We’re right in the middle of summer, and it’s time for another update. These past three weeks have been very full indeed. Just after beginning this blog, I headed out of country with a group from my church to encourage and support fellow workers elsewhere. It was a productive and inspiring trip; however it has made the fundraising window for my teaching position in Tirana, Albania even tighter. I have about three weeks before I hope to be fully funded with a plane ticket in my hand heading to Albania. Thankfully, nothing is impossible for God, and I trust that he is fully capable of supplying the needed funds in the required time.
This past week I participated in a calculus teacher training program to qualify me to teach the AP class. It was a firehose experience and a hardy reminder that I need to polish up on my calculus knowledge. To spice things up even more, the AP powers that be at College Board have decided to revamp the curriculum–the year I begin teaching–to require from teachers and students a deeper knowledge of the subject and to lessen our reliance on cookie-cutter and repetitive problems. Even in this intimidating setting, God provided encouragement through our very knowledgeable instructor. My suspicion that he is a believer was quickly confirmed, and our daily field trips to get after-lunch coffee at the nearby Target provided ample opportunity to share God’s goodness and provision with each other. Praise God for unlooked-for help!
At this point, I am close to 35% funded. My TeachBeyond mobilizer and I have streamlined my budget so that I require about $1700/month for 11 months. Since this is a single-year commitment, I am required to raise 100% of the budget before TeachBeyond purchases the plane tickets. To help quantify the need conceptually: I would be fully funded if 10 people were to pledge $50/month and another 10 people were to pledge $75/month. TeachBeyond encourages would-be donors to consider giving on a monthly basis to simplify administration. Every bit helps, however, and I would welcome any amount if you’re interested in giving. Please shoot me an email if you’d like to hear more about all of this. You can also go to https://give.teachbeyond.org/support/nathan-cook/ to give electronically from a number of options. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you so much for your prayers through this process of preparation! Here are several key requests for you to pray for:
- That Christ would conform my heart to gladly serve him and share his love, wherever he takes me. My zeal for his name is easily encumbered by the many details of preparation as well as my longing for life to make sense at age 33—a little melodramatic, but there it is.
- That the fundraising effort would be completed in a timely manner, and that the Holy Spirit would work through the many interactions of this process, continuing to glorify his name even before I leave for Tirana!
- That I would prepare well for teaching, and that the logistics of the transition out of the Philly area and off to Tirana would go smoothly and not greatly detract from good farewells here.
And for my un-praying friends, I sincerely appreciate your supporting my effort to serve the GDQ school, which itself improves lives directly through education and indirectly through the ministry efforts of the students’ families. You and I are part of something big here.
I will keep you all posted on how these next weeks progress!
Set Your Hope Fully on Christ 