Tuesday, June 15, 2010

And thus it begins...

Three weeks ago, I never would have thought we'd be where we are today. For those of you we haven't been in contact with recently, here's the story:

Back in February, a friend emailed me a link to a job that was posted on Kuyper's website; it was for Global English School in Thailand. I emailed the contact person to inquire about a job, but I wasn't really sure if I would be qualified to teach at a school. He emailed me back and said that there were no open positions for the upcoming school year.

At the end of May (about three weeks ago), I received another email from the contact person. He said that two positions had suddenly opened up at the school - one for third grade and the other for high school English. He asked if I was still interested and available for an interview. I replied, and two days later I had a phone interview. A day or two after that, Michael also had a phone interview, and eight days after the initial email, we found out that we both got jobs at the school!

Thus, we are moving to Thailand. This whole thing still seems completely nuts to us, but it is absolutely God who has placed this whole adventure right into the center of our lives. School starts on June 16 (yes, two days from now!), so we're doing our best to get there sometime this weekend so we don't miss too much right at the beginning. I will be teaching high school English and history (apparently - I just found out that second part today), and Michael is labeled as a "teacher assistant" right now, but we aren't exactly sure what that means. :) We'll find out the job description when we get there, I guess!

So, the last week has been spent getting all the paperwork together, applying for visas, packing, moving everything out of our apartment, and attempting to hang out with as many friends as we possibly could with all the "spare time" we had. We somehow managed to get it all done (thanks to all who helped - we couldn't have done it without you!) and are currently in Lynden visiting Michael's parents and our friends here. We plan to catch a flight to Thailand sometime this week - we'll let you know when that is once we have the tickets!

One word I would use to describe these last few weeks is "whirlwind." Some of you may be wondering why we are doing this and what in the world is going through our minds at this point. Honestly, friends, we are completely at peace about this whole thing. Before the email came, both of us were rather frustrated with our lack of direction. I, for one, was angry that I could not find a job and that nothing was working out. If I had found a job in those weeks after graduation, though, we would not be on our way to Thailand. God had this in the plans the whole time - we just had to wait for it. (something I am not very good at)

Are we worried about anything? Not particulary. The school is providing us with housing (on or at least next to the school campus), health insurance, a salary, and reimbursement for our plane tickets. Everything we need is taken care of. Personally, I'm a bit nervous about being thrown into a classroom after school has already started, but I know that everything will work out. As someone told me recently, "The safest place to be is in the center of God's will." That about sums it up! We mostly are just looking forward to the adventure of it all. Moving overseas is something we wanted to do anyway - what better time than right now?

If you would like to know a little more about Global English School, you can check out the website at http://www.ges.ac.th/

We will keep you updated as we go along - thank you all for your thoughts and prayers as we go through this transition and begin our work as teachers and ambassadors for Christ in a new country!

2 comments:

  1. Have fun! I can't wait to see a picture with Michael and his goats. ;)

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  2. WOW!!!!! Congrats to both of you! prayers and blessings in this unexpected adventure! safe travels and may the adjustments go smoothly.
    ~Catie J

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