My real passion...a long time coming.

This is a post that’s been a long time coming, but I’ve been waiting to post it.

You see, I struggle with saying something, and then not following through with it. Which, when read, seems like a good thing to struggle with, but I’m actually not talking about honesty. I’m talking about dreams and goals. I am an introvert. Thus, it’s hard for me to say how I’m feeling. Now, I even more so don’t tell people things that I want to achieve in life, mainly, because things have changed a lot in my life. I’d rather not say “I’m going to do or be _______ when I grow up” because I feel like an idiot when I don’t end up doing or becoming ______. Perhaps for me it al relates to James 4:13-17:

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

You see, I feel like if I say something that I intend to do with my life, and then I don’t follow through, then I feel like I’m a total flake. I’m not the kind of person who “thinks out loud.” I process internally.

But, I’m going to go out on a limb, and begin writing about my ultimate passions. I went to a Bible school. I spent my first year in Spokane, Washington and LOVED it. There were only 150 students max at that campus, so it really was a great community. Then, I transferred to the downtown Chicago campus, as was my original plan. I would have stayed in Spokane, had they had my major (TESOL- Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Chicago was a really rough experience for me. My first year there, I lost every single one of my “friends,” and I lived in a dorm with only 4-5 upperclassmen. First off, I HATED dorm life. Second off, I really didn’t connect with anyone on my floor. Moving across the country at 18 years old really caused me to grow up fast, so going to dorm life with 18 year olds who hadn’t grown up and a roommate who hadn’t left her hometown (she was from Chicago), was just awful. But this is a rabbit trail, so let me get back to the topic at hand. However, many good passions came out of me going to Chicago, including what I am writing about.

Now, it’s unusual for a person to major in TESOL. Most people major in something else, and then get a certificate in TESOL. Several people I know have done this. But when I went to Thailand in 2005, and Ecuador in 2007, I KNEW that I wanted to major in this program, not get a certificate. I also wanted the Biblical education, as I knew I wanted to be involved somehow in international ministry. I thought that I would be a missionary, and that’s what I told everyone.

Well, the passion has not gone away. For the time, I know that God will not have Cody and I live overseas, but to instead (for me) to serve the international community in the US. Cody has never been overseas, and neither of us is feeling called to live overseas at this stage in our lives. This could someday change, but neither of us have felt God’s leading in this area. Cody really wants to be involved in the local church, but he doesn’t really have a geographical area of the US that he’s feeling called to. We know some places in the US where we don’t feel called to, but we haven’t quite received an answer from God as to exactly what he wants us to be! It has felt recently though, that it may not be in the present town that we are living in.

I LOVED my internship that I did last fall. I was interning at World Relief teaching English to refugees. I had interned there the previous year for my weekly ministry, but during this fall semester I was there two mornings a week. I was teaching the advanced levels with an extremely diverse class- I had students from Iraq, Iran, Bhutan, Nepal, Congo, Mexico, and Honduras. It was the greatest experience of my life. I loved my students and the entire experience. Here's some pictures!

One of my favorite students.

Now that Cody and I have moved back to VA, I’ve really been missing teaching English to refugees. I’ve been realizing over the past few months, that my true passion is humanitarian relief.It’s both a ministry and my passion. 


I have loved teaching ESL to kids, but it’s an entirely different world from teaching English to adults. Teaching ESL to kids is primarily teaching them how to read, which, while I do love, it’s not what I went to school for and it's not where my true passion lies. All of my classes and internships were geared for teaching English to adults. Teaching English to adults is amazing. These adult learners need to learn survival English, so, while you are teaching them how to read, you are also teaching them an entirely new language so that they can survive. When teaching ESL to kids in publics schools, they already know how to speak English. They primarily just need help refining their English and working on their reading skills. Adult ELL (English Language Learners) already know how to read, write, and speak in their native language, so you aren’t teaching them reading skills (generally). You are teaching them how to survive in America. This is my real passion.

World Relief is an incredible organization. Everything that they do is so amazing it brings me to tears. They have five main causes – stand for children, stand for women, stand for the displaced, stand for the devastated, and stand for opportunity. You can find out more information about World Relief on their website: worldrelief.org. They are one of the ten non-governmental, non-profit organizations that resettles refugees in the United States. The United States takes in a certain number of refugees a year. Just in case you aren’t aware, here’s a definition of refugee from the UNHCR: “Refugees have to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom. They have no protection from their own state - indeed it is often their own government that is threatening to persecute them. If other countries do not let them in, and do not help them once they are in, then they may be condemning them to death - or to an intolerable life in the shadows, without sustenance and without rights” (from http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c125.html). Many of my students had lived in refugee camps their entire lives. Some of them were born in refugee camps. This is NOT okay…and I want to do something about it.

James 1:27- Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

My passion is to serve the displaced in any capacity. My dream job would to be teaching ESL part-time to refugees and to be a case manager (reception and placement officer) part-time. A case manager or reception and placement officer is the refugee’s first point of contact in the US. This is the person that lines up a place to live and employment (and other things) for the refugee (and their family if they were able to come).

Cody and I have been praying about it, and we are confident that this is the direction that the Lord is taking us- for me, to serve to displaced; for Cody, to serve the local church. Our hope and pray is that together the Lord will accomplish many great things through us and that our lives can impact others.

As far as a timetable goes...we have no idea. One of the difficulties of getting married young is finances, finances, finances. So, for now we will be content where God has us. Maybe in a few years when we are more financially stable, we will ready to delve into our ministry. The big question is location...as we will have to relocate. I'm trying not to limit myself to just working with World Relief, but I would love to work for a Christian organization for humanitarian relief, so we'll see. Right now, we are praying for direction as to what our next steps will be and where we will be. 


“If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

Summer Academy 2011!

Summer school was phenomenal. Signing up for summer school back in the spring seemed like such a good idea at the time...I mean, hellooooo, extra money! But then the week before it starts, it doesn't seem like the best idea...I mean, my summer break was really only 6 weeks long. 6 weeks with not one vacation. 6 weeks with 12 undergrad credits and 6 grad credits. 6 weeks of being miserably busy! And then...summer school came with a BANG! But, at least I got 6 weeks to do all that, and I am thankful for that. I learned SO much this summer. Speaking of learning, I just read this awesome book for work called the "Five Dysfunctions of a Team." I'd highly recommend it! It only took about 1.5 hours to read, it was really well written, and it really got me to actively think about how important it is to be a team player. Read it!

But it really was such a great and fun experience. I really enjoyed it! I loved spending time with the kids outside of the regular school year and I think that it really built a bond between them and I. I have a substitute for tomorrow and Friday since I have new teacher orientation, and a couple of my kids were crying. It was sad- but sweet. Teaching summer school truly blessed me, and I am so thankful for a wonderful job with awesome teachers and wonderful students. On a plus, my body is now back in the routine of waking up at 5:30 or earlier...and I've been waking up naturally, without an alarm clock! :)

Here's some pictures of the week!

I got these flowers from a 2nd and 3rd grader. :)

On Monday,  I was teaching about Africa. So, during recess, without prompting, my kiddos found this! Such a proud teacher of her students!

I edited names and addresses out, but this is the work of a rising 2nd who had a LOT of difficulty with spelling last year. She wrote this by herself- I didn't help her spell anything. I am more proud of her than I think I have ever been of a student.

My theme was "Around the World in 10 Days." LOVED IT! I had the students create a passport on the first day, and they added stamps each day as we learned about new continents and countries. So fun! :)

I also edited the name off of this one. During writing for the past week and a half, we worked on an animal research book. The students all picked an animal, and we talked about the animals, and wrote about them. This was one of my favorite activities that I have ever done, and it was a HUGE hit with the kiddos.

Teaching English to Refugees

I really enjoyed this blog post. Here's a preview of it...

"They straggle into the classroom, some early, some right on time, some a few minutes late. I don’t hold it against them. This is not the willful laziness of college. My students haven’t opted to sleep late or chosen to stand outside the door talking with a friend. If they are late it is because of their work or because one of the three buses they take to make it to the school was delayed.

My students have not come to the United States as travelers, but as refugees, as people without a home. They are far, far braver than me. They astound me with their courage. I am amazed that they still laugh, that they bother to ask me how my day was, that they mourn for each other’s losses when their own are at least as great. It is because of this courage, this joy, and this compassion that I spend every Tuesday night in the windowless basement room of a church. It is because I have been given so much in a world where so many are given so little that I do my very best to teach my students the difficult language of a country that perhaps one day they will refer to as home."