It’s a Malaysian life for me … that’s the tune I keep singing as I traverse the course of Month 7 on The World Race. It’s a month I almost didn’t see, for fear that staying on the Race was too much for me … I didn’t have anything left in me to offer. How wrong I was … I have Christ in me, and through Him I can do all things because He strengthens me.
This month, I have been so blessed to work with a program teaching English, assisting with administrative tasks, and trying to develop a curriculum for their program (which I am learning requires much more than planning your every day lesson), as I mentioned before. I love my life here in Gua Musang. Even amidst the stress of doing as much as I can before I leave, I truly have peace and joy that surpasses understanding here. I don’t know how to explain to others why I am happier serving and working from early morning to late night, rather than just slowing down to “hang out.” I can’t explain how in a place of community I am finding so much joy working independently to pursue this newfound passion. I can’t explain how much my heart doesn’t want to leave here a week from tomorrow. I can’t explain how hard it is to leave my new dream to finish my first dream (The World Race).
Let me explain what has been revealed to me this month. The big picture of the new direction my life will be taking upon returning home from the Race. The future that I am fighting so hard to keep in the future, so I can make it through the present and still experience the rest of my Race without it being done before I realize it. So here’s where my heart’s passion meets my giftings:
I always knew I wanted to be a teacher growing up, but something about college and student teaching put out that fire … but The World Race is bringing back my passion for education and for teaching. As part of a scholarship I received in college, I am required to teach four years in a public school in the State of North Carolina, so I will be pursuing that for the Fall of 2012, upon returning from the field.
As a first year teacher I will not begin further education immediately, but I will begin preparing to take the GRE and I will begin learning Spanish (mainly because it will be the easiest language for me to learn in a short period of time, with access to online programs and tutoring.) After my first year of teaching and studying, I will apply to get into a Masters program somewhere in North Carolina to pursue a MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and Applied Linguistics. Upon completing this degree and my four years of teaching, I will then apply to Campbell Divinity School to pursue a Masters of Divinity degree. While pursuing my Masters of Divinity, I will work on developing a curriculum for English Training Centers in Malaysia, specifically for the program we are currently working with, but hopefully this curriculum can also be published and marketed and the reach will expand much further than just Malaysia.
After completing my Masters of Divinity and upon completion of the curriculum, I hope to move to Gua Musang, Malaysia for a few years to train teachers in using this curriculum. Though moving to Malaysia is 10+ years down the line, I can’t imagine staying gone from here so long, so I hope to travel here for a month each summer between semesters and do on site research and development for the curriculum. Also, to just be back in the place that has captured my heart, even if just a small dose at a time.
I know this is ambitious, I know this may sound crazy, I know this sounds like a life of paying money out and not receiving too much money in return, but seriously, God has done crazier things … I mean The World Race seemed ambitious and crazy and expensive … but God provided. I have full faith that He will continue to provide for this new dream … I am so excited to take this passion and turn it into a ministry, and really see what God has in store for Malaysia through the English centers that already exist and the English centers that will one day exist.
Who said your dreams can’t change before you’re 25?
Please pray for me as I fight to keep grounded in the present for the final four months of The World Race, and as I pursue this new dream upon returning home.
Many Blessings from Malaysia!!!
