I'm sorry for the long wait with no post. Here's what happened:
After the truck accident, we had to wait 3 days before someone with a strong enough cable came by who pulled us out. We had students and staff taking shifts sitting in the truck so no-one would steal parts off of it or something. We were so grateful to get it out, and with very minor damage.
Several of the girls in the back were injured, and Min gave countless massages to them in the girls dorm in the evenings. They appreciated her so much, she would come back home often with fruit they gave her. I also noticed that even after they were all healed, the girls were more open with her and gave her lots of hugs. Min says they are emotionally closed off to new people at first, but when they trust you, they show lots of love. She says many of them had a very disfunctional home life growing up. For some it was so bad that they don't even want to go home to visit on their vacations. I hope at least they find the closest thing to a loving Christian family here at our school; Even though they were not privileged to grow up with one. Knowing this makes me appreciate my family a lot. Thanks Mom and Dad!
We continued teaching all the way until near the end of 3rd trimester. The whole time I was struggling to keep up as best I could with the class syllabus. I joined the school as a teacher 2 weeks before the end of 1st trimester, so I was behind to begin with. Also against me were my spanish speaking skills and the fact that I had to come up with my own lesson plans, homework assignments, tests and quizzes. Also when students wouldn't do their homework, procrastinate, wouldn't study, be late to class, etc, I had to come up with appropriate consequences. I've never taught so there was a STEEP learning curve. It's only by God's grace that I finished the year out, got our grades in, and felt confident that we covered the material as best we could in the time we had. Sometimes I forget that I majored in Physics and took Chemistry maybe 3 times. They don't need to understand it like I do yet! Overall I was very happy and relieved when all was finished. We had two students that tried very hard, but I was sure they would fail. As much as I liked their attitude, I couldn't pass them if they didn't know the material. I also had pity on them because they were teaching the primary kids during their work time, which is a big job and often steals their free time when they could be doing homework or asking for extra help. However, by God's grace, even though they failed the 3rd trimester miserably, when their grades were averaged over all three trimesters, THEY PASSED! Praise the Lord. God rewarded them for their efforts.
The other big news in the last few months is that I came down with Typhoid fever. I didn't know what it was to begin with but the first day I had a 104 degree fever that lasted all day, and finally quit at night. Min took care of me as each day it happened again and again for 3 weeks. I took every natural remedy we had available: raw garlic, GSE, cat's claw herb, echinacea, and goldenseal. I had a cough, so I would put my head over a pot of steaming eucaliptus water and inhale it to clear my lungs out. I can't thank Min enough for all of the care she gave me during that time. The fevers eventually disappeared and the headaches improved, but my family and the leaders of our ministry were concerned for my health, and wanted me to be tested to know exactly what it was. My parents were able to pay for a flight to Santa Cruz were the test facilities are more advanced, and after several tests my malady was identified. By God's grace it was Paratyphoid B and Typhoid O that I had. There is a more severe form out there that can stay in your system for years, but I was spared from that.
I am in good health now, and we are in the United States visiting family. Thank you for your prayers, I know they were effectual. We'll be heading back at the end of this month and we're looking forward to it!
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