I celebrated the mass with Abba Tesfay in his humble church. The church is called Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Once again I’m in another place where I feel a strong fit. Our Lady of Perpetual Help was the figure my mother prayed to all the time. I have a deep love for the picture of her (Mary) when I see it because it reminds me so much of my mother and her beautiful devotion to her. As we celebrated the mass the birds outside sang and I felt very much at home.
After much enjoyable visits with Abba Tesfay and fantastic theological conversations we relaxed after lunch playing checkers. It was fun and we drank coffee as we passed the time. We waited for the sun to go to the other side of the mountain so that we would not have to hike back up in the hot sun.
Around 3pm we began our assent. Not near as difficult as the one from G/M’s home nor the gastrointestinal issues we climbed about 1.5 miles up. When we got to the top we were greeted by Sr. Bindu and one of the Saesie teacher’s Solomon. We all talked our way back to the sister’s house.
Abba Tesfay stayed and we all joked and laughed with each other at dinner. I loved it. I loved being with them. It was like being around my family. The sisters and the priests are good friends and they treat each other like brothers and sisters. I had so much fun. We laughed into the night.