Okay, so I guess I should introduce you to what my opportunity is in the near future.
Right now, as many of you know, I am processing a lot of information from my recent visit to Israel. In the coming weeks I might bring up a few discussions about things I learned and saw while I was there. However, for right now I want to talk about Romania.
I think I first need to rewind to a year ago. So I had just finished my semester at Grand Valley State University and was headed to spend the summer with my parents before my last year of undergraduate work which would be at Kuyper College. One of my major goals for the summer was to find out what opportunities were out in the world for using my TESOL certificate and specifically to teach in the Philippines.
After a lot of information searching it was determined that I would need to wait until late February or early March before I could even apply for something professional. It was crazy scary for me to think about going another year with out work. Through much prayer and support from my family and friends I made the decision to put off looking for work until sometime in February.
I had the trip to Israel planned so I figured I wouldn't be starting a professional position until mid-May at the earliest anyway. Plus what regular or entry level job will give you three weeks off after just starting. It was a tough decision, but I felt comfortable with it.
Fast forward to February of this year. I was looking at my financial situation and beginning to worry about how I would be rebuilding my savings to be able to start paying on student loans shortly after graduation. Then on February 9th I got a message from one of my pastors. One of our supported missionaries was looking to fill a need and he thought I might be interested.
Long story shortened a bit.... through much communication and a lot of uncertainty I am almost complete with a very long and complex application process to work with a missionary team in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The missionaries have said they like what they have read and heard from me and have extended the invitation for me to come for a visit to see if I feel like it would be a good fit. The mission agency is working on the details of a job description and a budget.
This summer (June 24-July 4) I will go for a visit they are calling a "Vision Trip" and officially meet the team I would be working with. At this point no final decisions have been made and no expectations are set. It would be too easy to just say, Yes this is what is going to happen. I have to have patience to wait out the next 5-6 weeks to see how God will lead both myself and the mission team in making this decision.
If things go well during my visit this is what my near future would look like: find a job that I can be vague about how long I'm available, downsize my physical possession to be put up in storage somewhere, try to be able to afford a couple of visits to family, wait out my lease and fundraising time, then Lord willing I would leave for Cluj sometime in October and stay for about 9 months.
Just so you are aware, there is a possibility that if that 9 months goes extremely well and I feel called to commit to a longer time they would welcome that idea. If that is the case I would come home for a time and begin raising more substantial support in the form of monthly givers rather than just one time donations.
No comments:
Post a Comment