Holbrook Indian School Daniel Nicholls
A Seventh-day Adventist Boarding Academy Serving Native American Youth Since 1946
Not by Chance By Jessica Burns, Daniel and Olga Nicholls; with Nicole Potgieter
Every staff member who joins the HIS family has a story. The way God has led each of us here is nothing short of miraculous. No one comes by chance. In this article, Jessica, our business manager; Daniel, our agriculture director; and Olga, our music teacher, share how the Lord led each of them to Holbrook Indian School. Jessica: About this time last year, I was struggling to find meaning and fulfilment in the job I had in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A friend of mine from church heard that I was looking for an accounting job and sent me an email with the job description for the accounting position at HIS. I took one look at the location of the school and decided that Arizona was not the place for me. I did not want to live in the desert in the middle of nowhere. Some time passed. One night, my housemate and I were chatting
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and I casually brought up the job at Holbrook Indian School, expecting her to laugh at the crazy idea of my applying. Instead she looked intently at me and said, “I think you should apply.” That simple reply washed away all my excuses. In about a month’s time, I was on my way to Holbrook Indian School to become their accountant. How did I become business manager if I came to be the accountant? Once again, God had His way. When HIS started looking for a replacement for our business
manager, several my coworkers asked me if I was going to apply. “Nope, not interested,” was my reply. But I could feel God working on my heart to apply. Just like I did when He told me to come out here, I balked, argued, and found excuse after excuse, but God was persistent. Finally, to ease my mind, I asked for a fleece, like Gideon. I was sure that the thing I asked for would never happen, but about a month later, it happened. Now I had to decide if I was going to obey God’s leading or keep running. I decided to obey. I know God has
