Christmas on January 7th (WHAT?)
- Dec 22, 2025
- 4 min read
Hello everyone! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It’s crazy that we are already here. In Ethiopia they don’t celebrate Christmas at the same time that everyone in the rest of the world does. They celebrate January 7th. But don’t worry. The missionaries are going to do stuff on Christmas day, December 25th. I’m excited about that. Our Mission Leaders the Cowley's are having a big party and Christmas activity at the main church and compound for all of the missionaries on December 25th. You may wonder why Ethiopia celebrates on January 7th. The Ethiopian Calendar, also known as the Ge'ez Calendar, is an ancient system with 13 months (12 months of 30 days, plus a 13th month of 5-6 days) that is about 7-8 years behind the Gregorian calendar due to different calculations for Jesus' birth, with its year starting around September 11th or 12th. It's closely related to the Coptic calendar and is used for religious holidays, though modern Ethiopian institutions often use the Gregorian calendar. Currently in Ethiopia it is 2018.
Here is a breakdown of my week:
Dec 16
Almost Christmas. Today was fun, we had district council meeting, and it was great with a lot of people. We worked hard doing a lot of work and finding in the Shiro Mida area which is a neighborhood north of the church. I tried knocking again so I feel a little more comfortable being out as a missionary, however, there are still times where I’m still terrified! We are going to go back to Shiro Mida tomorrow to meet with a member.
Dec 17
Today was awesome! We got to teach some kids English with a member named Mamushet. He is a longtime member that has been lost for a long time but was one of the founding church members of Ethiopia. We have reconnected with him and are working with him to come back to church. We met with him, and it was nice to meet and get to know him. In Amharic connect (our Amharic language study) we learned a complicated rule that can take my groups Amharic to the next level. It was Elder Staffs last night before he goes home tomorrow, so we ate at a nice restaurant and had a good night to celebrate. We went to the tallest building in Ethiopia where there is a restaurant at the top.
Dec 18
Because Elder Staff was leaving, we really did nothing today. Staff had to pack a lot of stuff, so I just hung around, and I helped him get all packed and ready to leave. He is a gobez (smart) missionary. God speed Elder Staff. Later that evening I found out that I would be getting a new companion and our trio would be completely broken up and split three ways. The Elders that just opened up Gambella area down on the South Sudan border had to be emergency transferred out of the area due to some escalating violence. That made two emergency transfers in two weeks for our mission leaders the Cowley's. Elder England who had been serving in Gambella was brought back to Addis we are now companions. He goes home on January 7th. He did not go home before Christmas because we are such a new small mission that the President needed a few of the Elders to stay long enough for the new set of missionaries to get to Ethiopia as well as have enough Senior missionaries that he did not have to put two new missionaries together. So, this has been one transfer but three companions. It is easy to say that Ethiopia is not a typical mission.
Dec 19
Elder England is my new comp. He leaves in 2 weeks hahaha I keep getting the older missionaries that leave soon. He is not starting right back at school when he returns so he was able to stay a few more weeks. The Elders that start at school in January had to return home before Christmas. We had some amazing lessons and had 2 at a time which was crazy! Hopefully these two get baptized soon!
Dec 20
Today was amazing, we had a baptism for someone from Byriu which is another area, but they don’t have a baptismal font, so they come to our branch. We also had a member visit with a member named Demeke he is an amazing man, and his family was great.
Dec 21
Sundayyyyy! Today we had 46 people come to church, which was amazing! I loved meeting with all the people. We met with a member after church, she is amazing! When we didn’t see her at church, we had to make sure she was okay and let her know we loved her and missed her. We are going to be working more on ministering to our own church members. MAMUSHET CAME TO CHURCH!!! IT WAS AWESOME! He is a member but had not been attending recently and we had reached out to him and were trying to reconnect.
December 22
It is P-day. Today we decided just to take it easy and sleep and rest up. It had been a stressful week for Elder England with having to move out of Gambella and being reassigned. Next week Elder England wants to buy some sakes and so we will do that next week. I will be getting a new companion on January 7th as well as finding out if I will be transferred or staying in the University branch.
Peace out until next week gang እወዳችሃለሁ ( i love you all)
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