Confused
I’m confused, I have the most amazing opportunity of my life and I don’t know what to do.
The opportunity: I (provided I pass my course which finishes in two weeks) will be a qualified English Language teacher.
The problem: Where do I go to teach English?
I would like to link to a previous post and carry on some of my thoughts. God continues to challenge me about my understanding of him. God is NOT a good luck charm.
Anyway back to the point, I have a choice to make (assuming you believe in free will J), but I don’t want to make the choice myself I want God to be involved in the whole process. I have talked to and prayed with some of the leaders of my church about the whole situation. I have been struggling with the idea of God’s will (any thoughts would be useful please) Does God have a specific place he wants me to go? or is the choice less important and the going faithfully (anywhere) the key?
At the moment I am very keen to do a YWAM DTS (Youth With A Mission, Discipleship Training School- for those that are not fluent in Cristianese) before I go teaching and it would be practical to do the DTS in the general area of where I am going to be teaching. My favored plans at this stage are South America, China, and Eastern Europe I will go through the pros and cons of each as I see them. There are plenty of English teaching jobs in all of these areas.
South America- I think this is the one I am leaning towards at the moment. There are plenty of DTS’ in America (North and South) – all the ones in the South obviously have a tendency to be in Spanish- I slight deterrent, given all the Spanish I know consists of what I learnt from Asterix and Obelix books – OLE!! But if/when I learn Spanish I can travel through out most of the continent (except Brazil where they speak Portuguese- Asterix and Obelix did not go to Portugal so I don’t know any Portuguese). The DTS’ in North America while in English (except the ones in Canadian- Nice Jorb!!) are more expensive though.
YWAM is very active in South America and so are some other Christian organizations that I am interested in working with in the long term like World Vision.
Summary-
:) lots of DTS’
:)organizations involved in area
:( I cant speak Spanish OLE 0r Portuguese
Eastern Europe – There are lots of DTS’ through out Europe, many in English, in cost between South and North America. They also speak a different languages in Eastern Europe, hence the need for English teachersJ, – Polish won’t help me much in Latvia. Many of the Eastern European languages also use the Cyrillian alphabet – which means I would have to learn to read and write again.
Summary-
:) Lots of DTS’ in English
:( Languages to learn
:( Oh yeah it is COLD
China- There are no DTS’ in China, however there are DTS’ close to China (Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore) that are in English. Chinese is a scary language and I will have to learn to read and write again. I don’t really like Asian climates – from my experience playing basketball in 35+ degrees, 90% humidity outside at lunch time in Thailand.
Summary
:) Lots of Jobs
:)DTS’ in English
:( The language freaks me out
:( The climate
:( The whole repressive communist government thing
I am not really afraid of the prospect of leaving my family and friends and going to a different country where I don’t know how to say anything (OLE). I see it as an adventure a challenge and I am looking forward to the experience. I am just confused over the process any thoughts would be appreciated as would prayers. The time frame at this stage is fairly loose because I need to save money for the DTS which does not come cheap.
posted by Steve-a-saurus at 11:00 PM
5 Comments:
My thoughts, for what they're worth:
Similar to an earlier post of mine, I think just making sure your mind is in tune with God's will do heaps for helping you decide. That way, if you make a decision based on what you know God wants, and your best judgement, chances are you'll end up in a good place - chances are those three options all are good, and I don't think God will get annoyed with you for going to one and not the other.
If God is trying to tell you something specific, I think a good amount of prayer would reveal this, (which it looks like you've done) so perhaps he wants you to make your decision using your mind.
To use the idea about God not being a good luck charm - he doesn't make life easy, and perhaps one of those areas is that we need to make decisions ourself. (Or perhaps he just makes it hard to consult his will?)
Thanks Nato,
I am tending to agree with you, and i read that post the other day. I am not too worried about GOd getting 'annoyed'. I just do not want to discount something that God may want me to do. Like a series of doors i do not want to close one or discount one based on my own fears or prejudices about climate or language. :)
Good to see you are reading my blog at 1am - :)
So China, not Morocco, made the short list? :P
I'd agree with Nato. I've had a few episodes of wondering about God's will & how to know what it is in the past, & I've basically settled on the combo of prayer & getting out & doing something that you guys talked about. I always remind God that I'm a stupid little human & if He wants me to do His will He's got to let me know what it is by hitting me over the head with it, rather than just hinting at it. It seems to work :) I don't think God's going to expect us to jump through hoops that He knows we can't reach on our own, & if you do manage to go wrong at some point & He did have something very specific that He wanted you to do, I reckon He'd let you know about it, so long as you keep that attitude of seeking Him, right? So keep praying & things should fall into place, probably with a bit of making some big decisions yourself as well...
Oh, & Cyrillic is way easier than you'd think to learn, especially if you're going to be using it. I can help you! :)
Hey mate ... there are several DTS's in the area of Asia that do an outreach to China (we do at ChiangMai base... even a few in Australia do for example the Brisbane base.
So If God is leading you to China, then he may even do that from a country a little further way (hehe just to make things more confusing for you when you try to narrow things down)
But God will lead you ... you may have to make a decision without seeming like you have all the answers. It may take some leaps of faith when you don't even know if you've heard God clearly. But you will see God's faithfulness, his faithfulnes to not let you fall when you trust Him, he will give you wisdom, and He will use you mightily... even if its not where you 'wanted' to go.
Bless ya bro
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