The last weekend of September, I joined two friends and our professor for a weekend in Indiana. No, we didn't head off to the Indy 500! We spent the weekend at a
lovely conference center about ten miles from
Taylor University (and surrounded by cornfields, which there happen to be a lot of in Indiana).
As part of
Interaction International's work with Third Culture Kids and highly mobile families, they provide an overseas student teaching program for college students majoring in education. The purpose of the program is to broaden the horizons of future educators and to help prepare them to work with international students, whether in the states or overseas. My friends Priscilla, Michelle, and I are all headed overseas in January through Interaction International's student teaching program, so we were required to attend the orientation program.
The training provided was so incredibly helpful. We discussed specific plans for the spring, but what helped the most was discussion regarding Third Culture Kids; culture shock and stress; leaving, entry, and reentry processes; and much more. I was overwhelmed with the knowledge and real life experience our speakers provided. One of our speakers was
Libby Stephens, who served as a dorm counselor at Black Forest Academy in German for many years. Her input and experience was very valuable.
Overall, the orientation was a great experience. I feel so much more prepared for my overseas student teaching experience now that I have gone through the training. What a blessing!
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| Michelle, me, and Priscilla at Lake Placid, Indiana for training |
Sidenote: Are you a Third Culture Kid, Missionary Kid, or Cross-Cultural Kid? Please take a moment to fill out my survey regarding your experiences. Thank you so much!
Plans for Thailand are going well. I was feeling very nervous regarding my overseas student teaching and the future of Grace International since the school has been experiencing legal difficulties in the past months. However, I was reminded of the goodness of God in that the Grace International's leaders are passionately pursuing Him and His will for the school despite the problems and complications. If you have a minute, please read this most recent
communique from the superintendent, Mr. Williams.
I found out that I was going to Grace International School in
January of this year, just after I decided that
grace would be
my word for 2013. It was so confirming that "grace" would be the name of the school God would send me to after a year of meditating on his grace. I need not fear the circumstances of this world and our enemy because God is good and his plans are steadfast. His love never fails. He's got this.
I continue to ask for your prayers regarding Grace International's legal situation. Please commit those needs to the Father. I also request your prayer for my travels to Thailand. There is much to be done before my arrival in Chiang Mai and much money to be spent on plane tickets and housing. If you are interested in joining my prayer team, you can fill out
this form and select the "prayer team" box. You can also check out the sidebar on the left of this
homepage for prayer requests. Finally, if you are interested in supporting me financially, please
read this page on ways to give.
I have been blessed with an amazing circle of people who are graciously encouraging me on this journey, and I believe that God has called us all to be both senders and goers in different capacities and in different places. He is so good.
Thank you so much for reading these thoughts on my preparation journey. Three months remaining!
May your preparation be worship,
--
"Seek Him. Be Here. Be His."
