Teach Overseas

This new blog is going to be dedicated to telling you about my journey to Hungary to teach English. I am really excited for this adventure and I can't wait to see how God will work in Hungary this next year.

For any of you who have not heard yet what I will be doing I will explain now. I applied and was accepted with a program called Teach Overseas. Teach Overseas has been training and sending English teachers to Eastern Europe and Asia for about thirty years now. Once I arrive in Hungary I will be placed at a high school as an English teacher probably somewhere around Budapest. Teach Overseas will assign me a room mate who I will live with in an apartment that the school will provide. The school will also provide a stipend as compensation for teaching. In my spare time I will be working with a church and serving the community in any way that I can. (If you want more info on Teach Overseas, you can check them out at www.teachoverseas.org )

In order for me to embark on this grand adventure I do have to do some fund raising. Thankfully it has been going very well so far. The funds raised will cover my TESOL training that Teach Overseas will provide, international travel and visa fees, and field administration and support costs. At some point I will also probably need to purchase health insurance and have some savings for emergencies. All together I will need to raise around $10,000. So far I have raised a little over $6,000 thanks to my family, friends and the Pepperdine Lilly Grant. The next few months will be dedicated to working hard to earn money and to arranging fund raisers and sending out letters asking for help.

The other things that I have already done in preparation for this was making sure that I had enough empty pages in my passport (which I did not, so I had to have more sewn in), getting an excessive number of identification photos taken for visas, residency permits etc. and being poked and prodded by nurses and doctors for an entire day to ensure that I am indeed healthy. Everything seems to be in order for Hungary, I just need to finish up raising funds.

For the next month I will still be in Malibu, taking my last college class. In June I will head home for about a month and a half to work and raise funds there. July 21st is the first day of training for Teach Overseas. I will be in Pasadena, CA for about a month learning how to teach others English and getting my TESOL certification. I will be flying to Hungary sometime around the end of August.

If you are willing to help me out along the way I would really appreciate three things:

1. PRAYER- You can not do this too much! I need you to pray for my safety while traveling, for the hearts of the people that I will meet in Hungary, for me to be a light for Jesus, and for me to be able to raise enough support.

2. ENCOURAGE- Some days I need affirmation that I am doing what God wants me to do. An email, facebook message (there is a group on Facebook too called "Hungary 4 Jesus, please join it!), call or letter is always greatly appreciated.

3. MONETARY SUPPORT- As I mentioned above I have raised a significant amount of what I need already, but I still need some more. You can do this so easily online or by sending me a check. Online you can go to Teachoverseas.org then click on "Contribute." Be sure to put my name in the appropriate field so that I receive the funds and not just Teach Overseas in general (they are run almost entirely on support raising!) If you would like to send me a check you can send it to:
Emeshea M. Petty
72 Brandon Trail
Bozeman, MT 59715

Hopefully I will have a few updates this summer for you... but if not I will try to keep this blog updated next year while I am in Hungary.

Grace and peace-
Emeshea