the story to here.

 

hello all. a month has almost passed since i arrived here &  i realised that i have not really shared the story of how i found myself here in this place. sunday night all of the staff of raising hope ranch got together to share our stories. what an inspiring evening & that is what got me to thinking about sharing my story with you. 

as i grew up i loved to help people. 

when i was a child it was those that were hurt physically. & as i graduated & moved on in life it became listening to the struggles of hurting friends & wanting to know how to help them. i wanted to help them. take the pain way. i did not always understand it until i became the one that needed help. life become gloom for a while there. then one day i realised this was not what i wanted to be. i needed to find the strength to get up get out & do something & that is what i have done since. i had a job on a dairy until the call came & i joined my sister in Malawi for 5 months. teaching my nephew kindergarten & working around the large house. this is where life became very real to me. my love of helping & serving was re kindled. i knew that i had to do something with my life when i got back to America but what. well. early one morning i took my note book out to the front porch of our house over there in Malawi. i had woke up & the first thought that popped into my head was "raising hope ranch" i very quickly brushed that away & thought what is that place even? definitely not something that i will ever do in life? i got ready for the day & didn't think once more on this place. now here i was writing. i do this thing where i write & i don't really focus on what is happening or being written. i just let the pencil fly. i began with writing " i am scared to go home. for i do not know what i will do." i went on with " i woke up this morning with raising hope ranch on my mind. . ." & i went on to write about a few little thoughts on the matter of the ranch. i snapped back to reality wait what. i blinked & re-read. why had a i written about this place? no way. i can not do that. i really fought it. me. uneducated & not knowing anything about the ranch. How could i even begin to think that this would be the place for me. 

so i began to pray. a lot. 

in fact i remember praying very boldly asking God to take the thought of the ranch completely away. however that never happened. i actually felt quite the opposite. the frantic feeling of making this thought go away was always replaced with peace & calmness. 

so the process of my name being placed on the list began. my name was here & i kept going with life. this was in May of 2022. 

i found myself in lakin teaching grade 5 & 6 in august & what a nice time that was. i really am grateful for my time spent there.  

the email came march 21. "we would have an opening this summer. " o wow i did not think that i would be coming this way so soon. i thought just maybe it would be a year from now. but God has perfect timing. so i ended up here for my on-site interview & as i drove away i knew that this would be where i would be serving. even though i was quite literally terrified. the longing to learn more had just grown immensely larger.

it seems that my want to help the ones from hard places has just grown this last year. i would find myself in conversation talking about different mental health topics & as i taught i became more interested in how different brains work. i in no way feel qualified to be here. sometimes i wonder how i was even let on a plane to come here. yet i know this. i felt a call. & i answered. how could i say no? 

the prayers are felt here. 

till next time 

ms. tif

. more about ranch life is coming very soon  :)