A late Happy New Year to all of you! We hope your year is going well so far. This past month has been fairly busy and we are anticipating for this month (our last month before we leave for America) to be even busier! We will be in America on March 4^th, and we have so much to do before then.

Many of you have asked about Yerus. I’m sorry I haven’t updated you since the last newsletter, but I want you all to know that she is back to her normal self again, praise the Lord! Almas, her mother said she was out of the hospital and back to being healthy again. Thank you so much for your prayers. I know they appreciate the prayers as well!

Argaw’s sister who lives in France came to visit us for 3 weeks this past month. Her name is Genet and she is very precious! She was the last of his family members for me to officially meet. We hit it off well and we will all miss her very much.

So, not enough pictures could be placed here. This is an experience I’ll never forget! We went to Masincho, Argaw’s family’s village, for a “little” family reunion when Genet arrived. We slaughtered the less than 2 year old cow that Argaw owned and his mom was caring for and fed close to 100 people! Before eating the meat, Argaw and I passed out a pudding cake I had made for all the people there. Everyone loved it! I don’t think they’d ever tasted something so sweet. While Argaw was helping the men get the cow ready, I was inside helping the women mix a Sidama traditional food, called wassa. Afterwards, the women spread out the wassa on some banana tree leaves on the ground. Then the women gathered around together and the men gathered around together and they ate the wassa and meat. It was so awesome!!!

 (Mom, I know you probably hate me for this, but I wanted everyone to see who was coming!) A team of 6-7 people from my home church is coming to Ethiopia towards the latter part of February. We will be doing many things with them to show them around and give them a taste of Ethiopia. One of the most exciting things we’ll be doing is visiting Masincho once again and throwing an even bigger feast! We will purchase a larger cow this time and are hoping to be able to have a Bible study with 100-200 people. The team is bringing many clothes and shoes to give away, and we are hoping to bless many people through this outreach. It will be my parents’ first overseas mission trip and we’re so excited to be a part of it. We are thrilled to have the team come, and from emailing back and forth with each of them, I think they are a little excited as well!!!

This is a picture of a little girl named Lantu and her dad. Lantu is 4 years old now and she is much smaller than Adonijah, who just turned one year old! They live in the country side and are unable to afford any medical help. However, she is wearing glasses now because the Lord has allowed us to be able to help her have a much-needed cataract removal surgery. She had cataracts in both of her eyes. She still has many, many problems physically and mentally, but we know the Lord will work those out for her or has some purpose for her dealing with them. We just wanted to mention her so that you could pray for her and her family. Her dad is a very sweet man, and he’s only trying to help his little girl live a normal life as much as possible.

As crazy as it may seem, Adonijah is now one year old! We are so very proud of our young man!! We celebrated with cake and friends. Although he had no idea what was going on, I’m sure he at least enjoyed the cake! He still wears his birthday hat too!!!

We still have yet to see any sign of Binyam. We have seen Abush, unfortunately, it was back on the streets begging. This saddens our hearts, but we know the Lord is sovereign. We know that the Word which penetrated their hearts to begin with has not turned back void. We know that the Lord is continuing to convict them and trying to draw them to Himself. It’s up to them to follow Him or not. We know that God is faithful to finish a work He has started, but it’s up to us to choose to follow Him with our hearts or not. Unfortunately, these boys so far have chosen other paths. Please keep them in your prayers. Although our hearts are saddened, we are not discouraged to the point of giving up, and we still love these boys. It is frustrating to see time and effort seem to go to waste, but we have to remember that it was the Lord’s time and the Lord’s effort that we were using…it has nothing to do with our own time and effort. Thank you so much for your prayers for us through this time. We have been encouraged by them.

Praises and Prayer Requests:

·          Praise God for allowing us to purchase plane tickets home and for one of our supporting churches being able to sponsor half of the cost

·          Praise the Lord for Yerus’ healing and that she’s doing much better now

·          Praise the Lord for the opportunity to have a team from America come for the first time

·          Praise God for allowing us to be a part in Lantu’s eye surgery

·          Praise Him for providing for us to feed almost 100 people in Masincho with Argaw’s little cow

·          Pray for the team coming in February…traveling mercies, finances, a blessed experience, etc.

·          Pray for the opportunities we have for outreach with the team, especially in Masincho

·          Pray for Lantu and her family as they struggle with everyday life in a poor village

·          Pray for continued provision for the rest of our time here and the rest of our plane ticket costs

May God bless you all. We love you dearly and are hoping to see many of you soon!!!

In Christ Alone,

Argaw, Rachel, Adonijah and Elias Ayele

P.S. In case you didn’t know, we found out that we are blessed with having another boy!!! His name will be Elias Roma Ayele.