February Successes

I mentioned last month that I was looking for a job and a church, and I have some great news!  I think I have found both!

Job
After about a month and a half of searching and applying for jobs, including every bank between DeSoto and Duncanville, private tutoring jobs, restaurants, substitute teaching, and no fewer than six after-school programs, I finally got a response from an elementary school close-by.

I went in for the interview, and I happened to know the sister of the girl who interviewed me!  I knew that was a good sign.  She was happy to have me on the team, so she had me make an appointment to get my fingerprints done so that I can be eligible to work in Dallas ISD.  I should start some time this week teaching theater in the afternoon program for grades K-5!

I am really thrilled to be working with kids again, and I already know that I love teaching.  I'm a little nervous about being in charge of so many students at once, but I am definitely ready to get started.  

Church
As far as churches go, I was feeling frustrated that I couldn't really get involved anywhere.  I had been going to a church about 20 minutes west of campus, working with the youth group, but this semester, I moved 20 minutes east of campus so it wasn't really feasible to drive 40 minutes there and back every week.  I needed somewhere closer.  I visited a couple of churches closer to home, and I was feeling pretty good about one of them when something amazing happened.

We split up for prayer at the end of the college service, and the girl I sat next to wanted me to pray for her unbelieving friends.  She said that she had grown up going to Christian school and church and had never had any unbelieving friends before.  I told her I had been feeling just the opposite - that I had grown up in public school and was for the first time in a position where I didn't know any non-Christians.  I also told her I had been trained in evangelism and had done some training, myself.  She was so excited that she invited me to have coffee with her and her friend so that I could share with her a little about how to handle the situation!

More than having a place to learn about God and sing to Him, I had been looking for a place to serve.  Here, He already provided me with an opportunity to use my skills and gifts, which was really encouraging!  I plan to pray about it and visit a couple more weeks before I decide to throw myself head-first into it all, but I am feeling a lot better about the decision, for sure.