So, today is the 7th. We fly on the 15th. Less than 10 days. Whoa! I can honestly say that I have no idea what I'm feeling. It's not bad, it's not good, it's just a feeling. I can feel God continuously preparing me for what's ahead, and I already feel like I'm in Korea. He is so faithful. :-) I just took my last weekend trip to Austin to see some of the people that I love the last time before I go, and it felt weird driving back today. I wasn't ready to be back in my college town again. Though boyfriend and so many others live here, it is strange to know that this is my last week to see all of them---some forever perhaps. But I know this is what God has for me and that it will be amazing. A one-of-a-kind experience that I will never forget. I am so thankful for it :-)
I'd like to just share some of God's faithfulness to me through this experience, and give you (the reader) some more background of my decision and from my journey to South Korea.
January 2011, God spoke to me that it would be a year of Promises fulfilled ;-) One of those promises was that I would travel on my own before I got married. Right after the new year, I was talking with a mentor of mine about how I didn't really want to teach in the states right now, and that I just needed a different experience than the two and a half years of in-school training I recieved with my Undergraduate degree. My mentor suggested that I look into teaching abroad, knowing that I am adventurous, risk-taking, and bold. I began to dream with God about where I could go, and was immediately drawn to Europe. I nixed the DoD route real quick because if I was going to be in a different country, I needed to experience that culture fully--not just be under the American system in another country. That seemed to safe for me. After doing some research and talking with a couple of different organizations, God showed me that Asia was a very popular place to go, and specifically South Korea. Asia was one of the easiest countries to get to, required very little to actually get there, and after looking at it, God began to open about 3-4 different connections that I had with South Korea. I would hear from several different places about Korea, hear of people that I knew going there, here all the great things about it, lived with a roommate for 3 years who loved South Korea, and even had a Zumba instructor and friend who was passionate about them! It was Blatantly obvious that's where I was supposed to be. God fulfills the dreams of your heart :-)
In February, a friend of mine named Kristen and I were talking one night about how neither of us really wanted to teach in the states for various reasons. I told her what I was researching and she quickly hopped on board with the idea. Turns out, God had promised her the same thing for the year 2011 as He had promised me! Once praying about it and talking it over with her parents, she was all in! Her parents had actually met in Japan through the Military and were very supportive of this plan and her dream to Explore the world as well. God brings you people to run with :-)
In the following months, Kristen and I both did countless hours of research about different organizations, different certifications, and finally found an organization that we would interview with and be accepted. All the while, God kept throwing clues at us about South Korea through the people that we met, the television we began to watch, and even flipping through the Radio! I mean literally every day there would be some new connection or hint toward South Korea, it was just so obviously God. Though we were accepted with a program, I didn't feel quite right about it and kept all of the processes on hold. Kristen, myself, and my other roommate Tiffany decided to move in together for the summer while we got things worked out.
While we lived together, things happened and the organization we were going to go with fell through. This was a blessing in disguise, and we felt so much more peaceful about this. Then Josh came along in July, and that's a whole different story! Sometime in mid-late August and after a two week period of praying about going to Korea or staying for Josh, I decided that I needed to go to Korea for sure, and I was committing to going with Kristen.
By September Kristen had taken the lead and after talking with some of her professors made contact with a very reliable recruiter through www.asia-teachers.org . We got some great recommendations, put in our resumes, and both got offered VERY nice jobs at a private school in a VERY nice part of Seoul. What a blessing! The school turned out to be everything I was wanting and asking for, younger children, lesson plans written for us, flight paid for, great salary, a chance to save and pay back college loans, many foreign teachers employed, furnished housing paid for and within short walking distance....We waited a long time for it, but God provided everything I wanted and immediately I felt a complete peace about this school.
Continuing to hear more and more about South Korea, God ushered me through the process pretty painlessly, and I became more confident that this is where God was leading me. The paperwork was easy, our headmaster is very kind, and God has given me great favor with local elementary schools and teachers that called me pretty consistantly, averaging about 2-3 substitute jobs a week. Enough to pay for our $234 rent and $60 utilities, as well as eat! It wasn't easy learning how to do all of that and managing my money, but God was faithful and I made it!
There are many more details, but for your sake I'll leave this off here today with the knowledge that God is good, and He WILL provide for not only your needs, but wants too :-) He has given me some living supplies that I couldn't bring including a yoga mat (I LOVE YOGA!) through a friend that I met my freshman year of college who lived in Seoul and worked in the building my school is in. He has hooked me up with a pastor through a dear friend that I went to college with and visited the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry over Spring Break 2011. AND has even made a way for another friend of ours who has a heart for Korea and studied abroad there fall 2010 to go back and be with us there in Seoul doing her own thing from March to September! She is a Zumba instructor, and God knows how much I LOVE ZUMBA!!!! Oh my gosh, could it get any more perfect? OH! God has also given us another girl to travel with who will be teaching with us the whole time we teach! We will meet her when we fly to Chicago, and we will all three fly to Korea together! She is our age, and interested in the same things we are! Seriously, God?!?
Oh, My God- I am so Thankful for everything I have been given! It is all from His hands, and just because He Loves Me :-)
Much Loved Princess, and Daughter of the King,
Madison Elise
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