Finishing up

Currently: enjoying the fast internet in this country :) 

            After a few jam-packed weeks filled with tearful farewells, cheerful parties, and sometimes a mix of the two, I finished out the end of the year at Bingham Academy. The last four years have been such a life-changing experience- as a teacher, in my walk with Christ, as a person; if you would like to read a bit more about this process of saying goodbye, check out my last blog post.

            I am now back in sunny PA, enjoying a bit of the warm sunshine and time with family and friends. I returned on June 12 and since then, I have bought a wedding dress, celebrated my cousin’s wedding in VA Beach, and debriefed my last four years at SIM headquarters in Charlotte. This seems to be a small snapshot of the rest of my summer as I am working on wedding details and wrapping up my time with SIM.

                

Bingham Academy 2016 Graduates

            As I reflect over the last four years and anticipate seeing so many wonderful people this summer, my heart is overwhelmed with gratitude. First, I praise God for the opportunities he has blessed me with, the relationships I have been in, and most importantly, the people who have supported me throughout this experience. Thank you to each and every one of you who have thought of me, prayed for my ministry, and made it financially possible for me to live and work in Ethiopia for the last four years. I cannot say enough to encompass the joy and gratitude I have because of you but I thank God for your contribution to my ministry and to my life in this season. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.   

Andrew and I in our fancy clothes for graduation :) 

            After my June meeting in Charlotte, my time with SIM has officially come to an end. I have been so blessed and taken care of in this partnership and like to think that it is a “see you later” rather than a goodbye to this great organization. After our wedding in October, Andrew and I will be heading back to Addis for the next six months or so. Before I left Ethiopia, I accepted a job to teach English to adults at Bridge school. This school is dual purpose as they teach English, but also have a number of social events that provide a “bridge” to chances to share the gospel with the students. While very different from the teenagers I have taught for the last few years, I am excited to try something new in teaching the basics of the language to adults, while also having a kingdom purpose to my work.

            I do covet your continued prayers over the next number of months as I begin this new ministry opportunity in December, but especially for the new excitement and challenges that await Andrew and I in our first year of marriage. Thank you for your kindness and care over these months ahead.

Saying Goodbye

Currently: enjoying banana muffins Aster made! Yum! 

When traveling into Addis, there’s usually a conversation that occurs with whomever I’m seated beside. After inquiring to why they’re coming to Addis, they usually return the question. I would say "yes I have lived in Addis for (this number) of years. I teach at an international school- an international Christian school. I teach high school English- literature, not the language." For the last four years, that has been my identity. That's why I'm in this country. That's what I do. 
That's who I am. 

I'm here to be an English teacher. I teach Shakespeare and George Eliot. I teach poetry and short stories. I teach how to describe with colorful vocabulary or write a story that makes your audience laugh and cry. 

I work with teenagers in all their adolescent glory. In their drama, in their up and down emotions, in their forgetfulness. I teach them in the classroom, but I'm also their coach on the soccer field. I help them improve their writing, but I also meet with them for bible study. I share with them the stories of Silas Marner and Romeo and Juliet, but I also take them on trips around the country either a six hour drive or three hour flight away. I hear about their crushes, their thoughts on faith, their struggles with their parents or their friends. This is a part of my purpose in being here- to be there for them.

And my role here also opens up opportunities for others in the country. Because I teach their kids, doctors can give healing surgeries to kids with deformed limbs and no hope. Because I teach their kids, brave men and women go out and learn new languages so that they can translate the Bible for those who have never heard it in their mother tongue before. Because I teach their kids, communities are transformed by clean water, kids are getting off the street, and people are hearing about the love of Jesus. 

Teaching is why I'm here. It's my purpose and my identity. 

But my life here is so much richer than that. I work with people from all over the world who are not just my colleagues, but also my friends.

We spend our week nights talking about our students who were having a rough day, our friends who have something big happening at home, our family and the life they're having without us. We spend weekends going out to eat, going to the movies and holidays with one another, since we’re the closest thing to family we've got here. We spend breaks from school checking out a new part of Ethiopia, whether a few days by the lake or a trip of hours in a car to see land and tribes that others usually see in a magazine. 

I learn something new every day about someone else's culture, whether our host one or someone who is also a guest here. I experience new foods and new traditions that wasn't weird until you talk about it with someone else. I share something of myself and my culture/language/family around the lunch table or over a cup of tea. 

These are the people I know and love, the ones who go through the good and the bad together. This is my community. 

I have also seen some amazing places, met some fantastic people, and done some phenomenal things in my last four years.

I have worked at a youth center in Mekelle, I have harvested an inset tree outside Soddo, and I have eaten kojo and drank fire water in Dorzi. I have learned to make kimbap and bibimbap with my Korean colleague. I have learned about AFL and how to shorten words like "arvo" and “sunnies” from the Australians. I have practiced roasting beans and brewing coffee with my Ethiopian friends.

And that's all just in Ethiopia- I have had a chance to catch up with college friends in the busy and bright streets of Hong Kong and sing karaoke in the middle of the day and have amazing Korean BBQ in the city of Seoul. I got to see and be a small part of the super cool things that my friends are doing in their respective places, teaching English to precious, busy children, starting a church plant and praying for the youth of Hong Kong to experience the love of Jesus.

I experienced the beauty of Spain and the hot sun of Dubai with my family. Whether walking through the streets of Seville, Malaga, and Gibralter, or tasting the salty water of the sea while in the midst of the wealth of the world, it was a sweet time of connection and rest together.  
I got to relax at the beaches of South Africa with some friends, spending Christmas together, because we couldn't see our families. Enjoying the view of Table Mountain from the beach and seeing baboons and penguins on the way to the southernmost point of Africa. 

These have been some of the vibrant places in God’s creation I have just a brief taste of and seen some of his amazing work around the world. This is my experience. 


Four years holds a lot of time, a lot of memories, a lot of me. I have grown as a person; in my emotions, my knowledge, my life experience. I have developed my faith; in relationships with other believers, in hearing about God’s amazing work in Ethiopia and around the world, in seeing his faithfulness and goodness in my own life and in those around me. I have been a part of a large church body filled with the nations of the world, a small church body striving to reach their neighborhood, and an even smaller church family meeting in one another’s homes and desiring to be a support and an encouragement to our fellow workers in God’s kingdom.

And now I have to say goodbye.

Not entirely- I will return to this country next year. I will still be able to hang out with those friends, be a part of that church body. I will still enjoy the amazing taste of shiro and tibs.

But my identity will be different. I will no longer be working with those teenagers. I will no longer be living and working with those colleagues and friends. I will, for the first time, not be living in the blessed eight acre compound that is Bingham Academy.

To that, I must say goodbye.

And through the tears and the emotions, I can only be grateful. Grateful for these last four years. Grateful for the people I’ve met, the relationships I’ve formed. Grateful for the experiences I have had the privilege to have. Grateful for the faithfulness of God that has been evident over and over in my life.

And by His grace, I will make it through this goodbye and onto the next exciting hellos.

I met a boy...

Currently: listening to Ben Rector

It all started last December. I was in Pennsylvania, having breakfast with my fabulous friend Megan, and she told me about one of her friends who was moving to Addis Ababa to work at the CURE Hospital there. I vaguely remembered her mentioning this particular friend when Megan and I were in college together, but she was fairly annoyed with him at that point, so the comments were not all positive. Needless to say, I was a bit more excited about him this time, since it would be another guy to hang out with in our group of mostly single women here at Bingham. I gave Megan my Ethiopian number and told her to have him call me when he got to Addis- he would be more than welcome to come hang out with the group, play soccer on Thursday nights, etc.

Fast forward six weeks, to February 15 (strategically, the day after Valentine’s Day), and as I was sitting on my couch, procrastinating on doing school work, I heard my phone ring. In Ethiopia, we tend to get a lot of wrong numbers, so I generally don’t pick up numbers that I don’t know. But I was very grateful I picked up this one; turns out it was Andrew on the other end of the line, calling like he told Megan he would.

We chatted for about 20 minutes and the number of connections that we made in the initial conversation was pretty impressive. We both went to Messiah and had a number of mutual friends there, we had both worked in SIM, he in Burkina Faso and I in Ethiopia, and we had both lived in Pennsylvania for a number of years. I remember hanging up the phone and thinking “how in the world can I have so many things in common with someone I just met in Ethiopia?!”

Over the next few weeks, I invited him to a number of social events that we were having- maybe even planned one or two, so that he would specifically come. About a month and a half later, we started dating, and now ten and a half months after that, we’re engaged!

It’s been an exciting ride so far- we have visited four countries together, gone on a number of trips within Ethiopia, ridden a motorcycle all over Addis, been to a lot of different restaurants (eating out is really cheap here), met each other’s families with love all around, challenged each other in our walk with the Lord, shared lots of joy and some tears, and fallen in love. I am so blessed and excited to spend the rest of my life with this man and discover many new adventures together. 

A new knee...

Currently listening: Adele. Love the new album!!

Sadly, I've neglected the blog for a few months now, but with a little bit more time on my hands (explained below), I'm hoping to have a few updates over the next few weeks and months.

First, I am home right now. It's been wonderful to have a chance to catch up with a number of you already, but for those I haven't seen...

Back in November, I was enjoying a typical Thursday night playing soccer at Bingham, when I lost my balance and felt something in my knee pop. I hobbled to the side of the court and sadly, didn't get to finish the game. After a number of doctor's appts over the next few days, and an MRI from the only decent MRI machine in Addis, and a long weekend on crutches, it was determined that I have torn my ACL.

After learning all about the ACL and how it's injured from my brilliant sister-in-law, I decided to come back to the States to have it repaired. I will be here for about six weeks total, and while it's not a fun reason to be home, it has been nice to hang with family and friends for a bit.

I've had the chance to chat with a number of you, but for those I haven't seen I wanted to answer some FAQs (frequently asked questions)...

Are you in pain?
Thankfully, no. It hurt when it initially happened, but not so much since then, unless I've stupidly twisted it or something of the sort.
Fun fact I've learned: you can actually live without an ACL- walking, even running, is ok, but if you like to play soccer or (water) ski (two of my favorites) then you run a huge risk of really messing up your knee without an ACL. So I've decided to get it repaired in order to enjoy those activities again :)

Where and when  are you having surgery?
Thanks to recommendations from some Messiah connections, I am having surgery in York, PA at OSS on Jan 15. I appreciate your prayers for the surgery and ensuing recuperation time!

When do you head back to Ethiopia?
I head back to Ethiopia on February 13. Thanks to some amazing people at Bingham, I have subs until that time, which gives me the appropriate amount of time here to do some physical therapy and heal a bit before I head back on the long plane ride.

Who is covering your classes while you are gone?
This is the biggest answer to prayer out of the whole situation and I continue to praise God over and over for his provision! A dear friend, Alyssa, has been my mentor teacher at Bingham for the last number of years. She moved back to the US with her family this last summer, but when this all happened, she graciously agreed to come and cover my classes (all classes and students she has taught before!). She truly is the best person to do the job and I am so grateful she agreed- thanks Alyssa!!
The last two weeks are the mock exam period for our students, so the only class that I teach, who is not taking those exams, is my 9th grade class. A lovely missionary mom, Kara, also a former teacher at Bingham, is covering that class for me during that time.
Thank you ladies for your amazing commitment during this time! Thank you Lord for providing them!

Thanks for your interest and prayers during this time!

SEW 2015

Currently: watching Step Up! #roomietime 

     Every September, Bingham middle and high school students have a week to focus on their spiritual walk. With a week of daily chapels, the students hear from a special speaker and ponder questions of spirituality and life. This year, we had two favorites of the Bingham community, our principal and vice principal from last year, Tommy Farrell and Alyssa Harrison.

     

     Tommy spoke to our high schoolers about Jesus’ “I AM” statements in John and challenged them to look at their life and truly consider Jesus and what he says. Alyssa shared God’s promises and encouraged our middle schoolers to stand (literally and figuratively) stand on what God has promised to them.

     The end of the week culminated in a night of games, worship, and a time for the students to share. The best moments were hearing some of our students encouraging one another to own their faith, no matter what their friends might think. Please keep these students in your prayers that they will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do just that. 

Bingham Academy 2014-15 Highlights

As we look forward to our new school year at Bingham Academy, we also want to reflect over God's faithfulness over the last year as well.

Here's to another wonderful year at Bingham!

Coaching Soccer

Currently: much happier now that the sun has come out!

This spring, I had the chance to coach Division Two girls soccer team (equivalent to JV). It was so fun to be able to further relationships with the girls outside of the classroom as well as see their soccer skills improve. And it turned out to be a pretty great season as we won our division with an undefeated season!

Highlights: 

My co-coach, Beat, and I had an agreement from the beginning of the season: he knew soccer and I knew the girls, so we could each bring our part to the table :)  

Seeing the girls skills improve so much over the season- we went from a scattered mess to a goal-scoring machine! 

A special time at the end of the season party when each of the girls sat in the "hot seat" so that the rest of the team could share what they loved and appreciated about that person. It was so sweet to hear the encouragement, especially for our three girls who played their final season at Bingham this year. 

I do love the opportunities to do more than just teaching here at Bingham! 

 

Pirates of the Caribbean!

Currently: enjoying coffee. I love living in the land of excellent coffee. 

Being in my third year, there begins to be a pattern to the school year- events, busy times, exam leave, etc. One of the most exciting and dynamic times is the high school banquet! In the last few years, we have taken the kids to Wonderland with Alice, Mad Hatter and the crew, and visited a thriving jazz club in 1920s New York.

This year, after many weeks of hard work, the students had a night on the Black Pearl ship and a visit to Treasure Island.

 We turned our Gowans Center building into a ship and the basketball court beside it into an island. The students had dinner on the ship and had games, dancing, and a bonfire on the island.

Photo credit to Jenni Ray!  

 All the staff are so wonderful every year to go with our crazy ideas and participate with such enthusiasm!

Always a fun time with the staff and students!

Fun outside of the city!

Currently listening: to the competition of my iPod playing Bethel worship music with the church service next door going on its third day of (very loud) prayer service. We're all worshipping Jesus, so its all good.

These last couple weekends have been extra fun as there have been lots of opportunities to get out of the city and see the beautiful countryside with friends!


Bingham Staff Retreat
We have an amazing staff here at Bingham, so we took the chance to get out of the city and spend a weekend away from school and busyness of it all. We stayed at the SIM Babogaya Retreat Center in Debre Zeit- a place that holds many memories from my childhood. It remains to be a beautiful compound- the gorgeous, fragrant flowers, the cool, refreshing lake, the warm sunshine- all ingredients for a lovely weekend.

  

Debre Zeit with old classmates
I returned to Debre Zeit the next weekend with a friend Jay, former 6th grade classmate, to hang out at our friend Alessia's house, classmate in all of middle school, for the weekend! We went hiking, explored an awesome lake, rode some go-karts and had a fabulous time together.

Hiking Menagasha
Having last Monday off for the Battle of Adwa, a group of us decided to go hiking at a mountain close to Addis. Only one of us had been there before (me.), so we went on a bit of an adventure in finding new "trails" along the way. Thankfully, one of the guys had marked where the van was on google maps, so we did make our way back eventually. I still think those types of adventures tend to be the best kind :)

Activities Week 2014

Currently: trying to wake up for the day... maybe I should go get some coffee. 

     Every year, Bingham sends out their middle and high school students all around the country to participate in a week-long service learning trip. This year, I joined twelve tenth graders and two teachers and headed to Southern Ethiopia to work an NGO, Tearfund out of the UK. 

A few of the students with one of the Self Help groups 

One of the precious little girls in one of the villages we were learning in

      In Soddo and Nazaret, Tearfund has partnered with local organizations to create self-help groups. The purpose of these groups is empower its members, usually women, to start a method for saving money, which is not common in this culture. The members agree to save a certain amount of money every week and are accountable to one another for that amount. Once they have saved up enough, they can loan it out to one another for income-generating projects that work to support their families and their community.

My group of students with another self help group. It's so encouraging to hear how these ladies have worked to pull their families out of poverty! 

     

     Our students learned about these groups and hope to use this information in the future in some way. Whether instructing their classmates or working with groups here in Addis, the hope for this group is that their learning can become reality. 

The whole group with our Tearfund partners

Spiritual Emphasis Week 2014

Currently watching: Tangled - fun girl time with the roomie :) 

     Bingham has an annual Spiritual Emphasis Week for our middle and high school students in September. This week consists of a special speaker who does chapels each morning on a certain topic. Some of you may remember that Josh Crain, my senior pastor at Carlisle BIC, came to be our speaker last year.

     This year, Keith Smith, from Pantego Bible Church in Dallas, came to talk with our students. The high schoolers discussed Songology, a study in Song of Solomon focused on relationships, dating, and sex. Our middle schoolers did Transformation: a study on Romans 12. 

     With the addition of a new worship leader/music teacher, Shaya, we had a great week learning and worshipping God. It’s exciting to see the students pondering questions of faith and life.

First Week of School!

Currently listening: Fix My Eyes -for King and Country. Can't wait for their new album!! 

Well I have now had all of my classes for this year~ and I'm pretty excited about the year ahead! I am officially teaching English for Grades 8, 9, and 10, plus Thinking and Communication Skills (a speech class). Only one class (grade 10) is a group of students I had last year~ its fun, even in such a small school, to be interacting with different students on a daily basis. I also have the chance then to hang out with the older students in a different capacity than just being their teacher.

As we have welcomed the school year, we have brought in a lot of new students and new teachers! Here's a quick introduction to our wonderful additions to staff this year.

Flash Mob!

Our teachers surprised our graduating seniors with a flash mob at the graduation dinner- so fun!!

End of Year Fun

Currently enjoying: Ethiopian coffee in Pennsylvania- a mix of two worlds :) 

The last week of school is jam-packed with lots of events- final chapel, graduation, dinner, farewells. In spite of it all, we, the teachers of Bingham Academy still found a way to have some fun. Being inspired by a fellow school (seen on YouTube), we decided to fool our students into thinking they were being interviewed about the school year. Instead, they were surprised with this video at the final chapel.

Thanks to all the teachers for being good sports and the students for being so oblivious :D

Broads Abroad

Currently enjoying: the last week of school! 

A couple of weeks ago, I had an amazing opportunity to speak about third culture kids and transition at Broads Abroad, a group for expatriate women in Addis.

The presentation included benefits and challenges of TCKs, how to deal with transition, and preparing your TCK for college. 

I had the privilege to work with Chris Pearson, a fellow TCK, who is the older brother of one of my former classmates and two of my current students. 

I appreciated the chance to share with such a sphere of influence as families of diplomats, doctors, and world-changers were represented. It was wonderful to experience a new group of people that are disconnected from the Bingham bubble.

Spring Break

Following the craziness of Banquet and the end of the semester was a lovely Spring break spent in Langano, a town in Southern Ethiopia. I traveled with a fellow teacher and her family and a student-teacher to Sabana, a nice place on the lake.

 It turned out to be a much-needed relaxing week by the water- I even managed to work in a quick water-skiing trip with a former student and her family! 

International Track Meet

Currently watching: Enchanted (Love roomie time :) 

April brought about our annual international school track meet with some schools from Addis as well as Kenya, Sudan, and Mozambique. I volunteered to go along as a chaperone~ keeping track of our students and cheering them on. After two days of running, sunshine, and cheering, Bingham came in second place out of the 9 teams there. It’s always a great time supporting our school and having a blast!

Hanging out with the young and lovely spectators! 

Students from this year and last... love these girls! 

Even as the day grew colder, we still cheered on our school!! 

Moving... and a Sandpiper.

Fun fact: Most of the class correctly answered the bonus question on their quiz: Who’s favorite bird is the sandpiper?

Last week, my ninth graders were studying Sandpiper, a story about a lady who had lived in two different countries. In her story, she identified with both places and felt caught in the middle of these lives.

I reminded my kids that they were some of the best people to relate to this story. I then asked them to raise their hands if they had moved. All their hands shot up.

I then polled the twenty-five students of how many times they had moved.

From one country to another: two-thirds of the class. 

Three different countries: half the class.

Four different countries: about five students.

Five different countries: one student.

The diversity of this room represents the reality of our school. Our students have seen, encountered, and known so many new places and cultures. They have met people from all over the world. And for many of them, home is a fluid concept.

There are benefits and challenges to this reality. They may not know how to answer “Where are you from?” but they can speak three different languages. They may not be up on the latest pop culture, but they can float from culture to culture with ease.

They are such a special group of kids and I am blessed to know them.

 Answer: Ms. Hale’s grandmother 

Hales in Ethiopia 2013

Currently listening to rain and hail... what?!?! It's supposed to be DRY season! 

This post is a bit delayed in coming, but I wanted to share about the week and a half my family came to visit! It was so wonderful to have them here seeing my life now. It was a time of reconnecting with Ethiopia; seeing the changes in the city, remembering the things that are exactly the same, meeting up with old friends, introducing them to my current colleagues and students- a time to show them my world.

Experiencing some Ethiopian culture at Imayu's house in our gabis and netelas!

My mom meeting up with one of her 7-11 (grocery store) buddies, Abdo

Visiting Born Free, an animal rescue place- one of the highlights for the group!

Hanging out at Deborah House with the girls that live there- another highlight :)

Loved having my family here!!