Ele Butikofer ssiorgZ ‘ave you ever woken up one day and wondered, How did / get here, perhaps consid ering how completely different your life was just a short time before? That's how | feel every day. | expected to be attending college this year, not working as a first-grade teacher on a tiny speck ‘land in the South Pacific! For one thing, | didn’t feel ready to bea teacher. dl only com- pleted a year and a half of college and didn't feel educated or ‘good ‘enough’ for this position, But God set this opportunity before m with such undeniable clarity that dnt deny His leading. It all started last summer at camp meeting in my home state Of Alaska. | was catching a quick ween meet received a text message from a nap. when | friend, How would you like to be a volunteer teacher in Chuuk this school year?” she asked. Still grog misread her message, Who why do | need hrm? | wondered, very nds later, caught the gist of what she was saying and realize its possible implications, possible? made some calls and dis covered that Chuuk Seventh-day tist Schoo! had ago students ly Six teachers vailable, including the principal fused ork os ‘hot even ely needed mo ed for guidance, filed da few They belp.! cout an application, a weeks later boarded a plane to begin my new adventure ‘Although Chuuk seemed relatively modern to me at first glance, I didnt have to look far to see that traditional spiritual beliefs stil clutched people in ther fearful grasp. A conversation | had while teaching a fourth-grade Bible class solidified this observation, We were studying the story of King ‘Saul and the witch of Endor when one of my students related an meitv Hear from other volunteers at & m36o.tv/avs,beautiful and fe said that way. Somehow, Ive come to und Sometimes the succes put rather by how ido adventist volunteer service ith several of my ist -rader Ve, thie rom le, enjoying fesh coconuts with missiorge @®