As we were sitting on the last flight headed to Ethiopia I began to think about meeting the friends and family my mom had talked so much about following her trip the year before. After arriving in Ethiopia we started walking as we were trying to find our driver Ishy. Ishy has driven the cab for journey missions ever since they began to partner with elevate orphan. We were soon greeted by his warm smile as he went around to each group member giving them a long-awaited hug, quick to follow him was Thomas, the director of elevate orphan. The love these two exerted was incredible, as each team member had a huge smile stretched across their face. The next morning we sat down to eat breakfast at our hotel as the server came over and was delighted to see familiar faces from the previous year. Following breakfast we loaded up into Ishy’s van and began the short drive to elevate orphan. We were greeted by the kids each holding an individual rose that they were so excited to hand over to us. The kids began to hug us as most of the team was meeting them for the very first time. We sat down as we were presented a song from some of the newly adopted young girls followed by a popular Ethiopian coffee ceremony that represented love and appreciation. Each day we planned out activities to do with the older kids as the younger kids attended VBS. That day I chose to do cooking with a few of the older kids and Sara, a team member on the journey missions team. Wengel, the operations director at elevate orphan grabbed me by the hand and began to escort me to the kitchen. In those few hours I spent with the kids I was able to admire the relationship between Sara and many of the older kids. Sara had been in the cooking class the year before for the entire week they were visiting. The bonds that were able to be made in such a short period of time was truly a blessing of gods grace. Many people living in Ethiopia want to make you the most comfortable you could possibly be as they never want you standing up. They will grab your hand and bring you to a chair so that you may have a very intentional conversation. Each day we are greeted by many warm smiles and hugs from the staff and kids at bring love in, many kids quickly making their way to a team member they have made close relationships with. These kids already feel like closely knit family even in such a short time as this. I will forever love the kids and staff here at elevate orphan.

-Kiki