God is Good

Just a quick post to detail how amazing God has been throughout this whole process.

I have always heard people say they knew they were doing the right thing in their lives because they could feel God directing them down the path they were on. I have never felt such strong direction from God until this opportunity came up.

As I said, I received an email about this job and that on a whim Ben told me to apply for it. After all, what could it hurt? So I did. And after a month of waiting I was told that my name had been recommended and that in the past, all who had been recommended had been offered a position and I should expect an email within the week. I got the email and I was told that I was put on the waiting list. After it sounding like it was a done deal I was pretty devastated. All of a sudden Ben and I had to figure out what we were going to do, start finding jobs to apply for and figure out where we wanted to live. It was a bit much to take in when we already thought the year ahead of us was planned out.

A week later I received another email saying that someone had turned down the job offer and I was next in line. We were so excited that Spain was again our number one plan. We started collecting the documents we needed and got fingerprinted and sent everything off. A few weeks after that, I found out I needed proof that I had my teaching certificate. Unfortunately at the time I did not have that. Needless to say I came undone. As a Spanish teacher I need to pass a competency test for teaching and a Spanish proficiency test. I had passed the written part of the proficiency test but I still needed to pass the oral test. Obviously this added extra stress to passing the test.

I do have my certificate to teach English as a foreign language so I sent this off along with transcripts, letters of recommendation from my cooperating teachers and supervisor from student teaching and my final evaluation and a letter explaining the situation and that hopefully they would accept my TESOL certificate as an acceptable substitute. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting I was told yes, it will work. Praise God! No pressure to pass the test but I still really, really, really wanted to pass so I got involved in multiple conversation groups and studied hard.

Well, I did not pass it. I was absolutely crushed because I figured if they for some reason changed their minds I would have passed the test and we could go either way. After crying and praying about it, I realized that maybe I didn't pass the test because God wanted me to realize that we were going to Spain because He wanted us to go. Not because I could get us there by my own power by passing my test and having my certificate but because God could get us there by his power, regardless of what the program required me to have.

I believe God wants us in Spain. Ben and I have prayed daily that He would be preparing a community for us and friends and other believers for us to meet.  We are going there for a reason and although we don't know why yet, we are indeed going to Madrid and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us!

So not only does God obviously want us in Madrid, He has placed people in our lives that have connections or are currently living in Madrid. One of the ladies I was in a conversation group with over the summer has a good friend whose daughter lived in Madrid for five years. I was able to get her contact information and she was a fountain of information that will aid us in finding housing, banks, phone services internet and fun things to do. Ben worked at a wedding at Semiahmoo and the parents of the bride have been living in Madrid for the past ten years. We got their email and they too have been beyond helpful with the information they have given us. Our pastor at Redeemer was able to find two churches in Madrid and I have been in contact with one of the women from one of the churches and she has offered to pick us up from the airport and drive us to Alcorcón. What a blessing!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I know this verse to be true because Ben and I are seeing God work it out in our lives right now.

Location Location Location

We just found out where I will be located! The green arrow points to to Alcorcón where my school is located. It is 8 miles south-west of Madrid. The "A" points to the school where I will be at: Instituto El Pinar. It is a bilingual school. I will find out more about what I will be doing at the school once I get there. Ben and I are still deciding whether we want to live in Madrid and I will commute or whether we will live in Alcorcón. From what we have heard the metro system there far surpasses anything here and wherever we decide to live we will be able to get around pretty easily.

PS. We also bought our plane tickets today! We leave September 3rd!