So we have been very fortunate to be leasing a 1993 Toyota Tacoma for the summer from another missionary who is in the US for the summer. It has already come in extremely helpful. During our move down to Langano, it carried all of our luggage, food for a month, 3 people, an oven and a refridgerator. Yes it was packed to the brim. The following Friday, I helped with a grocery run to the next town. I don't know if I have ever seen soooo much produce food in one car ever before. A few of the highlights of what was packed into the back of the truck ... 440+ pounds of red onions, 550+ pounds of ground teff, 550+ pound of ground flour, not to mention the potatoes, carrots, garlic, tomatoes, fruit and 150+ glass bottles of pop. The next week I went into town for construction supplies and returned with 650+ pounds of concrete, wooden crates, miscellaneous small parts and 9 foot long 2" x 4" (which stuck out of the back by about 4 feet due to all the other supplies). That run came up short though, as 3 gas stations were all out of regular gas and only had diesel. I better find some on the next trip out or I will be walking home! The final trip with the truck was down to the beach where it was loaded up with sand for our first concrete pour, yes all the concrete was mixed by hand. The 4 wheel drive has also come in very helpful as the last 16 km on the road to camp is rather rough and can include 2-3 foot deep puddles. So the truck has been incredibly helpful and we look forward to many more adventures with it in the future. (we will still be looking to purchase a vehicle of our own later this year when the lease is up).
It has been about 4 days since we first arrived at Camp Langano. We were greeted with smiles, hugs, and homemade goodies :) Our foreigni teammates have been looking out for us through the transition. Whether it be meals, advice, or supplies, they are more than willing to help us get on our feet. Last night was the first time that we had electricity since we have been here!!! That means we finally got to turn our refrigerator on. Oh man, a cold drink after a long day of work in the hot sun is a beautiful thing!!!
Most meals that we have not had with the foreignis, we have been eating at the Camp dining hall. The typical lunch at Camp consists of Injera with shiro (a gorbanzo bean paste/stew) and stewed cabbage & potatoes. Two nights ago, the Camp dinner was slaughtered by the hands of my cute husband! :) The poor goats totally knew they were going to die. Who knew goat blood was such a vibrant and bold color of red?!? The guards and the 2 guys Bryan is working with got a good laugh at him slaughtering the goats. Last night I made my first meal in our new place! Penne Pasta w/ tomato sauce, bread, and an apple. I know, not the most healthy meal – but we didn’t have electricity, so I was cooking via candlelight and I totally forgot to bleach a veggie to have as a side dish in time to eat it with the hot pasta. Live and learn! The meal turned out pretty good – I think Bryan was impressed :) The meal went off without any issues until I realized that the bread we were eating was super moldy…oops. My bad. I’m just trying to build up our immune systems haha. It will take a while to feel completely settled - but we are enjoying In coming over from the states the only food supplies we brought with us were some dried spices, so grocery shopping for a few weeks seemed like a daunting task. Thank the Lord one of our teammates from Langano took us to several supermarkets and souks. He knew which stores had the best prices too!!! So incredible helpful :) The best part about grocery shopping is the price of the produce - kilos of avocados, mangos, pineapples, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, eggplant, etc. all for under $18.75. Looking at all of our bags of groceries I'm 90% certain we forgot something very essential to make a complete, well-balanced, and scrumptious meal, but hey I'm just a beginner :) Newbie according to a homeless man from Somalia who spoke surprisingly perfect English.
While driving around town, we were on the hunt for refrigerators for both sides of the duplex. In trying to navigated the Mercado (a massive market), we managed to drive the wrong way down 4 different streets. One time a police officer blew his whistle at us and to stop us. He then came over to the car, told us to look at the sign, and then pointed to a pole with no sign on it! Classic - how were we suppose to know?!? We are heading down country to Camp Langano in 24 minutes :) Can't wait to see our new home and get settled. The last two days have been such a reminder of how God is completely in control. While waiting at our third step in the driver's license acquisition process, we stopped to reflect on our brief time in Addis Ababa. It quickly became very apparent that we were not in control of the situation - God was. Praise and laughter flowed from our lips! The Lord had provided a taxi driver who not only knew how to get us to each of the 3 steps, but he came up big time at the Ethiopian Roads Authority. He knew where to buy the folder (a large pice of construction paper folded in half) and stamp required to get our paperwork processed. The paperwork was in Amharic, so he filled it out for us and went to bat for us with the employee handling our case. While all of this was happening, the only thing we could do was sit, watch and pray. Handing all control over to a sovereign God is so incredibly liberating!!! By the grace of God we were able to get the license grade required to drive all of the vehicles at Langano. Check out my Ethiopian license below :) 
By the end of the day, we had acquired our driver's licenses, Bryan had passed the SIM driving test, and we had leased a truck for the summer!!! Each of these things fell perfectly into place. I couldn't help but smile as I remembered the words on the wall in our room at HQ - "Every good and perfect gift comes from above" James 1:17. So true
Wow - its still hard to believe that we are actually in Ethiopia!!! It has been such a long time coming and we are stoked to be here. Today we began SIM field orientation with a tour of the guest house (more affectionately referred to as "HQ"), then we met many of the SIM Ethiopia field staff, and made new friends from Switzerland.
One of our tasks in orientation is to obtain Ethiopian driver's licenses. Knowing we are now in Africa we anticipated this task to be a process. Before we set out on our excursion for the day several missionaries were asking us about our plan for the day and once we told them we planned on obtaining driver's licenses, smiles spread across their faces. These smiles told us one thing - they were joyous that it was us getting the driver's licenses, not them!!! Our goal was to simply use our U.S. driver's licenses to get an Ethiopian ones. To accomplish this we were informed that there were 3 crucial steps we must follow. Step 1: Go to the U.S. Embassy - while there fill out a piece of paper, pay a fee, get the paper stamped. Step 2: Go to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - pay a fee, get that same paper stamped. Step 3: Go to the Ethiopian Roads Authority - hand over that precious piece of paper, pay another fee, hand over copies of our passports & licenses in addition to passport photos. Oh did I mention these 3 offices are on opposite sides of the city?!? We made it to the U.S. Embassy during the 2.5 hours they were open and we successfully left with the special stamped paper. On our way to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it began to hail and pour rain. The streets fill with water, making it difficult for our driver get us close to the office. So all three of us ditched the car and attempted to share one broken umbrella and walk the rest of the way. Upon arrival our driver splits and we receive a very thorough pat down. We are ushered into a covered area with about 150 Ethiopians who all appear to be waiting - some of them are sitting in chairs in what look to be a holding que. We are pointed to the corner and proceed to stand there for a while. Nothing happened until the rain let up - then the craziness began. From what we could gather one at a time each row of seats was sent across a small parking lot to an official's offices. Every time a row was excused, there was a mad dash to snag a seat!!! It reminded me of musical chairs when the music stops and everyone pushes and shoves to try to grab a seat. If anyone got up from their seat to ask the guy organizing the chaos a question, their seat was snatched and they had return to back of the line! At one point our driver came in to check on us and gave us the thumbs up when he saw we had finally found a seat! After surveying the craziness for about an hour or so I had developed a plan to expedite the process. As soon as a row was excused I would pretend like I were leaving the covered area and then jump in the back of the line without the guy in charge noticing - I had seen several Ethiopians try this tactic with great success. Bryan said that was a great plan except for the fact that we were the only white people in the crowd - so my brilliant plan was scrapped. Thankfully, we were able to obtain the second set of stamps with no issues :) Step 3 will commence bright and early tomorrow morning! The unofficial numbers are in!!! 200 lbs of checked luggage and 97.5 lbs of carry on luggage for a total of 297.5 lbs of luggage! It was a close one and Lord willing the scale at the airport will match ours :)
Packing to move to Africa is really weird. Questions of what to take, what to leave, what to sell, how much to of what to bring, etc. seem to be around every corner. But throughout the packing process Matthew 6:19-24 has been flooding our thoughts. What do we really treasure? Are we laying our treasures up in heaven or on earth? While we are leaving family, friends, church family, and familiarities, we know that the Lord will sustain us and provide for our every need. Matthew's words in verse 21 - "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" are so incredibly convicting. If we are focused on the 'treasures' of this world, there is no way our hearts can be serving God. We must chose whether or not to serve God or serve the things of this world. "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other" (v. 24) - May these words echo in our hearts and change the way we live. In 26 hours we will be sitting on an airplane heading to Seattle for the first leg of our travel to Ethiopia!!! Many people have been checking in with us today to see if we are packed and ready to go. I figured it might be best to share a photo of how 'packed' we are :) 
In theory everything in that picture can fit into 1 rubbermaid tub, 3 duffles, and one carry-on suitcase :) Additionally - we 'think' it should be under 200 lbs so we don't have to pay extra weight or baggage fees! Currently, I'm watching my stud muffin of a husband masterfully find a home for everything in the picture. What a guy! :)
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Bryan & NicoleJust two ordinary folks living in Ethiopia using our gifts to bring glory to our Heavenly Father. 
ArchivesNovember 2013 
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