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"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Genesis 28:15
 This scripture was fulfilled on Marian Drops' recent mission trip to Ethiopia, the second most populous nation in Africa. Her love for Ethiopia began two years ago and is evident today as she recounts her fourth visit to this amazing country. During Marian's first week at Bole Church, she was able to share the Four Steps of Prayer with the women. She held a total of six sessions in four days, and on Friday evening another group wanted to join so they enjoyed the time with them as well. During the training, Marian also taught about quiet time with the Lord and spiritual warfare. She had no idea how the sessions were impacting the women since they were all speaking Amharic. Then, at the end of the week, Pastor Ermias at Bole Church expressed to Marian that God had begun a revival among the women. The mothers told him that God was healing their families!
Another example of God's faithfulness was evident in a mom who attended the Moms in Prayer training session six months prior. She spent most of the session in tears over her daughter who had left home to live in "the far country." This mom was grieving over her daughter's lifestyle, but was encouraged by the story of another woman who had just experienced her own prodigal daughter's recent return to the Lord. During these past few months, the mom continued in her earnest prayers and came to the meeting to give praise to God on the return of her daughter who repented and even attended the session!
 Marian was also blessed with the opportunity to serve with the eyeglass clinic team, pictured here. The team extended love and care to each person by greeting them in their native language, providing them with glasses and giving them God's blessing. As they traveled from village to village, the Ethiopian disciple-makers led them to a place outside the clinic to share the Gospel.
Finally, the logistics leader, Teki, took Marian and the evangelistic team to Kubi Village where Pastor Abille and his congregation had recently built a new church. One of the translators, Bogale, encountered a boy who could not hear or speak. When he laid hands on him, the boy could hear for the first time and began uttering sounds! Marian asked Bogale about his gift of healing. He said that he had been preaching to a group of Muslims one day and when he spoke of Jesus' divinity, they came to attack him. Bogale asked them to stop and bring the sick to him so he could pray for them in Jesus' name. They did and God honored Bogale's faith by healing a crippled person who began walking and leaping like the story in Acts. “Then the disciples left and preached everywhere. The Lord was with them, and the miracles they worked proved that their message was true." Mark 16:20 (CEV)
 At the end of her mission trip, Marian thanked God after hearing that 500 people made a profession of faith in the Lord and that revival had come upon the women in learning how to pray for their children and schools. God was glorified by the unity of the team, the boldness with which people shared the Gospel, by the love and compassion extended to the poor and needy and by the many worshippers who had been added to the Kingdom of God.
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