God brought me to Honduras

For those of you who have not quite figured it out yet, I am spending a year teaching in Honduras. While I was stressing out and trying to figure out what to do with myself after graduating college, God was beginning to lay out his plan for my life in front of me. Back in March I signed up for an interview with a school from Honduras that was recruiting at Hope. I went into the interview thinking that it would just be a practice interview and that it would be good for me to dip my toes into the interviewing world. However, when I walked out of it, I knew they were part of something amazing and I wanted in. I called my dad right away and told him every detail about it because I was beyond excited, and I remember him asking me this: “Ok, so if Teach for America (the only other teaching job I had applied for at the time) and this Honduras school both offered you a position tomorrow, which one would you take?” I was completely stumped and could not give him an answer because I liked both programs a lot. Lucky for me, the decision was not mine to make. Soon enough God showed me the answer when Teach for America turned down my application and the school in Honduras offered me a position. It was set: I would be spending a year teaching third grade at Abundant Life Christian School in La Unión, Honduras.

Since deciding to uproot myself and move to Honduras for a year for my first teaching job, the Lord has continued to open doors and helped me feel secure that this is what I was made to do. I mentioned to my mentor teacher, that I was student teaching under, about my plans and she spread the word around the school. All of the teachers and the staff in the school donated more supplies to me than I could have ever imagined, in fact I was overwhelmed with materials! They gave me books, scissors, pencils, markers, glues, math manipulatives, drawstring backpacks, construction paper, stickers, paint, etc. After getting over the initial shock of receiving all those supplies, it dawned on me that I had no idea how to get it all down there. After trying to come up with as many options as my brain could – packing extra suitcases, shipping it down, leaving it with a friend for someone to pick up – and then finally emailing my director, Jake, the answer was simple! His parents lived in Holland, Michigan, just a short drive from Hope, and I could take as many supplies as I wanted to their house; from there, Jake would be visiting Michigan a few times that summer and could fill up his suitcases with the things, and his church would be going down on a mission trip as well. This was a huge God-send because I would not have been able to fit all those boxes in my car for the drive back to Colorado, let alone my suitcases for Honduras.

Other blessed connections came later that summer. First, I have received countless donations from people who have heard about what I’m doing. I cannot thank my mom and her friends enough for all that they have given me in order to support my endeavors and help make my classroom the best one these students have ever seen. Second, my mom heard about a guy in Fort Collins, an hour drive away from my home, that would also be going down to Honduras on a mission trip and would be visiting my school. How cool! Again, I was able to take some supplies up to this guy, Scott, and he would pack everything in his crew’s suitcases to take down for me. Third, my uncle found out that Hope’s basketball  coach, Coach Neil, has a daughter teaching in Honduras. He sent me her email address so that I could contact her with any questions I had. Fourth, one of my great friends, Matt Webber, has extended family that is from Honduras. He said they would be more than willing to give me any advice or ideas about living there, and could be a contact for me once I move if I needed help there or wanted to visit. God has been opening up so many doors for me as I have prepared for this trip and I feel like the most blessed teacher.  

Would you please pray for me throughout this journey? I know that it is going to be a tough one and that I cannot do this alone. Each post I will write a prayer request and hopefully you can take a moment as you finish reading to lift me up to the Lord. Thank you! This post: pray that God blesses me immensely over the next year. I am sure that He will challenge me and help me grow in magnificent ways. Pray that I will have an open and willing heart to these changes, and that I will never cease to trust and depend on Him.

I hope you keep following me throughout this adventure! I promise it to be a comical one since I'll be living in a very rural community, a challenging one as it's my first year teaching, a rewarding one with the students and experiences I'll have, and a fascinating one with all the new things I'll learn from this place and these people.