I'm moving back to Addis in a week. Addis is completely differentfrom where I have been living. They say there's Addis ("city-life")and then there's Ethio (countryside). They are two extremes. I havereally enjoyed my time up North but I am excited and ready to startback at the ERC (Educational Resource Center) in Addis where I am thenew administrator (I have no idea what I'm doing). Please be in prover the ERC. This is where I will spend the next 11 months of mylife. Pr that Father will draw people to the ERC that don't know Him.Pr that JC will be evident in me and that I will love people the wayHe has loved us.

North Ethio is what I imagined the first time I came to Africa. I landed on a concrete strip, walked down the steps of the plane onto the slab and through a house looking thing (the airport). Keep in mind this is after a flight where I was honestly in pr over my death and reconciliation with JC. Nonetheless, I landed.
I went for a walk listening to music and greeting children playing soccer out of sowed up pieces of cotton. I picked up a little girl and twirled her around and the other kids thought it was the funniest thing in the world. So I walked (they followed) while in pr with a huge smile. Hmm… I will tell you that walking around here gives new meaning to a lot of lyrics… “Oh my God shine your light on us that we might live”… “and we can see that God you’re moving a mighty river through the nations, where young and old will turn to Jesus”… “the orphan clings to your hand, singing the song of how he was found”. Yeah… wow. Seeing an 8-year-old carry a 50-pound bag over his head for miles gives you a new sense of words like… unfair. And these people… they greet me with kisses and hand shakes. They teach me what love is.
I am teaching English in an orphanage every MWF. They don’t have enough classrooms for kids, so they only learn half the day… so we (my partner for the next 3 weeks in North Ethio and myself) teach them in the mornings. They are pretty great kids… anywhere from 5-20.
Walking is a lot of my day. Pr-walking. I wish one of you could go on these walks with me… just to see. So feel free to please join me in pr… or feel free to physically get on a plane and come hang out in Africa… waahooo.
Feel free to e-mail as well… lksierra@yahoo.com

What will you have a sinner like me enter the riches of Your Kingdom for? Not because I am worthy or deserving… never. I am incapable of attaining salvation. My desires for the things of the world outweigh the truth, purity, and Holy nature of the Father. I am a thief. I am an adulteress. I am a murderer. Why have You redeemed me from myself?
You have identified me clean. You have called me pure. You have given me a new name and one no work can purchase. You have changed me. You have saved me from the depths of disparity and self-destruction. You roped me from the pit by the wood You died upon… that I might also raise up because death had no hold on You… proof by Your resurrection.
Thank you for setting me apart for Your renown, Your name’s sake, Your glory… that I may share in the joy brought by JC… that I may break the truth as bread for the hungry and share the unfathomable love that He has so drenched my soul in. And past the doubt, the damaged parts, the darkness, the deep abyss of such a dirty life as this… the King of eternity gets up from his seat, pulls a chair out for me inviting me to sit at His table so that I will live in such a way that exemplifies the goodness of His love and the life found in His grace.
May your life drowned itself to this abundant hope and may it overflow from the corners of your heart.

Today (which is Thursday) I finally got to meet up with my best friendfrom ethio, Dagi. It's Ethio's new year (it's 2001) and Dagi's familyhad my roomie and I over for lunch. I can't explain to you how theinside of me wept in joy when I saw her come out of her "house" togreet me. We hugged for the longest time... we just sat there withour arms around each other both thinking it was all a dream. As wesat down, we didn't say anything. We just stayed close... putting myhand on her shoulder or vice versa just to make sure it was real...that this reunion was finally non-fiction.I leave Saturday to go to North Ethio for the rest of the month andinto a little bit of October. Once I get back into the city, I willbegin to meet up with Dagi to read the Word together. We decided thatonce a week we will sit down over the Word and just hang outthroughout the week. PLEASE PR that Father will begin to mold her andshape her to be a daughter of Him. I cannot explain how deeply I careabout this girl... how good it was to put my arms around her and forher words to sink into me, "I have you back."Please pr for my family and close friends (which I guess if you'rereading this you are a part of these people). It has been hard toadjust from such wonderful love and community to the unknown... hardto balance people in the states and here... really hard. So if Idon't respond to you quickly, it's because I'm trying to live here...really be here... and bc the internet if just whack too, ha. I loveit here and I love people here, but I love it there and love peoplethere too... please be patient as it's a weird balance for me.I have a phone #, address and all that stuff. If you are interested ingiving me a call, it's 26 cents if you dwl skype and call me. Contacteither my parents, Kristen, Brooke, Tiff, Allison, Gonzo, orCourtney... if you know me, you are bound to know one of them.This is a picture of Dagi's family from last year when we had themover for dinner. They are wonderful people, feel free to come meet them.

It’s been hard, but it’s been good. I have been doing a lot of running around. This week I am out in the countryside. I get to cover… woohoo! So I purchased my first scarf and am ready. Oh yeah, and I get to wear a skirt everyday for the next month or so… bring it on because that is so my personality. When I get back (Sunday) I will be heading to a wonderful and beautiful place in North Ethio… more countryside. I have never been there, but I have seen spectacular pictures. I am pumped.
The city got a movie theatre??? And it got “wireless” Internet at few places… which of course doesn’t actually work.
The poverty is as I left… bad. Jenn (my roomie ) and I were talking about spending some time in the slums. No one goes there, but they are everywhere. By slums I mean in comparison to my other friends here who have practically nothing, these people have absolutely NOTHING. I want to spend time in these places because JC said to… they are the outcast… the lepers (really lepers, not metaphorically speaking). These are the people I really desire to know. They are the people who, honestly, are hard for me to look at it. They look like, in a sp sort of way, the way I did before I knew JC.
The question I continue to ask myself is…If I leave with more stuff than what I came with, would I be a thief ?