The Tesfa Jewelry Collection

I love how God creates beauty from ashes. I love how God has allowed what most people would consider trash....old, unwanted paper...to be used by women to create a beautiful item. The paper bead. And I love how He has used those paper beads to help feed orphans in Zeway, Ethiopia.

When we first started the Tesfa jewelry collection it was just Cathy Clark & myself stringing up as many bracelets and necklaces as we possibly could. We were seeing beads in our sleep. But more women are getting involved and we are excited to see whats happening. Recently, a group of women who are in a Life group together asked if they could string up beads as a "girls night" activity. Here's what happened:

Another lady from church asked if she could make jewelry. She was given this box of beads:












And she made these:


It's so exciting to see how God is allowing so many people to use their gifts and talents to help the orphans in Zeway. Jewelry is just one, small way to get involved. Consider having a home party or giving Tesfa jewelry as a gift. These bracelets & necklaces are not just a fashion statement...they are opportunities to share about what God is doing in Zeway.

To see more of the Tesfa jewelry collection, click here.

Interested in a home party? Send us an email!

'Tie them as symbols on your hands......be careful that you do not forget the LORD'
Deuteronomy 6:8 & 12

Seeding Adoption in Ethiopia

It was a lot like watching a president’s victorious speech on election night, or maybe how it must have felt to witness Lincoln unveiling the Emancipation Proclamation.

In a few years, I believe we’ll look back on the Seed Adoption conference I was able attend this June in Ethiopia and see it as nothing less than the spark of a national spiritual and cultural transformation for adoption and the orphan. It just might have been the beginning of the end of the Ethiopian orphan crisis.

I was blessed to participate (along with Pastor John Patterson from Grace Covenant in Austin) in one of three trainings in which hundreds of Ethiopian pastors, elders, and nonprofit leaders (both husbands and wives together) heard powerful messages about the nature and extent of the Ethiopian orphan crisis, scripture’s clear call to care for orphans, God’s invention and use of adoption as the means by which we join Him in right relationship, adoption in an Ethiopian historical and cultural context, and the practical aspects of adoption in Ethiopia. Session presenters included a member of the Ethiopian federal parliament, the former Africa director of Worldvision, the General Secretary of a large Ethiopian Christian denomination, a senior Ethiopian leader from Compassion International, Nick Ostermann (pastor of The Rooted Church in Fort Worth), and many others, all of whom were Ethiopian except for Nick. There were 150+ people in attendance, including 46 from Zeway and Food for the Hungry where our current orphan care and indigenous adoption initiative is centered.

My major take-aways from the conference include:

• The training was very professional, motivational, theologically sound, and spirit-filled
• Several key messages were repeated by almost all speakers (evidence of the Holy Spirit moving):

1. The church must be the answer to the crisis
2. Adoption is the most effective solution for orphans (as opposed to foster care or orphanages)
3. Individual action by everyone there was expected (“Each of us here can add one more child to our family.”)

• The ancient Oromo (a large Ethiopian tribal people group) practice of “gudifecha” can serve as a strong foundation to build upon for Ethiopian adoption, but it needs the influence of scripture and other more acceptable modern practices to be truly effective
• Adoption is the “heart of the gospel”, and all of scripture can be seen to be about God’s vertical adoption of each of us, which should motivate us to respond to His calls to care for orphans (through adoption ideally)
• A new national Task Force on adoption and the church was formed, and two pastors from Zeway were elected to serve

There were many moving testimonies presented by attendees and speakers, and some of the key quotes I recorded include:

• “I believe that God has raised Seed Adoption Ethiopia with a great and different vision to reach children who have no families/guardians and caregivers.”
• “This is about you, not someone else.”
• “Just like the stories of Moses and Esther, God can use adoption in Ethiopia to can change the story of our nation.”
• “The orphan crisis is bigger than you think, not just children who have lost parents, it is humans who have lost our God.”
• “Pure religion calls for men of courage and boldness, men who will march into dark and diseased places, take a child with difficulties and look at them and say you will be mine. Your identify will be in me and in this family, I am your father and you are my child. Pastors, men, my brothers, we must be the ones to lead the way in rescuing the fatherless.”
• “God invented adoption, and it is at the center of His plan.”
• “Local adoption is a lasting solution for the orphan crisis.”

I am so grateful for the Seed Adoption organizers, the individuals from Grace who helped underwrite the costs of the conference, and for my wife for making it possible for me to experience such an amazing event. Please pray for this movement to continue and for God to change the hearts of Ethiopians to give the millions of lonely orphans in their midst the families God intends for them to have (Psalms 68:5-6).

Conflicted

My life is comfortable. I live in a nice five bedroom house in an upper class Austin neighborhood. My house always has electricity and water. If for some reason they go out, I call someone and it gets fixed quickly. I have a heater for when I get cold and an air conditioner for when I get hot. There is always a variety of healthy food on my table. I drink bottled water because the tap does not taste good. When I want new clothes, I go to the store and buy them (or order them on Amazon over my high speed internet connection). When I get sick, I have insurance and access to world class doctors. I have a master’s degree from a respected university. I work for a Fortune 50 company. There is always money in my checking account.

Zeway is for the most part a polar opposite of my life. The houses are typically one room; made from mud and straw. They constantly have to be repaired during the rainy season. Homes might have one electric outlet with intermittent power. Food is scarce and the menu is same thing day after day. People walk 20 minutes to get water that no one in America would (or even could) drink. Clothes are a need, not a want. In some cases, boys wear girls’ clothes. You take what you can get. Sickness is prolific and health care is marginal at best. People don’t worry about allergies; they worry about AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. Education is often sacrificed in order to work for money to be able to eat. A 15 year old boy in 5th grade is not uncommon. University is a word not many children understand. There is no need for a checking account.

The time my wife Heather and I spent in Zeway this month was likely one of the most impactful weeks of our lives. We are still processing all we saw and experienced. Personally, I have felt conflicted since returning to Austin. I came back with feelings of hope and with emptiness all at the same time. Hope for the children we saw who live with joy despite dire circumstances. Emptiness in my soul for the comfortable life I live and a feeling that I am not doing enough to help the poor. I am wrestling inside… with myself and with God.

Adjusting back to my life here in Austin has been difficult. My job seems a lot less important than it did when I left. I am home, but my thoughts are still in Africa. My wife said it well, “I feel like I am sleep walking through my days. Never fully here.” Friends who had been to Ethiopia before us said we would feel this way. I am no longer skeptical to their forewarnings. Each day I wonder if I will always feel this way or will the busyness and comfort of my life consume the unsettlement I feel? I hope the unsettlement sticks around.

So where do I go from here? I’m not exactly sure. What I am sure of is this: if you believe the teachings of Bible, you should be helping the poor. I do believe the Bible, so that is what I want to do. I also believe the Bible teaches us to do things not out of duty, but out of love. I feel like I went to Zeway out of duty, I left feeling like I went out of love. I came home with a sincere love for Ethiopia, a love for the people from Food from the Hungry, and most of all a love for the children.

I am not sure what is next for my wife and me. Do we sell all our stuff and move to Africa? Not likely. Do we change how we live here in Austin? Probably so. Will we continue to care for and love the children of Zeway? Most definitely.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” - Ephesians 2:10