We just LOVE the Bujingo family from Beklobet Branch.  They are refugees from the DR Congo and have been in Ethiopia for 6 years.  They speak their native language, and also Amharic and English. They have a chance to go to the U.S. and MAY be leaving in the next few weeks!  Ines and Yvette are AMAZING young women!  Philip is their cute brother and their niece, Aliyah, also lives with them and with their mother, Godelive. They sang in our district choir with our Debre Zeyit Branch.  We had 47 sing with us ~ including ALL the full-time elders who joined us!! They sang the EFY Medley "As Sisters in Zion" and "We'll Bring the World His Truth" for a special number and then "How Great Thou Art" in Amharic for the Closing Hymn.  It was WONDERFUL!! There were lots of tears in the congregation!!

Lemma and his three teenagers who are recent converts in our branch
are with the missionaries who taught them and have now been transferred
to other areas.  We MISS them! Also Motuma, 2nd from the right, is an
AWESOME investigator, who is in our Institute class EVERY week!

Here are 40 of the 47 who sang in our District Choir at District
Conference, Sunday, February 16th in Meganagna with Ashenafi,
our director and me, the accompanist after the conference. Ü

Some of our CUTE Debre Zeyit Branch Young Women 
with Fita (13) and Kaleab (10) who sang in the District Choir.

We are AMAZED at all the fun ways our girls fix their hair! Braids are the big thing here.  We see LOTS and LOTS of really cool hairdos with braids!!  Their hair is really curly so sometimes they leave it in curls too.  It is almost always pulled back.  Here are some photos we took today!  They are all in their school uniforms since they come to our Seminary class after school.

Here is Ines on Saturday at District Conference

Fun, crazy Yvette just being herself with
her cute SHORT hair.
(Note the Young Womanhood medallion!)

Salem

Gebrella (whose hair is nearly to her waist)
She does her own hair.

Meheret ("Tutu") with curls today

This is Meti at District Conference
Feb. 16th

Cute Israel, Gebrella and Rediate's
sister at Conference Feb. 16th

Three more hairstyles (March 2014)

Salem's curls

Tigist's cool zig-zag braids ~ done by Meheret, her sister

Yelamdar's hair on her baptism day

Ines and Yvette Bujingo's niece,
Aliyah, from the DR Congo with her piggy tails

Tutu's and Tigist's friend Beti (taken a few weeks ago)
She has added black "thread" that is like having
extensions added to the ends of her own hair.

Yelamdare's braids on top are twisted around in a circle

March 8th

Meheret did these fancy braids in Yetimwork's hair for Church on Sunday
March 16th

Here is Tutu (Meheret) with long braids (which they call a wig).

Thread is woven in with her own hair which is much shorter 

and darker.   (April 2)

We visited another of the lakes around Debre Zeyit the other day! This is Lake Hora.  It was SO pretty! We loved watching the ducks and pelicans on the lake.

Happy Valentine's Day!
I have the BEST COMPANION in the world!

Efrem joined Elders Self, Ferrara and Makuku for breakfast.