Spreading of Christmas Joy

               Since this is my first Christmas away from my family, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Homesickness, a sadness at missing out on family traditions, a sense of separation beyond the physical ocean that exists- and while there have been moments of each of these, God has truly blessed me with a pseudo-family within the Bingham family. New traditions, lots of celebrations, and a special focus on the birth of Christ have rounded out my Christmas experience.

               Last week, one of the teacher families here at Bingham invited all of the single teachers over for a meal and a Christmas celebration. We fellowshipped and enjoyed the time together, while beginning new traditions: sharing where each of us was born, reading the Christmas story in parts, having a birthday cake for Jesus, and singing carols accompanied by a guitar and a harp. But my favorite part was listening to our voices join; hearing the sweet sound of the youngest daughter, seeing the earnest praise of another daughter, also one of my students, and spending that time as a family singing and worshipping God together.

               Last Sunday night, our Bingham community joined together- all of the teachers and their families to celebrate Christmas together. Again, we fellowshipped and enjoyed the sweet and savory goodies provided by all. With about 62 in attendance, the kids exchanged Secret Santa gifts, while the adults had a White Elephant gift exchange. (I ended up with a decent gift- small bottles of shampoo and body wash that you would get at a hotel- so I was satisfied.) The kids acted out different elements of Christmas for the group to guess: wrapping presents, building a snowman, Mommy kissing Santa Claus. We concluded the night singing Christmas carols and enjoying the time with one another. Again, a time spent with my new family in celebrating the holiday.

               I feel so blessed to have the privilege to be a part of this new family that God has provided; giving and receiving the joy of the season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. I pray that you may also enjoy this happy time with family and friends and remember the true reason for the season. Merry Christmas!

Blast from the Past

Currently finishing: preparations for our trip to Southern Ethiopia tomorrow- hello Christmas break!! 

One unexpected blessing that has come to light in the last week and a half is the ability to renew old relationships. I hoped to see some people from the time that I lived here before, but due to the transient nature of the mission field, I focused more on building new relationships. However in this last week, I have reconnected with four different individuals that I knew as a young middle school student and it has been a blessing.

Three of them came from various levels of my time here at Bingham: one a former classmate, another, a teacher, a third, the library assistant. Those initial conversations follow the same pattern: how are you, why are you back in Ethiopia, how is your family, how long are you here… (One differing point: the former teacher exclaimed she wouldn’t have recognized me- my former classmate commented how I didn’t look any different).

But as each of them played a different role in my life- peer, authority figure, confidant- they all knew me as the girl I was then. To reconnect with them now is to make a jump to who I am today and the role I have taken here at Bingham. In a way, it mirrors the journey I am still taking in reconciling the Ethiopia I knew with the Ethiopia I see and experience on a daily basis.

Reunited after 8 years!

The biggest surprise and blessing out of these reconnections came from meeting up with my former Boarding sister, Jeni. Over the last eight years, our family has done pretty well to keep up with or reconnect with most of the students that lived with us during the three years we lived in Ethiopia. However, there were a few that we had just lost communication with beyond a Christmas card or two.

About three weeks ago, I met up with the parents of two of our boarding kids in church and it brought to the surface all of the feelings and emotions that came from unresolved relationships. I wondered what had happened in the last eight years- my curiosity grew at the thought of they turned out as adults. I prayed that evening that there could be some sort of reconciliation between us; a chance to reconnect after so many years. I hoped for an email or facebook message for that opportunity… but then God showed up.

I received a facebook message two weeks later stating that my boarding sister was actually returning to Ethiopia to visit her parents and hoped that we could meet up.

Wow God. That was quick.

Thus, a week later, I reunited with Jeni and we were able to catch up on the last eight years, share memories of our times in boarding together, and learn to know one another as adults and our current passions- which have taken a similar path, ironically. I can’t help feeling that this experience is a testament to God’s care and concern about relationships.