Quick update

Hello everyone,

We are sorry that we have not posted more frequently. Internet and phones over here are very difficult (I can't even bring up our blog website and have to send this post via an email).

I am not going to even try to describe our trip thus far on this blog. It can't possibly do justice to the experience. We will wait until we return and are able to tell you and show you how God has moved mightily.

I can say that both Drew and Ariel are feeling a lot better after picking up an intestinal bug and visiting a doctor. Praise God for that.

We are in Addis the rest of the trip and will spend time tomorrow at a regional conference for Food for the Hungry staff, supporting them and praying for them. Please pray that Greg Vestri's presentation to the large staff will go very well and will glorify God.

We will then visit 3 government orphanages on Tuesday before getting on a plane arriving Wednesday late afternoon.

I've tried to post a couple of pictures below; hope you are able to see them.

Thank you for all of your prayers. We can't wait to share this unbelievable experience with you....

Matt and the Zeway Team

The team is back in Addis attending church this morning. Please pray for Drew and Ariel Vestri who are both a little under the weather.

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Your prayers are working. All are healthy and well. Pray now for discernment, protection, rest, wisdom. Off now to worship with locals.

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Today we were inspired, moved, and broken. We worshiped African-style, visited poor rural towns, and wept openly with hurting children.

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Sending this via text message. Spent first day in Zeway today! We hugged and met Sophia, Amanu, Ibsa, Cherenet, Alemayu. God is so good

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We made it!

The Grace Covenant Zeway team made it to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia a few hours ago! Praise God for smooth flights, no delays, and other than being pretty tired after more than 24 straight hours of traveling, all are feeling well.

It was dark in Addis, 8 hours ahead of Austin time, when we landed, so we have not had a good view of the country yet. We ate dinner together at the hotel and are headed off to bed.

We also were able to meet up with Jake Hemberger, a Grace missionary in South Africa, who will be part of our team here for this trip. He is doing great and was thrilled to get to see the team (and yes, Jo, your son looks great, has a full beard now, and loves you very much!).

Some of us have been able to talk with our children back in the states, and they are doing well, eating ice cream for Memorial Day.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. We feel them, and they are working. Please pray that our time tomorrow with the Zeway orphans will be blessed, covered in His Spirit, and rewarding for them and for us.

Love to you all,

The Zeway Team

How It All Comes Together

It is the last night before we leave to go to a strange land. We all are as ready as we are going to be and at some point during the frenzy of packing and re-packing, you just say to yourself . . . "I have my passport,my Bible, my immunizations, and a change of underwear. I will be okay."

We anxiously anticipate loving on and offering tokens of love to the orphans and people of Ethiopia. It is a blessing to us just to see how God has provided. First, just with the opportunity . . . those who served to scout out this location and the prayers behind it. Then the generous donations of the people of Grace.

But it didn't stop there. Salina Street Church, a church plant by believers from Grace, donated to the Zeway project. There were friends and family from all over the country who donated towards this vision trip. There was a devoted grandmother to her Ethiopian adoptive grandson, who asked her friends to collect over 600 pounds of humanitarian aid that will be given to an orphanage in Addis.

It is amazing how it all comes together when the saints serve in Christ's name for those dear to His heart. When we are united in our purpose and love our neighbor more than ourselves . . . .wow. What the Lord has done even now, and we haven't even stepped foot in Zeway.

We look forward to keeping you on the edge of your seats on what the Lord is doing on the continent of Africa. There is always adventure in God's presence. Amazing adventure and a peace beyond all understanding.

It will take a couple days to fly to Addis Ababa (capital of Ethiopia), and we hope to give you an update then.

6 days and counting. . . .

Please pray for us as we scramble around preparing for this trip! We are excited about serving those close to God's heart, the fatherless, and we are hopefully expectant that God will reveal the direction He wants us to go with Grace's relationship with Zeway.

Please pray with us for this trip:

For our children we leave behind. For peace for them and stamina for their caretakers.

For travel arrangements, flights, luggage to arrive (we are carrying a lot of humanitarian aid for an orphanage), and safety in travel.

For our minds to be open to the Spirit's leading.

For our actions and words to be overflowing of God's love

That we lay our expectations at God's feet and be willing to take in what He has for us

That we do not ask "Why God?" after the many desperate situations that we will see, but that we are spurred on to pray fervently for when Jesus will reign on this earth.

That we would begin to bridge a relationship with the people in Ethiopia to the people of Grace if it be God's sovereign will.

That the orphans we've come to know the names and faces of would find hope and love in Christ

This list could go on and on! Please pray for us as the Spirit leads and stay tuned for more prayer requests and updates as international internet connections allow!

Wear Your T-shirts This Sunday!

Wear your Zeway t-shirts this Sunday! We'll be taking pictures to put together collages of Grace faces for the orphans. This is our last Sunday before we leave . . . please be in prayer for us!

Prayer Request

Two weeks from today, we'll be flying across the Atlantic!

With the countdown, there naturally comes some anxiety with all the things that still need to get done to prepare for the trip. We are also feeling such a strong need to be spiritually ready for this vision trip. Not only is there much focus on preparation to go, there is also preparation for who the team is leaving behind. With the exception of Tom, all of the team members are leaving children here to be cared for by family.

It is a difficult concept for children to understand poverty and the lives of orphans. We all pray that our children's hearts will understand fully why we are going on this trip, and someday have compassion and share hope with orphans themselves.

So it is not surprising that I held back tears when our 4 year-old, West, and I had this conversation while listening to Jeremy Camp on the radio:

There will be a day,
with no more pain
no more tears
and no more fears.

There will be a day
when the burdens of this place
will be no more
we'll see Jesus face to face.

While I absentmindedly thought about daily to do's, my son interrupts my thoughts to say, "Is that what you are going to tell the orphans?"

"Tell them what?" I reply.

West answers, " Tell them that there will be no pain and they don't have to cry in heaven"

"Yes, West," I say. "That is exactly what we will tell them."

"Don't forget to tell them that the bees won't sting in heaven either," says West.

We wonder what children get, and we wonder if they are too young to know, but it seems to me that they know better than most of us.

As you pray for the team, pray for our children who are away from us. Pray they be a joy to their caretakers, stamina for their caretakers, and most of all great peace that their parents will return soon.

Julie