- Our semester is over at school. Wow. Half a year is under our belts. The girls have settled in to the school routine well, though it's still a big adjustment. Their grades on their final report cards were very good. But, even better, they are really feeling like they're starting to fit into the groove of things there. I, also, no longer feel like I'm scrambling to keep one day ahead, and have really gotten to know my students and their needs well. I was also able to sign my contract for next year. So, I'm officially going to continue to be the High School English teacher, and we'll officially be here for the 2015-2016 school year.
- The Bible college where Mark works follows a Guatemalan school calendar, so they have been on break since the end of October, and will start back again right after New Year's Day. Even though there haven't been students, there has been a lot of work to do. They've been working on tiling the floors of the classrooms, painting, doing some work on the roof, and keeping up on general maintenance needs. Once school starts again, Mark is planning on trying his hand at teaching a course or two. It's a very exciting step, and I can't wait to see if he'll get bitten by the teaching bug!
- We had the privilege this past week of going with our friends to the women's shelter to help hand out gifts and provide a supper. There are about 35 people living there, more than half of whom are young children. It is hard to think about what they must have come from to end up there. We already help support the shelter financially each month, but are hoping to be able to do more in the future. It was hard to see so many people hurting, but good to know that they are safe (for now) and to get to be a part of bringing some Christmas joy.
- Spanish lessons are going well. Mark has been doing two hours per day, five days per week. I do one hour lessons, twice a week. We've been working on squeezing in some time for Rachel, as well. Our Spanish tutor is a wonderful Christian man, and we are grateful for both his excellent skill and the ability to bless his family financially by paying for his services. Over Christmas break we're planning on doing around 30 hours of lessons, mostly for me and the three girls. It's not exactly the way we'd planned on spending our time off, but we desire to do so much more here, and language has been a limiting factor. So, more lessons it is!
- One of the requirements of our travel status is that we leave the country every three months, whether we want to or not. So, I'm writing this blog from a hotel room in Tapachula, Mexico. In a way, we have a forced vacation (of sorts) every 90 days. Though we technically have other options, Tapachula is the closest, easiest, fastest, cheapest choice, so here we are. And, we'll be here again in March. This was our first 'solo' trip, and all went fairly well, aside from getting lost twice on the way. (Oops!) The border was very chaotic because of people heading to Mexico to do Christmas shopping, but we still managed to go the right places and get the right things done. At least our first trip alone is under our belts!
We know that there will be many more things that God will enable (and ask) us to do in the months ahead. For now, however, we're awfully grateful to have three weeks together to rest, relax, eat some good food, and just "be." Though we're missing our families and friends terribly right now (especially because of the holidays), we know that we know that we know that we're right where God wants us to be, and that He's big enough to keep hearts connected even across thousands of miles.
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