While working at Bingham Academy, we have had the opportunity to serve the staff and student body in a number of different ways. One of the more humorous events we participated in was the Spring Banquet. The gym was transformed into an underground club during the 1920's, complete with bouncers, dancing, and a live jazz band, while I was transformed into a flapper...well, I suppose 'transformed' is probably too strong of a word :) 

“Langano is a special place, not one of those warm fuzzy places, but still a special place. You can’t come to Langano and leave unchanged. It is a training ground, a place where leaders are trained to better serve the Lord.” That is a slightly paraphrased comment from one of our teammates. She was talking about the challenges of life that you must face to live and serve at langano. It is a place with a storied past, spanning decades and the lives of dozens of missionaries. Although our time in Langano was short, it has had a lifetime impact.

There were great times with wonderful memories. Hundreds of people heard the gospel. Dozens of short-termers shared God’s love with campers and staff while being challenged in their own faith. New friends were met, bringing lots of laughs and fond memories.

But there were hard days too. From frustrations with language to things constantly breaking. From always being pointed out as someone who is not “like us” to being deeply hurt by people claiming to be Christian leaders.

Through the good times and the bad, I have to agree, Langano is a training ground. My own faith has grown by leaps and bounds. My understanding of the Lord and his sovereignty has been stretched to unimagined extents. A love for the Word of God and desire to better understand it is sprouting new life. And my sin, oh my sin. I have become so much more aware of so many places that I fall short. From selfishness to anger and pride to self-righteousness, and that’s just the beginning. The depravity of my sin is bitter and hard to see. But in seeing it, the glory of God’s gift through the cross of Christ becomes even more extravagant.

I have only begun processing everything that we are lived over the past 2 years. But I know that we are both leaving Langano changed. We have grown; we have laughed; we have grieved. Through it all, God has been our constant. I am excited to continue serving him, although I have no idea what the next step will be.

Bryan has been busy renovating several old classrooms on Bingham Academy's campus. His first renovation project was to turn two old classrooms into one new learning space for Grade 5. Check out the photos below to see the transformation!

Field Days may be the most exciting two days of the entire school year at Bingham Academy! For weeks, students practice their track and field events in anticipation of the big day. In PE class, we practiced relay handoffs, sack races, long jump, ball throw, hurdles and so much more. While I was a bit skeptical about how the entire student body (KG - Grade 12), parents, teachers, staff and homeschool families would be able to fit on the field, the other teachers assured me that it was possible.

Over the course of field days, many students broke school records and others achieved personal bests. Others were disappointed with their results, but I made sure that everyone felt better about their performance by slipping and falling hard during the staff 4x100m relay :).  

There is a new blog up on the sports friends website about the on-going ministry at Langano. It is definitely worth checking out so CLICK HERE!

At this point, we are in the middle of a lot of waiting. With everything that is going on, it can easily feel like we are floating with little sense of purpose, need, direction with no end in sight. But waiting should not be an excuse to do nothing. So we are taking this time away from Langano to serve in some other ways. The other day this song came through the speakers and I thought it put things pretty well. And that is what we are trying to do. We don't want to waste our limited time here on earth, so we are trying to serve where we are. May this encourage you, just as it encouraged me. Serve God now, where ever you are, whatever your circumstances, SERVE. May he be glorified!

As I thought back over the last 10 weeks, I started to realize the absurd number of beds we have slept in. I ran out of fingers, so I had to take off my shoes to count high enough. Yes, we have slept in 17 beds in the last 10 weeks. And that does not include 3 nights in airports or on airplanes. If you add those in, it is a total of 20 different sleeping places. Some of those were twin beds to boot. At least 2 different beds, sheets, noises, pillows, etc. every week for 2 ½ months. No wonder I haven’t been sleeping too well! But at least my beautiful bride has been by my side (or at least in the same room) along the way :)

A smooth, well paved, maybe even beautiful stretch of concrete laid before us. It was 8 pm on a Friday evening and traffic was light on the 3 lanes of freeway. From the passenger's seat I began to wonder ... why in the world are we going so slow?!?! As we traveled through the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I was puzzled by our friend's lack of a lead foot. In Ethiopia, there are not really any speed limits. You drive as fast or slow as necessary and comfortable for the given situation. But in Malaysia, similar to the US, there are those weird things called speed limits. And what is even stranger, people obey them. It was then that I realized I will be in for some serious culture shock whenever we make it back to the US. But for now, I think I will enjoy the lack of speed limits, maybe we will just have to move to Montana ...

Shoes are a wonderful thing. They protect your feet, keep you comfortable, clean and warm. If you can't tell, I like having my feet inside of my shoes. I typically wear steel toed 6" work boots. My feet are well protected, my ankles are supported and I can go anywhere. My wife is quick to point out that even my "dress" shoes have steel toes and a thick, strong sole. 

But then we came to Asia where all of the countries that we visited share one thing in common. Here, you are supposed to take your shoes off before entering a building, nearly every building. This leaves my poor feet with nothing more than socks to protect them and keep them warm. The uninviting, cold tile floors slowly suck the heat from my body as my toes fight frostbite. The bottom of my foot is pained by the lack of padded comfort once found in my boots. My arches long for the all day suspension support system that has helped bear its burden for years. Now, as I sit in the airport headed back to the land where footwear is welcome, my feet are content within the safe confines of my trusty old boots.

Thai food is delicious!!! Well...most Thai food is delicious :)  We have enjoyed expanding our palette and tasting different foods. One thing that took us by surprise in Thai food was the wide use of jelly textures. I'm still trying to figure out how rice products become squishy and gelatinous...

While in Chiang Mai, we had the opportunity to spend an entire day learning how to cook Thai food. We created a 6 course meal and even ground our own curry paste! It was set up like a progressive meal and we cooked/ate our way through the day. I finished off my meal with mango and sticky rice...if I close my eyes I can still taste it :)