June 28, 2006

Today I had my first teaching experience. Everything went really well. It turns out the English language has to be one of the hardest languages in the world. It seems that there are more exceptions to the rule than not. My greatest challenge is learning the names of my students. There are 12 students in class. Their names are very different than ours. Most names mean something. For example, Abdi-issi means “Hope in Jesus.” I can’t remember any of the other names right now, but I am working on it. There are two men in my class whose names sound almost exactly the same (to me). But they are not slow to let me know when I mispronounce them! All of this students are required to take this class to help them improve their English so that they can continue their studies at ETC. Most of them are from other parts of Ethiopia, many from quite a distance. One man has left his wife and children back home so that he could come and study. Most are single, and I have one woman in class. The students range in age from 25 to 38.

Every day at 10:30 we take a break for coffee (buna). Coffee is a big deal in Ethiopia, and I can tell you now that Starbucks doesn’t even come close! There are different ways to drink the coffee: black, machiato, or with milk (there may be more, but I haven’t discovered them yet). The black and machiato are served in what looks like a shot glass. It is so strong, that is all you need. The machiato has a bit of syrup and a bit of milk added, however, it is still served in a shot glass. The coffee with milk is in a larger glass and consists mostly of milk, with a small amount of coffee. Ethiopians normally drink the ‘hard stuff’ after a meal, and take coffee with milk during the coffee break. Many also drink tea (shai) during the morning break.

June 27, 2006

Last night we got our luggage, all of it, finally! I was so happy to put on clean underwear, after four, yes four days! I went with Steve (our team leader) to the airport last night to pick up all 24 pieces, and we were back in our rooms around midnight. Waking up this morning was like getting up on Christmas morning, tearing through our suitcases, finding all of the things we forgot we had even packed!

Geoffrey had his first day in class today (Tuesday). He met the students he will be teaching, and got oriented to the class syllabus and content. The class in Beginner English, and we are starting at about a 4th grade level. Most, if not all, of the students are in some kind of church related ministry. They are studying to be able to improve their ministry skills in Ethiopia, as well as around the world! There are places where Ethiopians can travel with the Gospel that no American could ever go.

The kids are settling in pretty well. We walked through the streets last night to dinner at a local restaurant. The sights are pretty daunting. The poverty is incredible. Kara is having a hard time with what she sees. Kelsey on the other hand is eating up the attention she gets from the people. Please continue to pray for our family as we adjust to this very different world.

We Made It!

June 25, 2006

After spending an unexpected night in a hotel on Thursday night, we headed back to the Chicago airport. Lufthansa helped us ensure that we would have seats on our Frankfurt flight when we arrived in New York. United promised us that all of our checked luggage (24 pieces in all) would be at La Guardia when we arrived there. We finally boarded our flight for New York, happy to be back on our journey once again.

Upon our arrival at La Guardia airport in New York, we rushed to baggage claim to pick up our luggage, which we would then have to transport to JFK where we would fly to Frankfurt. But our luggage was not there! We waited for one more flight from Chicago – still no luggage. We didn’t have time to wait any longer, so called a shuttle and made our way to JFK, about a 30 minute drive in New York rush hour traffic.

We got to JFK exactly two hours before our scheduled departure time, ran in to get into the long line at Lufthansa. A lady who worked for Lufthansa saw the baby and sent us to another very short line to help us get through more quickly. I asked her if the rest of the team who was traveling along with us could come as well, she said yes. It’s nice to get a break after having so many setbacks. But when we got to the counter, the girl behind the desk sitting next to ours starting having a fit that we were all ‘cutting in line.’ I tried to explain what was going, but she was very persistent: “Only the family!” So we complied. And eventually talked the girl that was helping us into checking the others in as well. (I had to go and retrieve their passports, as I wasn’t about to bring them back to the counter, but she checked them in anyway!)

We made our flight...the kids did really well. Kelsey went to sleep after about the first hour, and slept the whole fight, about 5 hours. Then we had exactly 45 minutes to find our gate and board our plane to Addis Ababa. We ran through the airport, making only one wrong turn. We did make the flight with about 25 minutes to spare (thank you Lord!) After another uneventful flight (another 5 hours, with a stop in Karthoum, Sudan) and we finally arrived in Ethiopia. We had been traveling for about 57 hours. It should have taken about 24.

Our luggage was not at the Ethiopia airport either. We filed claims, and they gave us 850 Birr (about $100) per ticketed passenger who had misplaced luggage. They wanted us to be able to buy incidentals. This was an unexpected but very welcome blessing. We had carried one extra set of basic clothing, but were not prepared to live without our suitcases for more than about a day! And at this point we had no idea if or when we would ever see our luggage again.

We ended up going to bed around 1:00 am local time. We slept so well, as you can imagine. The next morning I got up around 9:00 am. The rest of the team had gone to breakfast at 7:30 (the guest house where we are staying serves three meals a day) and on to church at 9:30. So around 11:00 I woke the rest of the family so we could go to lunch with the team. We walked with Steve Strauss, our team leader, to get a taxi, and rode to a local hotel where we had lunch. The food was great, and the coffee was amazing! After lunch, we came back to the Guest house and just relaxed, napped, and got to know some other missionaries. I did venture out with Steve’s help again, and purchased some food and other necessities from little store fronts.
Things here are going really well. Thank you for your prayers. We just got word that we might actually see our luggage tomorrow night! The word is that they found it all in Chicago...The amazing thing here is that the only travel difficulties we had were all American problems. We have had no problems internationally, at least not yet!

Are We There Yet?

What a day! We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to check in. We checked all our bags, got through security, made it to the gate, and then we waited...Due to weather our flight to Chicago was delayed...by about 4 hours! After sitting on the airplane for over an hour (with no air, 95+ degrees) we finally made it to Chicago. We were well passed our connection time, so we missed our flight to Frankfurt.

We spent another 2 hours at the United desk getting new flights rerouted, baggage rechecked, hotel reservations, and pizza! We are all so worn out, but ready for another day of adventure (just no more unexpected stuff, please?)

Hopefully we will get to leave the country tomorow, that's the plan anyway. We should only be delayed by about 24 hours in our arrival in Addis Ababa. We'll see what the Lord has in store for that.

Good night, and thanks for your prayers!

'Twas The Night Before...

After a full day of orientation and packing, we are ready to head to the airport (I think so anyway). The kids are in bed, I hope they sleep tonight. We meet the team at 10:00am at the airport, where we will check in and settle in for our long flight. All total we are looking at 26 hours of travel time, with layovers in Chicago and Frankfurt, Germany.

I do not know how often I will be able to update this webpage while in Ethiopia. The details on internet access are sketchy. We will do our best to post information and pictures as often as possible.

Continue to pray for our family and our team as we make this journey to a foreign land. We are looking forward to whatever God has in store.

Two Days Until We Leave

In just two days I will be loading my family onto an airplane and flying them halfway around the world: Destination - Ethiopia. In the Fall of 2005, I took a class on Missions at Southern Evangelical Seminary. The professor of the class, Dr. Steve Strauss, mentioned that he was assembling a team of teachers to go to ETC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to spend 4 weeks teaching various courses. I looked into it, and here we are. We sent out letters requesting prayer and financial support. We are currently short several thousand dollars, but we are trusting that the Lord will provide. We have been shopping and packing, and now we are just about ready to go. (Oh, and the immunizations were a lot of fun too!)

Pray for our family as we prepare to go and serve Him in the manner. We are very excited to meet newe people, and have a great time learning a new culture.