The month of May is gone. It
is quite June. My readers all over the globe have been constantly asking, “When
will you write another blog post.” The answer is today.
In A Nutshell…
May came in like a lamb and
went out like a different sort of lamb. In more understandable words, it didn’t
rain a whole lot during the very beginning of the month or the very end, but it
sure did in the middle. There is more to be said on that later on.
May was a fairly normal
month… as in no one from Canada came to visit me in May. A three-month streak
was broken. But it’s all right… I made it through. The month of May being done
also means that we are just about halfway through the school year. It is going
by very quickly and I’m still enjoying being a teacher. On May 9th we
had a Mother’s Day celebration instead of normal classes. The day included a
program by the students as well as food and activities for the mothers. I
haven’t been to a Mother’s Day celebration at any other school in El Chal, but
I hear that the ones that take place at Árbol De Vida School are the best.
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| A photo of myself, my students, and Profe Erick |
One of the classes I teach in grades seven to nine is a drama class.
This past month one of their projects was to make a little video. I divided
them into groups and each group worked on the plan for their video before
filming it. They came up with some pretty interesting plots. Everything from
ghosts, to magic tricks, to bicycle accidents, to Kevin being turned into a
toad, to bullying, to soccer… they covered every area. They seemed to enjoy it
as well. Before the end of the year, I hope to make a large video from a story
from the bible with all three grades together.
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| Movie shoot |
On the morning of May 17th, a group of us from El Chal piled
into the mission Toyota van and headed to San Bartolomé to attend a baptismal
service at one of the MAM churches. I had never been to San Bartolomé before,
and since Gabriel, one of my good friends was getting baptized, I decided to go
along. The journey was not a short one. In the time it took us to travel
approximately 200 km (as the crow flies) we could have been half way to Texas
from my house in Canada. That is not even an exaggeration. We arrived at around
8:30 that evening and were served an amazing supper of beef, rice, and beans. The
baptismal service the next morning was a good one. Stephan gave the message,
Harold Kauffman did the baptizing, and the group from El Chal sang a couple of
songs. After a wonderful fellowship meal, we got into the van once again, and
headed for home. We got back around 2:00 the next morning.
The next week, the clinic was closed so that the roof could be changed.
The leaky, old, flat tin roof was just not getting the job done anymore, so it
was decided that a new roof be constructed. At some point, close to the
beginning of May, it started to rain. The week before the “roof” week, it
rained every single afternoon. As you can well imagine, changing a roof is more
than just removing the old one and slapping on the new one. There is going to
be an extended period of time where some parts of the clinic have no roof at
all. Therefore, rain every afternoon was not the preferred form of weather
during that time period. On Sunday (May 25th), Stephan mentioned to
the congregation that we didn’t really want it to rain the coming week. He told
us that he had been praying that it would not rain, and he invited us to do the
same. So we did. Monday… no rain. Tuesday, dark clouds in the afternoon, and it
sprinkled a bit, but no rain. Wednesday… it rained. It rained hard, but only
kept the guys from working for about an hour. The rest of the week it didn’t
really rain much at all. There was a clear contrast in weather patterns between
the “roof” week and the previous week. Did God have something to do with it? Of
course he did. Towards the end of the week, a few of us guys had the privilege
of sleeping in the clinic due to a partially open roof being easy access to
thieves. That way, if someone should crawl through the roof into the clinic to
steal tools and pills, they would either have to do it very quietly… or shoot
us. Having that in mind, combined with the hard clinic floor, made sleeping
there very pleasant. I can hardly wait until the roof needs to be changed
again! Although there are still a few things to finish up, the clinic has a new
roof, and is up and running once again.
The last weekend in May, I took a group of four (myself included) to
Santa Rosita to attend the final revival services. Timo Miller was the speaker.
While there, I noticed that my foot was swollen, and a bit sore. After driving
the 3.5 hour drive home, and shifting for all 100 plus speed bumps, it was
worse. The next day, the nurses looked at it, and told me it was an infection.
After being on antibiotics for a couple of days, it didn’t seem to be
improving, so I went to a doctor in Santa Elena. Doug and I arrived at Hospital
Shalom on Tuesday afternoon. When Doug pulled up to the gate, the guard asked
him if it was an emergency, because the regular doctor wasn’t around and the
emergency room was the only thing open. We decided it was an emergency. The
doctor looked at my foot, and prescribed a stronger (more expensive, at least)
antibiotic. Since then, my foot has been improving.
Highlights…
>>The synchronized swimming
practice. One day, a bunch of boys
from school went with Lucio and I to swim in Stephan’s pool. We practiced belly
flopping into the pool in the “domino” style, one guy right after the other. It
was fun, but I doubt we’ll make the 2016 Olympics.
>>The new addition to the family.
Samuel bought a parrot! Its name is
Toto. He’s very pretty but he can’t talk or catch food with his mouth. A little
disappointing, if you ask me.
Not so Highlights…
>>The infection. I like when my foot is the normal colour and size
better.
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| Not the most pleasant picture you'll ever see… Don't look at it for too long |
>>All the expenses that come
along with infections. I miss
Canadian healthcare.
Top Quotes…
...Supper conversation…
Samuel: I’m always the last
one to finish eating…
Me: Don’t worry, I used to be
that guy, too.
Samuel: What happened?
Me: I started living with
you.
...While on the way to Cotusa... (a small river where we swim)
Jerlin: Erwin, why’d you
bring shoes? I never bring shoes to Cotusa because my socks get so muddy.
Erwin: I didn’t bring my socks.
Jerlin: fine… then your feet
will get muddy.
Erwin: I didn’t bring my… oh
yeah, I guess I did.
WOW from Ricky…
>>A banana split is
the perfect desert to follow a meal of tacos.
>>Socks make a perfect
Father’s Day gift… because really, who doesn’t need more socks?
>>One feels more like
a teacher when one owns a desk.
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| My very own desk! It's exciting... |
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