Latest / Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community / Leading Differently Together | "Teachers" With Amy-Jo Smith

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Leading Differently Together | "Teachers" With Amy-Jo Smith · Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community

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The environment is a third teacher. I'm not the only one in
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the room that is bringing the learning. So
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how we set up the environment really matters, and how can we create an environment
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that really draws out the learning of the students.
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What does loving your neighbor actually look like?
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This is Journey with Care, where curious Canadians get inspired
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to love others well through real life stories and honest
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conversations.
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Hey, curious Sojourner. We're continuing along in our series Leading
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Differently Together, and I'm so glad you're on this journey with me as we're meeting
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up with some pretty fascinating people across Canada. They're living in their
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sweet spots and really making an impact. Ephesians 411 to
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12 says, God gives some to be apostles,
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prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to equip the
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saints for the work of ministry and for building up the body of
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Christ. But I wonder what does that actually look like in Canada?
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Well, you're gonna have to listen to find out because today, we're gonna get curious
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about teaching. I'm your host, Wendi Park, joined by producer,
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Johan Hinrichs. And in studio today, we have a very special guest who
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is a teacher to the core. She loves working with children and families
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with special needs and has done so around the world. Now coming to
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us from the unceded Anishinaabe Algonquin Territory, Ottawa,
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Ontario. Amy-Jo Smith, welcome to the podcast.
1:34
Thank you, Wendi. It's so wonderful to be with you.
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Yes. I love working with you, Amy-Jo. It should be said
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that you are part of the CareImpact team all the way from
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Ottawa, but not everybody knows you. So I would love for you
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to tell us a little bit about yourself. Take us on a quick journey of
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your personal story. Well, you know
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me as one of the CareImpact trauma care trainers,
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and it is such a fun thing to be part of the team
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across Canada. But I have been in the early childhood
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education field for almost 20 years.
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And I have had the privilege I always say my greatest
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teachers and my professors have been the children that I have
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gotten to walk alongside and journey with. And
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that has been in classrooms in Ottawa where I
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currently live, where I started as an early childhood educator.
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It's also been in the homes of families as a nanny, in
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children's ministry classrooms, as a Sunday school teacher
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in Peru, in the Dominican, in Ecuador,
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and a few other places where I've gotten to journey with
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children and families through camps and different children's
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homes. And all of these opportunities and experiences have taught me
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so much about the way we learn from each other. I
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love that. Yes. You have a diverse background
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in teaching. And I'm just curious, can you trace that
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back to maybe when you were a child, or how far can you
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trace that back when you started to love teaching? How did you fall into
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that? Well, I love that you asked that because I've been
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reflecting on a quote, by mister Rogers. And
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I have a friend who Love mister Rogers. And
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she just wrote a book all about his life because it he's impacted her so
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much in her teaching. And there was a quote that he said she
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shared with me and it's just stuck with me. And it said he said, who
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loved you into being? And in the work that I
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do in caring for and teaching children
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and now seeking to equip and care for adults and the work
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that I do as a resource consultant, trying to build capacity to
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support educators and having spaces that they
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can invite children with special needs into. I know that there are so
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many people and so many experiences that I am who I
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am today in the work that I do. And so when I think about who
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loved me into being, the moments where
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I really learned in a moment of teaching, they were
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often the moments that were not necessarily in a classroom within 4
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walls. I think of my grandma. She comes to mind,
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first of all, as someone who walked with me, and she was also
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a teacher, both in her profession and and in
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her life, in her vocation as a as a grandma and as
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a mom. And a picture comes to mind where I was in her
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backyard and she always let us help her in the garden. And she
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taught me how to dig out the hole to put the potato in, and she
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always said, you need to give it a good soaking. And there were
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those moments in my life when I was taught,
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by teachers that were not necessarily within a classroom within 4 walls.
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Another moment I remember was when I had to have surgery when I
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was about 5 years old, and I was in the hospital for
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over a week and my Sunday school teacher signed a big
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card. She had all my, my classmates sign the
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card and decorated it and brought it to me. And that was a moment
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where I learned about love and care. Wow. I really love
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that. It's so it's not so much on the transaction of
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content is what I'm hearing from you. But the going
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alongside teaching and doing, demonstrating, coming alongside,
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really demonstrating what it was that you didn't even
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maybe know that potatoes needed to be soaked, that it was something to learn. But
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as you walked along your grandma in that garden, as
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you received that compassion from your teacher, she was teaching you
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far more than a phonograph Jesus on a on a board about
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compassion. And that's very Jesus y, isn't it? He he walked
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along, and and he was a good teacher. He or he is a good teacher
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and, demonstrated that in a very practical
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ways. Well, I was thinking of that, Wendi, in
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just thinking of the life of Jesus and how he taught as
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he walked. And he taught through physical
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things like water and bread and fish
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and trees, and he taught through his life as he
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walked. That's right. So I remember
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a conversation we had when I originally asked you, hey, Micho, I
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am doing this series, and I'd really love to interview
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you on your take on teaching regarding the the
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Ephesians 4 gifting. And I remember that conversation
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distinctly saying, well, do I qualify enough as a teacher? I'm not
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necessarily a pastoral teacher in the church or in in
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the typical way right now. I'm not teaching a Sunday school class. Do you
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remember that conversation? And just digging in together, what does it
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mean to be gifted in teaching?
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Do you recall that conversation? I do recall that
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conversation. And and I remember that
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unlike Amy-Jo, you have a gift of teaching. You
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you teach in our trauma care class. I'd love for you to tell us a
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little bit more about the master class that you're currently part of
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the team in teaching, But maybe we can dive
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into a little bit about the biblical foundation that you and I were
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exploring when we were thinking through the, verse
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in in Ephesians 4 11 and 12, what
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does it mean to have the gift of teaching? Do you have any
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reflections on that since we last had that conversation?
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I do. And I I I appreciated you asking that question because I
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I think it it got my thoughts going back to what is what is
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teaching. And the word, is to
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train and to teach, and the word, which is to draw out. And
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those are both the root words of education. And so I've been thinking a
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lot about that. And my brother, who is also part of our trauma care team,
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he was talking about that after our last session just on Tuesday,
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where we were talking about how do we create a learning environment where we're
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not just giving information even though that is part of we do
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have information we want to share and and facts and
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statistics and different things that we want the students to
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come away with. But so much of the learning that we're trying to create
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is an environment where the students are able to
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access some of what they already know or go on a journey of
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discovery on their own. And so I've been thinking a lot about
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how teaching is so much about that creating.
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And in my work as an early childhood educator,
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it's actually something that we talk about all the time is that we're
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co creating a learning environment. We're setting out invitations
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for the children, and then we're being surprised by what they do with
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the invitations. So we're learning alongside with them.
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And it's actually we we have a saying in early childhood
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education that the environment is a 3rd teacher. I'm
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not the only one in the room that is bringing the learning.
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So how we set up the environment really matters, and my brother Tim was
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just reminding us how how can we create an environment that
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really draws out the learning of the students? Right.
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So I'm not a natural gifted teacher, I would say. I may be a
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natural gifted student. I love to learn. I'm always curious.
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Can you walk me through that? What does it mean to be co
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learning? What does the child have to teach you? What does the environment
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have to teach you? And how are you navigating that? Can you
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walk me through an example? Yeah. Well, in
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early childhood education, it's a lot to do with materials and things that we
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put out. So for example, we had a class that
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was really interested in building marble runs. They were building
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ramps and testing how fast the marbles could go. So we thought, oh, we'll put
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out some cardboard and see if they wanna build their own marble runs and then
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they can use a different material. But we put out the cardboard
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and guess what they did? They didn't wanna build a marble run. They wanted to
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build instruments and they wanted to build journals. And it turned
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into this really beautiful creative activity for weeks weeks
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that they were very invested in. And we just had to
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kind of follow them along that journey and teach them how to
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different kinds of attachments for then for their instruments and
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put up materials where we could build on their their interest. And
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so that's the exciting part for me is just kind of
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teaching alongside, creating an environment, and then watching where
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the learning will go. Yeah. And I I love that because
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often we think education is maybe something for the
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learner, those that don't squirm in their seats, those that sit still and and
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just pay attention to whoever's at the at the pulpit,
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whoever's at the front of the classroom with authority. But what you're
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telling me is a much more humble approach bending down at their level
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and learning with them and being curious about how
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they're learning, and that is something we could take into the church. I'm curious
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to see from a early childhood educator's perspective as
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you are very committed to the church and and navigating
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that church life experience. Are there some things that we should be paying
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attention to, listening to, leaning into our educators
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in the pews in leadership that would make a co
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learning experience so that we could learn to grow closer to each
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other, learn to grow closer to God and to to
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community? Are there things that maybe that you see
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that we're bypassing in everyday church
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experiences? So one thing that I've
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found really interesting in my work as an early childhood educator is
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we have to do so many observations. So I'm not at the
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front of the room in a kindergarten class just giving information.
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Although there are times when I gather the children in a circle and, and I
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share information with them. But so much of the time I'm walking around and
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I'm recording, whether it's even just in my mind or whether it's on a piece
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of paper or with a video, I'm recording what's happening in the learning so
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that I can come back to it and I can look at where we should
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take the learning next, and I can pull out things that I'm seeing.
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And I think it's taught me so much about observation and
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listening. Because so much of the job is observing
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and looking a little deeper and saying, what could be going on
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here? And listening and listening even deeper
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for what the child might be already learning and already accessing so that I can
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add another layer. And I think in the church and in our
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communities, it makes me think, what if we listen longer?
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What if we observed more to know what other
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people are thinking? And maybe it's the the kids in the back row or the
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people in the back row that that aren't even getting a a place to have
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their voice heard. And I need to step closer to
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them and listen longer so that I can hear what they have to say.
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So it's a sense of letting the children come and don't
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hinder them. I I think Jesus had a strong word with those
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adults that were adulting doing serious church under the tree, I imagine.
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It may not be under a tree, but he's let the children come. And though
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those were teaching moments, they were colearning together in those
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times, weren't they? And, also, what I hear you telling me is that it's
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not just somebody with just good communication skills in,
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like, verbal oratory excellence, that they're
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just, like, downloading, like, a fire hose of information.
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There's something reciprocal that's happening when there's
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teaching going on. I learned from you, you learned from me,
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and together, it's like this dance back and forth and
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can arrive to new conclusions or arrive to deeper
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understanding, not only in the content, but what I'm hearing you say is
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in each other, understanding each other, which can often
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be overlooked as we are in pursuit of doctrine, as we're
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in pursuit of right thinking and godly principles and
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bible verses and a lot of good things, but we miss
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hearing each other colearning together in those moments.
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And and I think, yeah, Amy-Jo, you have a lot to teach us. I think
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that's beautiful. I'm being taught. Well, I I love that word you used,
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Wendi, reciprocity, because I think that describes so
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much of what, we're talking about in that learning. And
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and when I come in with a humble and an open heart and a and
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a one a wonder, so much of what we do in early
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childhood education is a wondering. And I actually had a
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wonder wall on my wall where we we put our questions,
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and I put my questions because there's things that I didn't know. And the
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children would ask questions and sometimes we didn't know the answer. So we'd put it
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up and we'd wonder together and we'd go deeper into the whether it was
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wondering where the puddles went in the spring. And one of the children said, I
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think they get sucked up into the sky. And, actually, that's pretty much
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what does happen. Yeah. So then we go and learn about evaporation,
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but there was just so much in that process that was a dance of
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listening and learning together. And I wonder with what
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you just told me now is that if there's people listening that
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have or are curious if they have the gift of teaching or they clearly
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do, I wonder if that eases the burden of
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having to be the know it all just because you're the teacher that you have
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to have all the answers. And sometimes we shoot ourselves in
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the foot by trying to pretend or or put the pressure
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on that we have to know everything rather than be curious together
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and to discover together. I do sense this new
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generation up and rising. They wanna ask questions. They want to wonder.
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Mhmm. They wanna be curious and and know. And rather than being
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threatened as a teacher, I hear you saying, hey. Let me wonder with you,
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and maybe be that guide on that pathway. Still further
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ahead, you do have knowledge. It's not like you're anything goes,
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but you're just a few steps ahead but wondering with them.
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I love that, and I think of it as a guide that's taking us on
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a trip. And, you know, we're we're going into the mountains, and so I come
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prepared with my map and with my idea of where we're going, and I have
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my backpack and I have my preparations for the things that
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could happen just in case, but I'm prepared to be surprised along the
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way and to maybe take a detour and find a
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beautiful scene that I didn't expect to see. But I do have a
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direction that I'm going. And I think, like you're saying, some
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people may not realize that they do have something that really
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is something that other people need and some dots
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that can help them connect. And so when we come in with
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that idea, I do have something that I wanna share. We don't
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have to have all the answers, but we can be a guide on the journey
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for others. In your current work in Ottawa as
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a consultant, with the education system there
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for families with special needs, you've also volunteered and
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done a lot of work with Joni and Friends. We haven't talked about that
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yet. But working with children with differences,
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can you tell me what that teaching experience has taught you
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through those experiences? Well, I was thinking about
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this and reflecting on your question of, you
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know, who are the people that have really taught me over the years
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and influenced me. And I remember my friend, Jill,
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invited me to my first family camp for families
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of children with special needs. And I learned so much from
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watching her and watching others journey alongside these
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families and children and laugh with them
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and swim with them and just celebrate their abilities. There's
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a talent show night. And every year, I
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think for about 10 years, I had the privilege of journeying with
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families at these camps. And every year, there's just so much ability and so
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much to celebrate. And I think watching
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others interact taught me so much about
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how we need all these parts of the body. We need all these parts
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of the body to be included. And when we make a
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little space and we push over, whether it's a physical
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space for a wheelchair to come in or whether it's, you
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know, some sensory supports for children that are struggling with noise and
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with sensory input. When we make space, we're so much richer as a
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community. And I've had some conversations in in some churches. Well,
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we don't really deal with those kind of things in in the greatest sense.
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But then I I have to wonder too, if we're not dealing with differences,
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are we excluding them without even knowing? Are we creating those
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wheelchair ramps? But not always even in the physical sense. Sometimes
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the invisible things when we have children or adults with neuro
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differences, are there sensory spaces? Are there quiet spaces? Are
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we mindful? And I think that's a lot of pressure
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possibly on on a church to get it all right, but it's
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really not that. From what I'm learning from you is just pay attention,
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to listen, to get to know the individual because each
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person comes with invisible or visible
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needs that could be accommodated if we would just simply
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let them teach us what it is they need to thrive and to
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flourish because everyone is designed for community, but
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how do we make that happen? I imagine that's a bit of your
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work in the school system with families as they're trying to navigate
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regular school with neuro differences and and special needs.
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Can you share some insights that might be helpful for
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churches who are also wanting to be accommodating and
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create some universal design so that everybody is welcome.
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Yeah. I love what you said about letting them teach
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you. And I think that is the phrase that stuck out to
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me because so much of the work that I do, and I work currently with
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early childhood educators, so preschool and helping the
19:54
children transition into the school system and prepare them for
19:58
kindergarten. And so much of what we do is we talk about,
20:02
again, coming back to that observation and that questioning
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and wondering, and not just coming to an assumption that this behaviour is
20:10
because they don't want to be a part of the group or they
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don't want to listen. So much of it is also in what we teach in
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our trauma care class, right, is that coming back to
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curiosity and wanting to stay connected
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in those moments of wondering what's going on, what what's a layer deeper? We talk
20:29
about the iceberg in our trauma care classes so often about
20:32
what we see is just the tip, and there's so much underneath.
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So what we see may be a behavior that
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we are curious about. We don't understand it or
20:44
we're frustrated about if we're honest. But in the
20:47
trauma care master class, you have been teaching people how,
20:51
in the churches, how to look beyond the behavior. What is
20:55
the need underlying that? Right? And what are some of those
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discoveries being found? You're you're currently teaching. Maybe you can go into a
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little bit about the master class, why we are teaching that
21:06
in into churches and ministry leaders. What are some of the
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things that they're discovering as they get curious behind
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the behavior? Yeah. And and like you said, Wendi, those
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behaviors, they're not easy. And the classes and the
21:21
participants that come together as we journey through our trauma
21:25
care learning, we're very honest about the challenges
21:29
that these things are not easy and they're not necessarily
21:33
straightforward. And part of the gift we give these children
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and individuals that come into our communities is that gift
21:41
of patience and curiosity and willingness to ask
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those deeper questions. And we're we're hearing things from the participants
21:49
who say they wish they'd known this earlier. You know, it's a foster mom
21:53
who has been fostering for 10 years. And she says,
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oh, this is just so good. I wish that I'd known this 10 years ago.
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But we always say in our course, when you know better, you can do better.
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That's right. And it's not going back, but we can go forward, and we can
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go forward with more compassion and curiosity. And and really the heart
22:12
of all of this, which I get to talk about daily in my job and
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it just brings me joy. It's talking about connection.
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We're built for connection, and we're longing for
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connection. And so much of this is just how do we stay connected through
22:26
the challenges and work to rebuild connection when it's broken.
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That's really beautiful. Because sometimes when we think let the children come and
22:33
don't hinder them, it's like putting a do not enter sign on the church
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or in our our kids' program or ministry or whatnot
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or that person that's difficult has a difficult behavior we're not sure what to
22:44
do with. We're thinking it's just a blatant like, you can't come
22:48
in. But, actually, what you're telling me is is sometimes
22:52
we we give messages. We send messages that you do not belong
22:56
if you can't fit in these things. So so hindering can
23:00
be not looking behind the behavior. Hindering can
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not being aware, but you're right. When we know better, we do better.
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And I I love the passion that you and and the other
23:11
associates on our team bring into these settings as
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people are just like these light bulb moments saying, oh my goodness. I
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can't wait to get back into that setting or back with my child or
23:22
back into the church and pursue those connections. Can you
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give me an example, sort of a before and after example,
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of when you were able to connect with a child or an adult
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and what that difference was in your relationship and even in
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your teaching ability with this the student?
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Well, one of the first thing that comes to mind is is an
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educator that I was just talking to this week. And she's fairly
23:48
new to the profession, fairly new to her job, and she's been working with
23:52
some really, really challenging kids. And
23:57
she just soaks in everything that we
24:00
talk about. And I come back a week later, we were talking about breathing techniques
24:04
because some of our children are really struggling with regulating.
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And some of them come from really difficult home situations where they're
24:12
not getting that practice. And so we talk about this also in our trauma
24:16
care course, you know, about helping to regulate the
24:19
vagus nerve in the brain that helps calm the body. And
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so I taught her the roller coaster breathing, where you go up and down the
24:27
fingers. And I came back a couple of weeks later and she has
24:30
the whole group of kids coming in from outside, sitting on the carpet,
24:34
these kindergarten kids, and they're all practicing the
24:38
breathing and coming up with their own on their own their own
24:42
creative ideas. And so I watched this educator who's the other day,
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she said, Amy-Jo, I just learn so much from you every time you come.
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And really, it's her willingness to I send videos
24:53
and links to some of the trauma care information, and she watches them and
24:57
she takes ideas. And there's a little girl who is in
25:00
her care who comes from a very difficult home situation.
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And she came in really through all of her behavior asking that
25:08
question, am I wanted? Am I cared for? Am I
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loved? And, you know, we talk about the Karen Purvis quote.
25:16
She was someone who worked with children from hard places
25:19
and has done a lot of beautiful research on healing for children who have
25:23
gone through trauma. And she talks about
25:27
sometimes the children that need the most love ask for it in the most unloving
25:30
ways. And so this little girl is having a lot of really
25:34
challenging behavior. And those educators
25:37
have told her over and over again, you're wanted here, you're loved,
25:41
you're cared for by their presence
25:46
and their words. Even though other programs, I think, would have
25:49
told her, you're not welcome here. You can't come back because of her challenges, but
25:53
they've been willing to stick with it. And she has
25:57
beautiful moments now of connection. And even she's able to access
26:01
some of her sadness, which is actually a really good thing. She's able to cry
26:05
instead of just lash out. And so that's where I I saw a dance
26:08
between an educator who's curious and willing to learn and a child
26:12
who is being connected with, and it just brought me a lot of
26:16
joy. Yeah. That's really beautiful. Earlier, I referring to
26:19
Ephesians 411 to 12, where we we know the
26:23
apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, and, obviously, we're
26:26
focusing on the teachers, are there to equip the
26:30
saints for the work of the ministry for building up the body of
26:33
Christ. I'm just curious the intersection of somebody
26:37
like yourself who has an innate God calling of teaching.
26:41
You can't stop but reciprocate that with others and and
26:44
co learn together. But what is it that we could learn as a body of
26:48
Christ to do better together with the other callings and
26:52
and leadership styles? What is it that we could do to
26:56
work better together and to really make
27:00
the most with those in the church who have the gift of
27:03
teaching? Well, I think because I'm
27:07
just always looking through that lens of time with my little people, I
27:11
think of a circle time in kindergarten. And there are some
27:14
voices who are really, really ready to just take over the whole
27:18
circle, and they're very forefront and they need
27:22
space. They do need space to talk. But I think of so much of it
27:25
is a dance of trying to bring out the ones who are quiet and the
27:29
ones who are maybe not as willing to share, but have really good things to
27:32
say. And I think maybe some of
27:36
this journey as a community, as a church community, is how do we
27:40
make space for the voices that may be more in the back row
27:44
or the ones that may not be as vocal? How
27:48
do we really pause and make space for them? Because we have so much to
27:51
learn from each other. And I would imagine
27:54
someone with the gift of teaching like yourself who is maturing in their
27:58
giftings and utilizing that as they grow, they're probably the
28:02
ones that I would wanna lean into to really be
28:06
able to be good observers of the environment in creating
28:09
safe and conducive spaces for learning, not just in in the
28:13
construction of of the 4 walls, but in the environment to health
28:17
felt safety so that people can reciprocate so they feel,
28:21
like, welcoming to to share their voice that their voice matters.
28:25
I would tend to want to lean into their
28:28
giftings to create that atmosphere. And I've
28:32
learned so much from others too, Wendi. And just even this Tuesday in our
28:36
teaching session we were debriefing after on, a lot of it is
28:40
is how do we even as adults, we need safe places. And sometimes
28:44
we have things that the students share, you know, we're talking about
28:48
the children that we work with, but it brings up some of their own journey
28:51
and their own story, and there needs to be space for that to be held.
28:55
And as we're creating that space together, it's coming in with an
28:59
intention for it to be a place where we can we can share and we
29:02
can trust each other with our stories. Yeah. And
29:05
so teaching isn't so much of a, I'm the teacher, so,
29:09
therefore, I have authority in the room or in this dynamic of the
29:13
relationship. It's almost like a earned secured
29:17
authority of a voice that somebody would want to come to for
29:21
learning together. I think of in the the
29:24
Bible, in the New Testament, Lois and Eunice
29:28
taught Timothy, and it wasn't like in a lording over it, but they were
29:32
nurturing. They were creating space. This little young Timothy who
29:36
had so much promise, they were just
29:39
encouraging him along. I I think of Priscilla who taught
29:43
Apollos and and Phoebe. She was a deacon in the church, all
29:46
female teachers that we may think sometimes, well, the the
29:50
teachers maybe have to be males in front of the church, and I'm not gonna
29:53
get into that whole male female thing. But it it's so less of
29:57
an authoritative thing as a a nurturing, a
30:00
co learning, a helping other people to grow,
30:04
which there's a lot of room at that table. Don't we all need
30:08
teachers? Don't we all need Lois and Eunice's around us
30:11
to see those gifts and abilities to co learn with us? And I'm
30:15
just grateful that you're one of those in my life. I learned things from you
30:19
when you're teaching trauma care or when we're interacting. You're
30:23
not the one speaking up all the time. That would probably be me. I have
30:26
to hold myself back. However, you help
30:30
create that environment even in our team, which I'm really grateful for.
30:34
Well, it makes me think, Wendi, as you're listing these
30:38
people, and I I think of the verse that came to me when I was
30:42
doing some Jonny and Friends work. And Jonny and Friends is a
30:46
organization that serves families with special needs around the world, you mentioned earlier.
30:50
And I was a part of mentoring some of the interns who
30:54
were coming as college students, and, really, it was a very
30:58
shaping time for them. And it was the verse in Thessalonians that
31:01
talks about, we loved you so much that we shared not only the gospel,
31:14
people because it was a very embodied experience. There
31:17
was not a lot of time at the front of the room. We were walking
31:21
alongside families, and Joni is
31:24
herself a quadriplegic and experiences life
31:28
in a wheelchair. And she talks so much about the embodied experience
31:32
of working with people where we have to get on the floor with
31:36
them. We have to incarnate into their worlds just as
31:39
Jesus came into our world in a body. And the things that we learned
31:43
through that experience in reciprocal, mutual
31:47
benefit. That's beautiful. Now to wrap things up, I'm
31:51
wondering, Amy-Jo, if you have any words of wisdom or
31:54
maybe that next step, that baby step for us to grow as
31:58
teachers if we have the gifting. And and those are we maybe don't, but we
32:02
could still learn and grow into that. Are there any next steps that
32:06
you might wanna encourage us to to try? Well, I
32:10
think one thing that was sitting with me as I was reflecting
32:13
was words from a Quaker,
32:17
teacher. His name was Parker Palmer, and he talks so much about
32:21
the teaching journey is really one of going within
32:25
and getting to know ourselves better as we get to know our
32:28
students. And so I would just say I would encourage
32:32
some reflection time, Maybe even think on that question that
32:36
we talked about. Who loved you into being? Who were some teachers in your
32:39
life that were really impactful in those moments? Maybe not at 3 o'clock on
32:43
a Wednesday afternoon in your grade 3 classroom when you
32:47
were learning math, but what were some of those moments of teaching that have
32:50
impacted you? And then what are some things that you really want to
32:54
share with others? And how can you start listening to the ones
32:58
that may really benefit from that information and from that knowledge
33:02
and passion that you have. Well, I love that. And Johan
33:05
Heinrichs, our producer, will be helping us all with that.
33:09
On Mondays, we have a journey with prayer, which is a contemplative
33:12
experience, a 5 minute contemplative experience based on the episodes
33:16
of the Friday previous. So stay tuned this coming
33:20
Monday for a contemplative experience where you can journey within
33:24
and with God. And, Amy-Jo, I just wanna thank you so much for taking
33:27
the time to share with us your story, and thank you for coming on
33:31
the podcast. Thank you so much, Wendi. It's been a
33:35
joy to be here with you. Thank you for
33:38
joining another conversation on Journey with Care, where we
33:42
inspire curious Canadians on their path of faith and living
33:46
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33:50
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equipping the whole church to journey well in community. You can
33:57
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34:19
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34:22
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