July 2007 News

To my friends, family, and loved ones,

I have wonderfully exciting news for you! God has indeed done more than I could ask or imagine, providing a way for me to return to Hungary in His timing and His terms, and I am thrilled to be going back! How did this happen?

As you know, at the end of the school year I left for a 3 week train trip across Europe with my brother, and we visited 10 different cities, and 8 different countries. Not only can I check off having done and seen most of what people expect you to do and see in Europe, but I had an awesome time with my brother, probably the most time we have spent together on our own, and had some great conversations. Not many people can say they are very close to their siblings, but I feel much closer to mine, and was very blessed by our trip. During the trip, a good friend of mine from the States told me about a possible teaching job in CA, and I started to get excited about it. I wrote to him and talked to the principal of the school, and believed this would be the next step. However, the week I was back in Hungary to pack and clean out my apartment and say goodbye to friends was absolutely awful. The apartment was a complete mess and took 4 full days to clean and get rid of things and pack. My whole life for two years was stuffed into 3 suitcases, or given or thrown away. My little home was in piles of junk and trash. Saying goodbye to people was also much harder than I imagined, and I just couldn’t face the fact that this was it. After that week I had much less assurance that I could peacefully leave and not work on returning. I was a mess, so I spent most of my long flight home in prayer.

I prayed about the job in CA, and I asked God to show me if I should go there. It seemed like such a sure thing, so I prayed if I wasn’t supposed to go there, that the job would disappear. And secondly I prayed about whether I should return to Hungary and how. In less than a week from my return to the States, all these prayers were answered. First, the job in CA disappeared immediately. I got an email and a phone call from the principal stating they weren’t sure they could hire a new teacher at all, in keeping with their budget. They warned me to start looking elsewhere for jobs. They haven’t contacted me since, and so I’m sure the job has disappeared, just like I’d asked the Lord to do. And secondly, even more directly amazing, a way back to Hungary appeared. ESI, my wonderful organization of the last two years, called me and told me one of their new teachers they just hired got cold feet and dropped out, and they asked me to take her place. The school they wanted me to teach at is one of the best schools with ESI, in Budapest, and is a bilingual school where I can teach literature. The school will get me my work permit, my visa, and provide accommodation. ESI also informs me that I don’t even need to raise any money. I have a hefty surplus from the last two years, quite enough for airfare, visa applications, and more! There is so much more money in my ESI account than I even knew! Thank you to everyone who has sent support to me over the past two years, because you’ve made it possible for me to return for a third year without any struggles! All I had to do was say yes to ESI, and I’d be on my way!

The question remains, why did I have to go through so much struggling on my own to stay in Hungary and fail, only to have everything magically fall into place now? Why couldn’t I have asked ESI to teach at this other school before the new teachers were hired? Why couldn’t I have kept all my things in Hungary instead of having to give so much away? The Lord works in mysterious ways. He always knew I would be coming back to Hungary, but He made sure that I wanted it badly enough to do it on His terms, not my own. All my planning and striving will always come to nothing if He isn’t behind it. It isn’t exactly the way I pictured it, but this is His way, and it is thrilling to see such amazing answers to prayer. I hope that you will continue to pray with me and for me as I go back to a different school, different students, a new subject to teach, and new roommates. Pray that I would be able to build just as great relationships with students and even better, and can get along with my new roommates just as well as before. I am still going to California from August 4th to August 20th to meet my new roommates as well as train the new teachers how to teach. I will even be teaching Hungarian basics to the new Hungary teachers, which should be fun! Pray that I would bond with my new teammates from the very beginning, and be able to help them and show them the ropes of living overseas, and we could encourage each other through good times and bad. I’m leaving August 20th from LA to Budapest, so I have only one more week here with my family and close friends. What I thought might be a long time has become once again much too short. Pray for my family to be happy for me, and not too sad that I’m leaving once again.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support over the years, and continuing in this ministry with me. I would not be able to do this without you!

Blessings,
Joanna

P.S. Look at photos of my trip across and Europe and end of the year school events here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/wannasquanto?vhost=community