My relationship with GDQ started far before I considered joining the teaching staff. It started in 2004, my first day of kindergarten. I remember the day in late August walking into Miss Nelson’s classroom with my new blue Incredibles backpack. An easily distracted conversationalist began to bloom a room full of new faces. By the end of kindergarten, I was a proud five-year-old who could count to one hundred, a growing affinity for storybooks and a deep fascination with Monarch butterflies.
Enrolling my sister and me at GDQ was a no-brainer for my parents, who were both working full-time in ministry in Tirana. The options previously available to families in missions were to pull a parent out of ministry to homeschool the kids, integrate them into the public education system, or pay an arm and a leg to a private/boarding school. Ask my parents about this now and they’ll talk your ear off at how they knew their kids were in good hands at GDQ allowing their ministry to flourish as a result. I didn’t understand this growing up at GDQ, but returning to the classroom as a teacher has brought new perspective to the broader impact the school has on the lives of its teachers, students, families, and the Christian community in Albania.
When I graduated from Wheaton College in 2021, I had a sense God might be asking me to get involved in missions. I didn’t know in what capacity. I had a growing conviction that anywhere God would place me had the potential to be a mission field, and that this simply meant saying ‘yes’ to serve wherever God called. In May 2021 it meant saying yes to a move to New Hampshire, and a year later, it meant saying yes to GDQ.
While I felt God asking me to consider moving back to Albania in May of 2022, I did hesitate. I’d grown to love my work in New Hampshire, and, after years of jumping around and the chaos of COVID, settling in a beautiful corner of New England I felt like my life could be comfortable and normal. In discussion with a mentor, much more serious hesitations about Albania came to light: What if God would ask me to go somewhere and abandon me once He had me where he wanted? Was I actually qualified to do the work God was asking me to do? After some time in discernment and prayer I had a clear realization: what if the above are valid hesitations that God lets us wrestle with as an invitation to deepen our faith in His consistent providence and protection?
The image of invitation felt like a shift in how I saw a call to Albania. It wasn’t a cold command from a loveless God who didn’t know who I was; it was personal. An invitation with my name written on it, tailored for me by a masterful designer who knows my abilities and giftings better than I do.
After accepting the invitation, everything fell together perfectly. I was shocked by how quick people were to support what they were confident God was asking me to do. I joined a sending organization and secured a year’s worth of funding in under three weeks. Returning to Albania I continue to be reminded of God’s hand. He’s equipped me to do more than I thought I was capable of in the classroom. He’s surrounded me with mature believers, given me opportunities to be stretched, and He’s led me to quiet places of retreat before I knew I needed them.
God does not withhold His hand from those He’s called into His service. Will you trust Him?
Enrolling my sister and me at GDQ was a no-brainer for my parents, who were both working full-time in ministry in Tirana. The options previously available to families in missions were to pull a parent out of ministry to homeschool the kids, integrate them into the public education system, or pay an arm and a leg to a private/boarding school. Ask my parents about this now and they’ll talk your ear off at how they knew their kids were in good hands at GDQ allowing their ministry to flourish as a result. I didn’t understand this growing up at GDQ, but returning to the classroom as a teacher has brought new perspective to the broader impact the school has on the lives of its teachers, students, families, and the Christian community in Albania.
When I graduated from Wheaton College in 2021, I had a sense God might be asking me to get involved in missions. I didn’t know in what capacity. I had a growing conviction that anywhere God would place me had the potential to be a mission field, and that this simply meant saying ‘yes’ to serve wherever God called. In May 2021 it meant saying yes to a move to New Hampshire, and a year later, it meant saying yes to GDQ.
While I felt God asking me to consider moving back to Albania in May of 2022, I did hesitate. I’d grown to love my work in New Hampshire, and, after years of jumping around and the chaos of COVID, settling in a beautiful corner of New England I felt like my life could be comfortable and normal. In discussion with a mentor, much more serious hesitations about Albania came to light: What if God would ask me to go somewhere and abandon me once He had me where he wanted? Was I actually qualified to do the work God was asking me to do? After some time in discernment and prayer I had a clear realization: what if the above are valid hesitations that God lets us wrestle with as an invitation to deepen our faith in His consistent providence and protection?
The image of invitation felt like a shift in how I saw a call to Albania. It wasn’t a cold command from a loveless God who didn’t know who I was; it was personal. An invitation with my name written on it, tailored for me by a masterful designer who knows my abilities and giftings better than I do.
After accepting the invitation, everything fell together perfectly. I was shocked by how quick people were to support what they were confident God was asking me to do. I joined a sending organization and secured a year’s worth of funding in under three weeks. Returning to Albania I continue to be reminded of God’s hand. He’s equipped me to do more than I thought I was capable of in the classroom. He’s surrounded me with mature believers, given me opportunities to be stretched, and He’s led me to quiet places of retreat before I knew I needed them.
God does not withhold His hand from those He’s called into His service. Will you trust Him?
