The letter G poses some interesting opportunities within SIM worldwide. Many of them start with the word ‘General’ and some start with the word ‘Guest’. Then theres ‘Gospel’, ‘Geography’, ‘Graphic’ and ‘Global’.

Generally Speaking….

Most of the Generally titled opportunities within SIM are medically related and all are in Africa. Here is the full list of ‘general’ opportunities;

General Practitioner (Angola) in the area of Health/HIV and AIDS
General or Specialty Surgeon at ELWA Hospital (Liberia) also in the area of Health/HIV and AIDS
Generalist Physician, ELWA Hospital (Liberia) also in the area of Health/HIV and AIDS
General Surgeon for Egbe Hospital (Nigeria) also in the area of Health/HIV and AIDS
General Nurse/Nurse Midwife – Luampa (Zambia) also in the area of Health/HIV and AIDS
General Surgeon, Mukinge Hospital (Zambia) also in the area of Health/HIV and AIDS

and one that is not directly medically related although it is in a hospital in Africa:
General Helper (Galmi Hospital, Niger)

Guest House related Opportunities

Two in Africa and one in South America, these opportunities are for anyone who loves to be hospitable and sees the need to support our missionaries on the ground;

Guest House Hostess–Quechua Ministry Support (Bolivia)
Would you like to play a vital support role in one of our main ministries in Bolivia? You could provide logistical, emotional, and spiritual support and encouragement to our rural Quechua missionaries by hosting a guest house available to them for rest and relaxation.

Guest House Manager (Niger)
Have you ever thought of using your natural inclination to hospitality in ministry? Maradi is the second largest town in Niger, and it is an important stopping place for people traveling to and from the east of Niger or to Nigeria. We need a guest house manager to oversee guests’ stays and to maintain the house well. God could use you in amazing ways to encourage His people.

Guest House Ministry at Galmi (Niger)
Do you have the gift of hospitality? Here is an opportunity for you to meet the needs of travelers and newcomers to the ministry of Galmi Hospital.

Perhaps you are a Geography Teacher and would love to go to Ethiopia or maybe you are a Graphic Artist who would be willing to serve in the Philippines. There is a need for a Global Research Assistant in the USA and finally the Sudan is in need of someone for Gospel Mentoring for Oral Learners Using the Arts (Use your gifting in drama, art, music, and DVDs to bring God’s message to Sudanese. Music, drama, media, and mime are but some of your options to share the teaching of the Bible.)

Perhaps you are thinking of an opportunity that starts with one of the 25 other letters of the alphabet. If so, feel free to explore this page on the SIM website. The SIM Australia website can be found here.

Meet our new family addition, a little blue budgie called Babybird, aptly named by Keziah. Babybird is still very young, probably only a couple of months old so he’s very tame. We decided that we would accept my friend’s offer for a budgie that had just come out of the nest and this time, it would be an inside bird. Both the girls love him, they giggle at him and Keziah keeps putting her hand in the cage! Its so much fun to see their reactions to a little animal and as of next month it will be Keziah’s job to feed him (with supervision). I managed to grab a great indoor hanging bird cage for him for only $15 off ebay which makes things easier. The cage we had for our weiro’s was just too big to keep inside our little house.

Here he is:

He likes to sit inside this little blue seed container (which I’m sure is a bad habit) and have a snooze after a round of attempting to get the bells off the ladder in his cage. Wears himself out poor little thing.

We now have two weiros, four chooks, one rabbit and one budgie. If you are from anywhere in the US or Canada the interpretation of that is: two parrots (I know there’s another name can’t remember), four chickens, one rabbit and one parakeet. Budgies are native to Australia and they actually fly wild here in some places but are easily tamed and trained.

Hands up if you are a control freak? (my hand is up) If one thing is difficult in life its letting go, especially when it comes to our kids, family or just being generally in control of our lives. This is something that I am constantly re-learning each day.

I’m one of those people who likes to be in control of my daily circumstances. I like to be on time (but this rarely happens!), I like to have a clean house (I’m constantly tidying up) and I like to know what I’m doing the day before it happens. I wouldn’t call myself spontaneous. Letting go is really hard to do. It means we aren’t in charge, it means trusting. I even see it when I’m trying to be creative. When I ‘try’ too hard my work comes out with obvious ‘mistakes’, it always looks awkward or jagged, the creativity is stunted. Whenever I just let go and see what happens and what ‘happy mistakes’ I can make I am always surprised with the results. Truth be told, I’m not in control, not even of my brush or the way my clay forms. There are too many circumstances that control these things (interruptions, temperature, limitations) and its only when I allow myself to relax and accept them that things start to flow.

As much as not being in control is completely opposite to my nature, this letting go is something that has infiltrated every part of my life. For example I came to the realisation early on that God is real and God is in control whether I choose to like it or not. Those times when I choose to accept this and relax (and see what happens) are those times when I basically step out of God’s way and watch him work. This applies in situations that I don’t like, in circumstances that I don’t understand and at times when I think the opposite should happen. One thing I know is that God sees the bigger picture that no one else does. He knows the end result and how to get there (difficult or not). He knows me better than anyone else and therefore, like a parent knows what’s best. Just like any kid I need to be reminded of this pretty much on a daily basis. Trust, believe and try to see what God does.

When you hear the term ‘accept Jesus’ really the acceptance that we are not in control of life but that God is, is a large part of that. Its the start anyway. Being a control freak is a hard job, its exhausting always trying to keep on top of things. Letting go is hard too but in the end, much more satisfying.

‘Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.’ (Hebrews 11:1)

I am currently having a storewide sale in my Wahmania store. 15% off everything. The discount is already showing on the listings so you just need to click the ‘add to cart’ option to purchase. There are 62 items to choose from and postage is included in the price already. If you have any questions just ask and I’m happy to try to answer.

Here is the latest item in my wahmania store:

Chiseled and Chunky Bracelet

For quite a while now I’ve been meaning to re-make crayons with K. After reading Tamara’s post over at Block Party Press I was reminded so we got to it the other day and I thought I’d share the results.

I don’t think I need to explain the sequence of creating these as the pictures tell it all except to say that the oven was set at around 120C (around 250F) for 10 mins. These are the perfect size for her hands.

When K was born I knitted her a teddy bear which turned out to be the one she now refers to as ‘Daddy Teddy Bear’ and sleeps with all the time. It was so nice to know that she chose the bear I’d knitted to be her favourite (along with a cloth one called Mummy Teddy Bear). In my attempt to do similar things for both girls I have knitted a bear fr L. Not sure if I like the end result but he does have character at least! Somehow this one turned out huge! May be to do with the fact that I used no pattern (I like their things to be one offs). I hope she grows to like her bear and gives as much love to it as K’s has seen already.

PS. That’s Daddy Teddy Bear sharing the seat with L’s.

I always enjoy the challenge of custom orders and Liza’s are a lot of fun each time. In the past I have created butterflies, nests, birds, fawns, cupcakes, lemon meringue pies and roses for her. This time she asked for little bunnies along with acorns and some more fawns. I really enjoyed making the acorns in this order, it was nice to do something quite different. Here are the results:

You can visit Liza’s Etsy shop here (and see what she does with the things I make for her).

Keziah has been to the zoo three times now but yesterday Lucinda went for the first time. Her impressions…….well she’s only 6 months so I don’t think she thought a lot of it. It was a great day. We were there for 7 hours. We paid $12 and hired a little cart so Kez and Malachi could save their legs a bit (although poor ol’ Grandad’s legs suffered in their place whilst pulling it around all day) and we got to spend a rare day with all of us together. All of us being our family, my parents and my brother and sister in law and kids.

I learnt a few things. Firstly, Tricia the elephant goes for walks around the zoo regularly so we got to see her up close which was really nice. In this photo my Mum is on the right with Malachi and Keziah:

I also did not know that you could fit four kids on the tortoise that everyone always has their kids photo on:

(photo taken by my brother)

Thirdly, my camera takes really cool action shots:

Ok, so I didn’t learn a whole lot about animals or conservation but that would be because I was too busy trying not to read anything but walk around and enjoy the day. I was thankful that the temp wasn’t too bad and as far as I know no one got sunburnt. Here’s a few more interesting shots from the day:

Photo taken by Candy

Photo taken by Candy

Today I thought it was time to do the next installment of current opportunities to serve overseas with the mission SIM. SIM works worldwide in around 40 countries and covers many areas of skill, training and expertise. Here are a few examples of opportunities starting with the letter ‘F’.

Foreign Languages

Can you speak (and teach) Spanish, French, German, Japanese or Korean? If so there are currently opportunities in Mongolia and China (long-term)

Or maybe you would love to teach French to kids in grades 6-12, this time the opportunity presents itself in Ethiopia (urgent and long-term).

Food Opportunities

There is an opportunity in Ethiopia for a Food Security Project Manager (development and relief). As the information page says;

While we’re in Niger there is a position available for a Farm Manager/Maintenance Supervisor

Female Physician (Malawi)

The information page says that, ‘Our need is for a female doctor. Your responsibilities will include providing general medical and HIV/AIDS care in the private clinic and care to registered HIV+ patients in the public AIDS clinic, training Malawian clinicians and nurses in general medical and HIV/AIDS care, assisting nurses in outreach programs, exploring God’s calling for a specific area of ministry, and developing opportunities for personal professional growth.

Would God be nudging you into this opportunity?’

Forgotten People Focus (youth leader in Kenya)

This opportunity comes from a church in Kenya. Here is the job description;

‘This is a highly strategic position for SIM Kenya as New City Fellowship is a church intentionally working towards racial and tribal reconciliation and one of the few ministries specifically reaching out to the 100,000+ Asians in Kenya. They have asked for a youth pastor specifically to reach the Asian youth that they might, in turn, reach others in their community. You would help the church by working directly with the youth of the church, reaching youth outside the church, organizing youth camps and other activities that will bring youth together, leading and organizing a youth service at least once a month, and meeting weekly with the pastor to discuss how the church is achieving its goals in reaching the youth. Is God leading you here?’

You can view all of SIM’s opportunities by visiting this page. Please feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll do my best to find out answers for you.