The Big Move

So for those thinking that I have fallen off the face of the earth... or moved back to China, I am here to clear up those misconceptions and publicly announce that out of all the places I could have moved in the world I decided to move to... UTAH.  I have been semi-secretive about this move for several reasons, the first being it's Utah, the second being that I had no plans (aka a job or a place to live) so to tell people I was moving to Utah would mean that I would get the "so what are you doing there" question for which I didn't have any answers.

On November 18/19 I made the pilgrimage back to the mainland and showed up on my families doorstep (they didn't know that I was coming). I spent exactly one week in Minnesota saying hello to old friends, having my first Thanksgiving home 6 years and packing up my belongings to make the 20 hour, 1273 mile drive from Rochester, Minnesota to Salt Lake City, Utah (and for anyone who does not believe in hell, all they have to do is drive through Wyoming, and they will quickly change their mind).

Some of you might be asking, "Well why in the heck did you move to Utah." Let me tell you the decision to move was just as much as a shock to me as I'm sure it is to anyone who knows me. I was planning on spending the next couple years teaching English in Taiwan and American Samoa. This decision was made several days after I passed my certification exam, while I was still in Hawaii. After several hard weeks I came to the realization that it doesn't matter where I live, what matters is that I am close to people that I love, and while I could make friends anywhere, the icing on the cake was the fact that it would be really hard to seriously date if I keep moving around. 

So here I am. I have been in Utah for exactly 2 weeks, I recently got a job working at an Autism treatment center with my friend Brittany (whose couch I've been sleeping on for the past two weeks). I looked at an apartment yesterday in Taylorsville (so cross your fingers that everything will work out). 

Really this move was a giant leap of faith into the darkness. I felt this strong urging to get out to Utah as soon as possible, even though my brain was telling me how silly that was because I didn't have anything planned out. So I put my entire trust in the Lord and as a result I have seen many tender mercies unfold in my life. There have definitely been some hard days and I'm sure there will be many more to come but at least for now this is my next big adventure!