[financial update]
Wow, God is so good! As of today, September 21st, I have just broken $8,000! Thank you SO MUCH to all of you who have helped me come this far. You all have been such an immense blessing from the Lord and have taught me so much about generosity and kindness, whether you know it or not. I have an appointment to speak to a church board in Northern Colorado this next Monday the 26th, and I would really appreciate prayer for that meeting. I need another $2,000 (for a grand total of $10,000) before I leave for final launch in January, but I don’t feel scared about meeting this deadline. God has blessed me so much thus far with providing a huge amount of funding, and I know that He’ll get me to the deadlines in His timing.
If you’re looking for ways to support me, I have a few remaining t-shirts for sale (smalls, larges, x-larges, and large tank tops) for $20. I am also still partnering with Handmade by Heroes to sell parachord keychains for $15, and they are still giving me a percentage of profits when people use the coupon code “joanna”. If you’re curious as to what Handmade by Heroes is, how this company supports disabled US Veterans, or what these keychains look like, please check out my most recent blog post!
[departure and details update]
It’s blows my mind when I remember that I leave for training camp in less than a month (October 19th-29th), and when I get back from training camp, will be leaving for final departure in a little over three months! I’ll still be flying out to Georgia for launch on either the 7th or 8th of January, and from there, will be boarding my first flight to India.
At training camp, we’ll get getting more information about the ministry we’ll be partnering with in India, so I’ll keep you all updated on that! I’m excited to see where we’ll be, and I’m really praying that we get to do something with teaching English, because student teaching has showed me just how much God has prepared me for some sort of future in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL).
Thus far, we have had two route switches; we will now be going to Zimbabwe instead of Botswana and Albania instead of Greece. I am excitedly expecting God to show up in great ways, and know He will do this wherever we are. And, Victoria Falls is located in Zimbabwe, so we’ll see if our team decides to do any bungee jumping on our days off of ministry!
[heart update]
I don’t even know where to start. I literally just sent my sister a Facebook message that read “my life is in shambles.” Don’t get me wrong, my life isn’t in shambles. But I will say that this is the first major amount of time where I haven’t been able to look more than about 3 days ahead. I’ve been student teaching for about two months now, and I can say with confidence that this is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done… not even in terms of work load, but in terms of my heart and my spirit. I’m teaching in a harder school, and we have a very high minority and low SES student population here, which is in no way bad whatsoever, but is just different for me as someone who came from a K-12 private school. I have about 150 juniors and seniors spread throughout 5 blocks of American Lit. Most of my students are low-level readers and writers, and have, without a doubt, been “failed by the system,” or something like that. My students are completely aghast that they have to read one book on their own time between now, the 21st of September, and the 28th of November, and the majority of days, I leave thanking God that I only have to be here through the end of December.
Let me make something clear; I still want to be a teacher. I know that God has given me the spiritual gift of teaching and encouragement, and I don’t believe that I would truly be living in God’s plan for me unless I was teaching. I just don’t know if I’m called to be teaching in this exact environment. Which is ok! The more time I spend in an English classroom, the more I find myself asking God if I’m called to an ESL environment; what an awesome way to combine passions for missions and teaching together into something I can do sustainably. To be honest, I feel like I’ve been learning way more about God than I have about teaching these last two months; I’ve had my eyes so opened to the ways that God has gone before me, the resources and people He’s put in place to make sure that I have just what I need to get through each day, and the promises He’s made that he will never leave me or forsake me. Last night, a friend commented that maybe, just maybe, this is exactly what I need this semester. I need to see God in a new, hard way, and I need to be reminded that He’s got me, even when I feel completely ineffective in the role that I’m filling.
If you’re reading this, would you pray for me throughout this next month? There are some major prayer requests that I’d like to present to you. First, please pray for my meeting with the church missions board next Monday. Pray that their hearts would be open to what God is telling them, whether or not that means supporting my trip. Second, please pray for stamina as I continue throughout this semester. Pray for physical health and for my eyes to be open to the blessings and small kindnesses that God provides for me each day, and that I wouldn’t be so frustrated and closed off that I can’t open myself up to see what God has for me. And third, please pray for training camp. I’ve spent time talking to past racers, and almost all of them have told me that training camp is one of the hardest physical, emotional, and spiritual things they’ve ever done. I’m incredibly scared, mostly because I can hardly make it through a week of teaching without feeling completely wasted, let alone 10 intense days in the middle of Georgia. Please pray that God would begin preparing my heart and my body now, and that I would have enough time management and self control to set aside time to simply be in the presence of God before He takes me on this adventure.
Thank you for reading, praying, and being such incredible supports in my life life. I love you all, and will talk soon <3
