Under the Olive Tree

Welcome to season two of this podcast  We are so glad you are here! Our guest for the first episode is Etana Chemeda. On this conversation Etana and Emnet have a conversation on Empathy. how do we individually and collectively learn and develop empathy as a way to heal by understanding one another's feelings. Etana is a a councilor by profession and I believe he is equipped to help stir us towards empathy. this is an important message. Take a listen!

Introducing season 2

Here we are! Final episode of the first season of this podcast. What better way to end this season than to introduce our listeners to my very best inspirations, supporters, best friends and older siblings Mihret and Beza Tegafaw. Words can not describe how much this episode means to me not only because my guests are my two older sisters and they’re incredible but because the conversation we have is something I’ve been wanting to have for long time. We talk about growing up so close, how we struggled through our relationship and manage to maintain our sisterhood in different circumstances, what it looks like supporting and showing up for one another in our most difficult time, some family inside jokes and all around inspiring and sweet conversation. If you have sisters, cousins or best friends that you love this one is one to share with them. I hope you can relate to our conversations and experiences. If you do please let us know via comments and sharing your thoughts.

Happy New year to our podcast family! We are back with episode 11. I am pleased to introduce to you my guest for this episode, Etsegenet Mekonnen. For those of you who don’t know her, Etsegenet is a talented musician, singer and songwriter based in California. She and her husband are a music powerhouse bringing Ethiopian music to different platforms. Other than music she has also dabbled in different professions, acting and modeling. I find her story of pursuing her faith, marriage, profession and her passion for serving God and His people very inspiring. She tells us how she keeps her faith in the center of everything she does even in the face of temptations and rejection. Please go to her social media and follow her work especially her new music called “Egzio”. I think you would love this sweet and easy conversation with Etsegenet.

We are back with episode 10 with a new guest, Yonas Gorfe. Yonas is a husband and a father, musician, author, director and known for his contribution to the growth of music in the Evangelical Ethiopian churches. In this conversation you will hear Yonas’s heart for the church in Ethiopia and learn about what he’s working on currently. I loved hearing his heart and hope for this generation and I believe he has an important message for the current church. Please listen with an open mind and I hope you learn something from our discussion.

We are back with episode 9 and this time our guest is a dear and long time friend Yohannes Mohammed. He is known for his simple but profound and captivating way of teaching the Bible. On this episode we chat about his theological trainings and how we ought to use these trainings to benefit the church. John also opens up about his life and what he’s learned throughout his ministry years and the importance of humility in the Christian life. Listen till the end as John shares his heart for the Ethiopian Evangelical churches. I loved our conversation and I know some of you need to hear this. We need more honest and uplifting conversations this time more than ever. I hope you’ll find some beauty and truth from our discussion.

On episode 8 we bring back Andrew DeCort who was a guest on episode 4 to talk about recent events happening in Ethiopia regarding ethnic unrest. We ask Andrew to help us process our feelings, how we can love our neighbors even those who think differently than us and how we can all be a generation that brings love, justice and peace to Ethiopia. This might be a hard conversation where we talk about looking into ourselves and ask hard questions. Stick to the end to listen to Andrew’s encouraging words of hope and prayer and we invite you to do the same. Lament, Pray and Listen! I hope you’ll be encouraged by this discussion.

On this episode Emnet and Eyasu talk about his music, where his inspiration comes from and the struggle between reaching a wide audience while staying true to his art. We also talk about what his next projects would look like in the future. I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

On this episode Emnet brings her husband Thomas so the listeners can get to know him and hear from him. They talk about how they met 10 years ago, the good and hard experiences in their relationship and the importance of having hard conversations to grow their marriage. As always we hope that you enjoy the conversation and be encouraged in your own relationships.