Send me?

This post is really intended for my praying friends...not that y'all can't read it to see what's going on in my head these days, but three-quarters of you will probably think I'm crazy :). Well, I'm okay with that ;).

Martin and I were at a banquet last night that SIM (Serving in Mission) Canada puts on every year. I am on the missions committee of our church and was invited to attend by one of our missionary couples, along with Martin and another committee member. I remember even in high school I had thoughts about perhaps working in Africa one day. Martin didn't seem to have feelings that way, though. I knew I wanted to be a teacher, so I kept going with that path as it seemed to fall right into place for me, leading to my acceptance into teacher's college for this 2006-2007 school year and the success I've enjoyed in that program so far (not that it's been an easy year, let me tell you). I'm training to teach high school, and my teachable subjects are chemistry and physics. Anyway, some days before we went to this banquet, Martin asked me if I thought it was some recruitment thing for the mission...and asked questions and made remarks indicating an openness to being involved in missions that I have never heard him express before. Anyway, we went to the banquet last night, which included not only the dinner but a singer/pianist duet performing some songs and some speakers. On our tables, among other things, were sheets listing teaching positions that were in urgent need for the mission's schools around the world for the 2006-2007 school year. I didn't notice it at first, but the wife in the missionary couple that had invited us picked it up to show me and joked to me I'd have to be careful or I might get convicted and decide to teach at one of those schools. These schools partly exist to teach the children of missionaries (often fondly referred to in church circles as MKs - missionary kids), who attend as boarders. If the schools shut down (whether due to a lack of teachers or other circumstances), apparently the missionaries often return home (i.e., to Canada or the States or wherever home was before they became involved in missions), removing them from the field. Well, I looked over the sheet, saw some math and science teaching opportunities, saw Martin looking over it, too, and kept it in mind. Today I looked at the website for the mission, clicked on the link listing urgent needs for Ethiopia, and noticed that there is an urgent need for several teachers there for the 2007-2008 school year, including at least one opening in chemistry and physics. I asked Martin if he wants to go to Ethiopia; he said, "Maybe we should!" However, I had to explain that it might not be a salaried position (and I've confirmed that by clicking through a few more links); we would have to raise support, and that scares him. Heck, it scares me...the 2007-2008 school year is not that far away, and being on our church's mission board means I know there is no additional funding available from them at the moment. And Martin does not have a university degree, so he probably would not be a teacher and something else would have to be found for him (which I don't think would necessarily be that hard; maybe he would be a dorm parent, or maybe something else unrelated to the school would come up). Is this everything falling into place to call me to this opportunity? It seems too uncanny. What will our families say? Does the mission want a first-year teacher doing this? Will Martin's medical condition interfere, or will the MRI in July show that he's all cured and the second AVM is no longer a concern? Well, if Martin is okay with it I'll put in an inquiry and we'll see what happens; perhaps this is nothing, and I will teach here in Toronto for the rest of my life, but I think I would be remiss if I didn't at least ask for more information. This may end up just being dropped without any further mention by me, but this is what is on my mind right now. Friends, please pray. Thanks for listening.