Jenna.Kristen's Blog

It has been a long time since I last posted on my personal blog (before I was married actually). Since getting married and living in DC, my husband and I recently decided to move to Nepal to work for the organization called Tiny Hands! Some of you may know that I decided to wait until arriving in Nepal, before making a final decision about which title/job I will hold within the organization. BACKGROUND Over the past 3 years of working for Tiny Hands in the States, I have volunteered as a public speaker, was the Communications Coordinator (ran company profiles on Facebook and Twitter), and I developed the Intern Program. Living in Nepal, internet is still available at our office from 10a-7p, but I have to be much more flexible with my work and how I get things accomplished. It’s a major shift and I need to become accustomed to unreliable technology or power. I will not be able to continue running the Intern Program like I used to in the States. Fortunately, I was able to find a replacement for my Comms role but I haven’t yet found someone to take over the Interns. That replacement person is required to live in Lincoln, Nebraska (our HQ), which doesn’t make it much easier to find a replacement. NEW POSITIONS I have had some anxiety about choosing a position because many people within Tiny Hands would like me to coordinate Vision Teams (which are college trips to Nepal). There is a Vision Team happening in Nepal as we speak (here’s a link to their blog). They all think it would suit me and that “I would be really good at working with college students” (I would agree but I don’t want to limit myself to what is familiar and I’m feeling a little burnt out lately too). Instead, I have an intense desire to get to know more ministries that work alongside unreached people in the Himalayas. There are groups I would hope Tiny Hands could eventually partner with such as Mountain Child or Venture Expeditions in order to bring visitors and medical/hygienic/anti-trafficking aid to that region. This desire seems urgent in my heart but it is less of a priority over my husband’s role: Director of Research and Analysis. Before leaving DC, we were left in a frenzy because a potential staff member and Jon’s potential colleague decided at the last minute not to come to Nepal (leaving the position of Border Monitoring Advisor vacant). This role is essential for Jon to move forward with his position. INSPIRATION I had hoped to wait a long while before deciding on a set position with Tiny Hands. After all, we have 4 whole months in our first trip here! However, the very first day after the first few hours of meeting a few of Jon’s new colleagues in Border Monitoring I was inspired. I am now considering taking on a more official position that will directly aid Jon’s work in anti-human trafficking. MY PRIORITIES My priority is our marriage. I first want to support Jon and his job in order to see him be successful when getting started in his new analyst career in Nepal. This means my needs have come secondary… I am waiting to see how much time, travel and other important things will come up for Jon’s job. Ideally we wouldn’t travel at all and we’d be able to just settle in calmly in the capital of Katmandu but the organization puts a lot of pressure to fulfill other roles that need to be taken. Pressure to travel seems required for Jon. THE STRUGGLE I am really struggling with this. I wanted to set up walls to protect us in our marriage and in doing so I thought we 1) would not travel much in the first 4 months and 2) not have to take on too much so it would not strain our marriage. Now that we are here, it seems that the only way Jon can do his job is if I let him take both jobs and accompany him for all travel. This is the extreme scenario that I did could foresee but did not want to happen. It would mean putting all of my own desires on hold in order to be 110% supportive to Jon’s success (at least starting out) without even an personal time for ‘exploration’. PRAYER REQUEST Please pray that God would make it clear to me what I should do as a good wife and as a Christian working in Nepal. I’m not sure what work God wants me to do for Tiny Hands either. Please pray for a settled heart with the decision to be made within the next few days or weeks.