Sit back and grab a latte (mint mocha is my fav) as the story unravels of how it came to be that I am destined to Africa!!!
As soon as I arrived on campus-Richmond, VA (Aug. 08)- bags still in hand, they began to pass out thick binders. The contents in the binder were a bit overwhelming, but the one thing inside that would really weigh us down was a list of over 5,000 jobs with 12,000 job openings and over 500 locations. Looking at that list the only thing I could think about was how in the world can I pick on of these jobs/locations that will determine my life for the next 2 years. I had to take a deep breath before my heart would skip a beat.
The 1st thing they tell you is that in the back of the binder there is a sheet that needs to be turned in on Friday and today was Tuesday, with your top 3 jobs/locations. My jaw bout hit the floor. So that night I opened the scary binder that taunted me “I will determine your future”. The thing that I looked for during my 1st skim through the list was anything that had to do with children’s ministry. Now there were plenty of jobs in there for teaching positions, I even got a personal letter asking me to be a teacher in China. But that was not what I was looking for? I was looking for CHILDREN’S MINISTRY.
The list contained ONE job listing for a children’s minister, and that was in Indonesia. INDONESIA, I don’t even know where to find Indonesia on the map. Well, that is what I wanted to do and so I said ok I got my top one fore the list and I’m not willing to do anything else so I guess I am going to Indonesia. But my spirit was not totally at peace with Indonesia.
Well, Friday rolled around and we were suppose to meet with the region we put as our top one. But before our meeting we had some free time (more like a lil’ break) and I was sitting at my assigned table and the presentation table that happened to there, all week, was Africa (CESA-Central, Eastern, and South Africa) There were only 3 presentation tables in the room all 8 others were in the lobby. So I could just have a 2nd top job I asked if they had any children’s ministry positions in this region and the lady said, well, I think we might so let me send an email to the people staying in Africa and find out. ( They didn’t have any children’s ministry openings on the huge , overwhelming, and taunting list). I then had to run to my region meeting with the Pacific Rim. After that we were to eat lunch with our region. So I went to lunch and found out someone else was going for the position in Indonesia and she was a kindergarten teacher, now I didn’t mention this before, but I got an email from the people in Indonesian saying that within that job they were wanting to start a kindergarten class-how ironic, I know. SO, then and there I knew that Indonesia was not for me. So I then bolted for the table where the Africa region was sitting and the lady I was talking to earlier had an empty seat next to her as I plopped down and began to chat. As she began to describe the need in Africa my heart began to burn with passion.
After lunch we were to turn in our sheets with our top 3. So I made a quick phone call to my parents to tell them all that had happened that morning and where my heart was leading me. So I then ran upstairs to turn in my paper and right then, before the man walked in to collect my the papers with our top choices I changed my top job/location from Indonesia to Africa.