our camp since its inception and the only son of a noted professor at the Addis Ababa University, really saddened my heart as he dropped out from the Genesis club over a year ago. He returned to this one-day camp! Moreover,  he and his sister, both high in intelligence, wanted to finish the remaining 2 books in the O.T. and the other 2 in the N.T. so to complete the total 10 books and to acquire their certificates.  One weakness of this camp was in the disorderliness during lunch and snack time, when boys just roamed around. This lack of discipline has to be corrected, in the future camps, through the guidance of the big brothers.

Our 1st One-day Girls' Camp held on the 5th/May/2007:        Through these 2 camps, our Lord has been confirming to us that ACM should conduct boys' and girls' camp on a regular basis, perhaps two every month. And due to our limited facilities, to divide them into sexes does facilitate a smoother  operation than to mix boys and girls together at this stage. 10 girls, 8 of them being first-time comers and with an average age of around 14 to 15, turned out last weekend. Over half were subsidized at paying only half. The theme, like the boys' camp, rested on "You can never be a really good girl without Christ! Why?"  Our lady speaker, being a gifted evangelist, began the session with a skit with her husband. She related more of her own story of finding Christ and opened a lively interaction through questions and answers. The afternoon Bible time with the big sisters, like the boys' one, focused on Roman chapter 3.

     Our weakness? Well, this time not around the meal table but in the picking up of girls in early morning. The lack of co-ordination resulted in much waste of time and caused our arrival to be a full hour behind the scheduled 9.00 a.m.  We had to change our volley-ball game on the meadow to a badminton competition, in pairs, on the camp site. The afternoon 'Life Treasurer Hunt Hiking' was exciting, with 3 groups launching out in search for whatever with life, whether plants or insects or fish... The English speaking group, after presenting their 20 items after the hike, turned out to be most attractive thus became the winner. When all these girls expressed their unanimous desire of coming back, our hearts rose to our Lord for thanksgiving! 

Where ACM is heading from 2007 to 2008?          By his grace and through the prayer of God's people, we set realistic objectives of operating regular boys' and girls' camps, plus Genesis clubs which are a one-year long program. The physical development, in close conjunction with the spiritual goals, lies in these areas. First, the completion of the pump, tank, and water supply piping system from our 24 meters deep well -- so refreshing and unfailing in supplying us pure water so far! (Note: 2000 Canadian dollars was already contributed by a sister for that purpose.)  Second, the set up of 4 toilets and 4 showers, plus the bunker beds in our 3 cabins, to facilitate our future overnight camp. Third, to replace our frequently deterioting wooden fence with solid and lasting iron tubes and wire net on our 2,500 sq. meters camp site.

     Then, ACM has accepted the consistent advice from SIM, the closest partner of this camping outreach ministry, that our management position should be filled by a couple but not a single man. Pray for that couple and also for the replacement of our Executive Board secretary (Mrs. Aida will be joining her husband soon to India at the Ethiopian embassy), and the vice-chairman for the ACM General Assembly. Both positions must be filled for our 1st General Assembly be valid to the government.

 Last Update : 2007.06.12