Abuelos y Niños

Well, I figured I should start trying to throw a little Spanish into my day to day life. Olga has been good about slowly exposing me to written/spoken Spanish. While I did have some Spanish instruction in high school and college, I haven't retained very much because 1. I never studied enough to put it into my long term memory, 2. I never put it to real use, 3. I also had French and it kind of all mixed in my head (one time in French class I answered a question: "Oui, muy bien!") Plus, some things just sound cooler in Spanish, like Abuelos y Niños (grandparents/elderly people and children = the title of this post) :)

Anyways, I just arrived home from work (evening shift at the nursing home, one of my last shifts before I leave for my year away) and on my drive home I began to think how my life has been made up of working with elderly people and working with children (I have been working at Fairmount Homes for 6 years and in college/training to be an elementary teacher for the last 5 years): two polar opposites on the ends of the life span spectrum! It is really quite a unique and interesting combination. It is amazing how many similarities and parallels I can see. After all, the one group is just starting out life and the other is finishing it, and for whatever reason, the Lord has designed it so that the life process has us entering and leaving this world in similar ways. We sort of come into this word needy and dependant on others, work towards becoming independent, eventually gain our own independence, slowly lose our independence, and eventually have to once again rely on others to help meet our needs. I feel lucky to be able to work with these two age groups. It is so rewarding, eye-opening, challenging, fascinating, and entertaining. There is so much that can be learned...about myself and about life! Hmmmm...I wonder how all these lessons and experiences play into God's plan? :)

Worry--an obstacle to living by FAITH

Today I was reminded again that I do not need to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about it's self! Worry really is just a lack of faith and trust in the Lord and His working.
It is so easy to get caught up in what is seen and in circumstances and to worry and stress over wondering how things could possibly come together!
I have to admit that I let this happen with my preparation process with going to Colombia...especially with the legal aspects of the trip: my work visa! Not only about getting it, but about first getting the documents that I need and having them notarized, apostilled, and translated into Spanish. Not only is it tricky due to short timing, but also due to the fact that I will be out of the state in June (when they will arrive in the mail in PA). Today it really hit me how involved and somewhat confusing the process is.
Needless to say, I arrived home from work tonight to the surprise of my final transcript which arrived in the mail today! (I was worried about needing to drive to Millersville tomorrow to request to pick a copy up because I wasn't sure it was going to arrive anytime soon or even at all)

I found this to be a good reminder and an interesting perspective/spin, from The Message:

25-26"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

27-29"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Welcome!

Hi there! So…this is my first blog/blog post ever…here it goes! :D

I’ve created this blog so that we can stay connected through the upcoming changes and adventures that await me in the very near future!

So, what are all these changes and adventures and how have they all come about? Well…I’d like to hit the rewind button, and take us way back to a few years ago where I can see the Lord was already preparing me! Of course, the Lord is constantly preparing us for what He has for us, but I am going to start with five years ago, high school graduation…bare with me, this may get long and rambly! (This will probably be my longest post ever by far…I am not usually so long-winded.)

Following high school graduation, I began attending Messiah College for elementary and special education. Freshman year held some unique challenges, but overall it was a wonderful year! However, during the summer following freshman year, I began feeling like I wasn’t supposed to continue at Messiah. The biggest factor at the time was finances…Messiah is very expensive, while Millersville University is a good teaching school, less costly, and close to home…all of which would allow me to spend less money while also earning money (my job at the nursing home would now be closer and I could work weekends). I had already made plans to study abroad first semester of sophomore year, and I decided to go ahead with that. My semester in England was a great experience…lots of learning and growing! While in England, I continued to process the thought of transferring to Millersville, and after much thought and prayer about it, I decided to go ahead with making plans to attend Millersville. The Lord gave me peace about the decision and doors began opening. I was accepted at Millersville and then the question was where to live. My brother Henry had lived at the Millersville International House (MIH) and I always thought it sounded really neat. So, I decided to apply to live there starting second semester of sophomore year, my first semester at Millersville. After a phone interview with MIH, I was accepted to live there.

So, second semester of sophomore year brought lots of changes…very exciting yet scary ones! Let me explain that up until this point, my triplet sister Steph and I had pretty much followed the same path in life…sharing many of the same friends and experiences and we didn’t spend much time apart. What made this transition challenging for me, was that I am definitely more of a follower, and Steph the leader. I am quiet, shy, reserved, and introverted, slow to adjust to change and slow to warm up to new people. Also, I never, ever imagined I would transfer to a different school and the idea seemed really overwhelming to me. Nevertheless, that is exactly where I found myself! This transition really challenged and stretched me, but with time it became very apparent to me that Millersville and MIH is exactly where the Lord wanted me! It has been a time of learning who I am as a person, who I am in Christ, and making my beliefs, journey, and relationship with God my own.

I spent three years living at MIH. I just moved out, back to my parent’s house in New Holland, at the beginning of this year to complete my student teaching, my final semester of college…yet I still visit MIH frequently and continue to attend Millersville Brethren in Christ Church, which means I am in Millersville most weekends :). MIH has been such a big part of my life, and I have so many awesome memories, experiences, and friendships that will last a lifetime!!! For those of you who aren’t familiar with MIH, it is located just a mile off of Millersville University’s campus and is home to about thirty students from 15+ countries! MIH is a “multicultural community where international students can thrive in personal relationships, professional development and spiritual formation” (www.mihusa.org). If you can’t tell, I like to promote MIH! :) Moving on, there is one friendship that blossomed out of MIH that has been especially significant in my life…and that is my friendship with Olga! Olga was the first person to really talk with me during my first visit to MIH (she gave me the low-down on everything about MIH and the current MIHers)…and our friendship has taken off from there, constantly growing! We have experienced so much together, learning lots from one another and growing in so many ways! Side note: about a year ago, Olga made the decision to return to her home country, Colombia, South America, to serve for one year at El Camino Academy, an international Christian school.

And now this brings us CLOSE to present day…

Amongst the busyness of student teaching, I completed my resume and application and applied for a few jobs, but choose not to worry too much about what would come next. I wanted to be able to put my all into student teaching, and I struggled to find extra time for the process of the job search. Four weeks ago, just two and a half weeks away from graduation, and no interviews yet, I received an e-mail from a teacher at El Camino Academy, the international Christian school in Bogota, Colombia where Olga would be serving for the 2010-2011 school year. The teacher was wondering if I would have interest in teaching at El Camino, as there was a need for a second grade teacher. As it turns out, this teacher had met my brother Henry (who was serving in Honduras and met this teacher at a missions conference in Bogota) and he had told her about me graduating with a teaching degree and encouraged her to contact me. So, this teacher had Olga’s e-mail and she e-mailed her about getting in contact with me about this opportunity. Olga excitedly told her that I would love to hear more about it and she gave her my e-mail. Then Olga very, very excitedly called me to tell me what happened. Olga is a very passionate person and she really felt strongly that all of this was happening for a reason.

Even though this kind of just “fell into my lap,” I too felt it may have happened for a reason. I e-mailed back that I would definitely be prayerfully considering the opportunity. It wasn’t long before the teacher and director of the school were regularly e-mailing and checking in with me. They did not at all pressure me to make any certain decision or in any set amount of time, but rather they just made it very clear that they were available and willing to answer any questions and to join me in prayer about it, only wanting me to join their team if it was where the Lord wanted me. I brought it all before the Lord, trying to discern His will, asking for direction, and spending time in silence. I also was in communication with some friends and family members, asking for prayers and advice/counsel. It was awesome how people responded, providing questions for me to think about and words of encouragement. Some of these people I sought out, while others sought me out on their own.

As I was processing everything, the Lord helped me to remain fairly calm and content..but I did struggle with some things, including the following: knowing how much time to take before making a decision, knowing how to discern the Lord’s will, trying to stay true to the Lord’s will no matter if it meant going or staying and working out some confusing “factors” in my mind (some stemming from my own thoughts and some verbalized by others):
-the fact that my friend was already going to be serving at El Camino…Will people thing I am just following her for a good time?
-the fact that my sister Steph also already made plans for a year of service overseas…Will people think I am just competing with her?
-the fact that I just recently decided to become a member of my church and now I would be turning around with this news and asking for support
-the fact that this really was the first opportunity that came my way—Am I just running with it because it seems easiest or because I’m afraid another opportunity won’t present itself?
-worrying about what I would do about my student loans
-worrying about the timing: I already made plans to spend June in CA with my grandma, I already made plans to visit Olga in Puerto Rico and Colombia in July, I was already committed to being in my friend Steph’s wedding in August...and I would have a lot to do and just a little time to prepare!

Despite these worries, silly or not, the Lord allowed my mind to become clear and worry-free. I began to start “seeing” things differently:
-Why can’t God call friends to serve together? He might want to use us as a “dynamic duo” or just as strong support systems for each other.
-I don’t have to worry about what others might think…I am only accountable to my Lord and Savior and His timing is perfect and He doesn’t make mistakes!
-It is not up to me to understand the Lord’s timing, it is instead my job to live by faith and obedience!
-I will be able to make the minimum payments on my loans.
-I think the Lord had CA in His plans all along as a wonderful opportunity for me to experience a change of pace in life and lots of time to prepare mentally and spiritually before leaving. There had been talk about visiting Puerto Rico and Colombia with Olga for several years now, but doors always closed…I think the Lord wanted the time to be now…and as it turns out, the day after I was scheduled to return home is the first day of teacher orientation, so I will already be in Bogota and I will just stay! I will be able to return to PA for a few days in early August to be here for the wedding! Why the short timing?—I think the Lord knew I couldn’t handle the decision process and distractions during student teaching.
-Praise the Lord! He is walking with me in all of this and details will continue to come together!

Random Analogy:
Somewhere in this decision-making process, I had the thought of all of this being like an alarm clock…the snooze button kept getting pushed, until it was finally time for the alarm to be turned off and the opportunity to fully present itself. So, the first couple “snoozes” were: visiting international Christian schools in Budapest and Hong Kong and visiting the international Christian school booth at a job fair (which caused me to have passing thoughts about possibly teaching abroad some day) and various people at different times suggesting that I should join Olga at El Camino (I always said, “no, this is Olga’s thing, I think God wants to grow our relationship through this time apart and with us doing our own things”…but still these comments planted seeds in my mind). Finally the off button was pushed with the e-mail from the teacher from El Camino. It was finally time for me to “wake up” and take a look towards my future and God’s plan. (Side note: those of you who know me well should know that this alarm clock/snooze analogy is actually quite funny and appropriate for two reasons: 1. I am addicted to the snooze button on my own alarm and have sleep issues, 2. I am a major procrastinator! So, why can’t I trust Him to work things out if I trust myself to do things last minute!?)

Different things came to mind throughout the process that further helped me to think that the time is now and the place is Colombia. 1. The position is regular ed (While I am dual elementary and special ed, I was beginning to feel that my place was really in regular ed, however I was being told that if you are dual you have to start in special ed if you want a job in PA). 2. The position is second grade (never actually had experience in second grade, just in the grades above and below it, but for some reason I always felt that my ideal grade would be second!) 3. The teacher whose classroom I would be taking over would still be at the school and would be an awesome mentor to me as a first time teacher and new teacher at the school!

A week and a half after the initial e-mail, after retreating to a park a few blocks from my house one evening, I felt that I was ready to make a decision. I felt that the Lord WAS calling me to serve at El Camino and that the timing WAS now. While the Lord didn’t “speak” to me through a dream, or angel, or flash of lightning…I did just have a feeling that it was indeed where the Lord wanted me and He gave me great peace about the decision. The Lord truly helped me see the opportunity in isolation from everything else on my mind. Actually, I remember walking home from the park with my decision made, but not yet revealed to anyone, and it hit me: wow, cool…my best friend will be serving in Colombia too…awesome added bonus!

So, it was now time for me to actually apply to the school…I know, things are a little out of order! While I was in close contact with the director and principal, and it was clear that the position could be mine if I wanted it, they still needed to review my application and check my references in order to officially accept me.
Ahhh…isn’t the Lord’s timing so amazing! I am definitely learning what it means to live by faith, not sight, and to cast all my worries upon the Lord! And wow, it has been so rewarding and freeing! I am amazed by the ways the Lord works…the ways He has and is preparing, protecting, and blessing me and pouring out his love and mercy in my life.

And we finally arrive back at present day…

Yesterday I received word that I am officially accepted as the second grade teacher for the 2010-2011 school year at El Camino…GOD IS SO GOOD! :)

Yesterday I also received acceptance from Resourcing Christian Education International (RCE) as an organization to go through. While I was initially hoping to go through BIC World Missions, God opened the door to go through RCE instead. I know they will be able to meet my needs and they work closely with El Camino. Especially considering the short timing, I think they will be able to best work with me in my preparations.

And now a quick look at the future…

now-June 1: working at the nursing home
June 2: leave for CA
July 5: return to PA
July 12: leave for one week in Puerto Rico and then on to Colombia
July 26: orientation starts at El Camino (school then begins August 9)

Well, if you made it to the end of this “book” I’ve just written, I’m impressed—well done, I hope I didn’t exhaust you too much!

Thanks so much for your love, support, and encouragement! I will continue to keep you updated as details and plans progress!

Love, Sophie