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Apr. - June 2005 |
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Apr. - June 2005 |
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Because of
what I read in Mirror of Life #78... |
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| EOM received a very
interesting letter last month. Demis, a 19 year old Ethiopian living twenty
miles north of the capital city of Addis Ababa, shared how the Lord met him
through the reading of the Bible study publication of EOM produced called
Yehiwot Mestawot (Mirror of Life). Demis is currently studying Drafting at
Nazareth Technical College. Demis writes — Please allow me to give you the
background of my upbringing. I never knew my parents since they died when I
was an infant. My father had two wives. He had two sons and a daughter by my
mother and two sons by his second wife. My sister and I lived with our much
older brother but he made life like hell for us. Due to his behavioral
disorders, he started to destroy the only shelter and family my sister and I
had. He sold off all the property, coffee farm, other farm land… all that we
inherited from our parents except a rental property in town. He took
me to a family that he knew living near by and got me hired as a shepherd
boy. I was only 9 years old at this time. As my brother started planning to
sell the only property we had, the rental unit in town, a few people advised
me to stop him from doing that by suing him. When he heard that I might sue
him with the help of some adult friends, he tried to kill me twice. In one
of his attempts, he barely missed me and the other time a bullet struck my
arm. I ran away realizing that I had no chance of survival in this town any
more. I got myself hired as a shepherd boy again. My masters were kind
enough to feed me just enough to survive. They also sent me to school. Life
became even harder. The work load I was given made me feel like I was a
slave. From taking care of the herd to baking special thin bread to make
locally made alcoholic drink to collecting and fetching fire wood, the work
was endless for me. I still wonder how I made it in grade school and in
junior high. I didn’t even have decent clothing to wear, it was like a rag.
Time passed. I never remember a day that I had a meal that filled me up or slept more than four or five hours a day. |
But I completed high school. It was a miracle that I passed the high school national exam with a 3.6 GPA. As I was ready to attend a technical college, I met a man who owned a small shop. He liked me because I was good in school and a hard working boy. He hired me as a part-time shop keeper and encouraged me to continue my college education. While all was going on, my heart was filled with rage, anger and revenge towards my brother who made my life miserable. I always wanted to take revenge. One day I bought a lottery ticket as I was tending the shop. Amazingly, I won 3,000 birr ($347). With out telling anyone, the first thing I did was purchase a hand gun and ten bullets for 1,500 birr. You can probably guess why I bought a hand gun. As I waited for the school year to end that winter season, I planned to travel to the southern province where my brother lived, I found a four-page publication with large bold face letters on the front “Yehiwot Mestawot.” I started reading. The main topic of the study caught my attention. It said, “When we get hurt by others and treated unjustly, let us get closer to God.” In this teaching, brother Melese discusses the life of Joseph, how he treated his brothers who wanted to kill him and eventually sold him as a slave. In all that happened to him, a) Joseph knew God was with him. b) Joseph acknowledged that people do evil things on their own will. c) Joseph was certain that God was in control of his destiny. As I read through the explanations of these sub- topics and the lessons drawn from the story of Joseph, the one thing I realized most was I should not be bitter with those who do evil to me. Rather, forgive them and move on with my life realizing that as long as I get closer to God, surrender my life to him and walk with him daily, I will be able to live above my circumstances with genuine peace and contentment. I cried with mixed feelings as I read through the paragraphs. I cried because somehow God led me to this story of Joseph just at the time in my life when I was going to do something tragic— ill my brother for what he had done to me. |
| A day later, I was
in my dormitory room checking out the handgun I had purchased a few weeks
earlier. After a while, I decided to read this Bible study (Yehiwot Mestawot)
once again. It was 8:40 in the evening. My eyes were filled with tears. I
didn’t know for sure why I was crying or what was going on in my heart. I
fell asleep while I read and reflected on what was written in the study. God
spoke in my heart to look for a Bible and read. I went next door and asked
other students if they have a Bible. They lend me one to read. That was the
first time in my life that I opened a Bible. The more I read from the word
of God, the more I saw how God loves me and wanted me to be His child by
receiving the free gift of life He offers me through His son Jesus Christ. I
decided then to surrender my life to Jesus. I went to an evangelical church
that I knew and told the pastor what the Lord has done in my life.
There was one more thing I had to do – to deal with my brother who sought to kill me numerous times and who made my childhood life so miserable and difficult. Right after school was over for the year, I went to the southern province where my brother lived. I fell at his feet and asked him for his forgiveness and told him that I was bitter no more. I told him I was a new person in Christ and I don’t hold anything against him any more. Brother Melese, I found life in Christ because of the truth of the Bible, God’s word that you wrote in Yehiwot Mestawot. That study (No. 78) was so personal to me. It is no coincidence that I found the particular issue to read at the time I was filled with anger and revenge. I bless the Lord for you and your ministry. I bless the Lord for giving you the wisdom and knowledge to help millions of Ethiopians understand the word of God and benefit from it by applying it to our daily life. I am forever grateful for the ministry of EOM. Dr. Melese, your commitment and dedication to teaching the Word of God in a practical way is greatly appreciated. |
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Praise: Thank you for praying |
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A Message From |
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Dear Friends & Partners: Ethiopian Outreach Ministry was established in June 1982 with five main objectives:
Through out the last twenty three years God has blessed us with many Ethiopians who have come to know Christ. Our evangelistic services in locations overseas where expatriate Ethiopians live were fruitful. The Radio broadcast ministry is reaching out to millions of Ethiopians seven days a week. We continue to produce quality Amharic materials to meet the growing demand for Christian literature to help them grow in their faith. Churches have been planted among Ethiopian expatriate communities in many countries around the world. One of them is an Ethiopian church in Djibouti. Since that church began twenty years ago, 10 to 15 thousand souls have come to know the Lord. When I visited Ethiopia last September, for the first time in 13 years, I felt that the time is right to establish a Leadership Training & Resource Center in Addis Ababa. This is a vision I have had since the inception of this ministry. As I have shared with some of you through my May 2005 letter, I took another trip in March 2005 to explore ways and means of how we could begin to train and mentor existing leaders as well as the emerging church leaders in Ethiopia. While there, I was encouraged to hear overwhelming support from Ethiopian church leaders for this vision. During my three-week stay in Ethiopia, a property became available at a very good location and at a reasonable price that has adequate office space, a good size hall to conduct seminars and workshops and a medium size hall for a library. The purchasing price of this property is $97,109. The bank selling the property gave us the opportunity to finalize the purchase by June 17, 2005. I don’t know if we can set a deadline for God to respond to our requests. If the timing and this particular property is the right one, I strongly believe that God will provide the necessary funds in due time. However, for this long awaited vision to become a reality depends on God’s faithful people like you. I share this with you so that you can be praying about our expanding ministry avenues and to thank you so much for your encouragement and financial support in the past. Since we are depending on your loving support, we are making an urgent appeal for extra financial support for this new project. In summary then, our goal is to establish this new EOM Training Center in Addis Ababa to provide training, encouragement and support for the local pastors and leaders in Ethiopia, and at the same time continue our present ministry of sending taped messages and printed Bible study resources as well as our daily radio broadcast to Ethiopians around the world. Please keep us in your prayers, as we approach the summer months, when contributions are showing the usual “summer slump”. May God bless you and your family richly with peace and joy. |
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May '05 Banquet in Pictures Thank you to all
participants for your generous |
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