Eye Opening Experience

In early April, our family participated in the Ball State University PAYLP (Pan African Youth Leadership Program) as a host family.  There were 24 high school students participating in the program from 8 sub-Saharan African countries.  The students we hosted, Ruth and Joseph, were from Nigeria and Zimbabwe respectively.  They were both chosen because they are future leaders in their countries.  They spent time in Washington D.C. and Chicago along with the two weeks in Muncie.

During the two weeks that they lived with us, Ruth and Joseph were able to experience living in America firsthand.  They quickly became part of our drop-off/pick-up schedule.  They had seats at the dinner table, watched movies and went bowling with us like they were a part of our family.  From the minute that we met them until the time we dropped them off they called Staci and me “Mom” and “Dad.” They’re both great kids.

Joseph described his time in America as “powerful” (this word has become our family’s favorite new adjective by the way).  I asked him one morning as I was taking him to Ball State what he thought Americans took for granted.  His answer was simple – running water and electricity.  Joseph explained that his school day didn’t start until Noon because he spent each morning walking to get water for his family.  He loads empty containers each morning and walks 15 minutes to a Mormon Church to get them filled and another 15 minutes to return home. 

Ruth lives in a part of Africa where there is a great deal of violence with Boko Haram, an Islamist extremist group.  Boko Haram means “Western education is sinful.”  On Monday of her second week with us, there were 60 people killed in Nigeria after homes were set on fire and people were shot trying to escape.  Wow.  I couldn’t believe this and I started reading more about Boko Haram.  I was saddened at what I found.

Since January ‘14, there have been 250,000 people in northern Nigeria have been displaced from their homes because of the violence.  Over 1000 have died so far this year.  Since 2009, over 6000 people have been killed in the violence in Nigeria in Boko Haram’s quest to form a separate, strict Islamic state.  

On April 14^th (the day before Ruth left us), over 230 girls from a secondary school in the Nigerian town of Chibok were abducted while they were at a secondary school by members of Boko Haram.  These girls are Ruth’s age.  They’re still missing.  According to community leaders in Nigeria, these girls will be displaced by being sold and forced to marry the Islamic extremists that kidnapped them.  One source that I read this morning said that they were being sold off for $12 apiece.

Over 230 Girls Kidnapped from their School are Still Missing in Nigeria

On April 19^th, Ruth and Joseph headed back to Nigeria and Zimbabwe.  As you can imagine, they have been on our hearts ever since.

It’s very easy to get caught up in routine news in the US – celebrity drama, political scandal, weather, traffic, etc.  What we view as important has everything to do with what is made important to us by the media.  I challenge each of you reading this to begin following the story about the missing girls in Nigeria.  Pray for them.  Pray for their poor families that must be completely terrified.  (#BringBackOurGirls)

Joseph’s story of walking to a Mormon church to get water reminded me that the Latter Day Saints have a very effective mission program.  Joseph’s family is Mormon.  They rely on their church to meet the most basic needs.  Ruth’s story reminded me that radical Islam is not isolated to parts of the Middle East.  It’s spreading.

Two weeks with Ruth and Joseph added motivation, passion and validation in my effort to spread the news of Jesus Christ to the people of Mekelle, Ethiopia by building our first Bible Training Center in northern Ethiopia.  Is one Bible Training Center going to change the world?  I pray that it will alter the course of at least one African city.  This week, we eclipsed the $50,000 mark with a couple months of fundraising on the way to our goal of $200,000.  To learn more about how you can get involved and help spread God’s Word visit www.harvestinethiopia.com.

Family Reunion in Texas

Our family spent Spring Break 2014 in Lubbock and Brownwood, Texas.  That’s right - very popular spring break destinations.  It was a major deviation from our normal beach filled, relaxing Spring Breaks of year's past.  Thankfully we were able to fight off the college students and find rooms.  All kidding aside it was an incredible experience – one we will never forget.

Gideon, Sofani, Jackson, Atsede, Anna, Avery and Deborah

We flew into DFW, rented a mini-van and traversed west Texas on a journey through wind farms, Dairy Queens and oil fields to Lubbock.   Lubbock is the temporary home to Sofani’s cousin Atsede and her family.  Atsede’s husband, Girmay, is getting his PhD at Texas Tech.  Their children, Deborah and Gideon, were excited to see Sofani for the first time in 2 years and meet the rest of the Buck family face-to-face.

The word hospitality is often used but rarely experienced on the level that we did during our time in Lubbock.  We were welcomed with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony and spent the next three days in fellowship and stuffing our bellies with more Ethiopian food than any of us were ready to handle (Sofani included).  When Atsede wasn’t cooking, she was teaching Staci how to make injera, braiding Avery and Anna’s hair and washing Staci’s feet.  Yeah, that’s right.  How biblical is that?  I can’t say that I was surprised at all.  This is the same woman that gave up every bed in her house to accommodate three strange American men in Mekelle, Ethiopia over two years ago.  I attribute so many changes in my life – from meeting and adopting Sofani to changes in me as a husband, father and as a Christian – to Atsede’s incredible hospitality and her willingness to serve others as Jesus instructed.

Atsede's Coffee Ceremony

After our stay in Lubbock, we hit the road with Girmay, Atsede and their children on the next leg of our journey to Brownwood, Texas.  Brownwood is a small town in central Texas that is the home to the Hull family.

The Hull family played an important part in our adoption of Sofani.  When we were navigating the adoption process and planning our trip to court in Addis Ababa, the judge that was working Sofani’s case brought it to a halt when she learned that Sofani had a younger sister that was adopted by a family in the US just one year earlier.  At the time we knew that Sofani’s sister was in the US but didn’t have much hope that we would ever find her with all of the confidentiality that exists in the adoption process.  The judge insisted that Liya’s parents were given the opportunity to adopt Sofani in an effort to keep the two of them together.  As much as we understood this it was still heartbreaking.  Sofani essentially checked himself into an orphanage for 5 months in order to meet the country’s adoption requirements.  Our flight was booked.  Our house was prepared.  Our hearts were ready for Sofani to become part of our family and one judge had the ability to change all of that.  We prayed that this family would allow us to adopt Sofani.  They did and, as much as it was a nerve-racking few days, it enabled us to find Liya and the Hull family.  We knew that when the time was right we would reunite Sofani and Liya on American soil.

The reunion was a culmination of so many things that God orchestrated to have all of us standing in the same room.  Liya, Sofani, Atsede, Girmay, Deborah, Gideon, the Hull’s and the Buck’s were all together.  Only God could have orchestrated such a meeting.  As Sofani and Liya hugged and the tears filled their eyes my heart was full of joy.  There was a sense of accomplishment that all of us collectively allowed God to work through us to allow a brother and sister to be reunited.  I thought of the angels rejoicing as I considered the celebration taking place in heaven between their birth parents. 

Sofani and Liya and their biological parents

The time in Brownwood was brief but filled with fellowship.  It was filled with answers.  It was a new starting point for Sofani and Liya along with the rest of us.  

Girmay put together so many pieces for all of us.  He and Atsede connected so many dots for us related to the history of these two kids and their family members back in Ethiopia. 

As Americans, we get caught up in genealogy and allow that to define family.  Through this process I have learned to define family in a different way.  While all of the members of my biological family will always be important and unique, I have learned that “family” shouldn’t be limited to a family tree.  We are all God’s children that are a part of a much larger plan when we allow Him to work through us and weave it together.

Liya, Avery, Anna, Jackson, Sofani and Finn

For those of you following the progress of the Bible Training Center that we’re working on in Mekelle, Ethiopia, please check out www.harvestinethiopia.com for more information.  We’re making huge progress with the formation of a temporary training facility and fundraising for a permanent location. The website was launched last week and will keep you up-to-date on all the happenings with this initiative.