I serve in Horo Guduru, East Welega, Ethiopia. I am the Mission Coordinator for my area and our focus is bringing university students and elites to the Lord. My wife works as a civil servant, and we have four children.
I came to Jesus 54 years ago despite growing up in this area with its tribal religion, a dependence on witchcraft, and the threat to anyone having a different belief being considered an abomination to the community and subject to being killed. I remember the area’s first missionaries being westerners. They opened a clinic and school. Because it was dangerous to reveal themselves as missionaries, they strategically taught the Scriptures as one of the subjects. Students who did not score well in the Bible teachings fell academically, so we studied the Bible really hard, even memorizing some parts. One day, our Bible teacher was speaking about heaven and hell and the lesson troubled me: I asked question after question on how I could be spared from hell. His answer motivated me to read the Bible and trust God. Subsequently, I came to Jesus and many other students also believed.
During my time as a student, believers ignited a spiritual movement that persisted even amidst serious persecutions. The Holy Spirit was with God’s people healing the sick, delivering people from demon possession, and doing many miracles. This brought the majority of the population to Christ through time. During recent years, however, millions of people have settled here after being displaced by drought and overpopulation from North and East Ethiopia. Most are Orthodox Christians and Muslims, who consider Christianity as just a religion of the local people and they resist the witness. Yet, many have come and are still coming to Christ. These Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and indigenous people are the target of our mission field.
Community Life in Horro Guduru
The Horro Guduru area is agricultural, with most residents farming coffee (the area’s cash crop) and growing other products including teff, maize, sorghum, wheat, and barley. Along with a revival of the tribal religion, there are Orthodox Christians and Muslims in the local community. Services and infrastructure, such as potable water, roads, health, and education are poorly facilitated in and around Horro Guduru.
The lack of maintained roads and transportation makes spreading the Gospel message to remote areas challenging, and the cost of travel is often prohibitive. Another challenge is the revival of the tribal religion, with believers reverting to the tribal religions due to the political situation and persecution of mission workers.
Pray for Me
- Pray against persecution from Muslim and Orthodox communities in the area. Pray for believers to remain faithful and not turn back to the traditional beliefs of the old tribal religions.
- Pray for the Holy Spirit’s empowerment of Deresse’s work with the university students and elites.
- Pray for provision for the local workers and church planters.
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