Recognition Lens

Today my supervisor and I had a great discussion about being in the right place at the right time and our conversation just brought to my attention so many instances of how I've been blessed for being exactly where I needed to be. So, obviously, this is the topic for discussion.

I suppose a little background information would be helpful here to understand how this conversation came about. It started last night when my Chinese professor emailed the class to say Thursday's class was cancelled so we could study on our own for the test we have on Friday. I read this as "wahoo you get to sleep in tomorrow!", until of course I realized that I should be responsible and still use the time to study. I still slept in a little this morning, but I also got up early enough that I could go get help from one of the TAs before I had to go to work.Turns out going in this morning was incredibly helpful and helped me learn a thing or two that I wouldn't have learned if I had stayed home and slept. Then on my way out I saw a professor who had his hands full that was about to try and exit a door so I offered to open it for him. It ended up being a man from the Chinese Flagship program who I met last year. He remembered me and asked me about how my experience with Chinese  was going. He told me I was on the right track to get into the flagship program (which was super exciting!) Thus, this good morning left me in a good mood when I got to work and left me wanting to tell my supervisor about my good experience. This led into my experience in Taiwan and then into our discussion about "right place, right time." [sorry for the long explanation]

Ok so now that we have that out of the way, I just wanted to talk about how beneficial it is to be in the right place at the right moment. My  personal experience with this has taught me one important thing: there are no accidents. If I'm doing what I should and acting on promptings I get in my heart, the Lord can provide so many incredible opportunities. To demonstrate this I have two semi-lengthy stories that you can choose to read or ignore. [and fair warning, they primarily center around my experience with Chinese, so if you're sick of hearing it then skip]

 My first tale begins my 8th grade year when I found out I was required to take a foreign language class for a program I was involved with in my Jr. High. That year they were beginning a Mandarin Chinese course (in addition to the Spanish and French programs they already had). Being myself, I chose Mandarin because it sounded the most interesting to me, and my dad said I couldn't go wrong learning it since it was becoming such a high-demand business language. Thus began my journey learning Chinese. I ended up in a class with a teacher who was a Taiwanese native but had moved to America some years before and married an American. She was an excellent teacher who made the language and culture so intriguing to me. Being a stupid Jr. High kid/High school, I didn't take Mandarin as seriously as I should have the 3 years I had classes.
Some time went by and I didn't think much about it, until one Saturday when I happened to be cleaning a church building with a counselor from my school (who was also my neighbor) and she asked if I had heard about the program that was interested in taking American students to Taiwan for a summer program. I said I hadn't heard but that I was certainly interested. A month or so went by and I found out I was nominated by a school counselor to apply to the program. After a grueling process I was accepted into the program along with 11 other students from Utah.That month spent in Taiwan was incredibly memorable and taught me so much about Taiwanese culture as well as leadership. How I was fortunate to end up there, I have no idea. Someone on the other side must love me a lot. I just happened to have a record of liking Chinese and Asian culture, and happened to be on good terms with my counselor, and happened to be what the program directors were looking for. [gosh I sound like I'm bragging] But it was honestly a miracle that I will forever be grateful for.

My second experience started somewhere around the beginning, or just before, my senior year. I had some cousins who knew I was interested in Chinese and told me about the Chinese Flagship program that BYU was a part of. I was really interested, as were my parents. So my dad set up an appointment with one of the faculty member that was a part of the program so we could learn more about it and how to get involved. Going to the appointment really got me excited about the program and in learning Chinese more fluently. The people we met with invited me to their high-school/Flagship event so I could learn more about the program and how to get involved. I had such a good experience and it solidified my interest in the Flagship program. Because of my interest in the program, BYU was one of four colleges that I applied to. Now that I'm here I am so glad. Everything has worked out so well for me and I've been able to meet a lot of great people and learn a lot of valuable information. 

So moral of the story is this: come what may and go with it. Do what you feel is right and take every opportunity that is handed to you, because you never know if it will lead you to bigger and better opportunities.

-M