November Update

Normally I don't put up our update letters for public viewing, but just to give people an idea of what's been going on lately and also give you a taste of what our update letters are like if you want to be added to our email list, here is our November update...

Thank you for all of your continued prayers.  We have seen some real breakthrough this month and we want to share some of that with you.  First of all, I alluded to an incident we experienced last month that kind of shook us up a bit.  That incident was (as my sister reminded me) a testimony of God’s protection, so I’ll share it with you and let you know what’s happened since. 

About a month ago my daughters and I (Michelle) went for a walk up a mountain in our town with our pastors 14 year old son.  We have walked up this mountain many times and after being sick for a little while and needing some fresh air and exercise, the girls and I headed up in the late afternoon as it was starting to get cool enough to walk outside.  After we conquered the mountain and quickly headed back down before it got dark, we were approached by three young men who were asking us for money.  As we didn’t have any money, they then proceeded to take off Kiara’s bracelet while I called Asaua on my phone to let him know what was happening.  I then gave my phone to Lydia to take and run away with as she was clearly afraid and I wanted to “handle it” without it getting too scary for her.  Anyway, my plan backfired and the young men chased her so she was stopped.  Our pastors son then intervened and was talking to them in Amharic but they pulled a knife out on him so I told them just to take the phone (which was an iPhone3G that I had been given for work) and they left us alone.  Asaua turned up not long after and the men all tried to hunt the boys down to no avail.  This was really our first incident where we have felt unsafe in Ethiopia and it is really something that could have happened in any other country, it’s just that here there is no emergency number you can call and no search equipment like patrol cars to keep you safe. 

What we do have, in more areas than just this though, is a God who shows up beyond what we HAVE or don’t HAVE.  That day, our pastor was in a conference at our church and the preacher had said to him that the devil was going to try and kill his children, but not to worry because God would protect them.  Really, this is just a confirmation for us and reminder that God did protect us that day.  We heard stories since then of people who have been killed on that mountain in similar situations. 

When we lived in Rotorua in 2005, God showed me this verse in Psa 4:8

  In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Only God can keep us safe, not our fears or worrying about being safe.  God promises protection when we walk in His will.  When they approached us, one of the boys showed me his teeth as they were chizzled into points and he was trying to scare me with it.  He said he was a vampire and he obviously thought that would have an effect on me- and maybe two years ago, it would have.  But I thank God that Fear doesn’t live here any more and it’s not something that I let feed my mind so I didn’t fear them at all as I knew God’s protection was with us. 

A week later, that same boy was caught and we had to go and identify him in the jail – with no hidde mirror, just an open veranda that they walked him out of in front of the prison cell.  I simultaneously lost my contact the same night as this incident so my eyesight was not good as I was wearing my friends glasses.  When they brought him out, I didn’t immediately recognize him so I asked him to come closer and I said in Amharic “Smile”.  He refused and kept this innocent face that made me question whether or not he really was the boy who tried to scare us that day.  So the police man slapped him on the head and told him to smile.  So he opened his mouth and the very thing that he tried to use to scare us, was the thing that in the end incriminated him.  There was no denying those teeth.  So this week  the four of us have to go to High Court in Nazaret and be witnesses for his case that will at least put him in jail for three years.  Suffice to say, that jail here is not like jail in first world countries.

So other than this exciting adventure we have been on, we also had our director from Australia here, and at the same time the directors from our other international offices, the USA and Canada also gathered here for a week of strategic planning and establishing our new NGO status.  Blessing the Children received NGO status at long last!  Praise God! The new name of our Social service is Blessing the Children Development organization (BCDO) which now runs separately from the school.   

While Glen was here he held some business training for business people in our town.  Even mothers of the children in our programme attended and it was really cool to see them dream bigger! 

We have also been accepted as Missionaries with the Mekane Yesus Church here in Ethiopia.  Mekane Yesus church is one of the oldest denominations here in Ethiopia and they have a long standing relationship with the government that is equalled to the Orthodox church’s relationship with the government.  They usually only accept Lutheran missionaries who have been sent from churches in Europe so we are breaking ground in many ways through this new relationship.  We are very thankful for this privilege of being able to serve under them. 

Another breakthrough we have experienced this month is not in Ethiopia, but is in New Zealand!  Our good friends have just established a charitable trust for us called Love Rescue Charitable Trust.  The purpose of this trust is to provide a channel whereby people can donate to the work here in Ethiopia as well as provide awareness for issues that are being experienced here that we know people want to help eradicate or improve or be a part of bringing Kingdom values and hope into.  I will keep you all informed on how you can partner with us through Love Rescue.  I believe we as Christians are all called to be Love Rescuers and this will be an avenue for some on how they can out work that.

We have also been experiencing some real growth in our International service ministry.  We officially launched our service at the beginning of the month and had many people come and celebrate with us.  Just after that, we had a new musician join us from Addis Ababa who is a graduate from the Mekane Yesus Jazz Music School which exists to empower worship leaders around Ethiopia.  He is an amazing musician and is adding real value to our music team.  We’re having new speakers and are looking forward to how God is going to continue to work through us in this ministry.

Please continue to pray for our visa situation.  We are having a hard time still, but hope is coming as we are now able to be assisted by the Mekane Yesus Church office.  Right now, our visas are ready to expire on Thursday!  We are going to apply for an extension and then pray that everything that needs to be done will be done and approved by the government so that we can stay for another year without all this run around!  I emailed a veteran missionary couple who served here for 50 years and asked them to pray for us.  They said that they arrived here on boat in 1954 and had to wait for four months in Aden for their visas to be approved.  It put a slightly different perspective on our situation!  But they also said this was their constant prayer, so when you pray for us, always pray for this situation please.

On the home front, Jamal is doing really well at school.  He is passing all his tests now in the Cambridge curriculum through Greek Community School (where he doesn’t learn Greek at all L ) But he is getting opportunities to do what he loves most- Dance and entertain people.  He went from performing at the school UN day to being asked to perform at the African Union Christmas Gala this Saturday which he is really excited about.  Matthias and Wesley are also doing really well.  Matthias is Grade 4 now and Wesley Grade 3 and they are loving it.  We got to skype call a school in Christchurch this past week and it was really cool that my kids got to share their experiences with other 7-9 year olds in Christchurch.  They are looking at doing some fundraising for us during this Christmas season.  Kiara and Lydia are doing well too.  They have completely recovered from the experience of last month and are based at the school with their dad where they get constant connection with the kids in the program.  They are also going out to their friends house two towns away every Friday.  There they are doing prophetic art, horse riding, swimming and baking.  I try and join them every now and then.  This family have become good friends of ours. 

People have been asking what our address is here so I just want to remind you of our details. 

Asaua and Michelle Tiatia

BCI Academy

P.O. Box 1465

Debre Zeit

East Shoa

Ethiopia

If you want to send over a care package, there are a few things that we are always in need of supplies for like:

Stationary

Clothes and shoes for our kids as they continue to grow

Headbands and hair ties

Cadbury Chocolate :)

Chocolate chips for baking

Dried fruit and nuts

Baking soda

Cereals

Reading books

Vegemite and Marmite

We would also love to build up a database of your addresses.  If you send us back an updated address for you we'd really appreciate it!  Have a great Christmas season wherever you are,  We are looking forward to having our first short term missionaries coming from Australia while in our new roles.  We would love to have some New Zealanders coming to join us in 2013 also!  Please pray about and talk about it with your friends and family and let us know if you're keen!  

Love and blessings from

Asaua and Michelle, Jamal, Kiara, Lydia, Matthias and Wesley Tiatia

If you would like to sign up to our monthly updates, or come off our update list, then let me know through my email address:

michelle.tiatia@gmail.com

ZION

“You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hid…therefore, let your light so shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”  Matt 5:14,16.

Many churches take this verse literally and set their churches on hills, mountains and highly visible locations so that people will see their church, their cross, their flashing lights and be drawn to the “light”.  Especially in Ethiopia, we see churches and mosques vying for the best locations so they can show off the glory that exists in the beautiful architecture of their buildings. 

But Zion Church is set in the valley, in what is known as the “dirty corner” of Debre Zeit.  It’s set in the dark and down a dirt road that many people struggle to find.  The road where Zion Church resides is laden with bars and brothels.  It’s children are illegitimate and dirty.  Its women are hopeless and dry.  Its drainage is a gap on the side of the street where dirty water flows with used condoms and the stench of regret.   A little girl the size of one of my children at the age of one, is called “Cockroach” by her mother and the other children around.  Her mother forgot the name she gave her at birth and has neglected to feed or teach her any kind of language or social skills.  She walks around in bare feet and can’t even say how old she is, though she is four.

Yet the Light resonates from Zion Church so much brighter than any other church set on a hill.   Though it’s walls are made of wooden branches and curtain covered tarpaulin, it’s floors are made of rocks and stones, the anointing of God exists there and His presence is often tangible. 

The people are what make a church.  The people of this church are desperately in love with God.  They know His healing power and His grace to forgive them of their sins.  Women who once lived on the streets of Zion now live in the presence of God in this House.  They have a room outside that was built especially for them so that they could make injera and sell it to compensate for the income lost when they left their lifestyle of prostitution. 

And then there’s the café.  The café of Zion is also made of mud walls and mud floors, yet they sell the sweetest tea and nicest coffee.  They service the people of the street and the people of the church.  Once run by a co-operation of five women who needed job opportunities, the café is now run by Mulu who works tirelessly and sells her food for minimum prices to suit the local market.  Outside there is a guard who also sells fried bread or “Pasti” on the side.  For 1 Birr (the equivalent of 5c) you can buy a delicious pasti to go with the tea or coffee. 

The man behind this great church, it’s vision to be a light in the dark and the vision to change that community is our pastor.  His name is Rev Berhanu Balcha.  His anointing is strong and his love is deep.  It starts with his love for his wife and his children which is always so evident and a strong point of his ministry.  His prayer life and his leadership in prayer ministry in Zion Church would put most of the Christian world to shame, yet the results of his ministry reflect this great discipline he has.  His heart for the poor and the needy in the community keeps him up at night and draws him to help not only by prayer but through advocating for them to his networks in country and around the world.   Though this man does not receive a wage from his church, he still pulls money out of his pocket to give money for a child’s uniform or a visitor’s lunch.  His hospitality is gracious and in abundance.

There should probably be a book written about or by this man as I could really go on, but the key characteristic of this man is his humility.  He sat with us and our visitor Jasmine from New Zealand a couple of weeks ago and spoke of some of the testimonies of healing.  He spoke of a blind man that God had told him to pray for, and in obedience yet with some doubting, he prayed and the blind man could see again.  He spoke of a man who was brought into church dead, yet he didn’t know he was dead, God told him to pray for him and the man was made alive again.  This was not the first or the last of dead people coming back to life in his ministry, yet this would be hard for many people to believe, the people still live to tell the tale and we have heard their stories.  A woman who had HIV was healed through his ministry and in gratitude, gave a hand woven injera basket that lives to tell her tale and to collect money for the new building that is in the vision of this church.

I have learnt so much from Rev Berhanu.  His humble character and desire to see his church and his country develop and be set free from the clutches of the enemy astound me.  Many people travel to see the works that this man and his team do, yet not many people know of these humble servants.  Week after week the church building fills up on a Wednesday for six hours straight to receive healing.  This is preceded by a late night prayer meeting the night before by the prayer team in the Berhanu’s house.  There is fasting and seeking God and interceding on behalf of all those who come.

 Many have been healed and set free from demonic strongholds in this service.  Nigist, Rev Berhanu’s wife, who plays a big part in this ministry told us of a beautiful woman who had not spoken for many years and who had been bound up in a dark room by her hands and feet, was left mute until she came to a healing service one Wednesday.  Unable to speak, Nigist said to her, “Jesus will set you free”.  Tears came streaming down her face and after some prayer the girl started shouting “Yesus Geta New” (Jesus is Lord).  Now that girl has married, graduated with a diploma in accounting and continues to serve her Lord.

Recently I was able to join the prayer team for a week of mountain praying.  This program required that we get up at 5:10 every morning from Monday to Saturday to be at Sofa Mountain by 6am.  There we met with some of the prayer warriors from church.  We prayed over our city, prayed for it’s protection and covering and rebuked the works of the devil that are well known to occur in Debre Zeit-especially at this time of year with the annual Ilecha festival that happens at Lake Hora.  This was an amazing experience and we saw the results of answered prayer that weekend.

So this is why we attend Zion Church- though Lutheran in doctrine, it flows with the Holy Spirit.  We have a lot to learn and we are growing there.  We support the work that this church does and that is why we started an English service there.  We want you to support it’s work to and you can do this by praying, visiting or giving towards it’s church building fund.  They have a great vision to extend the Kingdom in this city.  

Yesus Geta New