Special Days

A letter from Stephen and Brenda Stelle in Ethiopia

January 2015

2 Christmases, 1 Wedding and a Funeral!

Our traditional Christmas (Dec. 25) began with the special gift of the arrival of our younger son from the States.  We picked up Caleb at the Addis Ababa airport and spent a few days visiting friends and exploring the city before bringing him to Dembi Dollo for a week.

Then our Ethiopian Christmas (Jan 7— following the Gregorian calendar) entailed a multiday celebration.  Since students go home for Christmas, the dormitory students commemorated Christmas the weekend of Friday, Jan 2, and Saturday, Jan 3.  However, preparations for the event began days in advance, with one of those preparations taking place in our home.  On Saturday evening there is an elaborate Christmas dinner and a few of Brenda’s 12^th grade girls asked her to bake the cakes for the dinner.  She did them one better and offered to teach them how to bake the cakes.  So for three afternoons Brenda taught several girls about cooking and together they baked the 10 cakes needed for the 175 people attending the dinner.  They had a wonderful time together and produced delicious cakes.

Merry Christmas

On Friday evening Steve and Caleb were invited to the 12^th grade boys’ dorm room while Brenda went to the 12^th grade girls’ dormitory.  Steve and Caleb enjoyed a meal, a time of telling riddles, and then were asked (along with two BESS teachers) to share a life experience that would offer advice to the boys.  While Steve and Caleb enjoyed their tame evening, Brenda was at a real Christmas party, complete with laughing, singing, and dancing.  The 11^th grade girls performed short skits for the 12^th grade girls.  Plus all the girls were decked out in their finest traditional Ethiopian dresses.

All day Saturday was spent preparing for the evening.  The girls were busy cooking dinner while the boys decorated the Chapel for the evening performance.  The program began around seven in the dining hall and included an elaborate dinner for the dormitory students, the faculty and their families.  We had never before seen such a wide variety of Ethiopian foods.   The food was absolutely fantastic.  After dinner we went to the Chapel to watch the play that the 12^th grade class members had been practicing for months.  The play (all in English) told the story of a family experiencing many difficulties and problems.  A friend shared the gospel of Jesus with them, which included the Christmas birth narrative acted out on stage.  The play concluded with the family accepting Jesus as their Savior.  After the performance everyone returned to the dining hall for the cake and another program, which concluded around midnight.

On the Sunday after Christmas we attended our first Ethiopian wedding.  Naga Abdisa, the vice principal of BESS, got married to Amsale Jote.  Again preparations for the event started days in advance as fellow teachers helped Naga create a backyard venue for the blessed event.  (Naga lives next door to us.)  A temporary cookhouse, washroom, and reception hall (using wood, tarps, and metal sheeting) were erected in Naga’s backyard prior to the event.  As usual the women were busy preparing food for the reception (which lasted three days).

On Sunday afternoon we joined Naga, his friends, fellow teachers, and many of the boy students in a caravan of trucks to go into town and get his bride-to-be.  After picking up his bride, we felt like we were in America as we spent the next two hours driving throughout Dembi Dollo with our horns honking as people lined the streets to watch the procession.  Then we stopped at Borta Lake, on the BESS compound, where many pictures of the wedding party and friends were taken and the wedding cake was cut and eaten.

The bride and groom

Five hours after our journey began we arrived back at Naga’s house for the wedding ceremony and the reception.  Another feast of Ethiopian food awaited the guests.  It was truly a joyous and remarkable day.

Sadly, in mid-December the school experienced a terrible tragedy.  Dabala, a 9^th grade boy, tried to get a ride to school on a large dump truck filled with sand.  He dropped his notebook, got out of the truck, and the truck ran over him and killed him.  The next day we joined the rest of the faculty, most of the students, and 2,000 others gathered outside his home to join in the family’s suffering and loss.  Many of the people then walked a half hour to the church for the service and his burial.  That evening we went inside the family’s home with principal Amanuel to sit and have tea with them as an expression of our sympathy.

Amidst all these events, Brenda has been extremely busy with her ongoing English classes.  Both Brenda and Steve gave first semester final exams at the end of January.  Gidada has been on a lengthy Christmas break allowing Steve’s students to return home in order to serve their congregations during the Christmas season and to pick coffee on their farms, which supplements their incomes.  So he was busy preparing lessons for the four courses he will teach during the second semester.

WE LIVE IN AFRICA MOMENT
As we sat at the wedding reception we were struck by one huge difference in Ethiopia weddings.  Because in Ethiopian culture the groom “takes his wife” away from her family, the bride’s parents are not permitted to attend the wedding service.  So Naga’s bride had none of her family present at her wedding.  Even her bridesmaids were students of BESS chosen for her by Naga.  Although they have adopted some American traditions in their weddings, they still retain some of their age-old African traditions.

PRAYER REQUESTS
Praise God, baby Sauron, Amanuel’s newborn, is now healthy, growing, and very beautiful.  Please remember the family of Dabala as they mourn the loss of their son.

As we begin a new year in Ethiopia we continue to thank you for your prayers and financial support of our ministry of education at BESS and Gidada.  If you would like to contribute to our support, gifts can be sent to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  Be sure to include our account # D507574 for congregations or account # E200507 for individuals.  We praise God for your partnership with us in doing God’s work in Dembi Dollo.

In Christ’s service,
Rev. Steve & Brenda Stelle

Bethel Evangelical Secondary School
Box 186, Dembi Dollo, Ethiopia
brendastelle813@yahoo.com
stevestelle826@gmail.com
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 142