ethiopia Archives - WELS Friends of Africa

November 13, 2024November 11, 2024

Finding the True Cross

Meskel, or ‘cross” is the name of a holiday that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates. The full name of the festival is “The Finding of the True Cross.” According to their tradition, God spoke in a dream to a woman named Helena, who was the mother of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome. In the dream, God instructed Helena to light a fir tree on fire. The smoke from the burning tree miraculously led Helena and her friends to a certain place on the ground. When people dug into the ground at that place, they found the true cross on which Jesus died.

May 24, 2023May 17, 2023

One Thing Leads to Another

One thing leads to another – in this case, an online Bible school has led to new contacts in Gambella, Ethiopia.

WELS’ Multi-Language Productions offers an online Bible school called TELL. A large majority of the school’s students are located in Africa. However, people all around the world find TELL very encouraging and use it as their primary source of spiritual growth. One of our participants is moving into a new and fairly untested level that requires him to confess doctrine agreement with the WELS.

May 10, 2023May 10, 2023

Smell the Coffee

incense and coffee smell wonderful together

Today’s post is written by Karen Kroll, a missionary wife who enjoys the smell of good coffee. She recently taught English to students enrolled in a school in Dukem, Ethiopia. The Lutheran Church of Ethiopia oversees the operation of this school and has plans to open others.

I’ve never met a coffee I didn’t like. But until recently, I had never met a coffee like Ethiopian coffee. It takes coffee to another level. I was blessed with the opportunity to accompany my husband, Dan to Ethiopia as he met with a group of believers interested in pursuing fellowship with WELS. As the men met, I spent the week teaching English to children Grades K-5 at Maor Lutheran School in Dukem. This is a ministry of our sister synod, the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia.