My name is Melisachew (Mel) Mesfin. I am the team leader of AEE Ethiopia.
My first thought when I rise in the morning is to thank God for waking me up alive, healthy and in good spirit. I also recognize that this day is precious to serve the purpose of God in my time, and so the need to redeem it properly.
I take a few minutes in bed to think and plan for the new day. Then I and my wife Bitsat kneel down before God seeking his face before we face the day. We thank Him for his fatherhood granting us good and safe sleep and also entrust the day to him in prayer. We read a passage of scripture and reflect on our understanding of that portion.
Together we come to breakfast and often eat Chechebsa. Chechebsa starts with preparing a batter that is fried to make a large flatbread called Kita. That bread is broken into small pieces and is mixed with spiced butter until it’s moist and soft and sweetened with honey and fruits. It is lovely and delicious.
I resort to looking at emails and messages for about 1 hour. This helps me to catch up with the time zone difference with our partners from East to West; from Australia to America. I respond to urgent ones and schedule and prioritize others depending on their importance and urgency. I also make important and urgent phone calls that necessitate attention.
Then I head to the office for 45 minute to 1 hour drive. On the way I drop my wife at her workplace and arrive at the office around 9:00 am. The first things I do are pray together with the office staff and have a short conversation on cross-checking activities and setting daily goals. The office has two staff, me and an admin assistant.
Most of the rest of the morning is utilized for contacting AE partners and associates via phone calls and telegrams. This is especially so in the months of July and August when the Students’ Discipleship Program is run throughout the country. I then take a brief lunch break and resume work. Most of the afternoon is devoted to dealing with office work, and writing concept notes and reports. I leave the office around 4:30 pm, pick up my wife on the way and arrive home about 5:30 pm. Then have a half hour walk around my home and take a shower.
At home, I have a time of fellowship with family and have dinner. Then before going to family worship I once again check on email and messages and take action accordingly.
Family worship time starts at 9 pm and goes to 10 pm. It has 4 components. We converse on how the day went by for each one of us and raise prayer & praise items. Then we do a Bible study. For instance this week we had been studying the Epistle of Jude. In verses 20-21 we observed 4 points for a healthy
Christian life: building, praying, keeping and waiting. That is building oneself up in faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping oneself in God’s love and waiting for the Lord’s mercy. After that, we sing hymns to the Lord and pray and commit the rest of the night to our Father God. Then I brush my teeth and head to bed.
This is what a typical work day looks like when I am in my home city, Addis Ababa. I work six days a week, from Monday to Saturday, and 9 hours a day on average.
However, I will also be on a field trip for program monitoring for about one fourth of my time. I carry out follow up and supervision activities for mission, discipleship and social action programs. One monitoring trip on average takes 4 days. The strength of AEE’s performance rests on the close follow up and monitoring done through project site visits and close personal contacts with church leaders, AE partners, and associates.
Current focus areas of activity
- I handle the leadership and all program activities of AEE 1.e. mission, discipleship and social action programs. Currently, I am busy with:
- Mission – deal with the preparation of the Adama 2022 mission scheduled for Dec 19-25, 2022. I engage with pastors and leaders of 18 partnering local churches in the city.
- Discipleship – be in touch with most church leaders of 400+ churches in 100+ cities, to closely monitor the planned training goal of 20,000 students in the students’ discipleship program.
- Social action – follow-up the execution of the training plan for women in sewing skills and monitor the impact the training has brought on the life of sewing graduates.
Prayer points. Please pray that:
- Many people would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ through our mission programs
- The students’ discipleship program expands to reach 50,000 students a year in the coming 3 years from the current level of 20,000 students per year.
- The most vulnerable women covered in the sewing training project become capable of starting their own businesses and grow to be self reliant
- AEE Ethiopia office is strengthened by way of an increase in the number of staff, expanded programs, and resources.