Church in Awassa

The second Sunday we were in Ethiopia we went to church closer to the village in the nearby town of Awassa. It was a very small Branch. The Branch President's wife (Mabrat) actually works for Village of Hope and takes care of the High Risk Children during the week and then goes home to her family on the weekends (she has three teenage boys).

(Shimelis, Ahmed (clinic nurse), Shelly, Mabrat's son, Mabrat, DeAnna, Miriam, Teddy (our driver), Robyn, Craig)

This was basically the whole group who was at church. Usually it consists of the Branch President and his family and just a few more individuals. The Branch President's family does everything....says the prayers, blesses and passes the sacrament and gives the lessons (and translates when needed). They were able to recently go to the Ghana Temple with a group of people (it's about a 6 hour plane ride). They will probably never go to the Temple again.

Randy, Mom, Shimelis, Shelly
Shimelis works for VOH and is also LDS. He actually served a mission in Kenya, but just recently went with the group to the Ghana Temple. He made Ethiopian CTR rings to sell to earn money for his Temple trip. He is also currently helping translate the Doctrine and Convenants into Amharic (official Ethiopian language). He speaks very good English.

The sign outside the church. The church is an old house converted into a small church building.

It was Palm Sunday, so there was grass all over the streets and even on our hotel floors to celebrate.

My dad got the "opportunity" to play the piano in church. Let's just say...this is not something he'd be doing in the States! :)
Miriam in front of Mabrat's house in Awassa. It's a simple 2 bedroom home, but very nice for Ethiopian standards! Ethiopian's are so thrilled and honored to show us westerner's their homes. They are so humble but proud of how hard they've worked for what they have.