As we find ourselves in Thailand for Christmas, the Sports Friends Thai team has been very gracious and hospitable towards us. Last week one of the Thai staff invited us to go Christmas caroling with him and the youth from his church. They picked us up shortly after 6pm for our evening of "Thai style" caroling. When we arrived at the first stop on our caroling tour, I couldn't help but smile at the name of the last song in the song book, Ferliz Navidad (Merry Christmas)! Grinning from ear to ear, I informed Bryan that not only would we be singing a Spanish Christmas song in Thailand, but we would be adding a "R" to the Spanish word Feliz!!! Click on the video below to hear a sampling of the Christmas carols we sung.

We started out by singing to a few families in the slums of Chiang Mai and then climbed back into the cars to head to another location. Though we were cold, we were enjoying singing alongside our Thai brothers and sisters. About 2.5 hours into our Thai Christmas caroling experience, Kim, the SF staff who was taking care of us, turned to us and said "We have twelve houses to go to tonight and that was only house number two!" Then he did what all good Thai people do...he giggled!!! The fun had just begun! 

Around 11:30 pm we found ourselves singing to a house without any lights on. It appeared as though the occupants had already gone to bed. In the States, waking people up to sing Christmas carols to them would be considered rude, but not in Thailand! Just as we were finishing the couple emerged from the darkness, dancing and singing with us, in their pajamas! They even invited us in for snacks and warm drinks. Bryan and I thought that surely the group would call it quits for the night and start again at a more reasonable hour the next evening, but no - they were sticking to the plan! At this point, Bryan and I were struggling to stay awake, while the youth were still going strong. Around 1:30 am we finally arrived at our final destination about 40 km outside Chiang Mai, our starting location. We huddled around a small fire while we serenaded the final family on our program. After we finished singing, they invited us in for some BBQ. In typical Thai fashion, we sat on the floor eating family style. As the food was passed around, several people told us which dishes to avoid. They must have been thinking "Why waste roasted pig intestine on a farang (the Thai word for foreigner) when they probably will only eat it just to be nice?!?!" :) And at 2:00 am, we were extremely grateful for their thoughtfulness. 

After 8.5 hours of caroling, we were frozen, exhausted, and encouraged. How sweet it was to sing about the birth of our Savior along side Thai believers. 

During our undergraduate years at Vanderbilt, we had the pleasure of getting to know many different people. One of our good friends from college is Hafiz. We spent many hours with Hafiz studying, working on homework and just hanging out. Senior year, we took a trip with Hafiz to West Virginia to go snowboarding. With the nickname Malaysian Ice, Hafiz was convinced that Malaysia needed its own indoor snowboard park (think Dubai)! We had many great times with Hafiz, even tried eating some home-made Malaysian food, and always joked that he had to invite us to his wedding. Well, Hafiz got married earlier this year and we found out after it happened. Needless to say, we were disappointed that we did not get an invitation. Fortunately, this was just another example of cultural ignorance (something we have learned a lot about in the last couple of years). 

It turns out there are a couple different parts of Malaysian weddings. The first part was the "solemnization" ceremony, what we would consider the exchanging of the vows. This is typically held by the brides family and is just for both families and friends of the bride. The reception is a completely different ceremony/party held a different day, often times months later. This is put on by the groom's family and all of his friends are invited. Hafiz did invite us to attend the reception. Due to a number of other ministry activities, we were going to be in southeast Asia around the time of the reception. So we decided to head down to Malaysia for a few days and attend his wedding reception.

We were thrilled to be able to celebrate with our good friend from Vandy. The wedding reception was lots of fun and was located at a beautiful country club on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The day after the wedding we were able to spend a few hours with Hafiz and his new bride, Raihan. We really enjoyed getting to know her and find out some more about their life in Malaysia. It turns out that she is studying architecture at an international university in Kuala Lumpur, so she gave us some great insights to the building designs as we toured around the city. But she is also starting a business on the side; it is called Cookies & Milk. She makes delicious little cookies (think Famous Amos, but much, much better) and is starting out marketing them as wedding favors. Not sure if she will ship them to the US, but they would be worth buying!

Above is a photo of Aminah and Nicole, another friend from Vanderbilt. Nicole had the pleasure of living across the hall from Aminah their freshman year and then living next to her during junior year. It was great to catch up with her and pick her brain about the in's and out's of Malaysian weddings.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to celebrate with Hafiz on this special day. It was also a great break and time of rest away from the stress of daily life in Ethiopia. Blessings to Hafiz & Raihan, we look forward to seeing you again, maybe back in the US!

Update on the warthog:  After rejecting the human breast milk, the baby warthog wandered back into the bush in search of his mother. We are hopeful that the lost pig was able to reconnect with his family so that he will grow up to be delicious!!! :)

One day upon returning home from a trip to Addis Ababa, we found ourselves in the most random situation. As I was pulling into the 'driveway' to our house, I noticed what looked like a baby warthog chilling right in front of the house. I figured that when the truck started getting close to the warthog, him would run away - but as I backed into the house the little guy didn't move! So Bryan got out of the car to 'shoo' him (at this point I was  assuming he was a boy) away. The warthog didn't want to move. As soon as the engine stopped, he wandered under the car for shelter. After a few minutes of coaxing, he left the security of the car. Thats when I noticed the blood and slimy stuff on his back. 

The gooey goop reminded me of the birth I had witnessed earlier this year. I started looking around for the mother and found a large wet, sticky spot where this little warthog was born! The spot was less than 2 meters from our front door. 

The little guy entertained us for a while and then wandered off into the bush. Ecstatic about our finding, we ran over to our neighbors house to tell them all about the baby warthog. The little guy's ears must have been burning because he showed up again! For whatever reason, we decided he was probably hungry and it was our job to feed him. So we convinced our teammate who was breast feeding at the time to donate some milk to the little guy! To our dismay, this warthog did not like human breast milk...

Oh, I can only chuckle at how the day to day activities at Langano play out. Some of the sweetest most random times I’ve had in Ethiopia have occurred during a home visits. Last week I had the pleasure of going out to visit one of the girls who came to a camp we had for girls with physical disabilities in the Langano area. 

Typically we take horse out on home visits, but this day we decided to take the camp car which turned out to be a great decision! We drove out to another town to pick up Mustafa, so he could show us the way to Amina's house. Almost 15 km away from our compound we turned off the main road. We followed a donkey cart path for another 15 minutes or so before Mustafa told me to stop the car and continue the rest of the way on foot. After walking for 10 minutes we were greeted by Amina's bright smile. Her mother greeted us and then rushed into her home to make us some coffee and roasted corn. While we waited for the food, we hung out with Amina and her brother, talking about life and playing with the newborn goats. 

Once we had consumed all of the food to the satisfaction of Amina's mother, we started the trek back home. When we dropped Mustafa off, he insisted that we stop to "drink water only." Before we knew it we were whisked into a wedding tent by. As soon as we sat down, mugs full of kinito (a roasted barley drink) were thrust into our hands. Next a plater full of injera b'wot and other cultural foods was placed in front of us. I entertained everyone in the tent by instructing people to eat and drink in Afaan Oromo. At this point I leaned over to Elias, one of the staff I work alongside, and asked him who's wedding we were at. He responded by shrugging and saying "I don't know." Dumbfounded, I turned my line of questioning to Wako, another one of our staff, and received the same response followed by a giggle. Thankfully, Mustafa was able to answer my question. The wedding ceremony was for one of his older brothers. Only after we were stuffed to the gills were we allowed to leave the wedding tent and continue on our way back home. What a beautiful example of hospitality.

Over the last year and a half, I have had the pleasure of building a friendship with *Dawit. I met him when he brought five kids from his team to camp in 2012. Throughout the week, Dawit's willingness to serve was unmatched. The campers looked up to him and he was able to speak truth into their lives. About a year ago, Dawit underwent some intense persecution for his faith. I had the privilege of writing down his story and how the Lord has provided for him in his time of greatest need. Check out the story of God's goodness below!

While Dawit was sleeping, some kids started playing soccer around him. The kids befriended him and peppered him with questions about his story. Soon the parents of the kids gathered around to question the stranger. Dawit sensed their suspicions and told them the truth. They brought him food, and a poor Christian woman with many children offered him a place to sleep in her small house. The woman graciously told Dawit he could stay as long as he needed.

Please pray for Dawit as he shares the hope that there is in Christ with the boys on his team. Also, pray that the Lord will soften the heart of his family and that Dawit will be able to return home someday.

I am so thankful for black boogers. Seriously. They catch all sorts of smog and toxins before they can reach my lungs! :) While driving around Addis, we breathe in all sorts of awful exhaust and pollution. I am always excited when I have cold because I know that less of the filthy air will make it into my lungs! Last week the hospital across the street from SIM Guesthouse was spewing some nastiness from their incinerator every hour. The smell initiated a headache and the dirty particles floating through the air aggravated my eyes. At the end of the day my computer was covered in black soot. Despite the unpleasant nature of the pollution, I love that God created us to produce mucus to help keep harmful airborne toxins out of our lungs!!! Staying healthy, one booger at a time...

America's passion for college football cannot even compete with Ethiopia's zeal for their football (soccer) team. In the states, we were privileged to have attended College Game Day hosted on Vanderbilt's campus. It was an exciting time, but nothing compared to what we experienced this last weekend. The night before the 2014 World Cup Qualifying match against Nigeria, fans were gathering in the streets to sing songs and display their patriotism. Even as we went to sleep, we could still hear the sounds of jubilee ringing throughout the city. On game day, the streets were full as waves of green, yellow and red made their way to the stadium. 

Despite playing extremely well and controlling the majority of the possession, Ethiopia fell to Nigeria 1-2. The blow momentarily knocked the wind out of the country, but the next day fans were back in the streets singing in support of their team. In November, the Ethiopia team will travel to Nigeria for the final qualifying match. Our hopes for a 2014 World Cup birth are still alive! 

I spent most of last week working with a group of nearly 30 people at the SIM Baboguya retreat center in an attempt to give the place a facelift. The work was hard and plentiful; the days were long and tiring. But at the end of the week I felt more refreshed. Looking back, that is because of the friendship and fellowship. Half of the people working with me last week were from the Church at Charlotte. Some of the team members came to Langano last year as well.

It was a great week because I was able to sit down and have good conversations about all kinds of things from family to church and from construction to sports. The sincere, honest, open hearts and conversation were so good for my soul. I miss having good conversations like I used to have back home. Laughter was also a constant companion this week.  One night sitting around a table talking half a dozen men broke out in a surprisingly good round of singing the hookie-pokie. The reason you ask, well that’s how you had to take a shower … you put your right arm in, you take your right arm out …

Praise God with me for the blessing of this team. They had a huge impact on turning things around at Baboguya and for encouraging our Ethiopian staff. But, selfishly, they were a big boost for me at a time when God knew I needed the friendship and fellowship. 

I (Bryan) spent the last week working with a team from Church at Charlotte at the SIM Baboguya retreat center which is located about 2 ½ hours north of our home in Langano. Due to a number of reasons, Baboguya has not been maintained for much of the past decade. We were tasked with giving the place a face lift and making as many repairs as possible. This included painting and updating 6 cabins, the main kitchen, dinning room and lounge. We also did a whole lot of landscaping work, cutting 4 foot tall grass and taking out dead trees.

But the biggest challenge for me was designing and building a new dock. Unfortunately, Vanderbilt didn’t offer an elective in designing docks in developing countries; but, by God’s grace, we were able to get it in the water and it didn’t even sink! That was a huge relief J We still have a few more finishing touches to put on (like the walking surface) in the next month, but I look forward to seeing lots of families relaxing and enjoying the water.

A big thanks to Church at Charlotte and all of our Ethiopian workers for working some long hard hours to get all this work accomplished!