John Marshall has spent much of his life helping others. As a police motorcycle sergeant, Marshall said, his motivation has been to protect and serve.
Today, the Corona Police Department officer leaves for Ethiopia to spend 12 days on a journey to help and to minister to villagers in the northern part of the country.
“For me, it’s more of a humanitarian and spiritual effort to reach out to people in need,” Marshall said.
Marshall, 43, will leave Los Angeles International Airport for a 33-hour flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and then will catch a flight to Gondar. From there, he and Mekasha Kassa, a messianic rabbi, will go by horseback from the rolling hills and valleys of the region into the more mountainous areas.
“At that point, we will be in one of the areas with the highest Jewish populations in Ethiopia,” Marshall said.
He put the Jewish population in the area at about 30,000.
“We plan on building wells,” Marshall said. “I want to see what my synagogue can do to help.”
Marshall is making the trip while in training to become a messianic rabbi at the B’rit Avraham Messianic Orthodox Jewish Synagogue in Wildomar. He has been studying for about four years. There is no specific time to complete his studies.
The followers of Messianic Judaism accept that Yeshua, or Jesus of Nazareth, is the Messiah of Israel, Marshall said.
“He’s been quite a surprise,” said Rabbi Joseph Hilbrath, who is instructing Marshall. “We’re grateful that we can train him.”
For the trip, Marshall said he had to undergo a series of vaccinations. They include shots for meningitis, adult polio, yellow fever, typhoid fever and malaria, and he was given antibiotics to prevent stomach disorders.
Marshall also had to learn to ride a horse.
“I’ve ridden stable horses before, but not one you actually had to control,” Marshall said.
Marshall accepted an offer from Norco Councilwoman Kathy Azevedo for the riding lessons. She knew Marshall had ridden stable horses, but said that experience was nothing like what he would need to know.
She taught him everything from walking and saddling a horse to riding and controlling one to caring for one on the trail.
“You couldn’t ask for a better student,” Azevedo said.
Marshall said he does not know exactly where he will be going when he arrives in Gondar, only that he will be traveling from village to village.
“My whole purpose is to be the guy who came across the world and to get back to the States to get some support for them so they can have a better life,” Marshall said.
Azevedo said she was honored to help him get ready for the trip.
“It’s just an honorable thing to do, a courageous thing to do,” Azevedo said.
Marshall expects that the spiritual nature of the trip combined with his desire to help will change his life.
“You won’t come back the same,” Marshall said.
Reach Gene Ghiotto at 951-893-2115 or gghiotto@PE.com
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