What a Week!

Each day God continues to reveal more pieces to the puzzle I like to call life. God came through time and time again this week - as he always does - for me, and I am so thankful for his daily love and care for me.

I finished up my book training this week, and I was finally able to assist in class on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. The teaching approach is very different. Each student is tested at the beginning of the year and given mini-workbooks to do at his/her level. They read them and do the activities in about 2 weeks time and take a test when they finish everything. If they pass they move on to the next book and if they don't they do another book with similar content to reteach. Basically I facilitate the class as the students work independently. There are parts I like, but there are some things I do not fully understand. The kids receive very little instruction outside of the text. It's hard adjusting to, and I'm having a hard time seeing how my talents as a teacher will be fully utilized in this class setting. However, I am confident that this is exactly where God wants me to be in this moment of my life, and I know that I will learn a lot through this experience.

Outside of school I had a pretty decent week. I spent Monday and Tuesday evenings watching movies and just relaxing. After a long week and a whirlwind arrival/weekend in Peru, I was very ready for this alone time and relaxation. It was nice to have time to process everything that had just happened and figure out where to go next. Wednesday I was able to go to the Children's home for a few hours. I was so glad to see the kids again and help with homework. I will be going there once a week to assist in this way and possibly on Tuesdays for devotions with the kids. Thursday, I began to feel slightly ill; I've got a head cold that really doesn't bother me except for a horrid cough. I planned to spend the evening reading, watching movies, doing laundry, etc. but a friend called around 8 and wanted to hang out. I ended up going to one of the missionary's apartments where she served us dinner and we had a great time of devotions and singing with other Peruvians and missionaries. It was such a refreshing time and just what I needed...God is good like that!

I was given the day off from school today to go to Immigration and obtain a work VISA. I was nervous because I did not have all of the documents the website said I needed, but turns out what I did have was sufficient enough. However, the whole process was quite overwhelming as we traveled back and forth between 3 places in order to obtain all necessary documents. Finally we were able to go across the city to the international police station where we did more running around. Once I had everything in order, and I received a stamp of permission to sign a work contract, but I will be unable to obtain a VISA until my criminal history report comes back to the school in about 50 days. I was so grateful to have Leo with me to help with the process; I'd have probably given up had he not helped out. After school was dismissed I met a few of the teachers and talked for a while. Finally we ended up just going out for dinner together as well. I've decided that teachers are pretty cool people whether they are American, Canadian, Peruvian or any other nationality; the common bond there is wonderful.

I'm looking forward to a nice weekend and finally starting to teach next week!