Living in Limbo

For the past almost year now, I've been in a state of limbo.  In April of last year, I took a leave of absence from my day job due to health reasons.  In June I went to Myanmar for 3 months to volunteer at an entrepreneurship school.  In September I got back and had to make a decision as to whether or not I was going to go back to my regular job as a teacher.

At the time, I had planned and was sure I was going to Liberia to be with my girlfriend.  I was so sure that Samaritan’s Purse would hire me on as an intern to work there so I could be with Stef.  Well, the general internship turned into an accounting internship.  They obviously wanted someone with an accounting degree or at least something along those lines, not an elementary education degree.

Needless to say, that fell through.  My world was rocked.  What was I supposed to do now?  My girlfriend was coming home soon so I didn’t want to get a job and not be able to see her while she was here since we hadn’t seen each other in 6 months.

After much prayer and waiting upon the Lord, I decided to do a 6 month apprenticeship in Myanmar.  It was a natural fit really.  Now, I’m starting to raise support and build a team around me so I can head back over there.  Stef has started looking at possible jobs over there too so she can go over there after her contract ends.

I told Stef a while back it just seemed like I was coming to God asking the world.  She reminded me that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.  I plan on marrying her on New Year’s Eve, even though I haven’t technically proposed yet. 

There is just so much up in the air right now.  I tried to sub back in the fall but my principal but a hold on my application for some reason.  As soon as I get back to Sarasota I’m going to try to meet with him to have that lifted so I can sub while I try to finish raising support.  In the meantime, I have to raise a little over $12,000 to finish out my support raising.

That’s an intimidating number to me for some reason.  I know many missionaries have to raise much more than that but that’s a pretty big number for me at this point.  I’ve done it all wrong in the past and not kept up with supporters very well.  Now I’m going with a really good organization and they’ll do a great job at keeping me accountable to staying in touch with supporters.

My parents were able to sell the house they owned in Sarasota, so as of March 21^st I’m not sure what I’m going to do for a living situation if I’m not already in Myanmar by then.  I have friends I could stay with I’m sure but I don’t really want to impose on them.

Did I mention my car was totaled and now I’m without transportation?  I’ve already spent close to $500 on a rental and don’t want to do that anymore.  I put out a thing on facebook in my church’s group page to ask if anyone had a car just lying around but unfortunately no one did.  Maybe I’ll make a status update about it on facebook for anyone in SRQ or Bradenton.

It just feels like I have a lot up in the air right now.  Like I said before, I’m ready to land.  My dad pointed that out to me a while back by the way.  I was expressing my frustration with my lack of direction and he said it just seemed like I had a difficult time finding a place to land after my round the world trip.  He’s absolutely right.