The Fourth Day

Today is the day after the fall student retreat. For six weeks I worked along side 30+ teens and adults to prepare an intense 3 day retreat. The weekend was exhausting, awesome, energizing, renewing, and exhausting. I loved having the opportunity to interact with my students outside of the classroom and to show them more about myself and my faith. The weekend and the time leading up to it reminded me a great deal of my Alpha times.

Alpha was the retreat I attended and helped with while in college. The one that I can honestly say started me on my path to living and working in Seoul. That one weekend set off a chain of reactions that has helped me make some wonderful life decisions. I don't think that I would have ever considered doing long-term service had it not been for the experiences that occurred as a result of attending my first Alpha. If I hadn't gone to Cleveland I wouldn't have ended up in Baltimore, and I might not have come to Seoul. It is amazing to see how seemingly small actions can lead to new opportunities.

Coming off the mountain (where the retreat was held) I was met with a mess in my apartment, stacks of papers to grade, meetings to attend, and lessons to plan. None of that went away while I was on the retreat (how amazing would that have been?) and the urgency to finish my planning and grading has actually increased. However my understanding of and relationships with my students has been strengthened. The lessons will happen (ready or not), the tests will be graded (eventually), the meetings will happen, and I will clean up my apartment or my adjumonie will come and clean it for me. The feeling of being more focused on God, for me and my students is why I have chosen to work in a Christian school. Once again, I know that I am exactly where God wants me to be right now in my life.

De Colores!