A question I have been asked quite a lot is “What school/college did you go to in order to become a teacher?” My answer has always been, “I didn’t go to college.” Most people look at me with astonishment and follow up with the question “How did you learn how to teach?” or “Then how do you know what you are doing?” Well, the answer is simply, “The curriculum we use does not require you to go to college in order to teach it as this curriculum has training sessions during the summer that you can take. It does require that you at least graduate from high school in order to understand how the curriculum works.” The last and final question the person always (and I mean ALWAYS) asks is, “Do you have any plans to further your education in the future?” My last and final answer to all these questions is “Maybe one day.”

Would I like to have a “Higher Education” degree of some sort? I guess so. Now don’t get me wrong, it is important to have some sort of education BUT I would not have been able to come and work on the Navajo reservation if I had gone strait to college after graduating high school. Nor would I have been able to pay any school bills after graduating college because most of the work I do is volunteer work. I do not get paid for most of what I do. I have to raise support from people around me so that I can live and work at the Mission. I have no regrets about not going to college right out of high school. When I was trying to make the choice of which college I would go to (I did look at my options) I became so over whelmed that I could hardly function. One day, I was looking at some of the different Bible colleges and programs that I had on my list and my Dad was there in the room with me. I kept going on and on about how I wasn’t sure which one I should choose. He looked at me and said, “You don’t have to go to college.” Dad told me that a look of relief washed over me. So instead of going to college I went to work for a year while I waited on God to say it was the right time to move to New Mexico.

Now almost 7 years after that conversation with my dad, I am starting to feel like it is time to start learning more and possibly take a college corse or two. Now choosing what I would like to learn about is a whole other thing. What kind of courses/classes would I like to do? I would like to take some pastry/culinary art classes to maybe have my own bakery/restaurant some day. I would like to take a cosmetology course and learn how to cut hair. I would like to take some classes on the topic of earth science or even archeology. I love designing things and making things look beautiful. Maybe I could take some classes on architecture or interior designing. I love to paint and have taken art lessons before but wouldn’t mind taking more classes on how to paint with materials other than watercolor. I have a love affair with music and dancing. I’m not a very good actress but I can be dramatic. Most likely I will start all this learning by taking some Bible classes. I don’t plan on leaving New Mexico any time soon and only God knows what will happen, but the future is looking like it’s full of possibilities.