Where to from here?

I'll be honest, life has been hard lately.  Despite what I said in this post, some days I really don't feel a reason to get out of bed.  Don't get me wrong, I love life and all its fullness.  I have hope that this will pass.

I'm in that awkward stage of life, somewhere between childhood and adulthood.  I have spent about 20 years of my life in school.  Adjusting to life outside of school is difficult, because that's all I know.

I loved the fulfillment that learning brings.  I always felt like I was bettering myself.  I know, that for the rest of my life, I will always be learning something new.

So, here is where I'm at right now.  As my other post said, everything is in God's hands.  The problem is, the places God wants me to be, I can't get to unless I do more schooling.  Now, God is all powerful, and can get me those jobs if He wants, but sometimes He makes us do the hard things.  At the moment, I might be applying to do online college courses to get a Master of the Arts in Human Services.  The school that is looking most promising is Liberty University Online.  This would only take 3 semesters and at the end I will receive a Master of the Arts in Human Services with a concentration in Marriage and Family.

This is hard thing to go forward with, because it will be more work than I've ever done in my life and it will add roughly 15,000 more dollars to my student loans debt.  The great things are: that I will have a Master's degree, I will have infinite jobs options, I will push my intellectual limits and I will have learned new things.

All of the jobs in the field I'm going into want you to have a Bachelor of the Arts in Human Services or Social Work.  Some jobs allow a Bachelor's degree plus 2 or more years of experience, and no one is willing to give me the experience.  The plus side to getting a Master's degree is that, other than experience, I'll be more qualified than a lot of other social workers in regards to education.  Also, don't forget I'm bilingual.  This could open so many doors.

The classes look super interesting:

CORE COURSES (18 hours)
HSER 500 Introduction to Human Services
COUN 502 Human Growth and Development
COUN 506 Integration of Psychology and Theology
HSER 508 Studies in Interpersonal Communications
HSER 509 Multicultural Issues in Human Services
HSER 511 Group Dynamics

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY COGNATE COURSES (12 hours) 
COUN 5011 Counselor Professional Identity Function and Ethics
COUN 5051 Counseling Techniques and the Helping Relationship
COUN 601 Marriage and Family Counseling I
COUN 603  Premarital and Marital Counseling

TOTAL CREDIT HOURS   30 

This looks like a great opportunity, please just pray that I'm seeking God's will and not my own.  I know God has big plans for me and I'm just worried that I won't follow His leading.  Let me know what you think.

Why be bilingual? (Part 2)

I took Spanish in high school for a total of three years.  I wasn't very good at it back then, probably because school didn't interest me that much.  Going into college I was planning on studying English and being an English teacher.  You know how you have to take a bunch of boring general education classes for two years until you get to studying only your major?  Yeah, that made all the difference.  I had to take a language, so I took Spanish.  Halfway through the first semester I knew what I was going to be studying.  My teacher just illuminated language learning.  She told stories, used music and just made learning fun and interesting.

I remember one turning point in my language learning.  My teacher played this song and we had to listen and try to understand.

You know how playing Sudoku or doing a crossword puzzle is frustrating, but fun?  That's what language is like most of the time for me.  Finding the best way to express a thought in another language is a game.  I love it.

Early on in my language-learning career, I was able to travel to another country

Perú

I went on a church mission trip to Perú.  My church was starting a church in the mountains in a town called San Jose de Quero.

13,000 feet up.  The Andes are tall.

That was one of the coolest experiences of my life.  My world got so much bigger.  Different hemisphere, different country, different language, different food, different animals...

I was not very good at Spanish at the time, but I gained a lot of confidence.  I also realized, with the little I knew, I was capable of experiencing a lot more than the others on my trip.  Like I said in my last blog, I am able to talk to almost 400 million more people than I was before.

I went back a second time about a year and a half ago.  Here are some pictures of both trips:

  

When I went back a second time, I was fully capable of conversing with people.  That was cool.  Obviously I still had a lot to learn and I still do, but I was way more capable of experiencing the culture.

The coolest experience so far that I've had is when I went to Costa Rica last summer.  I volunteered at an orphanage for 3 weeks with my friend Erin.  She had already been before so she knew a lot about how things worked, where to go and was very helpful.  The cool thing about this trip is that we had to fully rely on ourselves for the most part.  We had to travel around, communicate clearly and stay safe and out of the way in a culture we probably still don't know fully.

We got to stay with a family, which was super cool.  It's awesome, because we arrived and had nowhere to stay.  But someone just volunteered up their home to us.  That isn't something you typically will find in the United States.  What I've seen so far is that most hispanics are super nice and love you just because you're alive.  During our time there, we learned a lot about everything from talking to our new mamá.  She cooked for us, washed our laundry and made it feel like home.  That was an invaluable experience.

(Erin, Olga, Coquito, Me)

During my time I got to: play with a bunch of silly/hyper kids, go to a beach after a 4 hour bus ride on which I stood for 3 hours, go to a theme park, eat delicious food, meet amazing people, learn more about Costa Rica and a billion more things.

Karsten and us playing a homemade Trouble with the kids

Erin and Amber

Nikoline, Erin and I hanging clothes

 Cartago, Costa Rica

I guess the point of all of this is that these experiences were much more enriching because I was able to experience them a little more fully.

I have also been able to be very active in the community at Social Services.  I wrote a little about that here if you want to read it.  (The poor and broken)

I'm also trying to get involved with The Gray Haven Project.  Which is an organization that fights human trafficking.  I wrote about that recently too in 27 Million.

Learning another language has really involved me in what's going on in the world.  I have learned so many things that I wouldn't have learned otherwise.  I have heard music, eaten food and done things I wouldn't have experienced otherwise.  I have met so many people that I simply wouldn't have been able to talk to even if we stood face to face.

I just see so much value in expanding your world this way.

Language is beautiful, interesting and brings a whole lot to the table.

The poor and broken

This week I began interning at the Richmond Department of Social Services again.  I go there twice a week for 3 hours at a time.

This is what I do:
- I help Spanish-speaking clients fill out applications for food stamps, housing aid and medicaid
- I interpret for interviews between clients and their case worker
- I help ensure Spanish-speaking clients understand the information, rules and anything else they're given
- I also simply help the Spanish-speaking clients feel more comfortable

In regards to the comfort of those who don't speak English.  Imagine walking into a government building where everyone is racist towards you, wants you deported because they assume you're illegal and where you understand nothing.  That's scary, so I try to make things more comfortable for them.  I make sure I smile, I'm patient, understanding, caring and that I give them all that I can.  I know it's a stressful thing for someone who speaks the language, but I can't imagine how hard it is for those who don't.

So in the field that I'm interning, EVERYONE that comes in for help is very poor and very in need.  The problem that the Spanish-speaking people have is that everyone assumes they're illegal even if they have a social security card (because sometimes those are stolen).  They're completely ignored a lot of times by their case workers.  The case workers let their cases expire so they don't get help, even if they did everything they needed to stay current.

Yes, most of the adults are here illegally.  Thing is, their kids are usually citizens.

Let me explain some things and show you how terrible life can be for these people...

First off, anyone that is coming here illegally weighs their options.  They don't leave their home country and come to ours because ours is worse.  They come here because their lives there are so terrible that they would rather risk coming here, being arrested and sent back than to live in their own country.  They risk everything to make their lives better.  They are escaping something so terrible that we can't understand.

They are seeking better lives for themselves and for their kids.

I see situations where a husband is deported, leaving a wife and kids.  The wife has no way of providing for her kids. at. all.  But it's still better than going back home.

I see other times where a wife is living with a drunk, abusive husband just so her kids can be provided for.  She would even go as far as NOT wanting him deported because she can't care for her kids.  She would rather be abused than not provide for her kids.  She would rather be miserable and here, because she knows her kids have a chance.

These people are choosing to deal with terrible situations here because they're better than the terrible situations back home.

I'm not law enforcement.  I'm no authority on anything.

The thing is, these people need help and we have so much... so much.

All I'm pleading for is for you all to understand that this shouldn't be about legality all the time.  This shouldn't be about "terrible people using the system."  I see so many Americans, Americans mind you, who drive up to social services in a Lexus, wearing Dolce and Gabanna glasses... They are clearly poor because of poor spending, yet the people who actually need help don't receive it?

Injustice.

I'm just making a plea for people to be loving.

I am NOT proposing the presence of illegal immigrants here.  I know as followers of Christ, we are called to reach out in love to EVERYONE... not just our own citizens.  These people come here and are so broken and hurt so much.  I'm just asking for you to respond to the call of the hurting and reach out in love.

Again, I'm not at all asking you all to forget about legality, but remember that if you have a chance to make someone's life better, don't throw it away for legalistic reasons.

As Christians... as humans... we are called to love each other.

Just love.

Please.