As some of you know, I have spent most of the summer looking for someone to lead an SST (Study-Service Term) unit to Nicaragua with me. The person I was planning on leading with backed out in June, which put in a difficult position to find someone on very short notice. I had very little hope that I would be able to find someone to lead with me. If I couldn't find a co-leader, then I would not be able to lead either, and the SST director would look for another pair to lead.
I am very happy to report that I was able to find someone to go with me, and it's only God who could have worked it out this way. I will be leading with Keri Swartzendruber. Keri is a former student assistant of mine so I know her well. After graduation from GC, she did voluntary service in Guatemala, where she became fluent in Spanish. She currently works as a traveling nurse, taking 3 month assignments all over the US. She is currently in Kansas City, and just completed a stint in Washington DC.
I hadn't really considered Keri because I also knew she was engaged to be married in March 2012. But when I posted on Facebook that I was looking for someone to co-lead an SST unit with me, she replied asking if her fiancee could come along. I told that wouldn't work, and that she probably wouldn't want to spend her first few months of married life with me and 22 college students. Then several days after my Facebook post she contacted me again and said she couldn't stop thinking about it, and was seriously considering postponing her wedding so she could lead with me. I had a long phone call with her where she asked many good questions, then I told her to think about for the weekend and ask her parents and others for guidance. She called me back the following Tuesday and said yes!! She is even delaying her wedding to make it happen.
She is perfect in so many ways, and better than many other people that I considered leading with me. I needed a female, who speaks Spanish well, and I know that I can work with. She meets all three of those criteria very well!
After all the disappointment of having many people say no, it was such a blessing to have it all work out in the end.
So, I will be living in Nicaragua April-July 2012, leading a unit of 22 GC students in their intercultural experience. It will be all-consuming, overwhelming, but also exciting and life-changing!
All I can say is - God works through social media!!
Praise God!!
No comments:
Post a Comment