I think it would be a good plan to make sure that everyone knows the broader story behind why I feel called to move to Germany. To some the job of living with high school students 24-7 sounds crazy and exhausting to say the least, and it probably will be some days, but for me it is a dream come true.
Even while I was in high school I wanted to be involved with youth ministry. I counseled at numerous camps for church before I graduated. After graduation I started doing Jr. High ministry at Gateway Church, where I had grown up. I was in the middle of my first year of doing this when I applied to Multnomah University to double major in Bible & Theology and Youth ministry. I was accepted and started in January of 2010. A week after I arriving there, while sitting in one of my core classes I heard about an organization called Royal Servants International. The founder, Loui Inks, had attended MU and was recruiting college students to go on one of the trips that the organization sent out. He started listing them off and I will never forget when he said "Ireland". I just knew I had to go and spend the summer leading American teenagers. I remember going home that night and telling my mom that I was going to Ireland that summer. A few months later I was there, loving American and Irish students. It was the most challenging and most rewarding thing that I had done up to that point in my life. But I walked away knowing that I wanted to do it again because, even through the challenges, there was such amazing joy that came from seeing students come to a deeper understanding and love for God.
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| My "D-Group in Ireland |
The following February I went to Germany with a group from Multnomah to help at a middle school camp for Military kids. We were helped Cadence Student Ministries to put on this four day long camp and I was a photographer as well as a mentor and all around handy-woman. It was an amazing trip for me because it was the first time that I got work with TCKs (Third culture kids). I loved listening to them and hearing their perspectives on life and the world. I was challenged to be a better leader and youth worker when I was with them. Little did I know that this was planting the seed for my future ministry passion.
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| Some of my team with the band from the camp |
That following summer I went back overseas with Royal Servants, but this time it was to Nepal. I had no idea why God was calling me there, but I am always up for an adventure and I am learning to trust that He knows me better than I do. It was an amazing trip filled with challenges that I never could have prepared myself for. God brought me to the place where I had to lean on him and completely surrender my goals for the trip. I have never reached the point of complete exhaustion before that trip and I'm so glad that I had to go through it because I think it was preparing me for what I could go through in the future.
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| Playing with a little girl whose mother escaped from the sex-trade |
Now, as I mentioned in the first post, it was at the end of this trip that I was talking with one of my team leaders, Bethany. I was processing through all the thoughts that I had had all summer: I want to work overseas longer term, I want to work with high school students daily, and I would love to live with them. This was when Bethany suggested that I look into Black Forest Academy. The idea stuck and when I got home I looked into it and as the weeks of researching went by I became more and more intrigued.
I was very interested, but it was still just an idea. I was in a class that semester (fall 2011) that was focused on helping us find our future career opportunities. Part of this was taking a test called the IDAK. This test combines our innate skills, and our passions to help you find the best possible fits. I loved this because when I got the results it said that I should look for a "job overseas, full time, working with English speaking students". Then the test gave me a code to look on a job finding resource and when I put that in BFA was at the top of the list! I have to admit I was a little surprised and thrilled at the same time. From that point on I started talking about the potential of going and being an RA there with a lot of random people and God used every one of them to encourage me to look into it further. I kept meeting people who had just gotten back from there and could answer all of the questions that I was building up.
In January I started looking into what mission agency I should go with and after a lot of prayer and researching of various organizations I settled on TeachBeyond. I started the interview process with them and was accepted in mid-April. Simultaneously, I was applying with BFA and once I was accepted by TeachBeyod I went through and interview with the former. A week after my interview in late May I was accepted!
And thats the story. I have learned so much through the process that I have been on in just the last few short years and I can't wait to see what is ahead. If you are reading these posts I want to thank you! My prayer is that this journey not only builds and encourages myself, but also many of you. He is a God with huge dreams for us! Dreams that are so much bigger than we can ever have for ourselves. I'm learning to continually surrender my own to Him so that His can work out in my life.
