Welcome to my new blog!
I’m hoping this will be a way to keep my friends and family posted as I
prepare for and enter my next season of life…as a 2nd grade teacher at El
Camino Academy in Bogotá, Colombia!
I believe that God has opened this door, and that ECA will
be a place where I can serve Him with all that I am. At the school I will get to work in a
multicultural environment and try to instill Biblical truths in my students as
I help them grow academically. I am
really on board with the heart of this school, and also can’t wait to immerse
myself in Colombian culture and practice my Spanish! (If you’d like to read more about the
school’s vision and mission, you can do so here.)
I know that this step to move to Colombia may seem drastic,
but I believe that this is a step of faith as God has worked in my life. I believe that He graciously saved me from
sin by bringing me to faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, and that He continues to
be gracious as He guides this journey.
Jesus is both my Savior and Lord and I have prayed
about this opportunity and believe that this is a step of obedience to Him. I realize that all of you reading this blog
may not believe what I do, but I want to be clear on my reasons for doing this
and the faith behind it, and I do hope that you’ll keep reading my blog.
I can’t believe it, but if all goes as planned, I will be
boarding a plane for Colombia in TWO MONTHS! In the meantime, I am working part-time with
the children’s ministry at my church (which is awesome experience!) and doing a
lot of paperwork, logistics, and reading.
There are a number of books I want to read before I go (on working with
Third Culture Kids, on Christian philosophy of education, on language learning,
the list goes on…) and I have also set a goal of reading the whole Old
Testament. We’ll see how my summer
reading goes, but maybe having put my goal on here will bring some
accountability. I’m also trying to learn
how to play ukulele so that I can play and sing praise songs with my
students. Maybe I can be sorta like
Zooey Deschanel or this girl. Again,
we’ll see. ;)
I’ll go ahead and wrap up this first post now…but I’d like
to make a habit of sharing a few prayer requests of mine for those of you who
believe in the power of prayer and would like to pray for me. Please pray…
*For the teachers and students at ECA as they wrap up this school year.
*That God would be preparing my heart for service at ECA.
*That I would be effective in my ministry at church and with
family/friends before leaving.
*That I would be faithful with logistics/paperwork/preparations
and that those details would come together smoothly.
*That I would get to spend quality time with loved ones
before departing.
*(Here’s a big one!)
That God would bring in the $13,000 (approximately) that I have set a
goal of raising for the next school year.
This will cover my living expenses, insurance, etc. for the school year,
since El Camino can only pay its teachers a small stipend each month.
On the note of fundraising…If any of you would be willing to
offer a donation to support my teaching in Colombia, you can do so online
through my sending agency, Resourcing Christian Education (RCE). Here’s the link: http://www.rce-international.org/, and if you
click on the “donate” tab and then "give online" you’ll get to a form where you can select my name on
a dropdown list (my account number is 11945).
I would SO appreciate any help financially, but prayers and friendship are
just as important so please keep them coming too!!!
Thanks for reading my first post!
Bendiciones (Blessings),
Kelli
P.S. If you ever have questions for me about how and why
this came about (or about WHATEVER!) please email me! kelli.b.sickles@gmail.com. Plus, I want to hear about your life, too!!!
