First FIRST Day of School

Today was my first first day of teaching! Last semester, I had a verse that was a constant for me. I took a screenshot of it and it became the background on my phone so I could see if often and be reminded of God's promises. I was searching and praying for which verse would be my semester/year verse. Then, Chris Ratley sent a verse out and I knew immediately it was the one! 

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 NIV)

This year I am the Algebra 1 Team Lead. I have only been out of college for 8 months and only taught for one semester so far yet they made me the team lead! Every time I think to myself, "I have NO IDEA what I'm doing!" I'm quickly reminded to be strong and courageous! I know that God has placed me in the position I am in, at the school I am in, teaching the students I am teaching for His glory! 

I have been asked by many the reason I chose to get into the education field. My students ask that question (sometimes audibly and other times by their actions) and, just as any other teacher, it is definitely NOT for the money! I love math and I love Algebra 1! However, I teach ultimately for His glory and to share His love with the students! When my students look at me, my prayer is they would see Jesus in me. When they are being encouraged, I want them to see Jesus in the situation. When they are being disciplined and given consequences, I want them to see Jesus in me. I want them to question my actions and my faith. I pray for opportunities for students to open doors so I can walk through them. I want them to ask a question so I can say, "I'd love to answer that question after school!" and then have them stay after school so they can ask me all the questions they need answered.  

Today, as I placed sticky notes on each desk with a number on it, I prayed for each person that would sit in that seat and would take notes on that desk. I prayed for my students' hearts- that they would be open to the Gospel. Today, as my students walked into my class and shook my hand, I directed them to their seats and prayed for each one individually. I may not legally be able to lead them in prayer but nothing in this world can stop me from praying for my students!

Fellow teachers, how do you prepare spiritually for the beginning of the school year?  

Only a few days...

Well, I only have a few more days until I leave for Czech!! We leave July 11 and will return July 23! We fly into London and then into Prague. We will do some tourism for a couple of days and then head to the location of camp.  I am so excited to be able to get to go with new friends and serve along side them. We will be doing an English camp for people of all ages (in previous years they've had ages ranging from 10-55). Sometime families come together, parents and all. The church I am going with has been going for quite a few years now to the same area and serving with some of the same people. As crazy as it might seem that I've only met this group of people twice, the Lord has given me complete peace about going with them. I am looking forward to building these new relationships and serving the Lord with them.

Prayer:
-The campers will be inquisitive about Jesus
-Mila, the Czech person who is over there full-time, would be encouraged by the Lord while we are there
-Safe travels there and back
-My parents to trust in the Lord and for peace as their baby girl goes overseas for the first time and it being without them

Thank y'all in advance!!

Following Him every step of the way,
Tia

Garage Sale #2 in Nacogdoches

Here we go again!! It is garage sale time!!! Next Saturday, April 14, I am having a garage sale in Nacogdoches! It will be at Oak Grove Baptist Church (corner of S. University and the Loop). I'd greatly appreciate any donations you could give and I'd love to see y'all out there next Saturday!! Please be praying that I would raise the $2,000 that it cost for me to go to Czech this summer!

Thank you for your love and support!

Following Him,
Tia

The Ups and Downs

So much has happened in the last month… in the last week and really, if I’m honest, in the last 36 hours!

In the past month, God has been working on my heart, preparing me. There were some things in my long ago past which needed to surface so I could deal with them, move on, and serve the Lord whole-heartedly. It is something that I wanted to leave on the dusty shelf it has been sitting on for more of my life than not. God, ever so gently, took this out of the shadows, wiped away the cobwebs, and placed it in front of me. I had a choice to make. Put it back on the shelf as it became heavier and heavier or deal with it the way the Lord wanted me to. After much debate within myself (and with God), I decided on the latter. I slowly devised a plan, leaning on the Lord and allowing Him to guide me. For those of you who know me at all, you know that when I plan something, I am going to stick to it with everything I have. Knowing this was God leading the planning, I held even more conviction to the way I was going to handle it. I started out on this journey, thinking I’d been shown every step of this future plan and how it would all work. However, after I took a few baby steps, I knew there would be a much larger leap. I thought I knew what would happen after that leap. I took this giant leap but the other side wasn’t shown to have so many roads about it, like I had originally thought. I froze, seeking the Lord for guidance and trusting those He placed in my life at this particular point (after the leap). I knew I needed to proceed with caution as this was unforeseen territory. As I sluggishly continued down a particular unplanned path, I was overcome with emotions that I wanted to get rid of as quickly as they showed up… I just couldn’t shake them. I couldn’t stop walking along this journey of life, nor this particular path, because, well… life simply goes on. Life has since gone one and I am filled with joy that I know only comes from the Lord. I am overwhelmed by His love, grace, mercy, and friendship. He held me close to His side through those dark weeks that I thought would never end.

However, joy comes in the morning! And does it ever!!

Towards the end of February, I was selling my t-shirts and a girl I go to school with asked where I was going so I told her. She informed me that her church back at home (Allen, TX) has connections with people in Czech! She told me she would try to get me more information so I would be able to have a contact when I get there. Fast forward a month… I hadn’t heard anything from my friend so I sent her a message. She replied and gave the mission’s coordinator’s info so I could contact her. I immediately emailed her (Wednesday night), in all my excitement, asking for the contact info of anyone in Czech she could put me in contact with. I received an email from her when I got out of taking my content (BIG TEACHER TEST!) Thursday afternoon. I ever so patiently waited until I got home to open it. She not only gave me his information, she invited me to go with their group on a mission trip to Czech THIS SUMMER!!!!!

I asked about cost and before she even replied, I tried calling about 5 people so I could talk to them about this; however, NO ONE ANSWERED!! God wanted me to seek HIM first!! So, after trying things my way and every one of my attempts being futile, I decided to spend time seeking Him! When I had prayed like crazy about what He wanted me to do and where He was leading me, one of my friends called me back! Then another… then another! I talked to my parents about it and they were supportive (which is a HUGE blessing!). I found out the rough price and realized I had that in the bank already from fundraising so far!

I call the travel agent the church group is going with today and find out that airfare prices are probably going to skyrocket on Monday! She got me a missionary discount on the same flight as the group I’m going with AND sitting with them. I paid for my ticket today and I am officially going to Czech for 12 days!!! I can hardly wait!!

Also, I passed my content test which means I am officially certified to TEACH!!!!

It has been beyond an exciting, exhilarating, crazy, joyous day and a half!

Things you can be praying for:

-I will get my passport stuff taken care of ASAP!

-I would continue to be willing to allow God to lead me!

-God would be honored and pleased!

-This semester would end smoothly!

Thank you for your support, prayers and love! 

Following Him,

Tia 

T-SHIRTS FOR SALE!!

Well, the past week has been more than incredible!!! Words cannot describe what God has been doing in my life!!
Today, I spent some time with a t-shirt design guy and we came up with my shirts!!! I will be selling blue shirts and red shirts for $15 each! If you are interested, let me know! You can comment on here, send me a message to my email (tia_delatorre@yahoo.com is the one that gets checked more often!), send me a message on Facebook, or text me if you have my number! Somehow, contact me and I'd be glad to order you a shirt! Right now, I am only taking orders (and money!) and when they are printed and ready to go, I will deliver them to you!!!
With your message, please tell me which color shirt you would like, what size and how many!

*I am still working on getting my PayPal up and running so for now, you can to send me a check or, if I see you often enough, you can pay for your shirt(s) when you see me!
Here are the shirt designs! :)

It says, "Send Tia to Czech!" in Czech on the front and Jeremiah 20:9 on the back! (Click to see it larger!)

Prayer requests:

• I will concentrate on school as this is my last semester in Nac and then I student teach back at home next semester!
• I would continue to seek the Lord as He opens doors for me!
• God would be seen through me in everything I do!!

Thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers so far!

Following Him,

Tia 

Garage Sale Success!

Hey y'all!! The garage sale was today and it was a HUGE success!!! I made a total of $342.45! I am super excited and extremely grateful for the many blessings God lavished upon me today! Here is just some of it:

As of early this morning I didn't even have tables for my garage sale and had no way of getting any either! (This is a big no-no in garage sale world...) So after freaking out a little, Esther and I just started doing what we could. Then, at 7:30am (garage sale didn't start until 8), a truck starts pulling up to the house and I think it's just someone who saw our signs and wants to buy something (which I didn't even have cash to give change to anybody yet... another no-no!). It turns out to be someone from church and he asks if we need help with anything. He then realizes our need for tables and offers to go get tables from the church and bring them to us!! HUGE BLESSING!!!

Then, around 11ish, there is quite a large group of people walking around shopping. I tried to make it to every customer and give them one of my fliers and talk with them so I am doing this even with a large crowd. I walk over to a gentleman and start telling him about why I am doing this garage sale, what it benefits, where I am going and why. He starts asking me more specific questions than normal and I notice he has an accent but I am not sure where it is from. We talk for a few minutes and then... *deep breath* he tells me he is FROM CZECH REPUBLIC!!!!! We then talk for about 30-40 minutes about Czech, their culture, food, currency, safety, etc. It was SUCH a blessing to talk with him and learn more about this foreign place I will be living for a year!!! It was AWESOME!!!

Needless to say, today was a GREAT day!!! It was a lot of work but it was worth every bit of it!!! Thanks to those of you who donated, helped me sort and organize sale items, allowed me to camp out in your garage/driveway all day, helped today at the garage sale and everyone who bought things today!!! Without you, it would have been so much harder and MUCH more stressful!!!

Now that I have some money, I am going to try to get some shirts to sell also!! If you have any design ideas, please let me know! I am very open to ideas currently! Also, if you know of places that do t-shirts for a good price, please let me know!! Thank you again!!

Prayer Requests:
-I would continue to be grateful to God for everything He has done!
-God to continue to prepare my heart and the heart of those I will be in contact with
-Through fundraising, others would see the Love that is Christ!

Following Him every step of the way,
Tia

Garage Sale in Nacogdoches

Help Send Tia to the Czech Republic!

GARAGE SALE

1/28/2012

8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

331 CR 2153, Nacogdoches, Texas

All proceeds go to my mission trip into the Czech Republic where I will be teaching conversational English to adolescents and rescuing women from the sex trade.