Bridging Culture. Working Together.

My junior year at Calvin, I moved into Eastown with a group of girls.  As the year went by, the difficulties of paying rent, buying groceries, and putting gas in my 1994 Buick Century were adding up quickly.  The money I made at work was barely enough to get by each month provided no extra costs came up. In January, I took my car to get an oil change only to find out that there were $400 worth of "serious" issues with my car.  At this point, I had no money left in my bank account.  As some of you may know I tend to think I am an independent person and I could not ask my parents for money to fix my car. So, instead I let it build up until I cracked.  A friend and I were catching up over lunch and when he asks the question "how are you doing?"  it really means "how are you really doing deep down inside?" I proceeded to give a long speech about how my car was now working and I had no money to fix it.   He sat patiently and listened as I cried and crie...

Beloved.  Dearly Loved.  A word tattooed on my heart by my God, my Father, my Bridegroom.   When we fall completely in love with our Savior, He will delight over you with gladness; He will quiet you by his love; He will exult over you with joyful song.  (Zephaniah 3:17)  This is the most important lesson that I have learned in my four years at Calvin College.  I have chosen to follow his plans for my life and to trust completely in him.  This has brought me on adventures I never would have dreamed of; teaching English in Korea, teaching in Honduras for a month, and creating relationships with many young students in Grand Rapids Public Schools.  One of these upcoming adventures in his plan for me is to go to Sierra Leone in the fall for one year.  In my years before coming to Calvin, I thought about everything but being a teacher: an engineer, a nurse, a brain surgeon, and even a hairdresser.  But after my first year at ...