When I come home every night and tell Joe all about my day, he often responds with... "Well, I'm glad you're having 'the missionary experience' with this job. Now you can have a little taste of what its like!" Even though I never got a chance to serve a mission, sometimes my job really does resemble the missionary experience (for those who don't know, I'm a developmental specialist with an early intervention program- I teach ideas and strategies to families of children ages 0-3 with developmental delays or other disabilities) And so... for your reading pleasure, I proudly present....Top 5
1. I am constantly getting canceled on, rescheduled, or just plain stood up. I thought it was really weird that I got stood up or canceled in at least half of my appointments in the first week... but I've since learned that that's actually pretty normal.2. I spend a lot of time in peoples' homes. Some are nice and clean and well-kept, others well... not so much. It really has taught me to believe wholeheartedly what they say that you can really tell a lot about someone by the atmosphere in their home.
3. I teach people about something I'm passionate about and think will really make a difference for them. I give "homework" or commitments, but not everyone follows through with what I ask them to do. Some embrace me and our program completely, and others don't. It makes me sad.
4. It never fails. Just when I go to say something important, the dog starts barking, the kids run up the stairs crying, the phone rings, (insert distraction here)... Its a little bit comical how often this happens.
5. About half of my caseload is Spanish-speaking. This terrifies me because I really don't feel 100% secure with my Spanish abilities. But I've really come to understand what missionaries talk about when they say that in a moment of need, they were given the gift of tongues. Sometimes I walk out of homes, flabbergasted that I just spoke as fluently as I did, and that they ACTUALLY understood me and everything ( :
Well there you have it! All in all I've really loved my job here in Provo and will really miss it when I have to start a new job search in Spokane. It has been such a great experience for me to grow in so many different ways. Really its reason #843,991 why I know Heavenly Father is watching out for our itty bitty family.
I didn't know you had a job. That sounds like a lot of fun, with a little bit of challenging thrown in there to make it that much more rewarding. Are those pictures of Joe on his mission?
ReplyDeleteI sure do... and they sure are!
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