Meet Mariah Cowell

My name is Mariah Cowell. I am a 20 year old from Charlotte, North Carolina. I am currently studying Social Work and Gender studies in school. I plan on going on to graduate school to study policy within social work, especially regarding children’s rights in international adoption. I feel so blessed with this amazing opportunity to be able to go to Addis Ababa to see and interact with these people. I am so excited to see what God has for us on this trip and those that we will encounter!

Meet Jennifer & James Lane

We are the parents of three, reside in Amarillo, Texas.  We have ministered at Citychurch in downtown Amarillo for 19 years.  James performs the role of media director and minister at Citychurch.  One of his responsibilities is producing a television program called For the Heart of the City.

Jennifer traveled on an AWAA mission trip to Ethiopia last year, and James has gone on five mission trips to several countries in Africa.  James has visited Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and South Sudan.

God used his trip in January of 2013 to South Sudan to call our family to adoption.  We are now on the waiting list with America World Adoption Agency in their Ethiopia program.  We have requested a little boy between the ages of three and seven.  We anxiously wait for the day that we can add him to our family. 

We are very excited about this mission trip to Ethiopia with America World Storyteller missions.  This will be the first time we both will visit Africa at the same time.  We feel honored to be able to share the love of Christ with the children we will encounter. 

Meet Samantha & Tyson Payne

We are Tyson and Samantha Payne. We are parents to an amazing one year old boy. Tyson is part owner of a mechanic shop and I, Samantha, am a social worker and write home studies for several agencies including America World Adoption Agency. We are grateful for the opportunity to go to Ethiopia and cannot wait to see what God has in store for our team! 

Meet Beth Adams

Beth Adams

Born and raised in Virginia. Married, with three adult children, a son in law, daughter in law, and three grandchildren. Member of the Anglican Church. Happy to return to Ethiopia where my granddaughter was adopted in 2010. I work as a licensed professional counselor.

Meet Barry & Shelly Wilson

We are Barry and Shelly Wilson from Amarillo, Texas.  We are proud parents to three wonderful children.

  

Our love for Ethiopia began in the summer of 2012 when, by God's leading, our family started the process of adopting from the country.  As we began to educate ourselves on the country of Ethiopia in general, and the orphan crisis specifically, we fell more in love with Ethiopia and grew more heartbroken for the children there.  As the wait times for adoption started to lengthen, we prayerfully asked God what we could do, or how we could be involved, during this adoption wait time.  As an answer to prayer, He led us on a mission trip.  In August of 2014, we made our first trip to Ethiopia and it changed our lives. We knew as soon as we made it home that we would have to return.  

We never could have imagined the road God had planned for us when we started this journey. We continue to pray for open eyes and obedient hearts as we go where He leads us. So, here we go again…… 

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to our Ethiopia August 2015 team blog. We would like to tell you a little about ourselves and how God is using us as we prepare to travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in a few weeks! Our team of eight is so excited! In the following posts we will take time to let you know more about ourselves and why we feel led individually to go.

We will be going through the Storyteller Missions department of America World Adoption Agency. They exist to send out short term mission teams to partner long term with orphanages in eight different countries. Please take a few minutes and see all the great things that they are doing to help those most in need.  www.storytellermissons.org 

We hope you will check back often as we prepare and plan for our journey to Ethiopia to be the hands and feet of Christ in a real and tangible way. We would also covet your prayers as we seek to Glorify God through our team and our trip.

Blessings,

Storytellers in Ethiopia