Nov 27, 20224 min read

Footsteps

Three months into living in the Bahamas, but it honestly feels like a lifetime. Reality has really started to set in about this new life of mine and encompassing all of its highs and lows. I’ve been learning to celebrate tiny victories and learning the power of humility.

God has been working, answering prayer requests in all sorts of ways. So my first big news is that I have recently made three friends in their twenties, which has been a huge blessing. Love having game nights and being able to joke around with some peers walking through a similar phase of life.

My 5th graders are a rowdy bunch who love playing hide and seek from me in the mornings and, even though I know it's coming, they still manage to scare me every time. While I’m quite humiliated by how easily I’m spooked, I know they are more than enjoying the series of events to see who can scare Ms. Em next! I just feel bad for 4th graders who have to hear me scream almost every day. My 5th grade class is such a light to my life and some of the most wonderful people in my life currently. We recently finished reading the book “Holes” to them and they fell in love with the story. It was awesome seeing their hearts grow a fondness for reading from such a great classic from my childhood. However, teaching some days has not always been going so well, after recently teaching a lesson I thought went great on conversions. All my students failed their quiz (classic first year teacher mistakes). So after going back to the drawing board, I found another way to explain this concept that went a whole lot better the second time. Thank the Lord! A lot of teaching is like that this year and will be for a few years of learning what does not work compared to what does. So please keep praying for me on my teaching knowledge and for my students as they learn from this rookie.

On more exciting news I have found a Creole tutor who is in High School and goes to our G2 youth group on Wednesdays nights. While we both get a good laugh at my pronunciation of various Creole words she is one of the sweetest young women I have ever met. I have also been teaching her how to cook certain foods she has never tried before but wants to try to make. Recently, we made shrimp alfredo and soon we'll be baking some snickerdoodles for the church. This has led to a lot of great conversations to get to know this wonderful young lady and finding a friend as well to share stories with and learn about a different culture than my own. So please be praying for my time with her and my Creole lessons because boy oh boy do I need it. The word for “ear” is especially hard for me, that one in particular could use prayer!

My G2 girls small group has been going really well! We recently all had a beach day in Cherokee. Fun day of swimming around and playing some good old volleyball in these crystal clear waters. One of the girl's brothers came back from fishing and was cleaning his fish on the dock, which led to an awesome encounter of seeing some sand sharks. Very thankful to have these beautiful women in my life!

So praise God for all these amazing answered prayers and wonderful moments to share with you all! On the matter of how I am doing, I won’t lie, it’s rough most days. A lot of growing pains in becoming an adult, but also the letting go of my old life. It’s strange being out of college not able to walk down a hallway to a group of friends at my own convenience. Being away from family for the holidays, celebrating them with people I don’t know well, feeling a little out of place. Definitely, this is not how my mind-movie pictured it going. That’s life though I feel most of the time it turns out in the most unlikely of circumstances, for as God says in Proverbs 16:9 “Man will make his plans, but God will determine his footsteps.” If you asked me last year at thanksgiving where do I see myself my answer would have been unsure, but in no way would I have said eating outside at a local Bahaman home in 70 degree weather with a bunch of people I don’t know. However, God knew …. and as hard as it was to trust such a hard transition in my life, he knew missionary work and loving people are the desires of my heart, but he always planned for me to do it in the Bahamas and there was no changing these footsteps I was made to walk.

So I hope you each are able to embrace the path and desires God set before you even if it seems risky. You never know where it might take you and the new lives you're going to meet.

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