Hello fellow blog readers, this is Miss James reporting from a finished school year at Windswept Academy! During this school year, while simultaneously learning about how to be a better teacher and discovering much about the South Dakota culture present at this school, I was accepted to become a missionary going overseas to teach at a school I grew up going to! The school already has me penciled in as the English teacher for middle and high school, as well as the Math teacher for middle school, and as a person who can fill in for other roles as needed. Of course, teachers are used to being flexible- we have to for jobs such as these!
This opportunity is a dream come true for me. No joke, I have wanted to teach at this school since I was in sixth grade! I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in kindergarten, but I didn't even think about the fact that I could be a missionary and a teacher until sixth grade- and when I realized that I instantly knew that I wanted it. God has been so faithful in this- He has already allowed me to do so through teaching at Windswept Academy. He has opened the door to work with this missions organization and He has continually helped me throughout the past few months as I have filled out paperwork and worked through the details of going overseas full time.
The process went slowly in some ways and oh so quickly in others. For example, I reached out around the end of November to talk about the potential of reapplying as soon as I did. It took about a month to be told that I should go ahead with the application process. Over the Winter Break I had, I worked on filling out forms and applications to begin. By the end of February, I had an interview scheduled. It took a few weeks, but the First of March I was accepted officially as an associate missionary with Ethnos360. Then, everything began so quickly. There were forms and documents I needed to fill out to prepare me for going overseas and for processing payroll. I finished in the span of a month a few documents and enough information to apply for my Work Permit in Papua New Guinea.
It is amazing just how faithful God has been in this whole process. First, He showed me to Windswept Academy, knowing that it was exactly what I needed. I wanted to go to PNG much sooner, but the answer that I was told was that I needed to get experience in this field before I went to teach overseas. So, I had the whole US open to me- but I knew that housing would be an issue. This job I took on provided housing- a HUGE blessing. But even more than that, this school was in an area that showed a different culture than I grew up in- different from PNG and different from the American culture I saw in Arizona. This was exactly what I needed to get used to being uncomfortable, confused, and the odd one out. It was practice for what I will face in PNG. And He knew that!
He has also been so faithful with His timing and resources. Everything that is mine is His. The whole world is His. So, He has used some of His people to stand behind me financially, as well as in prayer and encouragement, to prepare me to go overseas. I am shocked at how logistically this process has gone, and I am so thankful that God has been behind this whole process.
I know that I am not overseas yet. I have been following this path as a dream of my own, but also a way that I know God can use me. However, He still (and always will) have full control. If He does not want me going over there, He will prevent me from being able to go. Or, like He did for my family, He might take me off of the mission field sooner than I would have chosen (I would like to make this my life-long career). He has the ability and permission to do it (and He does not need the permission from me at all!) Yet, He has kept so many doors of opportunity open and He Himself has opened doors that once looked shut to me.
I am always reminded of the verse in 2nd Timothy when it comes to talking about God's character, especially faithfulness. Paul says, "if we are faithless, he remains faithful- for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). He is faithful to His Word and His character, even when I constantly fail Him. And I do!
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