​Today it is one year since I moved to the US. Here are some highlights and lowlights of my time in the USA

Highlights

• My monthly support increased from 49% to 80%. I am very thankful for your faithful giving.
• God gave me opportunities to lead strangers into His kingdom during a bus ride in Kansas, on one of my flights to Africa, and my first skiing experience while sharing with international students.
• I made three trips to Africa and trained leaders on digital strategies.
• I have new teammates, friends and a church. I am very excited about new ministry opportunities with my new team.
• Fun times exploring Orlando with friends visiting from Ethiopia and Phoenix.

Lowlights

• Slow progress with my support due to a lack of contacts to share about my ministry. I appreciate your prayers and referrals.  
• Homesickness  
• Some cultural shocks and I have been misunderstood in communication.

I am preparing to leave for our annual Global Digital Strategy Summit in Vancouver, Canada. Would you take the time to pray for these three prayer items?

1. Praise God for my first year in the USA and for all the ministry opportunities I had.
2. Pray for our Summit next week and for the participants coming from all over the world. We aim to spend time in prayer as well as review and plan our strategies for the next 12-18 months.
3. Pray that God would continue to send me new monthly partners in order for me to be fully funded soon so that I can focus on my assignment.

And finally, in my last blogpost, I shared about the evangelistic #FallingPlates Amharic video we launched over Easter. My voice was used as that of the character of Jesus. Good news, more than 21,000 initial views were reported on Facebook. Thank you for praying!
Serving with you,
Miheret T.

I am the third born out of seven children [see picture above]. My parents love and follow Jesus. However, at the age of 9, my teacher punished me severely because I didn’t do my homework. He repeatedly beat me, and my legs bled. That day I decided not to go back to school again.
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My parents treated my legs for a couple of days and insisted I go back to school, but I refused. So my dad took me and left me at the school gate to enter. But I declined, and unbeknown to my dad, I ended up going to the market or sometimes to church. Finally, one day my dad found me at church during school time, and he realized that I was serious about not returning to that school.

My family decided to send me to one of my aunties in a very rural place to keep up with my education where they thought I might like the simple life and school environment. But after enjoying it for some months, both my auntie and I caught malaria, which nearly took my life. Moreover, the rural clinic was dysfunctional, and public transport was impossible due to the rainy season, and there was no way to connect with my parents.

We prayed for a miracle that a car would come to our village to be taken to a hospital. After a week, a truck came to the town to grab some agricultural goods from neighboring villages, and we were loaded as well. We were rushed to my parent’s home and then to the hospital. After examining me, the doctors told my mom to go back home as there was no hope for me to recover.

My mom refused to go back home and stayed with me in the hospital corridor as I was not given a bed to sleep on. She continuously said this prayer: ‘my son will not die but will serve the Lord’. I did. 

December 15, is my Birthday! A great blessing to reflect on God’s mercy and blessing in my life. I have great passion and I’m very committed to making Jesus known to all cultures and people around the world. I am truly looking forward for our ministry partnership and what God is going to do in 2017.
I am very thankful for you! The year 2016 has been a full year with many ministry opportunities. Through our partnership, we:

• Trained leaders from around the globe in using digital means to share the gospel
• Created access for people to find Jesus in multiple and easy ways.
• Helped churches, students, and organizations run with their digital mission by connecting people to Jesus through digital means.

Thank you!