Passion Project

I am hoping that in my new positions teaching ESL and Developmental Reading that I will be able to work with populations a little closer to my heart. I have loved working with international students of course and admire them for the risk they take in coming here and being vulnerable to a new language and culture and all that they might learn about themselves and others... but I also have such a passion for working with people who have had harder lives and have the courage to return to school and bring such rich life experience with them. I am excited for the conversations that can take place and the things we can learn from each other, the ways I will be challenged to look at things from another perspective and appreciate the resilience of people who have come through tough stuff.

In the midst of this I am also taking up a project close to my heart. I am going to collect stories to submit to a local newspaper called "El Informador" about immigrants who have come through difficult things. I can't wait for the excuse to meet and get to know people better and to have a part in bringing words and a voice to their stories. I am just doing it on a voluntary basis and so I consider it a kind of "passion project" I feel so strongly about how important it is for people to feel heard and understood and share about themselves and so I can't wait to be a part of that.

I also want to thank you all for your prayers- I feel like I am really in a good place right now- a place that God wants me in and I'm not sure I would have been as open to this if it weren't for you praying for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.