(I made this a separate blog because I couldn't really find a good way to transition. Oh, the perfectionist in me....)
On Monday, I got some news about next year that flipped what I thought I was expecting for next year upside down. Tag, the new director of the FYM and RealLife programs at AIM, informed me that there will be no FYM program next year. Of course as I was still waiting on hearing back from AIM about helping to lead, that was a bit of a shock to me! AIM is condensing their pool of leaders for both programs, and what used to by FYM is going to look a LOT different. Because of all the changes within AIM, I have two options for involvement with them in the (at least recent) future.
1) Train to be a leader for RealLife trips. Each trip is 2-3 months long, and the locations are all over the world. I would start training a month before my first trip this fall (so I would be leaving the beginning of August), be back home in December for a few months, then leave again on another trip in February, and so on until I've been on 4 or 5 trips. The committment for this leadership opportunity is a minimum of 2 years. (Still not sure but possibly because I am on this trip for 9 months, it would count as experience.)
2) Join base staff here in Granada, working with the Charles & Sarah Kaye and Heather King. I would need to raise monthly support, find living arrangements here, etc... once again, I believe this would be a committment of 2 years.
Now I am still praying, praying, praying about both of these options, and for others as well that have recently come up in my life. I would love your prayer for me as well! At this point, the majority of doors in my life are open, so the question is of course which one does God have for me to go through? If there's one thing this whole adventure has done, it's thrown me more into God. Searching, seeking, praying... He truly is my sanity.
The other prayer request I have right now, and for the rest of this trip too, is for PERSEVERANCE. I have less than two months left here. While I am so excited to see family and friends and my church family, and to be home again, I don't want to lose my focus here! As the days and weeks seem to fly by faster and faster, it is oh-so-tempting to "check out" mentally and put all my energy into thinking about the future; to pray so much about what is next that I forget to pray for my teammates and those whom I have met at various ministries. What a bad idea! Two months is both a short time and a very long time. I know it is a struggle, but I want to finish well.
