Back story: During my junior year of college I realized I needed to choose a minor to pursue. Almost on a whim, I decided to take a Linguistics course just to see if I’d have any interest in the field. I loved the class and decided to minor in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). The final requirement for this particular minor was a practicum where I would gain firsthand experience in a classroom. In July of 2013, I joined a group of students led by our linguistics professors to Klaipeda, Lithuania to teach at an intensive English program for 3 weeks at LCC International University. There I met people from all over the world, primarily Eastern Europe. One such man was Igor Avram, an English teacher from Moldova whose student, Diana, had earned her place at the program by winning a competition at her school. Igor and Diana told me all about their home country, a tiny place I had scarcely ever heard of.
Fast forward nearly 2 years to now: After hearing about our route change from Estonia and Latvia to Romania and Moldova (a change that occurred before we ever launched) I contacted my two Moldovan friends to figure out whether or not we’d be able to meet together. When we got our host information for this month, I saw that our team would be less than 2 hours from Chisinau, the capital city, home to Igor and Diana. We met up in the city during our off day and marveled at how great it was to be reunited.
For any who don’t know, Team Chrysalis had a change in ministry about halfway through this month. We are now doing a time of Unsung Heroes/Ask the Lord. Basically, we have the opportunity to seek out contacts for AIM to partner with, places where future teams can go and serve. We also have the flexibility to work with one or more of these organizations we find during our time here, as the Lord leads. We moved to Chisinau to plan/prepare and felt God wanted us to stay here for a time and see what work He’s doing in the city.
Now, for the circle to be completed: After a meeting with Igor, we spent this morning at New Elim, the school where he teaches English. We were able to meet some students and give a few presentations about our time on the Race and how God has used our travels to grow us. We met with the principal and plan on returning as often as we can next week to help the teachers in their classrooms and give the students more exposure to “native” English. We also spoke with the principal about the possibility of future teams coming and working with their school as well.
My point in sharing this story is just to remind us all that we do not live in a world of coincidences. The God of the Universe has a master plan, and He cares about even the tiniest of details. If He had never given me a heart to pursue TESOL, if Diana hadn’t won’t her competition, if our route hadn’t changed and He hadn’t led us to Chisinau, we would have never made it to Igor’s school today. When I think about how He orchestrated each part of this string of events, I can’t help but be amazed at how He works. I’m reminded not to take any moment for granted, to be present in each situation. I want to love the people He puts in my path, whether they’re in my life for 10 days or 10 years. He works all things together for His good and His glory.
I’d like to believe when we get to Heaven and see the divine movie reel of His story playing across the big screen, our only response will be to smile and say, “Yes, it all makes sense now.”
