Love God. Love Others. Love Indonesia.

How do I start a blog post about my recent life changing decision?

Let's go back to ten year-old me sitting on the couch after church with my mom. The all familiar World Vision commercials flashed across the screen, and I admit, they got me. While the commercial showed adorable kids in tough circumstances, a voice asked a simple question: "Do you have room in your family for one more?" Mom tells me that I turned to her and asked, "Do we?" How could she resist that? ha ha.

This is how our family came to sponsor Putri Maisaro, a six year-old girl from Indonesia. This is also how I came to be very interested in this faraway country. At the time, Indonesia seemed as familiar a place to me as Narnia or Bear Country (come on, Berenstein fans). I used to dream about meeting Putri someday, and by the time I was in high school, it was near the top of my bucket list.

What else was near the top? "Become a teacher." This was always at the top of my list, and it was always the same answer when someone would ask me that obligatory childhood question: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" My answer never changed except for a brief time near the end of my Arts degree when I reconsidered my career choice. I wanted to make sure that this was what I was meant to do, that it was part of God's ultimate plan for me, that I wasn't just pursuing that because I'd always wanted to. So I took a year to teach English in Quebec, and I found that I loved teaching. During that year in Quebec, I also heard about this school in Indonesia where some relatives of some relatives were working, so I emailed them.

I asked what I needed to do to work there. I asked what kind of education they required their staff to have. Unfortunately, I did not meet the requirements at the time. I can't properly explain my feelings towards Indonesia or why they existed, and it took until now to see God's hand in all of this.

I just want to take a minute to emphasize that too often we stress about God's plan in our lives. A friend recently quoted another friend to me. God's plan for our lives is fairly simple, for the Lord gives two commandments. To love God. To love others. It's very clear in the Bible that if God cares so much for the sparrows and the lilies, then how much more must he care for us? I've made the mistake before of stressing what I'm "supposed" to do. We're supposed to love. So, stop worrying; take it from a first class worrier, it does nothing. Just trust. Find peace.

Anyway, fast forward three years after my year in Quebec, and this past fall, I started worrying about what I'd do after finishing my B. Ed teaching practicum. I know, there I went worrying. But I assure you, worrying did nothing. After my practicum, I could either take the job offer from the school I did my practicum at in China, or I could return home and go from there. So, after prayer, consideration, and some wise words from friends and mentors, I returned home. This was a very difficult decision and disheartening in many ways. The upside was that I was coming back to a great workplace at Wee College where I've been very happy working. I still didn't know what the next year would bring though, and I had decided to just trust. It seems simple, and surprisingly, it was.

Remember that school I had inquired about in Indonesia. Well, I applied there. I prayed a lot about this decision, and I continued praying in the months following my application. The Lord surprised me over and over again as things came together. I felt so at peace with the whole thing, and even if I didn't get a job offer, I felt good about the process. I had no feeling of dread or stress because I knew so surely that regardless, I would still love God and others in the outcome.

Now, I won't lie and say that I was indifferent to whether I got the job or not: I so badly wanted this. Yes, I was nervous to hear whether I had the job or not. Yes, I was borderline a nervous wreck the night of my Skype interview, but it was a nervous excitement. I ultimately felt a peace about whatever the result would be.

A few weeks ago, a package arrived in the mail for me. Inside was a contract. Wahoooo!!! While I'm scared about many things in this decision, and there were difficult sacrifices that came with it, I know that this is the right decision and it is a blessing. God is faithful, and I can't believe that I am finally a teacher. I can't believe that I have the chance to love God, love others, and love Indonesia.

So, as of July 14th, I will be in Jakarta, Indonesia as the third grade teacher at Sekolah Pelita Harapan International School.

One last thing. A quote I saw on facebook yesterday:

“You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again.”
― Azar Nafisi