Here are some photos of our Jamie's last few days with us, including our WONDERFUL Youth and YSA Conference on Saturday, September 27th for all of the young people in the Church in Ethiopia, ages 14-30...  We worked on it for months, after getting approval to plan it.  THANKS to all those who helped make it a HUGE success!  We LOVE our youth here in Ethiopia! They are truly AMAZING and are the future of the Church in this great country!! It was SO fun to have Jamie here with us for it! She was a big help and made it even more special for us!!

We drove up into the hills surrounding Debre Zeyit

for the first time on Thursday.  It was beautiful!

Debre Zeyit from the foothills

That is our chapel in the center with the steeple.

Gebrella, Iserael and Rediet Solomon
These are AWESOME sisters with strong testimonies
and commitment in our branch.  We LOVE them!


We practiced the hymn "True to the Faith" on Thursday for our
Conference and then took these cute girls over to Get House for
ice cream before school started  Sept. 29th!  It was Jamie's last
day in Debre Zeyit....

Shopping at one of our veggie markets in Debre Zeyit
to find a bell pepper for our Hawaiian Haystacks
for dinner Thursday night.

Kids are all over the streets selling gum ~ even in the rain!

This little guy would NOT give up!!

Burger Shack in Beklobet

Lunch on Friday at Burger Shack, our 

favorite burger and fries place in Addis.

(It's almost an AMERICAN burger and has 

grilled onions and REAL BBQ sauce!)

Saturday was "Meskal", a religious holiday celebrating

the "finding of the true cross"  (part of Jesus' cross).

On Friday night every neighborhood put a cross in

front of their compounds and lit it on fire.

Ethiopia District Youth and YSA Conference

EFY ~  ESPECIALLY FOR YOU ETHIOPIA!

Bob introduced the theme and Ashenafi translated his remarks

into Amharic.  He did a FANTASTIC job ~ as usual!!

Jamie loved taking care of Eyob's and Mesi's baby Daisy

while they presented their workshop.

Eyob's and Mesi's darling baby Daisy LOVED Jamie!

The future of the Church in Ethiopia!!

We love these cute sisters from Awassa

Our district president, Habtu with Mesi, Daisy and

President Eyob. Pres. Habtu flew to the U.S. that night
for his FIRST time! He will attend the mission reunion
and General Conference.  He was SO excited!!

Our good friend, Tariku from the Meganagna Branch

Fikadu, Birhanu and Abere ~ three of our GREAT RMs in 

Debre Zeyit.  Fikadu is Elders Quorum President, Birhanu is
in the branch presidency and Abere is branch mission leader!

Our Ethiopian young people with 21 people traveling with the group Hope Arising.

(They got up on the top of the bus to take this one with my iPad!)

Our  great branch president, Kiros, his former 

counselor Getu and the three of us

Grant Cordner with Hope Arising

He is one of our Jeff's dental patients.

Six of the Hope Arising group and Tariku helping with lunch

Our Debre Zeyit girls and Yetim,their YW Pres. with Jamie

Yetim and her husband, Efrem were the presenters in one

of our three workshops.

Three cute YW from the Meganagna Branch

Yordanos, Rediet, Melat, Zinash and Tigist from Debre Zeyit

Salem, Tigist and Meti from DZ with Jen Dille, from 

Gilbert, AZ, the director of Hope Arising

Jamie at Yod Abyssinia Saturday night, after

 our Conference

Ashenafi and Salem, our good friends

in Debre Zeyit who are engaged!

Jamie with our Seminary girls (and Ashenafi photo-bombing)

Hiwot, Ashebir's wife was there and so were her kids Grant

and Nabyat.  She is our branch RS President.

Sifen, an AMAZING new convert in our branch and

the YSA representative for the branch.

Gebrella and Iserael, sisters and two of our 

Seminary and Institute students

Saying "good-bye" to Jamie.... : (

We took Jamie to Yod Abyssinia for dinner and to watch

the program of music and dance from different regions of

Ethiopia..

Inside Yod Abyssinia

Jamie's plate from the buffet...

My plate

Dinner at Yod Abbysinia 

Pres, Aklilu's daughter in the Beklobet Branch on Sunday

in Relief Society, ran in and out of the RS room until 

I finally got her to come over to me and gave her a notebook

and a pen.

Up in the foothills on Entoto Mountain overlooking

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Sunday afternoon

There are some BAD accidents here as you can see

by this van that was carrying 20 +  people

Addis Ababa taken from the Belvedere Restaurant on the hill

on the other side of Addis

Right in the center of this photo, you can see

the Meganagna chapel 

One last photo, just before we took Jamie to the airport, 

from the Diplomat on Bole

We stopped off and let Jamie meet Ruth and Yeabsra,

our cute friends who lived near us when we were in Addis.  

They LOVED Jamie!

What a FUN 9 days....

Jamie arrived home safe and sound.

Here are Amy, Aliyah and Ashlyn in

the traditional Ethiopian clothes she took 

home to them.