New country, new team and new Ministry…
New, new, new- not a word I like or want to hear. At least not as often as I do. Being on the World Race I knew I was going to have to change and try new things but I wasn’t expecting it to happen all at once!
I can’t tell you how many times I was told “get ready for Malaysia it’s going to be way different from everything you know” or “watch out for the food you never know what you may be eating”. Malaysia may be 4 plane rides away from the U.S. but it is sooo similar! For starters people speak English, which is really nice!!! I don’t have to start acting something out and look like a complete idiot or start frantically start pointing to things!! Its such a big relief. The food is mostly fried rice, which I had growing up, so it’s not really a big change! And if it’s not fried rice it’s some kind of food that is spicy, which I absolutely love!! I was on edge coming here but now that I’m here I think I’ll adjust just fine! 🙂
My team! Oh my goodness I thought I was going to be on a horrible team, where I didn’t know anybody well enough to make friendships. Which is crazy because I like all 46 people on my squad but I haven’t build strong relationships with all of them. I thought our squad leaders were going to put me on a team with people who I haven’t had a chance to build a strong relationship with. Which completely scared me! Well…I was wrong. They placed me on a team where I already had built a friendship! It has only been a week but I already know that there will be friendships that will last a life time. Which is what I wanted coming onto the race!!!
Such a great minstry! I’ve always known I want to do something with kids but I was never quite sure what. It had gone between social work, nannying and teaching over and over in my head- I just couldn’t decide. Finally I knew I wanted to teach! I always thought it was going to be kindergarten so when I found out that we were teaching this age I was beyond excited!! We
were also teaching another class of 7 years old and older but I really didn’t want to teach them, so when we got offered to teach i jumped right up and took the kindergarten position! After the first day of teaching something wasn’t right. The other teacher who wanted to be in my class wasn’t and that didn’t settle well with me. I had the opportunity to switch classrooms. I knew one of my team mates had a heart for the little kids so out of obligation I switched with her but now that I switched I love it. Best decision I’ve made. Alaa is one of my little girls who I work with, she has a mild disability- I’m not sure what it is but when we tried teaching out of the book she didn’t understand it. Then when I taught her a different way it was like a light went off! It was just an amazing feeling to see her understand something! The smile on her face went to cheek to cheek! 🙂
It all may be very new and trying new things still isn’t my number favorite one thing but I’ve been very blessed. Blessed with a beautiful country, blessed with a team with big hearts, and very blessed with kids who are willing to learn no matter how hard it is!
