The African Elephant Sactuary

We spent a fun day with friends playing with the elephants.

Sister Kaye Hatch and I up close and personal.

Elder and Sister Curtis from Salt Lake City.  He was Macy's orthodontist before they left
for their mission.

STOP!!!  Grandpa doesn't have any brain power to spare!

Not true.  Grandpa is definitely not a loser.  He's just a good sport.  Notice
the kiss on the forehead.

Jumbo elephant, jumbo elephant.  You have such a great, big nose.
Jumbo elephant, jumbo elephant.  It reaches to your toes.

Grandpa loves everybody and everything.

Grandma is such a wuss!

Just so you know--my hand was full of elephant "snot" after I fed him.  Yuk!

Elder and Sister Curtis (Area Executive Secretary), Elder and Sister Callahan 
(Area Medical Missionaries), Elder and Sister Savage (Area Welfare and PEF), 
Elder and Sister Hatch (Public Affairs,)  and Grandma and Grandpa.  
We are making such dear friends.

Ethiopia

Our first day in Ethiopia.  Our assignment was to go and "make friends."  So first of all 
we had to find someone to make friends with.  We decided to find the Office of 
Foreign Affairs.It was raining like crazy and our driver had no clue where the office 
was but after much persistence (you all know. . .persistence overcomes resistance) 
we wandered down this forlorn passageway to find the Office of Foreign Affairs.

Then, around the corner, through the secret door and ta-da. . . we found it.  Then we 
made our first friend with the Consulate General of Foreign Affairs.  We then went 
to the Embassy from Swaziland and made a second friend.  We are on our way.

The Branch President is David Snyder and he works for the Department of Justice
 for the US Embassy and is the FBI Director for Ethiopia.  

There are 4 branches of the church in Ethiopia.  At church on Sunday, President Synder's 

daughter gave a great talk.  She would say one sentence and then wait for it to be translated 

into Amharic.  We decided that's not a bad thing because you had time to think about each 

statement that she made. The Snyders are living in Addis Ababa for 3 years with their 5 

children.  After that he is going to Afghanistan and the surrounding countries.  The 

missionaries are baptizing every week so the church is growing.

Look at this beautiful chapel being built in Debra Zeit.  It really resembles a temple 
from the outside.

Somalia Refugee Area

These pictures are all from the section of town where the Somalian Refugees are living.

This is a treadle sewing machine--no electricity.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia.  There are about 4 million people in the city.  The driving 

is crazy!  We didn't attempt it.  There are no traffic signals and it's bumper to bumper.  One 

incident:  Elder Campbell barely bumped into one of the white van taxis and 6 riders got out for 

a confrontation.  Elder Campbell pealed off 500 Birr (that's about $25) and gave it to the driver.

They were very happy and so we jumped in the car and took off.  None of us were interested in 

any police help that's for sure.

Shoe shiners were everywhere.  They would even shine your tennis shoes.

Local housing.

We were at a shopping area and these two young men decided to give Elder Roberts a blessing.
Why?  We're not sure.  But when they were finished with their pretend blessing, the guy in the
red shirt popped Grandpa a hard one right on the top of his head.  Of course Grandpa took it
in good part with his grand sense of humor and all were friends.

People going to their Ethiopian Orthodox Church on Saturday.

The countryside of Ethiopia

These people are breaking the large rocks into very small
pieces with a hammer.

The way they farm.  We never saw a tractor.

They have cars, of course, but many still use donkey or horse and buggy
to get around.

They attach the thorns onto the back of the truck so that hitchhikers don't hop onto the truck.

Commander Yilma in Ethiopia

Commander Yilma spent 16 years in the bush fighting against the Haile Selassi Government 
in Ethiopia.  He was trained militarily in Israel so he trained all of the leaders in the bush 
for those years.Now that the war has ended, the new Government are all his friends so 
we were attempting to enlist his aid to make contacts to influential people for the church.  
He was very proud of his garden so we took a trip to Debra Zeit to see it.

This is the extent of his tools to work in the garden except for two shovels against the wall.

I guess tools are very hard to come by in Ethiopia.  Elder and Sister Campbell from Hurricane, Utah,

are missionaries for LDS Charities.

This is his sister making coffee for us. Coffee is a big deal and it's a ceremony that they do 
everyday.  President Habtu (the District President for the Church) told us to tell them that in 
our church we fast from drinking coffee and alcohol.  They have a strong understanding 
of fasting so that makes sense to them and they are not offended when we don't want to 
join in the coffee tradition.
The beans are roasted on a special burner over open coals, ground and then brewed in a 
clay pot with a rounded bottom.  The coffee is served in a small porcelain cup with no handle.  
They also spread dry grass and flowers on the gound and everyone sits in a circle on small stools.

Commander Yilma was called by a member of the District Presidency (Dredje) because 
an Elder Missionary had been in a car accident and was in jail.  Their procedure is to jail 
both drivers overnight and then sort out the problem the next day or so.  Commander Yilma 
has been the Commander of the Oromia Police for many years so he was able to have 
the Elder released immediately.  He's a great friend for the small branch there in Debra Zeit.

His little grandson.  He became my best buddy because he wanted my camera.  

His Holiness Abune Paulos

The one in red is a secretary to the Partriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.  

Through him we initiated our appointment to meet with His Holiness Abune Paulos.

We were invited to lunch with the Priests.  It was food like I would imagine Monks at a 
Monastery would eat.  The bottom part is a spongy-type of bread, greyish in color and sour to
 the taste called injera.  You tear off a piece and then squeeze some food into it.  There was 
no meat because it was a time of fasting.  The food was quite good (beans, vegetables, 
salad, and bread) but very spicy.  Our mouths were numb after eating.

The amazing story:  After we secured a tentative appointment from the secretary, we were 
invited quite strongly to go to their museum.  We did and the young priest who was our guide
told us to be sure to mention to His Holiness how impressed we were with his museum.  As 
we were returning to leave, we met this priest on the stairs.  He spoke only Amharic and we 
spoke only English, but suddenly Elder R. and he were speaking German!  Neither of 
us can remember how that happened but the priest was so pleased to speak German and Lon
was so fluent (I think he had a little extra help).  Anyway, that is why we were invited to 
lunch. Sitting on the other side of this gentleman was the Arch Bishop but he did not want his 
picture taken.  He offered a prayer in Amharic before we left.  At the top of the picture is 
the chair where His Holiness would have sat if he were there.  He was presently in France.

It's interesting--every time we took their picture they would hold their cross in front of them.

And this is His Holiness Abune Paulos the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
He is also one of the seven presidents of the World-Wide Council of Churches.
He really wants a relationship with the LDS Church--mainly because he wants money for
a large project for Ethiopia.  He wants to build a museum in a place called Aksum to house
the many Christian Artifacts that they have.  They claim to have the Ark of the Covenant from
Moses' Day and the right portion of Christ's Cross.  Reminds me of Moses' staff that we saw in a
museum in Istanbul.  Really?  I'm a bit of a skeptic.