Use your god-given Talents and Professional skills to make an impact for the gospel

“Few people know that I am an electrical engineer and had the chance to intern at NASA. When I was in college, I interned at the Goddard Space Flight Center outside Washington, DC. I worked at automating a vacuum chamber which was used to test optics before they were sent into space. The chamber was in a clean room, so I had to wear a full-body clean suit and gloves all day while I worked. Now that I teach aquatics at Faith Academy, I’ve traded in my full-body clean suit for a full-body wetsuit.

What I love most about working at Faith is getting to help students figure out who they are and giving them lots of opportunities to try different things as they do that. There were a couple students I had in Bible study who went to a large state school in the US together. They both ended up getting involved with CRU there and they wrote back to me after a year saying that they never would have gotten involved in student ministries if we hadn’t had that Bible study. One of them works for CRU full-time now, so it’s cool to see them passing on what they have learned and helping disciple others.

Ultimately, with my time here at Faith Academy, I hope to see our students know both what it means to love Jesus and to impact the world.”

“In 1995, I came to the Philippines with a group of nine other of my college mates and one of our professors. It was to be a three week trip. For me it turned into nine and a half weeks. Faith Academy’s Middle School needed a Social Studies teacher, as the teacher that was coming still needed to raise support. I had just graduated college a few months earlier so I stayed and taught Middle School Social Studies. God used my time here to burden my heart for teaching at Faith Academy. I left here saying, “I will be coming back!” And in August 2000, I was back at Faith Academy.

I love teaching in Middle School. Middle School students are a mixture of crazy, fun, creativity, and energy. I love how our students will engage in creative thinking and be self-directed learners. There are many times I am just blown away with the work that my students produce or the deep conversations we have during discussions or debates. Middle Schoolers can “rise up to a challenge”. In one activity, I had assigned students in my Philippine Social Studies class a president that they had to defend in a debate as a being the better president. One the students that had a more challenging president to defend came back and said, “Thank you for assigning me this president. It really made think about the good things he did for the Philippines.” It is moments like this make me love my job.

The other thing I really love about my job is being able to build into their spiritual lives and seeing their love for Christ increase. I had the opportunity during Outdoor Education to pray with a student as she received Jesus as her Savior. This still stands as my most favorite memory. And I can still see all of the Middle Schoolers in our traveling group cheering when she announced her salvation at a bonfire. I have also had times to disciple other Middle Schoolers. It blesses my heart to see them long for Christ.

Middle Schoolers have a lot they can teach us. Middle Schoolers respond the best when you show them that you care, when you are willing to sacrifice for them. The more that you can show how much you care, the more they will respond back to you.”

“On my first day in the Philippines, July 16, 1990, there was a massive earthquake in northern Luzon. In Baguio City, where I was going to be working, more than 2,000 people died as buildings collapsed. There are three main roads that lead to the mountainous city and it took a week to get one of them open. So the first time I saw Baguio, it was a disaster — all of the major hotels had collapsed and they were still digging bodies out of the rubble.

There were continual aftershocks (more than 1,000 by the end of August), food was hard to find, and most people were living outdoors in tents: in front of their own houses, in the park, and along the streets. Eventually, the city was cleaned up and I ended up living there for 22 years.

People have asked me if I ever considered just getting back on the plane and going home, but it truly never occurred to me. God called me to the Philippines, so why would I leave just because it was difficult? Maybe this initial experience–seeing God work and heal and save after the earthquake–helped me see all future difficulties in the same light, and I really do; when something hard or tragic happens, I’m always watching for how God might use it (and me) to accomplish something good.”

“I started working at Faith Academy in 2013 and my plan was to stay and teach for only a year, which became two, then more. I didn’t expect to meet my husband here, though! We taught next door to each other, became friends, and fell in love. We got married, and we love doing life as a family with our 11-month old daughter. We look forward to the day when she can attend Faith and be a Vanguard too!

A big part of what keeps us here is the community. The parents, staff members and students at Faith have demonstrated so much love and care for us, and we love investing in those around us. Also, our students bring many different experiences and backgrounds to school each day, sharing their unique gifts and talents. Our teachers are invested in developing students both academically and spiritually. I love seeing the small but significant steps of growth that happen each day!”