Visiting Clinic Sites

Shamiro Shanu, new mossy foot patient at the Boditi Clinic. Please pray for Shamiro as it is painful for him to walk. The treatment process will take some time but with the help of Mossy Foot Project Shamiro will be back on his feet and will be able to work, as now it is impossible. 

Ah! the beauty of seeing the green hills, valley’s, and surroundings of Walaita. Mount Damot seems to rise above the others as a sure indicator of North (that is, if you are in Sodo). At sunrise, the clouds are blown away by gushes of wind and the higher altitude landscapes are revealed. The sun warms up the air which was chilled during the night and the wind ceases.

Yesterday, Sharon (President of MFP), Mara (Volunteer), Daniel (IT Specialist), Feleke (Wound Care Specialist), Mathewos (Field Director), Chernet (Driver) and I went to Boditi to visit a clinic site. Mara had raised funds for the purchase of medical treatment supplies. As Mossy Foot Project is low on funding they are making cutbacks on expenses and this is effecting the treatment of the patients. God has touched the heart of Mara to round up her friends and family in order to purchase medical supplies for the time being. Thank you Mara! The patients at the clinic where so thankful and happy because they have had to wait, but now they are able to continue treatment and have hope!

Please prayerfully consider giving to the Mossy Foot Project. The recent low funding has caused a visible effect on the ability to help patients. Your gift will allow the team to make custom made shoes for those who have inflamed feet and need the larger size shoes. There were at least three patients at the Boditi clinic who were not wearing shoes because there were none available, due to financial cutbacks. Your small or grand donation can make a difference in a person’s life! Please join us in the mission of eradicating mossy foot disease! To donate, click here.

God is good. I cannot stop saying this, because He is. Oh, if you could only be here to see the joy on someone’s face when they receive a gift for which they had been praying for! Shoes for the barefoot, treatment for the sick, love for the outcast. A person with mossy foot disease is shunned. Their lives become lonely and in the midst of people that surround them, no one will sit beside them. The local staff have such a heart for these people! Their love is evident in their careful touch, kind words, and respectful gestures towards their patients. I thank God that He has put on their hearts to serve. This project could not be accomplished without them.

I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity of being here by supporting me financially! Thank you for praying for me and the team here! There is much work to be done and I am looking forward to the three weeks ahead of us. Please pray especially for Sharon as she has many difficult tasks to accomplish. Her heart breaks for the people and the current limited funding has put a weight on her shoulders as well as the rest of the team. Please pray for wisdom. Our trust is in the Lord. We will continue to do our part and trust the rest in to the hands of our King.

Bye for now!

Vera

So much to share...

Hello my dear reader,

Sharon Daly will be departing to Sodo this Wednesday, October 1st. She will be accompanied by Mara Klassen and a group from New Life Anglican from Petoski, Michigan. Please pray for Sharon and the team. For safe travel and good health. For God's blessings in all the work that will be done. You may read more about the trip in the last Mossy Foot Project newsletter, click here.
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Need: If you have a smart phone(s) that is(are) unlocked which you would like to donate to the Mossy Foot Project, please contact me at itsmevera@yahoo.com. These will be used in Ethiopia, I will deliver them to Sharon in November. Thank you!
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The next time that you shop at Amazon please go to smile.amazon.com and select Mossy Foot Project as your supporting charity. "AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization. You can choose from nearly one million organizations to support." See the details here.  Again, please type in the search box: Mossy Foot Project when asked what charity you would like to donate to. 
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I will dare to copy and paste the Praises and Prayers portion of the newsletter from Mossy Foot Project for the upcoming trip: 

Praises:

• For a good response to the Mossy Foot Project documentary   [see the full episode here]
• For the wonderful people whose hearts God has touched to go to Ethiopia to help and for those who partner with us in giving and in prayer
• For completion of Mossy Foot Stories   [purchase the book on Amazon, click here]
• For an article in the Ventura Star Free Press about the Mossy Foot Project   [see the article here]
• For a radio interview with Dan Wooding of ASSIST on KWVE   [hear the entire interview here]

Please pray:

• For safety and good health for the people visiting Mossy Foot this fall
• For provision of a new accountant and health officer
• For healing for one of our workers, Tamenech, who is undergoing treatment for cancer
• For provision so we can open an office in Addis Ababa

(Read the entire newsletter here.)
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I would like to add one more prayer request. Please prayerfully consider giving to the Mossy Foot Project on a monthly basis. As little as $25 a month will make a big difference. Your monthly gift will allow more mossy foot patients to be treated at the clinics. Please click here to donate. Thank you! Amesegenalo!

See and hear a song of praise to the Lord, below, sung by Ababich. Her name means flower. Such a sweet lady. She use to work for Dr. Barlow, Sharon's father, a missionary doctor in Ethiopia.

Watch the full episode online!

Watch the full Episode 8 of Operation Change: Ethiopia. See the work that Mossy Foot Project is doing in Sodo: CLICK HERE

SETTING NEW GOALS

I am listening to a guitar strum melody, Spanish Escape. The summer heat outside has not cooled down enough this evening, here in Spokane. I’m writing in a cool room as the air conditioner blows the chilled air. My thoughts are like high mountains, full of imagination and thoughts of possibilities. I ponder my future and what God has in store, trusting Him completely.

I have learned, apart from reading, through experience, that trusting God and doing His will simply as He says, is the most fulfilling and exciting thing. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” Psalm 34:8

How easy it is to fall into the trap of looking at the world through the eyes of popular opinion, culture, tradition, expectations, and especially fear. But when you look at it through the Word of God, you see a glimmer of light, because it is the truth. When you trust in God and take that step of faith then you taste the living water.

Here are a few photo shots of the recent visit to Sodo...

It was one of the most humbling experiences to provide a raincoat to a widow that is blind. She accepted the gifts given to her with tears and thanked the Lord for answered prayers.

 Once she put the raincoat on, this widow's joy was not contained. She danced and sang and thanked God.

These raincoats will allow these women to stay dry during the rain season. 

Gezahegn Gamo, Accountant, and I worked at the hotel restaurant while the laptop batteries lasted, the electricity was out during that time. We did have plenty of day light coming from the large windows.

 Sharon Daly, President of Mossy Foot Project, and I setup our laptops on the third floor of the hotel, where we can catch the wifi.

Here we are meeting with the administrative staff. God's hand is seen in the work that is done at Mossy Foot Project.

Sharon is holding a pair of children's shoes. These shoes where distributed to children who have a family member with mossy foot disease. Donated by Sketchers through Samaritans Feet.

Most children waited patiently. Their names where called, the shoe size chosen, than they received their shoes.

I would like to thank those of you who supporting me with prayer and financial help. I appreciate it more than you know and see it as a gift from God. Your contribution has brought a fruit of what you see in the photos above. Thank you! Amesegenalo!

Prior goals have been accomplished. Now is the time to set new ones: to give the opportunity for every child and adult to wear shoes. This is so important. Approximately one million people in Ethiopia have mossy foot disease, including children! Treatment and recovery from this type of disease can take as long as a year or longer. Prevention is so simple: wearing shoes. We can bring in thousands of shoes to Africa every year, this would be wonderful. It would not solve the problem. We can catch a fish and give it to someone or we can teach that person to fish, and they will obtain the privilege to an abundance of fish. In the same way, we can bring shoes to the poor, or we can teach them to make shoes. This is the goal. First, raise a great awareness of the importance of protecting one’s feet and wearing shoes. Second, provide an opportunity to make quality and affordable shoes. Quality does not mean plastic and cheap. Quality is comfortable, protective, durable, practical, and lasting.

These goals may seem like mountains to me, but they can be moved because there are no limits with God. I will be going back to Sodo this November to continue to help the barefoot people of Ethiopia. Please continue to pray that God would open doors where needed, and shut them, where needed. That He would give our team wisdom and knowledge; protection and health; resources; and that He would send our way the people that would be skilled shoemakers and other supportive staff.

If God has put on your heart to continue to support this endeavor, please send a donation, see instructions below. Your financial support is making a big difference in the lives of many people. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Please pray for Sharon Daly and Mara Klassen as they will be traveling to Sodo in October. Pray for their safety, health and that God would be with them at all times. I feel extremely privileged to be working with these ladies. 

Click Here to donate online.

Or send a check by mail to:

Vera Chosenko

PO Box 171

Spokane Valley, WA 99037

To make your donation tax deductible, write the check out to Light of the Gospel and write my name in the memo. Same address as above. If you are a business I will post your business name on my blog along with a link to your website and your contribution will be deductible. 

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Hello from Sodo! I was telling someone here that if the internet worked as fast as it does in the US things would get done in no time. I am on the third floor of the hotel, the only floor with Wi-Fi, celebrating a 70% file download. You would be excited too! Yesterday it was at 43%! The electricity is off a lot of the times and the internet connection is interrupted about every 5 to 10 minutes. A nice breeze is coming from the window as I watch the people walking the streets, riding their motorbikes, or taking a Bajaj. I’m sipping on a nice net-ayale-macchiato. Behind the buildings and store fronts that line the street the sun is setting, outlining the lush green trees and country side of the Wolaitta area.

 

Work has been going well. One of the big projects that I’ll be working on is writing an instruction manual for using the accounting software specific for MFI. Please pray that all of the projects can be completed in time, God willing. Pray for our team, for wisdom and for health, so far so good. Thank you! Amesegenalo!

 

For those of you who are book worms like me. I am reading Answers To Prayer by George Muller. George Muller was inspired by the following Bible verse to prove the power of prayer to those who doubted God. With God’s help and many, many answered prayers Muller opened an orphan home. With his heart for orphaned children George wrote an account of the answered prayers.

 

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10

 

Here are a few photos... Bye for now!

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The donation suitcase with rain jackets went through customs with minor delays. With a few words in Ahmaric and the provision of God I didn't have to pay the local tax (the tax is usually paid if I were to sell the rain coats). For those who donated funds and purchased rain coats to fill the donation suitcase, Thank you!! These will be given to the widows.

 

 

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Alex has mossy foot disease and is being treated at the MFI clinic. Next to him is Lucas, the local health worker. It was difficult to communicate because of the language barrier. Once we where past the "how are you?" and "how is your family?" they thought me how to count in Ahmaric up to 80! Do not test me later :). There were quite a few chuckles as I tried to pronounce each number correctly.

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After proudly sharing of the success of his children, Desta shows his feet to Sharon. He is full of words of encouragement for us.

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On Sunday we walked to the country side to attend the local church in the Ottona area. Behind me is the local river Laundromat and car wash.

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Attending Danie'ls church, Bolsa Anka, in the Ottono area. The church was celebrating Mothers Day.

One week before departure!

Hello my friends,

I feel so blessed to be part of what God is doing with the Mossy Foot Project. I ask God to give me wisdom to complete the work that I am called to do. I feel that without God's strength and wisdom, I could do nothing.

It is exactly one week from departure. I've got some last minute preparations to complete. One of which is to purchase black knee-length sports socks as well as light weight waterproof rain jackets. Sodo's forecast will be heavy rain fall beginning June through August. These socks and jackets will be donated to the Mossy Foot Project to give to those who need it most, particularly patients.

If you'd like to donate new socks or a jacket(s) please let me know by Tuesday, 27^th of May. You may also give a donation which will allow me to purchase these items. Contact me by email, itsmevera@yahoo.com.

For those of you who have donated, I appreciate it so much. I see God’s hand in your support. Thank you! Please pray for safe travel, health, and wisdom. Please also pray for Sharon, she is in Sodo now. There is much work to be done, and I am excited to be part of it!

Bye for now.