Hello everyone!
I was going to hold off writing until I had something definitive to tell you all, and I will still write a full-out update to all my distribution list as soon as I know more. Tonight, however, I was thinking that I should at least send out a note to you select to tell you what there is to tell and ask for your prayers.
I’m down to my last week here in the UK. For those of you who might not have heard, I had a conversation with my managers about 2 months ago and asked about what opportunities would be available to me going forward. As far as I was concerned, Leamington was not where I wanted to remain. It’s a nice little town and I can see how living in such a place might be attractive if I were married with kids (like the other Americans that I’m here with). But seeing as I’m no where near either that status, Leamington holds less for me…it’s small and remote, not to mention that it has been exceedingly difficult to really make friends here (let alone date!) My minimum contract term here was 1 year which is up at the end of July. So what I put to my managers was that if I were to remain in the UK, I wished to be moved to London and/or placed on the Global Training Team (as opposed to the UK Team). The outcome of this discussion was that there were no positions available and so I was left only with the options of staying in Leamington or going home. So I opted for home.
That was late-May.
Mid-June I went home for a friend’s wedding. When I returned, my sister Kristin was here visiting for about a week. After she left, I went on holiday to Greece for 10 days. During this time everything was being sorted out as far as my leaving…the when and how and where to and all that. There were a lot of issues raised that we were trying to get answers to…things like they were supposed to provide a job in the States for me to return to when I left. However with the market being as tight as it is, my company has really not been hiring for nearly a year. So if they couldn’t find a job for me, what then? Would I just end up with a severance package? And then there was the question of what department would cover my costs of relocation/repatriation…if I had no department or job to return to, where would all this be billed?
When I got back from Greece (just a week and a half ago) I expected that most of these things would be sorted. They weren’t. In fact it didn’t seem that they were any closer to being resolved than they were when I left.
So right now I’m down to my last week of being here. I work Monday through Wednesday. The movers are coming to pack and load on Thursday and Friday. My plane ticket is for next Sunday. And I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. I don’t know if I have a job or not…if so, what would I be doing and where? And if not, what severance (if any) will I get? Should I really be focusing my efforts on finding another position, or should I wait and see what happens with this situation? There are just so many unknowns right now which prevent me from making any sort of plans for when I get home. I’m doing my best to not become too stressed about it, but it’s been really really hard… Especially considering that my main supports here are either on vacation or they’ve left the company. I feel extremely helpless…like my hands are tied and there’s nothing to do but sit and wait… And when you’re waiting to find out such major things, it’s a little unnerving to say the least!
Ultimately I know that everything will work out… God has His plan and He has my best interest in mind. Of this I’m sure. But I’ve gotta be honest and say that as much as I want to relax and rest in these facts, it’s a lot easier said than done. Sometimes it seems that it’s easier to believe something than to feel it…I guess it’s the difference between head and heart.
Which brings me to the reason for this letter: To ask you all to take 5 minutes and really pray about this whole situation for me. Pray that all these questions will be answered early next week so I’ll maybe have at least a few days to figure out my plan for when I return. Pray also that I will really feel God’s hand in all this and be able to rely on Him and not doubt or worry (regardless of when these issues are resolved).
I would really really really appreciate your support… I’m feeling pretty alone here right now so knowing that you all are praying will mean the world to me.
Thanks everyone!
