My story...

In a future post, I'll write about teaching and school details.

Until I do, I should clarify 2 main things about my future Asian adventures:

1. I'll be teaching at a school called Sekolah Pelita Harapan in Sentul City, about 50 min.-ish south of Jakarta, on the island of Java. Check out the website at www.sph-sentul.sch.id/ (You can poke around on it to look at photos, even though the website isn't updated.)

2. The school is a national school in Indonesia, which means most students are Indonesian, but there are foreign students there, too, because their parents work in Indo. The school is based on Christian standards. Each student and their parents have to sign statements saying they agree with the school talking about God and Christianity and ethical issues, but that their child doesn't have to do anything they don't feel comfortable doing. It's basically a tolerance issue for everyone there-Muslims, anyone else, will respectfully tolerate Christian teachings as long as we're respectful and tolerant of their beliefs.

Many people have asked to hear the story of how I made the decision to go teach in Indonesia. It's a long story, but I'll do my best to condense it without going off on a tangent too much. :-P

Last year, when I was teaching in Florida, I was depressed for about a month, during most of November. Toward the end of that month, around my birthday, I was chatting online with one my two friends from Taylor, Eric and Christine, who are teaching over in Indo. They were telling me how beautiful the country is, how sweet and fun the kids were, how much fun they were having, etc. It all made me miss Thailand like crazy, so I said that to them. I also said I'd rather be in Asia than in Okeechobee. Then Eric said I should pray about coming over to teach, because there would be an English position opening up for the next school year. I was like, ok, sure, whatever. I had no idea where Indonesia was exactly on the map, and I didn't think about it too much the rest of the night.

However, the next morning was a Sunday morning. I could NOT concentrate on anything at all, whatsoever, because I had this huge cloud in my head that kept saying Indonesia...Indonesia... (I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true.) I stayed for the second church service because I couldn't concentrate on the first one. I didn't know if it was God talking in my head to me, or if it was me feeling depressed and just wanting to get out of my town. Whatever it was, it consumed me totally that entire day.

So I prayed about it and talked about it with Eric and Christine. After a day or so, I decided to at least apply to teach at their school in Indo.

The sheer thought of NOT being in Okeechobee and of being back in Asia was, I believe, God's way of lifting me out of my depression, even though that sounds lame. I was literally bouncing off the walls at school the next week at school, just knowing that I wouldn't be there again next year. (I know that's an awful thing to say for people who read this and who still live in Okee and work at the high school. It's nothing against you, I promise!) :-P

I was interviewed by a headmaster in mid-December, and he answered many questions for me. My main concern was about general safety. He said he was from Oregon but had been living in Indo for 7 years, and that he felt safer in Indo than in Oregon. The school is located about 50 min.-ish away from Jakarta, up in some mountains, so they've never had any problems with religious opposition or terrorists. Earthquakes also won't affect us too much. (Something about the mountains in relation to the epicenter of earthquakes...not sure of the specifics there...) After my interview, the he said I was a potential candidate for the teaching position.

Over Christmas break, my college roommate of 4 years got engaged (!!!) and asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding in August. Of course I said yes. :) A few days later, I wrote an email to the school headmaster, telling him what had happened. (The students at the school start school a few days before the wedding date, so I knew these dates would conflict.) I told him that I knew being in a wedding would jeopardize my chances of getting the teaching job, but I would be willing to work around this, if it would work out with the administration. He said they would be willing to work around it, if I were hired. So I waited for an acceptance email.

Meanwhile, I was waiting for some sort of confirmation from God that I should or shouldn't go to Indo. I don't know what I was waiting for-fire from Heaven or something, I guess. In the meantime, I heard a quote from 2 friends that made me decide what to do. They both told me that they knew of a quote that said something along the lines of, "When you're faced with making a decision and either choice will glorify God, then God will bless whatever decision you decide to make." The 2 friends don't know each other, so there's no way they got together and said, let's repeat this over and over to Mandy so she'll choose to come to Indonesia! So I took that as a sign from God, and I finally accepted the position back in February.

I think that's basically the general gist of the story. Of course, much more has happened since then, but no one would care about those details except for me. I'm getting more and more excited by the day, especially in these next few weeks!

I'll post more again sometime soon!