Written by Lonny (January 26, 2010)
This morning I had a good visit with my family on Skype. They had been at Jessica’s High School performance of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged." I wish that I could have seen it. I was in a good mood this morning with optimism for what we are trying to accomplish here, despite our many challenges. I am so grateful that Erika is so supportive. Without her support I don’t know if I could keep going.
I spent the day in the office sending and receiving emails. Email is such a fantastic communication tool. I am able to accomplish so much in a short time from one place. I am so glad that it works here in Ethiopia. It is not as good as in the States because of the power outages, networks being down and the people not being as familiar with it, but it is still very beneficial. Abera and I met with Wally to discuss personnel changes. We will hire an onsite manager for Kokosa so that Abera can spend some of his time helping with the 1000 hectares of wheat that we want to plant for seed.
We had exterminators come to spray the house today. I guess there were bed bugs in one of the upstairs beds. We had to be out of the house for a couple of hours so we went out to eat. We tried to go to the Italian restaurant but it was closed, so we walked to the Chinese restaurant down the street. I wasn’t really in the mood for Chinese food and the quality of it didn’t help any.
I met with Elder and Sister Ocrowly, the humanitarian missionaries who are serving here now. I explained to them the history and purpose of MAI here in Ethiopia. We had a good discussion about the future of Ethiopia. They are excited to be here and will be a great help to the Ethiopian people. I am amazed by the way the Lord leads and guides our interactions when we let Him. With His help we will be able to accomplish great things here in Ethiopia.