A Summer of Waiting

Psalm 25:3a “Indeed, no one who waits on you will be ashamed. ”

This was just one of the promises in God's Word I had been holding onto this past summer. As many of you know, my plans to work at a Christian school in Mexico City fell through. It would have been the school's first year, but due to the fact that they were not able to get the zoning paperwork from the people who own the property, the Mexican government would not allow them to start the school.

I found this out the end of June with a mix of emotions. Of course I was disappointed with realizing that there was a chance that I wouldn't be going to Mexico if the school didn't get the paperwork in the next few weeks. I was also excited, though – excited because I was hoping that God was shutting this door to open up a door to an opportunity even better. Although I've had much experience teaching and even went to school for a degree as an elementary teacher, my heart has always been to help orphans and street kids. Deep in my heart, I was looking forward to teaching in Mexico, but I also saw it as possibly a way God wanted to get me to Mexico City where I knew there were street kids. I figured that perhaps I could work with the street kids when I wasn't teaching. The problem with that was that after teaching full time, it wouldn't leave me with too much time or energy to work with the street kids. As I saw this door slowly closing, I was hopeful that perhaps this was God's way of bringing me to a different ministry that focused more on street kids and orphans.

However, in addition to the mix emotions of disappointment and excitement at hearing the news that the school in Mexico City might not be starting, there was yet another feeling – confusion. What was I supposed to do? At this time, things weren't definite; and it sounded like there was still a possibility that the property owners would provide the documentation in time and the school could start. I figured I would start looking for other opportunities – but this time, I would target Christian organizations that work with street kids.

I narrowed my search to Mexico City and Bogota, Colombia as both those cities seem to have a large population of street kids as well as neither seems too humid for Latin American cities (since I knew I don't do too well in hot, humid weather). There were three organizations that I found online and contacted via email. A lot of waiting was involved and it got very discouraging. For one of the places, I was told that the person I needed to speak to was out on sick leave until the beginning of August. So, I waited a month for the right person to talk to only to find out after the month of waiting that it wasn't the right person after all. I had contacted the UK branch and I had to go through the United States branch of the agency. Of course, I was discouraged and confused as to why God would have me wait so long just to find out I was waiting for the wrong person. Fortunately, once I got in contact with the US branch, it didn't take long to get an answer. Unfortunately, however, that answer was that the US branch wasn't taking volunteers for Colombia or Mexico at that time.

So there it was. Over a month of the summer had gone by, it was the beginning of August, and out of the three agencies I had contacted, one wasn't taking volunteers, one I got to talk with the director but afterward felt that God wasn't calling me to that particular ministry (although it was a great ministry), and the other I just lost contact with – I was emailing the secretary back and forth when she said she happened to be going to Colombia in a few days and would pass on my inquiry to the directors there and get back to me the next week, but I never heard from her since.

So with one month before school starting, I thought maybe I should broaden my search and look for teaching jobs here at home. Maybe God was calling me to stay. That was when I found online yet another agency in Bogota, Colombia – one that I had seen many times in my online Google searches, and even checked out their ministry, but never felt led to apply to – that is until now. For some reason, as I looked at the description of the ministry again and all that they do with street kids and other underprivileged children, I realized it was exactly what I was looking for. They have a children's home (with nine kids), they have a school for kids that struggle in regular classes, and they do outreaches and clubs for street kids. I questioned myself as to why I didn't apply before and kept assuming this wasn't the place for me – especially when the ministry was often the first three or four results in the google searches.

Anyway, with renewed excitement, I quickly got in all my application materials. It seemed like a great place, and the secretary was a huge help and replied to all my emails quickly. With it already being August and having already “wasted” over a month of summer searching, I was eager to get an answer, which is why when I spent a whole week thinking I had all my application materials in and that I was spending that week waiting for the leadership board to look over them, I was devastated to find out at the end of the week that they were the ones waiting. The materials never got sent to the leadership board for approval because they were still waiting for a reference that I thought was already sent but evidently got lost in cyberspace. Anyway, that problem was quickly fixed and then it was on to more waiting. It was said that it would take about one or two weeks to get an answer back. Although I didn't hear anything the first week, I was told that I would probably hear a reply toward the end of the next.

It was Wednesday night of the second week and I still didn't hear back. It was now September and many schools already started. I began wondering and praying to God how long do I wait? If the process of waiting goes any longer, when do I settle down here and get a job substitute teaching or something? That was the other thing – with school already starting, the best teaching job I could hope for if I did stay was an on-call substitute teacher like I had done before. It was these past couple of weeks when Psalm 25:3 often came to my mind and I struggled with believing the promise. To help my faith, God brought to my mind other times when He came through for me – one of them two years ago when school had just started and I was expecting to just be an on-call substitute teacher for the school year when I got a phone call out of the blue from an assistant principal for a full time tutoring position which I never even applied for! It was that story and other “stones of remembrance” like it that God brought to my mind as school already began and I was still waiting.

Finally, Thursday night, I got a call from the director of the agency saying that my application had been approved. The summer had been long, full of waiting and disappointment as doors were closed one after the other. But, though there were definitely times when I struggled with seeking God's direction and waiting in faith, and though I felt like a broken record repeatedly telling people who have been praying for me that I'm still waiting, God has brought me through this summer and trial of waiting and I'm excited to see what He has for me in this next chapter of my life. It may have been a long summer, but at the end of it all, I have one more “stone of remembrance” to add to my pile.

I also wanted to thank all of you who have been thinking about me and lifting me up in your prayers as I know that many of you have faithfully been praying for me this summer. I'm excited to share this upcoming journey with you all and hope that this past experience, as well as my future experiences in Colombia, will be a blessing as I continue to share them with all you back home. Also, if you would like to check out where I will be going, the place is called Formando Vidas (which is a branch under Youth With A Mission - YWAM) and here's the url to their site: colombiastreetkids.org .