"Please Don't Send Me to Africa"

Well, the time has come again to announce another trip. This one has a bit different story.

Many of you have followed my trips, and heard my stories. I’ve always felt confident in where I’ve been sent, and the timing has always been exactly as it was supposed to be. But I have to be honest, I don’t exactly know how to tell this story. I don’t know how to start or how to reveal how I'm feeling about this trip.

I guess I need to start by talking about how I’ve always felt about Africa. As a child, thinking about helping people, Africa was naturally what came to mind or was implied. It was all people seemed to talk about with serving overseas. It’s was were the greatest need seemed to be, the place where the most impact could be made, on and on and on. Africa was never what my heart wanted though. It seemed too vast. The need too great. And not only those two very big factors, … but Africa SCARED me.  At a very young age I told God "never send me to Africa" It was the one place I told Him no about.  You see where this is going, don't you... This summer I'm going to be working in Africa.





It all began last October. Ever since coming back from Vietnam my plan was to return there again the upcoming summer. But our plans are not His, are they? In October Jubilee Fellowship held their annual Global Launch. At the Launch, the speaker mentioned something about knowing the nation you’d be called to (implying a long term permanent calling) . And I remembering thinking, “I have yet to have ONE place that I’ve felt called to permanently, and actually I have yet to go back to a country twice, but that will finally be different when I go back to Vietnam.” The speaker went on, but eventually again, in her closing prayer asked that God reveal nations to those He was sending. “MOROCCO” popped into my head. And my next though was “MOROCCO?? SERIOUSLY??? Uh, no, not happening.” I then spend time logically explaining why it was not an option. 
1. Africa. 
2. I know no one there, I have no connections to that part of the world at all 
3. I don’t even know any organizations that go there 
4. I’m going back to Vietnam, no where else. 
To me that was the end of the story, I put it from my head and moved on.

A month later I got a brochure from the organization I worked with last summer. It was titled “Help Pioneer New Projects in the Middle East” and I thought “Oh, not interested. I’m going back to Vietnam” but thought I’d read through it anyway. The first option was Egypt, sounded cool, but I still wasn’t interested. Next one.... Morocco. My stomach proceeded to drop to the floor and do a backflip or two. “Teach at a language center or university serving teenagers and adults in the beautiful costal city of Agadir.” This sounded like confirmation. Confirmation that I wasn’t looking for, and didn’t want. 

At this point, God was starting to get through my thick head.  But I wasn't quite ready to say yes.  I've never been given a lot of confirmation for any of my trips, but this one I wanted more and some blatant reassurance.  I decided not to tell anyone the name of this country as I was waiting for confirmation.  Over November and December I saw Morocco pop up everywhere.  It was used as an example in a class I was attending, it popped up on travel ads, and random people mentioned it.  I finally decided that I was being stubborn in waiting for more clarity and admitted that God was sending me to Morocco.  

I told the organization I’d be joining them at the beginning of January. And the rest of this month has been a process of wrapping my mind around it all.

I’m still not quite sure how I feel about this trip. It’s definitely not my idea or my ideal. Some days I can find ways to be exited about it, other times I’m very nervous and scared. This is so far beyond what I would have picked that I know it has to be God. I also believe that this trip is going to stretch me in new ways, even just because of how drastically far out of my comfort zone it is. 

These next 5 months are going to go quick. I’ll keep you guys updated when I know more and have some details. Thanks for your constant love and encouragement, my trips would not be possible without your support!

A Teacher's Heart, Flights, and Funds

I can hardly believe that it is already April, what has happened to this year????  First of all I want to thank you all for the support from my last blog, I had more views than I’ve EVER had! I was blown away! You guys are seriously the best!

Next, some quick updating.  When I last posted in January I was in the process of getting my substitute teaching license.  I did get it in February and started subbing within days of receiving the paperwork.  I’ve been subbing almost everyday since then, bare minimum of four days a week.  I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about being a sub, but honestly I found it kind of fun.  I have now taken a Long-Term Substitute Position, but I’ll explain more about that in a minute.  I loved the freedom I had with being a sub, the freedom to travel and discover all sorts of different schools, to be able to interact with a huge variety of kids, and being able to be a part of their lives, even if for just a day.  One of the other things I liked, was the freedom to not go back to a school or a classroom.  There is so much peace in knowing that things will only last for a set amount of time, for a day or a week.  So even on days when the students scared me, or refused to listen, there was always a hope and a joy for tomorrow, because who knew what tomorrow would be like? I found so much peace and comfort in that, and I’m working at learning to keep that perspective all of the time. 

As I subbed, I found several schools that I thought were pretty special.  The day before spring break one of these incredible schools asked me to be a long term sub for them, starting the week after spring break and through the end of the semester.  I quickly agreed! Spring break turned into a whirlwind of gathering what classroom supplies I had, and buying the critical ones that I needed.  Then last Monday my newest teaching adventure began with 26 fifth graders. 

These past few months subbing and this past week of being full time has shown me that I really did pick the right profession.  I love helping students discover the world around them.  I love seeing their “light-bulb” moments, answering their questions, and being able to be the one that they look to for guidance.  Being a teacher is such a special, and wonderful thing! I feel so blessed to be able to work with students every day and to get to watch them learn and grow.  They captivate my heart so quickly, that even I’m amazed by the depth of love I can have for students after spending a day with them, or how strongly I can feel towards my own students after a week with them. 

I am currently looking for a full time teaching position for the beginning of the school year next August.  But until then, after I make it through May, my focus is my amazing trip this summer. 

As most of you know, I have the wonderful opportunity to teach English in Asia this summer.  It will be a six week trip from June 20^th to August 2^nd, through an organization called ELIC, or the English Language Institute of China.  They are a non-profit organization that sends English teachers to a variety of countries in Asia, the Middle East, and even Northern Africa. But since they are a non-profit they cannot provide the funds to pay for their teachers to make these trips.  This means that I am having to raise funds in order to bless the students I will be teaching overseas.  This is where I need your help.  I have begun to have funds start to slowly trickle in, but I need to have 70% of my funds in by May 1^st.  Oh, May 1^st, that doesn’t sound to bad, you’re thinking.  But guess what, that’s only three weeks away! (Seriously what happened to this year??) I was also asked to be a team leader for our group since they needed a female in a more leadership role to help out as well.  I am so amazed by this request, and I feel so blessed to be able to do as they ask, but that has also created another financial problem.  I need to change my flights in order to be able to get the leadership training ELIC is providing.  If any of you have ever had to change your flights, you know, it’s expensive! It could cost me more than I paid for the flights in the first place.

Please consider helping me and donating to my cause.  I’ve seen so many people using links on Facebook to donate to whatever non-profit someone decides to share. Instead, would you please consider donating to my trip to be able to help students who don’t have access to education the way our students in America do.  Here’s the link to be able to donate: https://give.elic.org/ and then just enter my name in the teacher box. 

Thank you for reading, and for all of the support you have provided from my exciting overseas journeys starting with YWAM in 2013.  I always get so excited to write to all of you and share this crazy adventure. Please drop me a line to ask me any questions you might have, or to share the amazing things happening in your life.

Bring Me That Horizon

Hello all!

For those of you who had your curiosity piqued by the teaser at the end of my last blog... this is the blog you've been waiting for! And if you are just now tuning in, then you picked a great time to do so.

Knowing that I was graduating in December I spent a lot of time last year thinking about what to do when I graduated. I knew I wanted to teach, but I had a variety of options of how to go about that.  The thought of teaching internationally definitely came into my mind early on.  I spend time talking to others who had taught outside of the USA, as well as looking into organizations, and missions programs that I could join or participate in, but the more I looked the more overwhelmed I felt and the more discouraged.  Nothing I found seemed right for what I wanted or felt called to.  Add in some other life factors and I decided to give up on the idea.  Clearly God had other plans for me, and I just needed to figure out what those were.

Time continued to pass, and by the end of student teaching I had my next step lined up.  I was starting the process to get my substitute teacher license and was ready to do that and then figure out the rest of 2018 after the spring semester.  In November and December a lot of things in my life shifted, and as you would expect, shifts bring change.  These changes made me look back at why I had chosen to put aside my desire to teach internationally.  I also started re-evaluating when I found an opportunity that sounded like a dream come true for me.  I looked into this mind-blowing opportunity and the more I learned the more excited I became.  It was so much of what I had dreamed of, that I found it impossible to say no to it.  After only about a week my mind was made up and I began to take steps to get accepted into this program.  After another week or so and a few phone interviews I was accepted! All this to say... this summer I get the exciting opportunity to go teach abroad! I will get to spend six weeks teaching English in Asia.  As a high school student my dream was to teach in the USA during the typical school year, and then spend the summers teaching in other countries.  While this incredible teaching opportunity may only be for one summer (maybe, I make no promises either way) it still seems like exactly what I dreamed of doing.

If you would like to hear more about this, or if you would like to partner with me in this crazy endeavor, please message me, or comment on this, and we can get coffee, or tea, or lunch, or whatever you would like, and we can discuss all of this! I do have to raise funds to pay my own way, so if you are interested in partnering in finance (or in praying for me!!!) please let me know.  I will also be selling some products in order to raise some funds.  Check out the example pictures below and if you would be interested in purchasing any of these products please let me know and we can discuss details for those as well!

Ketchup

Hello to one and all!

I want to start by appologizing for never posting a blog about how my trip to Belize was last October (and by last I mean 2016). It was a wonderful trip, amazing people, fulfilling work, and lots of growth and strength.  If you didn't get to see my picture recap, or want to know more about how it was I would gladly share more anytime just let me know.  

Now, to the meat of the matter, (to go along with our Ketchup) this year of 2017 has been quite the ride! January brought me to my last semester of college on campus, and it was... well... I'm just glad it's over. By May I was so done with the lightrail, the campus, the crazies, the work, the homework, so the summer came as a welcome relief and break.  It was a rather casual summer, I continued to work some at Lifetouch, while just spending time getting some R and R.  We took a trip to Utah as well as a four-wheeling/camping trip.  Both of those trips were way to short to fill my wanderlust though.  

August has lead to my final step for my college education: Student Teaching.  This fall season has been one of the hardest I've dealt with, in ways I would never have imagined.  Between struggling with communication, doubting myself, my body fighting against me, and all kinds of emotional stress, this semester was tough.  As it's came to a close though I found myself sorry to be leaving, despite all of my struggles.  I left an amazing teacher, who has become an even better friend than she began as, as well as 90 students that I have grown to care about a great deal.

What's next you might ask? Your finishing college, then what? Those are the same questions I've been asking myself for the whole year.  God has slowly been feeding me step by step directions, but not at all making the whole picture clear.  This is the first time in my life that I have not seen clear plans for a year or more to come, and it causing me to lean into God even more and trust his plans for my life.  My next step is this current spring semester.  I am in the process of getting my substitute teaching license for this semester.  I'm hoping that by subbing I can find a school or at least an age that I want to teach at and with.  I look forward to the diversity and the variety that will come with being a substitute.

After this semester I'm looking at some bigger, more exciting things... But I'm not quite ready to share them yet until I know what God approves for me.  But stay tuned! and watch for my next blog post.. it should have some exciting news, soon! 

TWO Months away!

Hello one and all!

I meant to get this out sooner, and I’m sorry for not doing so! I’ll try to keep it quick and concise and yet informative. We are down to less than two months away from leaving for Belize! Some things have shifted around and our team is back to having 10 members.  We will be joined by a new member of the JFC missions team, Genelle Jackamore.  Our past couple of meetings have been a little more relaxed.  In July we met up for a casual BBQ and got to hang out and share stories and testimonies.  That meeting was by far my favorite so far.  I felt like I really got to know everyone then and it left me feeling more connected to them, and even more excited to go to Belize with them, spend time with them, and continue to get to know all of them! Our meeting in August, we started discussing more plans for the trip, as well as organizing our Drive in Movie fundraiser event (thank you to all of you who came out for it! It was a great night!) Our next two meetings we will continue to go over itinerary, packing, supplies, and all those kinds of fun things. 

            I also have some great news…. I am fully funded!!! Thank you to each of you for your support! It has been such a blessing to partner with you and see God work!

            Next I have a request for you: I would really appreciate if you would partner with me and my team in prayer.  We have recently found out that we will be visiting some dark places with strong forces that we know will try to attack us, break us apart, and tear us down.  I would love to know that my team and I will be covered by prayers from you for our entire 10 day trip.  From working at LOL, to all of the various villages we will be visiting and teaching at, I would love to know that we are covered from a home base, and not just going into this battle with our own prayers.  Would you be willing to join me? And commit to pray for us while we are gone?

Thank you for reading and for joining me on this journey J I love you all!

God bless

Dawn

The Countdown Continues

     Hello all! I just wanted to start by thanking all of you for your continued support, you guys are all amazing and I am so blessed to be a part of your lives.
     So, the most exciting news, which I somehow forgot to put in my last blog, was that we have plane tickets! YAY! It makes it feel so much more official and real knowing that we have the tickets bought and waiting for us.  The second update is that our team is now down to 9 people instead of 10.  This is a sad and a joyful thing, sad because we are losing our team member Jessica, joyful because the reason she can't come is because they just found out she is pregnant with their second child.  So exited for them, but also sad because I know how badly she wanted to be on this trip. 
     Our last few meetings we have started talking a little more in depth about what we will be doing while we are down there.  One of the most exciting this is that we will be getting to spend a full day in a village doing a sports camp kinda day with the kids there.  We will also get to do something similar for the kids at LOL, putting on a Fun Day, followed by a Fall Festival.  We spend the last meeting bouncing around a lot of ideas of games, crafts, and just general activities that we could do with the kiddos.  If you have any ideas of things feel free to let me know! We are still looking for more things, specifically something like a Home Depot kid's project, but other ideas are welcome too!
     We spend the last half of the meeting continuing to get to know each other more.  I finally am starting to feel like I know all of them, and am getting more and more comfortable with them.  I realized that after our meetings I always go home in such a good mood and full of joy. I can't wait to see what God has in store for all of us! I also can't wait to see how He is going to use and grow each of us during this trip, and even just our time together before the trip.  I think He definitely has something special planned for our team :)
     So now for the financial update, I have been incredibly blessed, and was way over my last monthy goal, and so now all I need by next month is $305.  After that, I only need $800 more and I will be fully funded! Crazy right?!? It's all happened so fast.  I know I am supposed to go on this trip, and the slow but steady inflow that God has provided has just proven that fact in my mind even more.  If you'd like to help let me know, there are online options or physical options, all of which can be tax deductible. 
     I still think this trip is going to change me, in what ways? That I don't know, but God keeps bringing up things that point to a revelation coming. I just pray that for every revelation I have, there is also someone in Belize that God will use us to impact as well.  I long to leave, four months still seems to far away.  But all in His timing, right?

Thank you for coming alongside me and supporting me in what ever way you can! I appreciate it, and I appreciate YOU! Much love and be blessed!
Dawn

The Team and Updates

Hey guys!

Hope you are all doing well! Just thought I'd give you guys a quick update on everything going on with my upcoming Belize trip. We have had two team meetings so far, and each one just makes me even more excited and expectant.  Instead of having 12 team members like we originally thought, our leaders, Bruce and Taylor, closed the trip with 8 of us being accepted, so with our leaders we will have a team of 10.  Bruce says that each time he has taken a team there has been some sort of theme that has united them, and this trip he is calling the Young Adult Team, with him being our oldest member, Taylor being the youngest, and the rest of us interspersed between them.  I am thrilled to say that of the 10 of us, I am related to three of them haha, both my brother and my sister-in-law were accepted as part of the team, as well as my awesome cousin Heather.  From there we will be joined by Rachel: our resident EMT and a co-leader, another sibling pair: Dan and Susanne Cooper, and our last team member Jessica, who is a chef and a mother.  Our first team meeting was a kind of meet and greet and a chance for us to get to interact a little bit with each other.  Bruce and Taylor believe that each of us is supposed to be on this trip and this team, and is crucial to the trip, and after meeting them I couldn’t agree more.  Each month I look forward to our meeting, and I can’t wait to keep getting to know them all more!!!

            Personally, I am starting to think this trip is going to be bigger than I imagined.  I can already tell that God is shaping me and changing me for this trip, and that big things are going to be happening between now and then, and of course during the trip.  To be honest… I find this rather terrifying.  I know I’m going to be pushed to my limit, challenged, and molded, none of which can be easy.  I think some of my spiritual gifts will be brought to the forefront, and that I will have to lean on God to find a new strength.  I have been told that I will be a warrior and a fighter for God. Which sounds awesome, but when we fight for God we deal with powers we can’t imagine, and that’s what I find so intimidating.  So prayers for strength, courage, discipline, and peace would be greatly appreciated. 

            As far as finances go, I’m doing good for April and am right where I need to be, but I do need about $500 more by the middle of May, if you feel like you’d like to support me please let me know and I can give you the information to do so. 

I am so thankful for all of you, and the support and love you have showed me! Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I’ll do my best to keep you posted J God bless!

Dawn