Mountaintop Evangelism

We were all shocked and surprised when they told us we would be staying in Ethiopia another week. The original plan had been that after spending three and a half weeks in Ethiopia our team would split. Both teams flying to the country of Djibouti and one of the teams continuing on to the country of Eritrea. I had been on the team that was to continue on to Eritrea; however, due to the continued violence occurring now in East Africa (Sudan, Chad, and Kenya) not to mention the Cold War that is now between Eritrea and Ethiopia the Base leaders made a decision that would change our plans completely. The other team would go on to Djibouti while we stayed in Ethiopia another week and a half.

My team was solemn and downcast that day. It was the night before all of were to leave for the airport and we had all packed our bags in preparation. I, myself, was indifferent to the change. I think the difference between me and the others was that I had no personal feelings or desire of wanting to go into Eritrea and there had always been uncertainty of whether or not we were even going to be allowed into the country considering the tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The change in plans was worth the experience that followed. We were to leave on a Monday and on the weekend when we should have been in Eritrea, the leader of the Base in Addis Abbaba took us to a small village outside the capital.

Two crucial events happened that Saturday as we drove to this mountain village. First, after driving an hour I was gazing out the back window of our van. The seven of us were piled into a van with our bags which made the ride very uncomfortable. But as I looked out the window I saw as we passed a bulldozer topple of the semi-truck that had brought out to the road we were now on. The bulldozer had actually fallen on the man driving inside of it and as we leapt from the van doors to help we could see that the top of the dozer had tore through the man's leg and simultaneously trapping him. Men scrambled to try to life the heavy dozer to no avail until one of our team members quickly ordered the men to use a nearby tree limb to use as leverage. Ten men grabbed their hands onto the branch which was thick enough to support the weight of the top of the dozer and allowed to other men to scoop the one whose leg was caught out. They carried the man to a nearby waiting truck and rushed him to the hospital. (We would later find out that the man, though had lost much blood, did not break his legs and would only need some patching up. It's a miracle this man kept both his legs which had not been crushed by the top of the bulldozer)

Finally, we reached our destination. A mountain several hours away from the capital city. The van drove us up a quarter mile off the road to a nearby house and there we met an evangelism team from a local church. There were seven of us and about twelve of them. We started our ascent up the mountain all along talking to the evangelists who were curious about our lives back home. When we reached the top we claimed the top of the mountain in prayer. This particular mountain is a place of witchcraft that the local villagers engage in. We then broke up into smaller groups and headed into the village homes. These homes were the traditionally-made mud huts. The top of them are rounded and pointed at the top made from hay and the walls and foundation are made of earth and clay.

I myself went with my team mate Josh to the actual place of witchcraft and we accompanied by three of the evangelists including the Base leader, Adesa. We met several families and they each invited us in to their homes. We did not enter the place of idol worship but we did enter into these families homes who worshiped the sun, trees, and rivers. We spoke to them about Jesus and we all had turns to share something. I personally shared my testimony with this family, speaking to them about how I knew how God answers prayers, through the testimony of my Chinese grandmother Nana and how she had told me that she had prayed everyday that my mother and father who previously were divorced, would reconcile and take me to church. Both of these things happened and helped me to believe that God not only existed but that he interacted with us.

These people who we spoke to had heard nothing about Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. We invited them to accept Jesus but they replied that they were interested in hearing more but would have to wait. Many in the village fear that the spirits whom their ancestors worshiped will come and destroy them if they turn away from their religion. Others claimed that if they received only a bible they would not only turn to Jesus Christ but teach about Him to others. This trip had been a great encouragement to the church who had sent the evangelism team. They had been considering disbanding the evangelism ministry but we think that this experience really encouraged them and they would continue sending others into these villages.