The Starting of it All

WARNING: I am not a writer.... deal with it!!

Sorry about the length of this first blog. I had to get the whole background of how I got to where I am now. The next blogs will probably not even be close to this length. Enjoy!

Now, to start the story of how I got to where I am at this moment. This "feeling" of being a student missionary has always been in my heart. I love to do mission work and always thought it would be nice to actually go be a missionary for a longer period than a week. This “feeling” got significantly stronger in March of 2011. I kept telling myself, “I can’t go do this, I have a pretty good job and why would I want to leave that.” I kept fighting it and fighting it. I have worked At Camp Wakonda for the past three summers now, and have loved it. Well, this summer at camp, there were ex-missionaries there that were just on my case of how I should just go do it and it was the best experience of their life. I could just see that they were happy with the decision they made and did not regret it at all. It really made me want what they had; that life changing experience story to tell everyone. At camp there was also a staff member that was going to be a missionary at the end of camp. She just seemed so excited to be going and this really made me start to think of the possibilities. So, what did I do, I prayed.

I had graduated from Andrews University at the end of December of 2010. At the beginning of the 2011 Fall Semester is when it really started to hit me and I remember thinking, “this is not a “feeling”, but now a calling!” The confusion now was, where? So, what did I do again, I prayed. There were just so many options and callings that were open. I knew I wanted to go somewhere, but where? One person would tell me to go here and another to go there; both having very good reports of the places that they went.

By the end of September I had narrowed it down to an island somewhere. So, the next step was start talking to Andrews Campus Ministries Department. They told me a couple islands that I could go to which included: Majuro, Jeh, and Ebeye. I had heard stories of all of them and they all sounded great to me. So, one day I told the missionaries office that I wanted to go to Majuro. Right away they started the process. I just had this feeling that this choice that I made wasn’t right; I wasn’t going to the right place. So, I prayed some more and I finally came to the conclusion to go to Ebeye in the Marshal Islands. I immediately went and told the department that I wanted to switch. After I told them this decision I felt so relieved. I knew it was the right decision.

So, now to get the funding for this decision I have made. Where was I going to come up with the money I needed? I had three months to get the amount I needed or I was not going to be able to embark on this journey for God. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed some more. I started to make my phone calls and within just a few days I had all the money I needed to go. “Alright God, you want me to go I get it!” I am just very thankful to these donors that were willing to fund me. There is no way that I would have been able to do this on my own.

Everything just kept falling into place; vaccinations were done, appointments were met, paper work filed, money received, and plane tickets bought. All of this brings me to the last week of The Starting of it All. I received an email from the principal in Ebeye and he informed me that he wanted me to teach 6^th, 7^th, 8^th grade science, 10^th grade biology, and 12^th physics. Wow! That is a very big responsibility. But, I kept telling myself that if God wanted me to teach this than I would do just fine. Some voice in my mind just kept saying, “Just email the principle back and tell him that would like to just teach the sciences.” I was alright with that voice, because I had never taken a physics class and haven’t taken biology since the 10^th grade. So, I emailed him back. The next day he counter offered me to teach 9^th grade English and P.E for high school boys. I knew right away that it was for me and emailed him right back and told him, “Yes!!” I love sports and being active and I can teach some English….! Hopefully it stays with these classes; who knows it may change again.

This brings me to the last couple days of this week. So far I have traveled on two different airplanes. Starting with the first one leaving Chicago Saturday morning and then changing planes in San Francisco heading to Hawaii! I have a one and a half day layover here and am excited to see the island life. I am staying with this awesome family that was willing to take my friend Emily (another SM going to the same place) and I in and give us a home for this layover. Last night I got to experience a New Year’s Eve in Hawaii. Crazy stuff; lots of fireworks EVERYWHERE!!!!

Well that is all for now. I will be updating this blog with more postings and pictures every so often so stay in tuned for more of my adventures. I am very happy about where God has been leading me in these past few months and am excited to see what will happen from here!