9/15/2015
right now I'm sitting in my room at my aunt and uncle's house. It's 10:19 or 22:19 at night and I have a British youtubers christmas vlog going in the background which is making me so excited for Christmas.. It's almost here just a few more months. But leaving for Perth is almost here and not just a few months away. It's in less than two weeks. I'm getting really excited and a bit restless. Yesterday marked a year from the day I landed in Norway. The time has flown by but so much has happened. I realize I haven't blogged in quite some time. Here are a few paragraphs to hopefully fill in some missing pieces.
Perth:
The first time I was asked about doing a school in Australia was September/October last year while chatting with my dear friend in Norway. We were talking about my plans for the future and what the next step after Norway would be. She suggested looking into some schools in Perth, Australia and I laughed and said no that definitely isn't part of my plan. Throughout the school bits and pieces of stories about The Middle East and East Asia kept coming up and each time my heart would just ache to be there doing something to make some tiny difference. I would see videos about the refugees and feel so angry at all the wars and destruction that is happening and just wish I could go. At this point I was still panning on staying in Norway for a few more years to staff a school or two and then go to another school with a focus on what I wanted to do and then go. Fast forward to February. I met a friend in Asia who had gone to a school in Australia that focuses on cross culture studies and suggested that I take the same school when it started in October. I said I'd look into it but tried to blow it off because it wasn't part of my plan. I was going back to Norway. But then I started talking to God about it. March and April and most of May I was just a mess. I had fallen absolutely in love with Norway and my friends and home there and the last thing I wanted to do was give that up and start over. Which is slightly funny because God picked Norway for me and it was better than I could have even imagined but when He asked me to step out of the boat my knees were shaking and the boat that was sinking looked more comfortable than the sea that my savior stood on. But He is such a good and patient Papa. Thankfully He didn't look at my little faith and walk off but just patiently loved and guided me. During those months I spent a lot of time being Gideon and throwing out my sheep skin over and over until finally I figured out that God was saying GO to PERTH. It took my sister calling me out of the blue and telling me I should go to Australia and then hanging up a few minutes later because she didn't know why she had called and a lovely couple who were visiting Norway that just so happened to live in Perth and had lived in Asia making an effort to sit down and talk to me. So I emailed the school leader and got a lovely quick response and that was that. God has been working on my heart and using this to take me deeper with Him. I'm learning to just jump and trust that if He's asking me to jump He knows what's best. It feels a bit like that scene from Divergent when Tris jumps off the building not knowing what's at the bottom but trusts that if she's being asked to do it then they will provide the safety net.
At the beginning of June I was a little nervous coming back home. I didn't want to spend 3-4 months wishing I was back in Norway or Asia but I also didn't want to get back and try to fit myself back into the mold I left last September. God has been so good and although it's been lots of ups and downs I've really enjoyed this summer. When I got home in June my Uncle invited me to work for his business. I worked in an office answering phones and typing information and conducting customer interviews over the phone. It was way different than anything I've done before but it was a really great opportunity. Everyone I worked with was so kind and made me feel so welcome and I loved getting to interact with people over the phone.
It was hard to be at a desk all day but I learned a lot about patience and being present where God placed me. It was very easy to sit and day dream about being somewhere else or back in Norway or even wishing I was already in Perth but I din't want to waste an entire summer wishing I was somewhere else. At the beginning of the summer I read a book by Elisabeth Elliot and one of my favorite quotes from her book was by her husband Jim Elliot "Wherever you are - be all there."
That quote was so helpful during my days of dreaming about what I could be doing. It helped me to really enjoy the chances I had talking to the customers or chatting with the girls at the office or even the weekends at home with my family.
In the beginning of August my mother and my 3 youngest siblings moved to the island of Saipan.
My mother is now teaching kindergarten and 1st grade while my siblings attend school there. I'm beyond proud of them making this huge transition and following what they felt God was calling them to do. It's definitely been a journey but I can't wait to see what God has in store for them in the next few months. It's been really cool getting to catch up with them and hear all of their experiences living in an island community. The day before they landed on the island it was hit by the worst typhoon in over 20 years so they ( as far as I know.. things might have changed in the past few days) are living without running water and electricity most of the time. They are able to get wifi at a cafe across the road from their apartments and have been enjoying exploring the island with new friends and the boys have been learning new skateboarding tricks, lots of new soccer moves, as well as lots of backflips and hand stand walking. My sister's currently on her 20 something book in the past month, maybe more but I don't remember either 20 or 40 but anyhow lots of reading. It's a bit odd not having a home base with my immediate family in the states anymore but right now home for me is more where I lay my head down and who I'm with wether that's the Dubai airport or my little house in Perth rather than one specific building or place.
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