Welcome to Bingham!

It's been a week since I arrived at Bingham Academy in Addis Ababa and I think I have been settling in quite nicely. I arrived last Saturday morning and each day has flown by pretty quickly. I share a second floor apartment at Bingham with two teachers, LauraKay and Kippen. This is Kippen's first year here and LauraKay is approaching 2 years. They both actually taught through CCTECC like I am doing, so it is really nice to have people who were in my position not too long ago.

We are in the middle of the city and our property is surrounded by a wall and there are guards at the entrance to get in and out. The property is a lot bigger than I expected since there many apartments, as well as the school for Pre-K through 12th grade. There is a gym and sports fields and playgrounds as well as many pretty grassy areas on the property. The part of the country that I am in is not being effected by the drought and rainy season just ended, so the compound is really green.

The main building and front office

One flag for each nation represented at Bingham. 

A lot of the teachers and families live on the campus and even more work there; I am continuing to meet new people each day. The school has devotions each morning and also provides lunch to the teachers so I am getting to know a lot of people during these times. I have been invited for dinner at a few homes and take each opportunity I can to do spend time with the people at Bingham. I could write an entire post (I probably will soon) about my student teaching experience so far. I am in KG1 (Pre-K equivalent) and my cooperating teacher, Chris, is from Britian and she has been teaching for over 30 years. She is fantastic and I am so excited about all that I am learning from her.

My first Ethiopian meal (although I was told it was the equivalent to school pizza haha)

I have not been out in to Addis too much and some of the teachers say it is easy to forget what it is like outside of the school if you aren't careful. Addis Ababa is the capitol of Ethiopia and is in the middle of the mountains so it is generally cooler than other parts of the country. Also because it is in the mountains the altitude is a lot different than I am use to, so sometimes I get a little bit dizzy and when I am walking uphill or running I get out of breath more quickly. I have had a few opportunities to get off of the campus and there are people everywhere. There are many little shops nearby and the driving is crazy..The roundabouts are the scariest for me because cars come at al directions and people often walk really close to the cars as you are driving! It is quite the experience.

The neighborhood view from my porch.

My first juice with LauraKay (Banana, Pineapple, Guava, and Mango).

The veggie stand where normally go to.

The first day I was here we had the middle school girls over to watch "Princess Diaries". We also did just dance and painted nails. I had the opportunity to visit a house church and had dinner with everyone; this week I am visiting an international church. On Wednesday I went to a bible study with some of the people on Campus. Getting juice and coffee is also really cheap so people often go out in the afternoons for that. I have spent the evening at a few people's houses and today I will visit the Bazaar for the first time and at some point this weekend we will get to carve pumpkins with some of the kids on campus.

And the Journey Begins...

I am sitting in the London Heathrow airport reflecting on the journey that has gotten me to this point. Technically I did not begin my trip towards Ethiopia until yesterday evening at 8:15 or rather 4:30 when I left for the airport. But in reality this process has taken me almost an entire year (longer if you consider what God had to do in my heart first). This time last year, I was already working on my application for student teaching and I had just found out about the CCTECC program that would be allowing me to go to Ethiopia. 

Next I need to get the approval of my school to apply for going abroad. After that my application was sent to CCTECC and they began to go through the process of accepting my application. Once they accepted it they sent it to my choice schools and those schools would go through the same process to decide if I would be a good fit to student teach there. All of this took a matter of weeks and happened much more quickly than I thought, but once this happened it was only December. Then in April we had are CCTECC orientation, but honestly it did not feel real. It felt so far away, as if a dream I had and not something that would actually take place. 

However, the fall approached everything came on rather suddenly. I was getting shots, applying for my visa, student teaching, doing homework, and still babysitting. Even as all of this was happening it still didn't feel like reality. But through it all I can see how God's hand was moving and working even down until today. Getting my visa turned out to be the most complicated part of the process. I originally applied for the visa 30 days in advance, but due to some complications my application was sent back and I had to start the whole process over. My visa and passport weren't actually returned to me until yesterday!! About 4 hours before I had to leave for the airport it all arrived in the mail. It was nothing short of a miracle and despite my worries, once again God proved to me how His hand is working in my individual life. 

After my Visa arrived it started to hit me (but not completely) that I was actually going to Ethiopia! My mom took me to the airport and when I arrived at check in, once again I was reminded of God's presence. But this time it wasn't just about His provision, but about Him caring about the little trivial details of my life. Before leaving for the airport I had realized that my layover in London was more than long enough for me to go exploring for awhile. But I also knew that I had to pay for all of my checked-in baggage so I was planning on only checking in one bag and I would have to carry my duffle bag and my backpack everywhere. It made going downtown seem a little unrealistic, but I knew that it was not that important for me to see London (although, of course, I really wanted to). But after I arrived at the airport I learned that for my flight I was actually receiving not one, but two free checked in bags! Now I only needed to worry about my backpack and I was reminded that God also cares about the little things such as having a fun afternoon and a new cultural experience!

Being able to go into London was so distracting to me that I could barely continue processing that I would shortly be heading to Africa. So this morning after arriving at the airport I headed to the underground. With the assistance of some very helpful workers I figured out how to get a day pass and exchange my money and I took the tube down to Green Park. There I spent a few hours walking around two of the royal Gardens, visiting Buckingham Palace, a few memorials, and some shops. I headed back to the airport into time to grab a nap and I still have an hour or so before I board my final flight. After waking up from my nap and talking to a friend on facetime, reality finally hit. I will be spending the next 7 weeks in Ethiopia!! It is finally real..and in the middle of the airport I began to tear up a little. 

I cannot even imagine what I will experience, who I will meet, and how God will change me and use me in Ethiopia. I remember how much my time in Costa Rica impacted me when I was 19 and as I was sitting in the airport I knew that I was leaving someone behind. I won't be the same person when I get back. And that's not a bad thing, but can be a little scary and also exciting. I know that I could easily go through life not being challenged or changed (something that I fell into during college-getting content with complacency). But I want each encounter and experience from a trip into London, to talking to someone on the plane, to my time in Ethiopia to help me become what God desires me to be. As I finish writing, the plane for Ethiopia has just started to board and I am ready to continue this journey!! 

Life Before I leave

Even though it is hard to believe that soon I will be in Africa, at first it was kind of hard to picture what my life and student teaching would be like before leaving for Ethiopia. Especially when I found out that I would need to find a new place to live about 3 weeks before school was starting. When I first knew I needed a new place I completely panicked and it took me a few hours before I calmed down enough to give it over to God. But as usual I had no reason to worry because He always has my back. I had so many loving people praying for me and a few different families that offered for me to stay with them. In the end it worked out for me to stay with the Soniers, a family that I nannied for after school over the last two years and over this past summer as well. 

It was definitely going to be different than living in my own full apartment over the garage, but as I was praying I realized it might be a blessing in disguise. While I loved living on my own I am at a stage in my life where I was feeling lonely a lot of the time and God also knew that I needed an example of a loving family in my life. I have a bedroom in between the boys and share a bathroom with them, I actually really love it! It's like having 2 really little brothers (7 and 9 years old). My favorite is when they come into my room and jump up on the bed to read with me or talk to me. Kathy and Michael have also been so kind and helpful as I prepare to leave for Ethiopia. It has also been really convenient living right behind Eastern and only 20ish minutes from my student teaching placement.

On an adventure with my boys

I was actually pretty nervous when I first found out I would be teaching fourth grade. I had requested first or second, not because I didn't feel comfortable with that age but more because I am not near as knowledgable on fourth grade topics or cirriculum. But so far it has turned out to be a wonderful experience. My cooperating teacher has great experience and has been such a wonderful encouragement and mentor. The class has 23 students including 10 ELL kids and I have even had thfe opportunity to use some of my Spanish. I love teaching them and working with them and it will be very hard when it is time to leave them.

I have also been teaching Sunday school since June at the church I have been attending and the kids completely have my heart. I taught 6 and up for most of the summer, but just recently some of the older ones have left since we now have a youth leader intern. Now I am teaching just 6-8 year olds and will probably have a hard time saying goodbye to them as well! Each week we share our highs and lows, play a game, read a story about another country and find it on the map, pray for countries around the world, learn about Jesus, and have art and response time. These kids are reminding me what it should be like to be in awe of the world Jesus has created and to have unrelentless faith in our Father. 

The last few months have been such a learning and growing experience...and a reminder that I don't need to leave home for God to do big things in my life. 

Time for School

As my first half of student teaching is about to begin, I wanted to share about the other students that are about to embark on a similiar journey. My student teaching in Ethiopia has been made possible by an organization call Interaction International. This organization is "a voice for today's third culture kids kids and internationally mobile families," A smaller branch of this program, CCTECC partners with Christian Universities across the country to make it possible for students like me to student teach all over the world. In April I had the experience of traveling to Indiana with two girls from Cairn for our Pre-Experience Orientation. I had never met the girls before and was nervous to be driving 10+ hours, but we quickly were able to connect and had a lot to talk about.

I had no idea what to expect for the orientation, however it only took me a few minutes to see that I was in a room surrounded by 40+ other people who have similar passions for children, God, and cultural diversity. There are times when I feel discouraged and as if I am the only person in the world who feels a certain way or has a passion for living out God's calling. But God always sends awake up cacall. When I am surrounded by other passionate people it’s like I hear God saying, “See, silly girl? You aren’t alone. Don’t be so self-centered and prideful to think that you are my only child who desires for the world to change and for my children to be cared for!” (Of course I think of Him saying it in a kind, loving way as he shakes his head at my childlike attitude).

As I spent time praying, sharing, and learning with the other soon-to-be student teachers I began to feel rejuvenated and even more passionate about what I was about to do. Because I wasn’t going to be alone! While I am teaching in Ethiopia there will be others in Panama, Costa Rica, Germany, Thailand, China, New Zealand, Australia, and many other places! I also was encouraged, because sometimes I felt alone at Eastern University, especially being the only Education major going abroad. But at orientation I met others from Messiah, Houghton, Hope College, Biola, and other Christian colleges across the United States.

Talking and spending time with the other students I heard excitement about working with children, sharing the love of Christ, exploring and understanding other cultures, and living out God’s callings through their lives. Even though I have not seen any of the others who are going abroad since orientation I know that God is already working in their lives and going to big things through them! As we begin the school year, please not only be praying for me, but also the other students going out through CCTECC.

Pray for:

-Safety and basic needs being met

-Challenge and growth in our relationships with God

-Increased passion for our calling as Christian’s

-The lives we are around being impacted (students, teachers, others in the country)

-The lives of people at home being impacted through us. 

Let the Little Children Come to Me

Recently God has been putting a lot about His children on my heart. And in past years I have had many opportunities to work with Children's ministry in the inner city and it something that God has always given me a passion for. But over the last year or two it has been a lot harder to get involved with school, and working a lot to be able to finish school. However, I often still feel the longing to be able to work more with the children that God has placed on my heart. So I was so excited to find out that Lighthouse Community Church was doing their VBS this year at a time and week that I was completely available. Lighthouse is located a few blocks away from Urban Hope, which I have attended and worked with in the past, and I have friends who attend this church. So the week of July 22-26, I left straight from work and headed to Kensington for VBS. 

The first day there was a huge storm so not as many kids came out, but sitting there on floor with those kids felt so right. I'm always reminded that this is what I am called to do. . The theme was Cave Quest- Lighthouse did an amazing job decorating for it! The walls were all covered in brown papere and there were stalactites, stalagmites, and other really cool decorations. There was singing and small group time and then the children went to four different centers.Each night was a different theme: Jesus gives us...HOPE, COURAGE, DIRECTION, LOVE, and HIS POWER. Spelunkers sports were group games and relays. During Cavern Cafe, the kids got a snack that went with the night's theme and they watched a video how Jesus give a child hope, courage, etc.. in a situation that they were facing. In Imagination station the kids got to do different experiments. And then in the Deep Bible Quest there was a different story each night. 

I was part of the Teal crew and the crews were divided by mixed age groups and we moved from station to station together. There were children that grew up in the church and children who had never even prayed in their lives. It brought me joy to dance with them, to see their faces light up as they made green slime, and too talk about Jesus and pray with them. As usual, I am sure they had a bigger impact on me than I had on them. While I was there I looked around and thought of the verse, Mark 10:14 "When Jesus saw this he was indignant. He said to them, 'Let all the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these,'" This is a verse that we definitely talk about as Christians, but this time I saw it differently.

I realized something, not only has God has given ALL Christians the calling to care for the widows, and the orphans (James 1:27), but He also tells us NOT TO HINDER the children from coming to Him. It hit me that if I individually, or we as the church, are not providing for the orphans and children in need, we are hindering them. This can look differently for what I should be doing; maybe it's my lack of volunteering or financial support right around me, or maybe it's overseas. If a child is not getting their basic needs met, learning about Jesus, or recieving the love and attention they need, then that is hindering them from coming to God. When these things are not happening it is my job and OUR job as the church to make sure that no child is being hindered from being cared for and having the opportunity to enter the kingdom of God. 

So as I looked around at the smiling faces look up at me and the little arms reaching out to hug me, I knew. It doesn't matter how little time or little money I have. I still need to give-just as the woman with the one coin did. Obviously it will look different at different points of my life, but I am called. It was great that I was able to help with Cave Quest, especially since they were short a helper and I know the kids learned so much and I gave them as much love as I could, but I was truly the one who was blessed. After all, living out our callings that God has given us: 'Let all the little children come to me' is the purpose of our lives here on earth. 

Unexpected Roadtrip to Las Vegas

With my trip to Ethiopia, coming up this fall, I did not have any big vacation or traveling plans for this summer-until a few weeks ago. When I found out that one of my dearest friends, Nikki, was planning on moving to Las Vegas, Nevada and driving out by herself I found myself volunteering for the journey! It ended up being a double blessing, because God knew the trip would not only be safer if Nikki had a friend to share the driving and time with, but also because He knew I needed that quality time with her and a bit of adventure to grow closer to Him. :)  

Nikki and I met in my junior year of high school and became part of the same group of friends. After I got back from YWAM, Nikki told me of her interest & I helped her to research some different schools. She ended up doing her DTS in Panama and spent the next 2 and 1/2 years or so working with YWAM. Since then, we have become so close through holiday visits, messaging, and skype. Our trip out West was full of lots of driving, laughter, more serious conversation, beautiful sights, and some fun adventures. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here is a bit of our trip!

Nikki and I left around 11pm on Wednesday night.

We reached Chicago, Illinois by 9am Thursday morning. I don't really have many pictures of PA, Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois, but we did get to stop and have breakfast with my friend from YWAM. Kristina and I haven't seen eachother in  3 years-It was a short but wonderful reunion! 

We traveled through the remainder of Illinois and Iowa and then slept in Omaha, Nebraska for the night.

On Friday we spent the morning driving through rainstorms in Nebraska, but our spirits were brightened when we saw the sign for Colorado. We knew it was going to be beautiful, but we weren't prepared for the breathtaking sights we encountered. The farther we drove the more beautiful it became.

Friday night we stayed in Moab, Utah and it was dark as we drove into the state so we weren't prepared for the view that we would see in the morning. There were also horses behind our hotel :) We were surrounded by redrocks for most of the drive through Utah. 

We arrived at the Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon and spent a few hot, but wonderful hours there before finishing our journey to Vegas.

We finally arrived! 

 This is a view of the Watch Tower overlooking the Grand Canyon, which you can climb up for a view from the top floor!

The ride from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas was supposed to be 4 1/2 hours, but there was an accident so we spent 2 hours not moving on the highway.

We arrived in Las Vegas late Saturday night and most of the family was asleep. In the morning I met the Thompson's and their 5 children. Just in my one day there I was able to see what an amazing, God following, passionate family they all were. I knew right away that it would be hard to leave

Nikki and I spent the afternoon exploring Las Vegas with her spiritual mom, Jen. 

I got to eat at In-And-Out Burger for the 1st time! We saw some of the views on the strip and then headed inside because it was extremely hot. One of the hotels had a conservatory with a Finding Dory theme!

The fountain show we watched before heading back to the house. 

Not the best pictures-but Nikki and I went on a walk in the neighborhood that night. We got a surprise fireworks show AND snuck out into the dessert and climbed the mountain surrounding the neighborhood. The picture just didn't do our view justice. 

Leaving Nikki was extremely hard, but knowing that she is with such an amazing family helped. The adventure went my so quickly, but I was so blessed to be a part of it. Through this trip God allowed me to become even closer with one of my best friends-and to see His love through my relationship with her and interactions with others. Using the amazing places in our country that I had a privelidge to see, God reminded me of how BIG, POWERFUL, and CREATIVE He is. God takes my breathe away. 

Why Ethiopia?

God's timing is nothing like our timing and He doesn't always speak to us the same way each time or when we want Him too. I remember when I came back from YWAM, Costa Rica in June 2012 (Wow! It seriously has been 4 years), I had all these ideas of how I was going to live more radically, specifically in my relationship with God and missions. I am pretty sure I told people that I was going to go on short term mission's trips to other countries every year. Well four years later and I haven't had the chance to leave the country again. My relationship with God has also had its ups and downs. Sometimes I grow frustrated because I am not where I would thought I would be 4 years ago. I pray and pray and I don't feel like God is speaking to me specifically, but once again God's ways and timing amaze me!

God uses situations that seem rather insignificant overtime to prepare me for what He has planned. When I look over the last year I am enthralled by the way that God used one situation after another to speak to me later on down the road. So for the first time in over four years I will have the opportunity to leave the country. I will be doing half of my student teaching in Ethiopia! When people find out that I am going to Ethiopia I get a number of reactions. The two most popular are, "Why Ethiopia?" and "But you speak Spanish!" And I know..there are moments that I think about that too. But it is actually a wonderful story about how God can change hearts and speak in many ways. 

I had always been very interested in Latin America, the culture, and speaking Spanish. Shortly after YWAM I had friends from Costa Rica that began doing missions and traveling in other areas. God began a process in my heart over the last four years and I began to see the beauty and need in other parts of the world. I finally told God that if He ever sent me out into the mission field again I would go to wherever He wanted me, to any part of the world. Then after 5 or 6 years of sponsoring children from Spanish speaking countries I felt this weird tug to sponsor a child from a different country. So sometime in June 2015 I began looking through a list of "longest wait children" on Compassion's website. And before I knew it I was sponsoring a four year old girl from Ethiopia. 

I was excited to begin learning God's heart for her and I read all the information that was provided about her area. So in September when I began my geography class and found out we had to choose a part of the world to research and present it seemed natural to choose Northeast Africa. God continued opening my heart to Ethiopia as I was researching it and at the same time I realized it was time to start my Student teaching application process. I was honestly dreading student teaching and I mentioned this to my dear friend, Miranda. She told me that she was too originally, but now was looking forward to it since she was student teaching in Guatemala. I had no idea that it was possible to student teach in another country! She gave me the website and that night I was looking through the schools that I could teach at through this program and the first school to pop out to me was: Bingham Academy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

I thought of Ruzeya and everything I was learning and I looked at the website for the school. It seemed perfect. So I applied with Ethiopia being my first choice, but also with some schools from Central America, and even one in Asia. I prayed to God and knew if this was not the right decision He would either close the door to Ethiopia or to the program all together. I learned about the program so late that I had already missed the deadline for the application, I knew that if God really wanted this for me that He would figure it out. And by God's grace Bingham Academy chose to accept me as a student teacher from mid October to mid December 2016. 

So when people ask me "Why Ethiopia?" or "But you speak Spanish" I now smile...It's what God wants. And He may have been fine with other countries or other life choices as well and I am sure He would also use those for His glory, but right now God has something special for me there. I don't know what will happen after I come back and graduate, but after look back on the last 5 years I trust God. He has been preparing me for this and He will use it all to his glory. Sometimes God speaks to us in subtle ways and His plans just fall into place.

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I sincerely appreciate all of the wonderful people that God has placed in my life. And how those people have allowed God to work through them to draw me closer to Him. I really appreciate all of your prayers. Here are some ways you can partner with me through prayer:

-Time management-Getting everything I need done in a timely manner
-For finances regarding my Visa, plane ticket, and vaccines
-That God would be glorified through my life leading up to Ethiopia
-That my heart and mind would be open to be impacted by God and the people He places in my life
-That God would prepare the way for me so that He can impact others through me. 

"He said to them, 'Go into the world and preach the gospel to all of Creation'" Mark 16:15