Kevin & Erica Kipfer

SERVING IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

D e c e m b e r Ki p f e r U p d a t e
Merry Christmas
Probably more than ever before, we are so thankful for the
cards, gifts, and notes of encouragement we have received.
Your prayers continue to be the wind at our back as life and
adjustment has gone pleasantly well. We know difficulties lie
ahead, but we are privileged to partner with you in this work.
A blessing of being in Ethiopia during this Christmas season is
the effect that a scarcity of Christmas activities has. While we
definitely miss some of the traditional Christmas activities and
being with friends & family, we can more fully focus on cele-
brating Christ’s birth and the joy it brings all people on earth.
We are given the wonderful privilege of seeing how the good
news of Christ has impacted people all over the world. Wor-
shipping at church alongside people from many different coun-
tries and meeting with individuals from various organizations Above: We pose with our house-helpers Kidist and Mayet.
doing God’s work here in Addis Ababa, we can see the good
news of great joy that is for all people (Luke 2:10).
Bridge: before and after
LSM was involved in a project lo-
cated three hours south of Addis
Ababa. A bridge was built to connect
the small village of Bochessa to the
larger town of Ziway, enabling the
residents to cross safely to purchase
needed supplies and sell their goods.
During the rainy season, the river
would swell and make it difficult,
and sometimes deadly, to cross by Left: the rather treacherous bridge that
small boat. Now the bridge will allow was being used the day we visited the new
much safer travels for these residents. bridge, above.

“You Americans have a watch, but we You might be surprised to know...

Ethiopians have the time”
We continue to benefit from the wisdom of our Ethiopian
friends. While we often have a tendency to rush, desire to
meet at precise times, and want to see progress each and
every day, most Ethiopians are content to do tomorrow
what doesn’t get finished today. Our time-and-task-
orientation is also being stretched as we’re finding that we
walked into a situation a little more incomplete than we
initially thought. Despite the need for more preparation
and partnership-building work, we’re finding joy in watch-
ing God work through this process.
• Getting to our post office box involves a 30 minute
drive. And, once we arrive, we are frisked before we
are allowed to enter.
• When trying to get to sleep, we may hear either the
Muslim call to prayer from the nearby mosque or the
sound of loud American pop music blaring from a
nearby store
• Ethiopia celebrates Christmas on January 7th.
• This week Addis institutes a mandatory seat belt law
for drivers. Car owners without seat belts in their vehi-
cles are facing a tenfold increase in costs to get them
installed by opportunistic merchants.

Kevin’s Email: kevin@loving-shepherd.org Erica’s Email: erica@loving-shepherd.org

Blog: kevinanderica.blogspot.com
Field Address: PO Box 16245, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Pa r t n e r i n g t h r o u g h p r a y e r
Weekly Prayer Updates—To receive prayer requests
more often, just reply to this email with ‘prayer update’
in the subject line and we’ll add you to our weekly email
list.
If you wish, you can pray through the pictures in this
newsletter—for our relationships, the LSM children,
future work, etc.
Praises and Prayers
• Thank you for praying for our forming a connection with
a partner organization as we work towards the develop-
ment of a Home of Hope. Continue to pray for this rela-
tionship.
• We found a car and are excited for the extra independence
and freedom it will grant us.
• Pray for our families and us as we are apart for the holi-
days.
• Pray for all the preparation work that we are facing: find-
ing a home to rent for the girls, staffing, girl selection, etc.

Mayet and Kevin undertook a weekend

project to introduce some good ole’
Midwestern culture—namely Purdue
basketball. We’ve enjoyed playing
games of “a-sa-ma” with our friends
(that’s PIG in Amharic). Deborah
& Hannah

Moses & Ruth

More fun with the LSM kids

Josef
Lydia
& Moses

Erica and Dawit (our language instructor) enjoy

being part of the 35,000 people in the Great Ethio-
pian Run. Although ours was more of a walk.

Financial contributions can be made: 1) Online through www.loving-shepherd.org by clicking the

‘Donate’ tab. 2) Visit our blog for a printable donation form to mail to: PO Box 375, Bluffton, IN
46714. Note your gift for ‘Ethiopia Projects’.