Awassa and Shone

I'm at the hotel in awassa. The hotel & city are both nice. We
went to a care point in Shone that Pochi's church has. Caleb raised some
funds for a building project that is now done. They have about 100
sponsored kids, but only about 25 were there today because it was Sunday.
All of the kids we saw driving through the city were extremely poor. It
was great to see how well the sponsored kids were doing nutritionally,
medically, and spiritually. They were visibly better off than the rest of
the kids in Shone. Their pastor talked to us about the difference One
Child has made to their ministry. It is the only outside group that has
ever been there. Caleb and I spoke to the whole group a little and then
we played some duck-duck-goose. It was a lot of fun, and then we all sang
together. We have been to a lot of places on this trip where things are
really getting better for the kids. It is very encouraging. After that,
we went to the look development center to drop off care packages for
Lar,Dan, & Michelle. None of the kids were there, but we met the guy in
charge of sponsorships. He knew Mugaleta & Sisaye. He didn't know
Wubinesh, but he is going to get the care package to Children's Hopechest
so they can get it to her. I was really hoping to meet the kids, but it
didn't work out. The sponsorship guy said Sisaye & Mugaleta were both
doing well. It was a long drive (6 hours?) out to Shone, but it was great
to finally get to see the country side. It is thw dry season, so
everything was very dry. I saw a lot of livestock grazing on corn stalks
though, and everyone who has been here in the rainy season was shocked to
see that everything was now brown instead of green. I am now at the hotel
in Awassa and the power just went out on the whole block. This is not
unusual here. Tomorrow we are going to a Children's Hopechest care point
in Chappa which is near Awassa. On a slightly different note, we were
only a few miles from Kembata this afternoon when we were at Shone.
Kembata is the city where Isaac's birth mother came from. While I didn't
get to see the exact city, it was neat to see the region of his heritage.
The trip has been a lot of fun, and we've met so many amazing people.