Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! If this is your first visit to our website, please look around. We have posted notes and pictures from our trip to Swaziland, Africa that will bless you.

What can we say about 2008? What a year!

Dan continues to work as a Field Consultant for the Marwaha Group overseeing 36 Subway restaurants. EAT FRESH! This keeps him hopping all over the greater Bakersfield area. He has also helped to plan the Franchisee Rally for the third year in a row. At this event, many awards were given to Franchisees throughout Southern California, but most of them were operators that Dan advises. His team also won Development Agent of the Year, a national award from Subway Corporate. He works very hard showing other people how to make more money so we are very eager to take on a franchise of our own. We often talk about how Dan’s Subway consulting experience and Brittney’s management and sales experience in the weight loss industry have prepared us for business ownership. Our prayer is that God will give us that opportunity in the next year or two. For now, however, we will have to be patient. Dan has also taken on about 8 guitar students which gives him the opportunity to share his gift while strumming up some date night money. And, if you haven’t heard the new CD from The Boasting Weak go to http://www.theboastingweak.com/. This is a band that Dan has been playing guitar in.

Brittney went full-time earlier this year at RiverLakes Community Church where she has been the Assistant Director of Service Ministries for almost 2 years. The extra money has certainly been a big blessing. She now oversees: Baptism, Communion, Funerals, Bereavement Care, Weddings, Holiday Decorating, Hospitality, Kitchens, Library, Room Reservations, Church Calendar, Event Planning, and the Christmas Remembrance Service. Phew! It makes for busy weeks and often busy weekends, but it is so rewarding.

This year has been eventful on the family front as well. Thank you to everyone who has been holding our nephew Jaxen and Dan's sister up in prayer. Jaxen continues to have hurdles to jump over with his health and development. Thanks to his amazing, tenatious parents, he seems to be making progress. Thank the Lord that he was born a happy, loving child. He rebounds quickly and Mommy and Daddy can make him infectiously giggle even moments after a procedure. What a trooper! Please pray for his continued progress, for excellent doctors and therapists, and for Heather and Jeff who need God's strength and peace.

Dallas continues her battle with Burkitt's Lymphoma. She is being treated at UCLA Santa Monica at varying intervals, coming home to Bakersfield when taking a break from chemotherapy. It has been trying for her and, of course, for Brenda (Dan's mom) who is her primary caregiver. This is obviously not something anyone expected to deal with in an 18 year old who recently graduated high school and is newly married. She has certianly fast-forwarded in maturity and maintains a hopeful attitude. Our prayer is that she will finish treatment early this Spring and this will all seem like just a bad dream. Please continue to lift her up in prayer as well.

We continue to lead a Small Group Bible study on Monday evenings for about a dozen people around our age. It has been so amazing to see the way the group has grown in the Lord over the last 2 years. We can honestly say it has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. Our group recently got involved with Here’s Life Inner City and our own church to put together “Boxes of Love.” These boxes are filled with everything a family needs to have a holiday meal (i.e. ham, stuffing, yams, etc.). They are distributed to needy families throughout our community. We thought we were being such faith-filled leaders to challenge our group to come up with what we were calling a “crazy amount of boxes.” We threw out a number- 40 boxes! “Let’s feed 40 families this Thanksgiving just from our little Bible study of poor 20-somethings,” we said. Well, the email went around….”50,” they said….”60,” another bid….”80!” Oh crap! We wanted to challenge them, not set them up for failure. We decided to trust the Lord to provide for His people. Our final bid was 80 boxes because according to the group, “80 boxes is something we can’t do on our own, but GOD CAN.” So, we started the GOD CAN. It is literally a can for God to fill with money through his people. We spread the word, prayed, and contributed funds as the Lord led…………………102 boxes were assembled and delivered from our group! Beyond that, RiverLakes did 936 boxes total including ours, almost 3 times the amount the church came up with last year. It is clear that God is at work and we have to get out of the way! (By the way, the GOD CAN has since gone on to help finance a Christmas party for orphans and widows in Swaziland. God is good.)

Speaking of Swaziland, we continue to be affected by what we saw and experienced there. I will let you read the previous blog to find out more about our trip this last August, but suffice it to say that not a day goes by that we don’t talk about what God is doing there and how we can help. We continue to long for our friends there. Our dreams are infused with the faces of the babies no one is kissing goodnight and the sweet old widows for whom no one is caring. Our hope is that we will be headed back sometime in 2009, though potentially with a better airline. (Who serves Liverwurst for breakfast? Bleh!)

This March, we will be heading to Israel. What an adventure! We have never been the couple that dreams of Paris or Hawaii. As long as we’ve been together, the only trips we’ve talked about are Africa and Israel. How sweet God is to give us these opportunities! We will be leading worship for our church group of about 60 people. What do you sing in the Garden of Gethsemane? Seriously, any suggestions?

Of course, this just skims 2008 in the Bingham house. We hope that you have a very Merry Christmas! This blog is a new thing for us and we plan to update it regularly (not just once a year), so subscribe to it (scroll to the bottom of the page) or just check back regularly. We love you all and hope to see you soon.

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the World!" John 1:29b

Swaziland Thank You

Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your tremendous support of our recent trip to Swaziland, Africa. Not only were we fully funded, but from the moment we left, we could feel the covering of your prayers. God truly provided travel mercies. His hand was evident in the safe arrival of our luggage and supplies, the timeliness of our flights, the space in overhead bins which allowed the guitar to avoid being checked, and the fact that no one got lost or separated through many flight changes and long layovers.

I know many of you are anxious to hear about the outcome of our trip, so we will try to hit the high points for you. There is simply no way to describe everything God did!

Arrival: After about 50 hours of traveling, we arrived safely and in good health to the AIM (Adventures in Missions) base where we would be staying. We were blessed to find warm showers, bunk beds, and cool weather (the seasons are opposite of ours.) We fell into bed with zero knowledge of what the Lord would do in the days leading up to the Cherish Retreat.

Day 1: Becca, the missionary we went to serve with, met with us to plan the first couple of days. Her desire was for us to get to know the Swazi culture, experience some of the daily activities of typical Swazi girls, and begin to understand the context of the country. We met with Dennis, the local AIM director, to do some brief cultural training, then we were off!

First, we visited Ngwane Central High School where Becca had started the first Cherish Bible Study in Swaziland. We met with the head-mistress, Make Zwane, who proudly showed us her facility and bragged on all the Lord had been doing there through Becca and her team. You could see the joy on the faces of the Cherish leaders, especially Phumlile who had graduated from Ngwane Central and been in the first group.
After leaving the school, we drove about 3 miles toward Phumlile’s house. We got out and walked the last mile to get a small glimpse of how far she and her siblings walk to school each day (about 8 miles round trip).

Phumlile’s family received us with enormous grace. They taught us about a typical day for Swazi children. Dan and Scott chopped wood as the men do. Half of the ladies went into the kitchen to make a traditional meal of pop (corn mush) and beans on a wood-burning stove. And, half of the ladies, including Brittney, walked down to the well to carry water back on their heads (about a third of a mile each way). What struck us most was the sweetness that emanated from the whole family of eleven. They have made a joy-filled life with no electricity, running water, or other modern conveniences. What a challenge to our American-dream mindset!

Unfortunately, these kinds of conditions are all too prevalent. Many families in Swaziland are without basic medical care, transportation, or even enough food for their children. This family was actually quite blessed to still have both mother and father living.

Day 2: After seeing the rampant poverty, it was time to see another major player in the hardship of Swaziland, children orphaned by AIDS. We went to visit Care Points. Orphans walk for miles to receive one meal a day along with rudimentary education and Bible study. Despite the fact that there are now approximately 120,000 orphans (in a country of 1 million people), the government has yet to invest in orphanages. The Care Points, set up by various religious organizations are a short-term solution until full-time facilities can be established. Unfortunately, the two that we visited were unsponsored and had no food to hand out that day. So, we all started silently praying for what to do with these children. The Lord moved through our team-mate Darlene. She immediately started teaching them tic-tac-toe with a stick in the dirt, and later, the Hokey Pokey. We handed out chewable vitamins, sang songs, and attempted to speak what little SiSwati we knew. Most frequently we said, “Jesu Uyakutsansa” which means “Jesus loves you.” Dan was highly sought after by the 9-12 year old boys who longed for a father’s approval, and Brittney was accompanied by two toddlers who had no idea how to respond to hugs and kisses. Needless to say, getting back in our van and driving away was the most difficult thing we’ve ever had to do. It was purely the joy and strength of the Lord that miraculously kept smiles on our faces until we had driven away. Then, smiles gave way to tears and prayers for our little friends.

After such a heavy morning, Becca knew we would need a something a little lighter. She took us to the Swaziland Cultural Center where we toured a very traditional Swazi homestead, enjoyed the beautiful landscape, and watched a performance of Swazi songs and dances. Everyone in Swaziland has perfect pitch! They all sing and they are all good. That was certainly enjoyable for the two of us.

Day 3: Time to get ready for the retreat! The Cherish Retreat was held at a Catholic boarding school that had been built in the ‘70’s and left untouched since then. It was quite run down, and we had zero decorations, but again the Lord provided. We used butcher paper and house paint (both leftover from previous mission teams) to make signs and banners. We hung ribbons and pre-printed scriptures on every wall. Little butterflies were starting to fester in each of us.

Day 4: The first day of the Retreat. The girls arrived early! That’s totally unheard of in Swaziland. They received gift bags (made by Dan’s amazing Aunt Char) which were filled with lots of goodies. Each girl got: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap, lotion, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a journal, 3 pens, lip gloss, a “Cherished” bracelet, and at least one other miscellaneous gift like hair clips, scarves, or cosmetic bags. They were ecstatic! Thank you for all the wonderful donations. No one could have appreciated them more.

In the evening, Becca and her team of Swazis (Phumlile, Zabiba, and Fufu) handed out Bibles and certificates to new Cherish graduates. A local performing arts group named VOG, Vessels of Glory, came and performed with their band. Yes, they opened the retreat with a full band, sung boisterous Swazi worship songs, and we had to get up the next morning to sing mellow American worship songs with one un-amplified guitar. Yikes.

Days 5-7: The next couple of days were filled with worship, teaching from our team members, quiet time for the girls, group discussion, crafts, pedicures, and games. There was even a movie each night. The teaching and discussion focused on replacing the well-known 3-C’s of Swaziland (Cars, Cash, and Cell phones for which it is common to trade sex) with the 3-C’s of the Cherish study (that each young women is a Child of God, Cleansed, and Cherished). Our discussion groups were challenging both because the younger girls have not yet perfected English, and because their life stories were riddled with loss, poverty, and the struggle to maintain purity against the odds. Leading worship was also challenging for us, especially after the first-night’s performance. We had to trust that God knew what He was doing and lean on Him for guidance. By the end of the retreat, the girls were singing the American worship songs and begging us to help them copy the lyrics so they could teach their schoolmates. The last session, we backed off the mics and let the girls sing accapella,

I have a Maker, He formed my Heart
Before even time began, He held me in His Hand.
He knows my name.
He knows my every thought.
He sees each tear that falls, and He hears me when I call.
I have a Father, He calls me His Own.
He’ll never leave me, no matter where I go.
He knows my name.
He knows my every thought.
He sees each tear that falls, and He hears me when I call.

Their hunger for the Lord and their eagerness to praise Him astounded us. How often our praise for Him is based on how well things are going for us! These girls were certainly great examples for us. It was hard to say goodbye and send them back to broken and hurting families, but what a comfort to know that their Maker went with them.

We cleaned up the campus and headed back to the AIM base. Later that night, Julie Anderson, one of Becca’s co-workers came to show us these adorable bags being made by the Gogo’s (grandmothers who volunteer at various Care Points). They come to the Care Points, have Bible study, serve food to the orphans, and make bags. So we had a purse party! All of the proceeds went to support these widows and their grandchildren who have also been orphaned by AIDS. Buy a bag, help widows and orphans in Africa. http://www.timbalicrafts.org/ Though tired, we definitely had energy for that.

Day 8: Well, we thought we’d get a day to rest, but why waste time in Africa? We spent the next morning painting Julie’s house. Ok, so some of us were chasing around her adorable, adopted Swazi daughter, Ellie. She’s a cutie and a handful. It was amazing to get to bless Julie as she had done all the grocery shopping for our team as well as the entire retreat.

We headed back to the AIM base and packed an overnight bag. We then headed to the Hlane Game Park. We checked in to our bungalows which were beautiful hotel-like rooms with hot water! They were not wired for electricity, but did have oil lamps and candles. We ate dinner at their lovely lamp-lit restaurant where we ate impala, wildebeest sausage, and other Swazi delicacies. Then we set our alarms for a sunrise safari! (The only thing our cell phones were good for in Africa)

Day 9: Well, the snorts of the rhinos a stones throw away from our bungalow woke us up before the alarms could. If you’ve never been on a safari, we certainly recommend it. We were insanely close to lions, rhinos, elephants, and giraffes. Sometimes too close considering the flimsy netting covering our jeep – our only protection from the animals.

We were all remiss to leave the game park, but we also wanted to experience the local marketplace. Hundreds of shed-like shops were set up side-by-side down the street selling jewelry, artwork, and other tourist-oriented souvenirs. We found a few members of a local church and attempted to focus our business there to support them.

Departure: There is nothing like leaving the mission field. Our friend Becca announced at the end of the Cherish Retreat that she would be leaving Swaziland. The Lord had raised up three outstanding nationals to lead this ministry and she feels the need to get out of the way and enable Him to work through them. While they are clearly ready, it made it even harder for us to say goodbye to Fufu, Zabiba, and Phumlile. Please pray for them, as we will, as they step out in faith to continue what God has started there.

It was also difficult to say goodbye to our driver, Elliot. He calls us Buti and Sisi (brother
and sister) and often held Dan’s hand as a sign of being close friends. He hugged us goodbye and said, “I am not sad. The Lord has already shown me that I will see you again. He will send you two back. That is how I say goodbye.”

Our trip home was a mere 40 hours, though with fewer layovers and more direct flights, you can make the trip in 20. We will attempt to make those arrangements next time. Yes, there is no doubt in our minds that Elliot heard God right. We expect to be sent back. When, how, with whom, and for what has yet to be revealed. What we do know is that the Cherish leaders need continued support, and the Care Points need immediate help. Please visit the websites below for more information on the needs of the nation of Swaziland and how God can use you to meet them. Please also expect another letter from us in the future. When God calls, we want to be ready.


“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” Isaiah 61:1-3