Well, folks, Year Two in Peru is drawing to a close. I can't quite believe it!
I sent 15 more third graders off into summer vacation last Thursday. We had a bit of a roller coaster last week of school as we practiced feverishly for our Christmas Program and then had to cancel it Thursday an hour before school let out: we had a confirmed case of the swine flu, and per health regulations, suspended all activities for 8 days. Oh well.
I'm writing at this late hour before heading off into the Andes for nine days of vacation with Mom and Dad and Cindy! Yes, Cindy's back has healed so she is nearly back to where she was before her horrific herniated disk- she is still doing daily exercises but the fact that she CAN do them is a PRAISE to God! She will not be able to go on a couple of hikes, but she's able to do most. Your prayers for her and for all of us during the next nine days would be appreciated.
After returning to Lima on the 30th, I will have to make a decision regarding next year: Cindy will NOT be able to return to Peru due to her rheumatoid arthritis (RA) becoming more severe and medication needs changing. However, I have realized that I would like to have one more year of teaching third grade here, one more year of getting more involved in different ministries in areas around Lima and beyond Lima, one more year of truly studying Spanish and using it more fluently.
I've been agonizing about making a decision, and I realized recently it's not my decision, it's God's. Just like it was last February.So, after much prayer, we're doing what we did then: laying out a fleece and waiting for God's answer.
I am asking two things: 1) prayer concerning a possible way to get some support through an organization called Go World Ministries and 2) your prayerful consideration of any further financial support you could give in 2010.
I know the economy and job situation in the States is pretty terrible. If I stay, Cindy will also be trying to find ways to speak at churches, etc to help raise support for me. We do not want anyone to feel pressured to support me financially. However, God provides blessings in surprising ways, so even though I feel unbelievably unworthy to ask, I also know that God's answer to "seek and you will find" can't come if I never ask at all.
Please reply by email any of your thoughts regarding this, including any thoughts you might have on options in the States, should Peru Year Three not be in God's plan for me. I am often surprised and blessed by the insights you all have shared with me in the past.
Thank you and Merry Christmas,
Emily Leinbach
Tuesday, December 22
Sunday, December 6
Plans for the Future
God tells us not to make them. He tells us that He knows the plans He's made for us. He tells us not to worry about tomorrow, let alone the days after tomorrow. He tells us that He will provide for us even more than He provides for the lilies of the field and the birds singing in the trees outside.
And yet, we are human, and so much of our time is spent making plans. Thinking about the future. Worrying about what will happen tomorrow and in the days after tomorrow. Ensuring that my obligations are met (paying bills, etc) isn't anti-God, at least I don't think it is. God wants my testimony to be one of integrity. So of course, I should plan ahead enough to use what God has given me wisely.
The planning He doesn't want us to do is the kind that causes us anxiety, angst, and even anger. The kind that is always paired with worry. The kind of planning that we allow to lock us up, and then locked into that schedule of plans, we stop listening for the breath of Life in our lives, and we stop responding to the calling of His Spirit.
So, I've been thinking a lot about the future. Trying to make plans, to make decisions, to "know God's will" for me.
We came two years ago to Peru, committed to two years. Last year, it looked like maybe we wouldn't be able to return. God answered us in a mighty way: He provided $14,000 pledged commitments in one week. We had our direction: God provides, we go.
Now we are at the end of Peru Year Two. And Cindy is at the end of her Peru possibilities. Due to the severity of her rheumatoid arthritis, she needs different medication. The cost of obtaining these medications in Peru is prohibitive. (She received a long-awaited phone call from assistance programs on the day that our whole school was doing a special day of prayer: for the current teachers at MCS and God's plans for them. Again, God answers.) So, Cindy will be boarding a plane on January 17 and leaving to return home "for good".
Which leaves me. The principal made it very clear months ago that she was praying for miraculous provision of funds for both of us to stay. She's "accepted Cindy's departure" but isn't ready to concede yet that I won't be back. :)
For the last week or two I've been "trying to decide" what I should do: should I pursue some new avenues of financial support, should I ask the opinion of the friends and family who have already sacrificed so much to support us thus far?
And last night I went to the church of a man who works as part of the cleaning crew at the school. He asked me and several others to come to his church to speak to his young people's group about missions. I live in one of the nicest areas of Lima. His church was not. I loved it. And sitting there, singing and listening to the sharing of the "other missionaries" I realized several things.
Will you please pray for us?
In Him-
Emily
And yet, we are human, and so much of our time is spent making plans. Thinking about the future. Worrying about what will happen tomorrow and in the days after tomorrow. Ensuring that my obligations are met (paying bills, etc) isn't anti-God, at least I don't think it is. God wants my testimony to be one of integrity. So of course, I should plan ahead enough to use what God has given me wisely.
The planning He doesn't want us to do is the kind that causes us anxiety, angst, and even anger. The kind that is always paired with worry. The kind of planning that we allow to lock us up, and then locked into that schedule of plans, we stop listening for the breath of Life in our lives, and we stop responding to the calling of His Spirit.
So, I've been thinking a lot about the future. Trying to make plans, to make decisions, to "know God's will" for me.
We came two years ago to Peru, committed to two years. Last year, it looked like maybe we wouldn't be able to return. God answered us in a mighty way: He provided $14,000 pledged commitments in one week. We had our direction: God provides, we go.
Now we are at the end of Peru Year Two. And Cindy is at the end of her Peru possibilities. Due to the severity of her rheumatoid arthritis, she needs different medication. The cost of obtaining these medications in Peru is prohibitive. (She received a long-awaited phone call from assistance programs on the day that our whole school was doing a special day of prayer: for the current teachers at MCS and God's plans for them. Again, God answers.) So, Cindy will be boarding a plane on January 17 and leaving to return home "for good".
Which leaves me. The principal made it very clear months ago that she was praying for miraculous provision of funds for both of us to stay. She's "accepted Cindy's departure" but isn't ready to concede yet that I won't be back. :)
For the last week or two I've been "trying to decide" what I should do: should I pursue some new avenues of financial support, should I ask the opinion of the friends and family who have already sacrificed so much to support us thus far?
And last night I went to the church of a man who works as part of the cleaning crew at the school. He asked me and several others to come to his church to speak to his young people's group about missions. I live in one of the nicest areas of Lima. His church was not. I loved it. And sitting there, singing and listening to the sharing of the "other missionaries" I realized several things.
- I have always been, am now, and will always be a missionary. It's just a matter of where God puts me: close to "home" or far away, I live to be a witness to Jesus Christ, wherever He puts me and however He provides for me- jobs, gifts, lottery, whatever. My life is a mission for Christ, and I have no idea where that will take me.
- I don't have to "decide what to do" because I already know what to do: go where He tells me to go. I just have to know how to hear where He tells me to go. Two years ago it was an email from a dear friend, and being laid off three days later. One year ago it was incredible provision of seemingly insurmountable financial needs. This year, it's whether God will provide $600 a month for me to return to Peru to teach the third grade class at Monterrico Christian School one more year.
- I don't have to worry. God already provided a way back to Peru for me (for the first time, it was cheaper for us to get round-trip tickets, so I have a return flight already paid for). If God doesn't provide the funding support, then He doesn't want me here in Lima, He wants me somewhere else, and I'll promise to keep listening, and to go when I do hear.
- I've learned this all before! Why do I forget these things?
Will you please pray for us?
- The last two weeks of school are always hectic and stressful: tests, grades, Christmas program, packing up classrooms, etc.
- MOM AND DAD ARE COMING!!!!! In one week I will be waiting at the airport for my parents! Pray for safe travels.
- We have nothing solid planned for my parents, and this is also stressful: pray for provision of affordable travel on short-notice, and that God would make clear where we can also be useful to others- we want to do some "missions trip" kind of things too, not just play tourist.
- Cindy's body during our travels, specifically Machu Picchu and Puno, which are mountainous.
In Him-
Emily
Thursday, November 12
nite, nite, sleep tight....
...Don't let the bed bugs bite. for if they do, you'll itch your skin through, and that will be the end of you! (mentally, at least.)
I am thinking about producing a new movie in the style of the 70's thriller genre: Attack of the Killer Too-Tiny-to-See Bed Bugs.
(Cue movie trailer voice over man: In a world where beds have always provided safety and comfort, an invisible menace is launching a sinister attack... [screen fills with quick sequence shots of average-looking women screaming in anguish, fingernails encrusted with torn-open scabs and limbs covered in bloody spots of painful, tiny welts...] ...Say your prayers... evil is invisible and itchy, and beauty sleep will never be the same again.... )
I am sleeping in long pants tucked into socks, long sleeve shirts tucked into the pants, and washing my bed linens almost every three days... and still, new bites every morning! will the insanity never end???
I am thinking about producing a new movie in the style of the 70's thriller genre: Attack of the Killer Too-Tiny-to-See Bed Bugs.
(Cue movie trailer voice over man: In a world where beds have always provided safety and comfort, an invisible menace is launching a sinister attack... [screen fills with quick sequence shots of average-looking women screaming in anguish, fingernails encrusted with torn-open scabs and limbs covered in bloody spots of painful, tiny welts...] ...Say your prayers... evil is invisible and itchy, and beauty sleep will never be the same again.... )
I am sleeping in long pants tucked into socks, long sleeve shirts tucked into the pants, and washing my bed linens almost every three days... and still, new bites every morning! will the insanity never end???
Saturday, November 7
God provides (copied from Leinbacker Sisters blog)
Thank you so much for your prayers. I was surprised by the number of people who replied with a written prayer... and how much comfort I've gotten out of them... thank you!
And there were definite answers- we have found the perfect treatment- Intervertebral Decompression Device therapy, a machine called the Accu-Spina, and with Cindy's RA, it's a gift from God, because she would NOT be able to do the standard exercises usually done for herniated discs, and even laying on her stomach for the deep heat therapy and electro-therapy is incredibly difficult, and so I cannot imagine what she would be enduring without this machine.
Our chiropractor that we were introduced to last year is from the US so speaks English. He got the machine in January of this year- it's one of two in South America, the only one in Peru, and it's ten minutes from us! It has given us hope as we see improvement little by little after every therapy. Also, since Tuesday Cindy has been able to do the machine without pain so unbearable it reduced her to tears, since she went for a cortisone shot in her left knee (the one most affected by RA) and is experiencing some temporary relief.
She has not returned to school, and will not until at least Thursday, when she will perhaps go in for an hour or two. Friday is a big day in P-4 (Cindy's class) because it marks the end of studying the entire alphabet (one letter per week all year long). Cindy really wants to be able to attend school for this big party day of celebration. Prayers for this are appreciated.
And it's been good for me, to be self-sacrificial and caring for a person bedridden- I am not by nature a nurturing person. I have discovered satisfaction and happiness in being able to make meals or remember to do all the things for her that she needs. Don't get me wrong- I'll be very happy as she is slowly able to actually walk to the kitchen to get her own sandwich, but it's been good for me.
Thanks so much again for your prayers. We know and feel the prayers of all our friends and family.
And there were definite answers- we have found the perfect treatment- Intervertebral Decompression Device therapy, a machine called the Accu-Spina, and with Cindy's RA, it's a gift from God, because she would NOT be able to do the standard exercises usually done for herniated discs, and even laying on her stomach for the deep heat therapy and electro-therapy is incredibly difficult, and so I cannot imagine what she would be enduring without this machine.
Our chiropractor that we were introduced to last year is from the US so speaks English. He got the machine in January of this year- it's one of two in South America, the only one in Peru, and it's ten minutes from us! It has given us hope as we see improvement little by little after every therapy. Also, since Tuesday Cindy has been able to do the machine without pain so unbearable it reduced her to tears, since she went for a cortisone shot in her left knee (the one most affected by RA) and is experiencing some temporary relief.
She has not returned to school, and will not until at least Thursday, when she will perhaps go in for an hour or two. Friday is a big day in P-4 (Cindy's class) because it marks the end of studying the entire alphabet (one letter per week all year long). Cindy really wants to be able to attend school for this big party day of celebration. Prayers for this are appreciated.
And it's been good for me, to be self-sacrificial and caring for a person bedridden- I am not by nature a nurturing person. I have discovered satisfaction and happiness in being able to make meals or remember to do all the things for her that she needs. Don't get me wrong- I'll be very happy as she is slowly able to actually walk to the kitchen to get her own sandwich, but it's been good for me.
Thanks so much again for your prayers. We know and feel the prayers of all our friends and family.
Saturday, October 24
Update on Cindy
Hello dear friends and family. Here is an update from the Land of Peru!
Well, it's been an interesting day, to say the least. Other adjectives would include: frustrating, boring, stressful, tearful (on my part, breaking down under some stress), angering, humbling, successful, and informative. Oh, and did I mention exhausting?
Learned a lot about the WAY communication is different in the medical setting of a different country OTHER than the actual spoken language. Yes, a lot in US health care needs fixing. But man, we've got some stuff right, too.
Diagnosis definitivemente is herniated disc between the L5 and S1 vertebrae in her lower back. That's the bottom lumbar vertebra and the top sacral (better known as "tailbone") vertebra. Treatment: painkillers for the next week, learn some exercises, do these exercises pretty much forever, and lose weight. Exercising and losing weight complicated by the Rheumatoid Arthritis, since movement on a daily basis is painful, and steroids generally cause weight GAIN.
She will be discharged tomorrow morning. We will be looking into finding a pool that she can go to regularly to exercise (best option for RA). She will probably also need to be on bed rest for another day or two, so please pray for her class of four-year-olds. Prayer for our mental peace of mind (mine more than hers) is also welcome!
Here is a pretty good explanation of herniated discs, and a picture of an MRI and illustration of a herniated disc in the place Cindy's is. http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-HLDisc.htm
On a different note: will you please join us in prayer this week for our future beyond December? And also for the school's future overall. There is a man coming to visit this week who is the president of an organization that financially supports missionary endeavors and missionaries. He happened to meet in the airport the husband of one of our Peruvian teachers several months ago and has asked to come to the school and to talk to me and Cindy.
Thank you all for your prayers and concern. The responses we have received have been so encouraging. I need to be at the hospital at 7:30 tomorrow, so I'm not replying to all of them individually, but I am so grateful for them. Thank you!
Emily and Cindy
Well, it's been an interesting day, to say the least. Other adjectives would include: frustrating, boring, stressful, tearful (on my part, breaking down under some stress), angering, humbling, successful, and informative. Oh, and did I mention exhausting?
Learned a lot about the WAY communication is different in the medical setting of a different country OTHER than the actual spoken language. Yes, a lot in US health care needs fixing. But man, we've got some stuff right, too.
Diagnosis definitivemente is herniated disc between the L5 and S1 vertebrae in her lower back. That's the bottom lumbar vertebra and the top sacral (better known as "tailbone") vertebra. Treatment: painkillers for the next week, learn some exercises, do these exercises pretty much forever, and lose weight. Exercising and losing weight complicated by the Rheumatoid Arthritis, since movement on a daily basis is painful, and steroids generally cause weight GAIN.
She will be discharged tomorrow morning. We will be looking into finding a pool that she can go to regularly to exercise (best option for RA). She will probably also need to be on bed rest for another day or two, so please pray for her class of four-year-olds. Prayer for our mental peace of mind (mine more than hers) is also welcome!
Here is a pretty good explanation of herniated discs, and a picture of an MRI and illustration of a herniated disc in the place Cindy's is. http://www.mayfieldclinic.
On a different note: will you please join us in prayer this week for our future beyond December? And also for the school's future overall. There is a man coming to visit this week who is the president of an organization that financially supports missionary endeavors and missionaries. He happened to meet in the airport the husband of one of our Peruvian teachers several months ago and has asked to come to the school and to talk to me and Cindy.
Thank you all for your prayers and concern. The responses we have received have been so encouraging. I need to be at the hospital at 7:30 tomorrow, so I'm not replying to all of them individually, but I am so grateful for them. Thank you!
Emily and Cindy
Friday, October 23
Hello everyone.
I am really not a very good missionary as far as updating the people who have played a part in my life. Here's the low-down on the situation this evening in Peru.
What I wrote on Facebook:
Most of you know that a year ago Cindy was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It has been difficult watching her body fink out on her over the past sixteen months, even with the RA meds that she's been taking, she is in near-constant pain. This past week, a different kind of pain started coming off and on and then pretty much on starting last night. This morning she was in tears and in pain no matter what position she was in: standing, sitting, lying down, etc. It's pain deep inside her left leg.
This morning she went with a Peruvian friend to clinic, which is what they call hospital. They wanted to admit her overnight; we were told at first because they thought it was sciatic nerve issue and since she was on so many other meds for the RA, they wanted her in clinic overnight. So she was admitted. AFTER paying a sizable deposit.
Well, after a very frustrating four hours spent with her at clinic, and another spanish-speaking-friend's help, we have discovered that really, they haven't decided what's wrong with her, they need to do an MRI, and the MRI isn't in the clinic (usually in Peru the MRI is not at the actual hospital, it's in an MRI center) and so we have to go to another place to get the MRI and WHY on EARTH they didn't send her this afternoon to get an MRI?????? is beyond me...
Anyway. Her RA doctor was there with the other doctor, and neither one thinks this pain has anything to do with the RA. Like she needs anything else wrong with her body.
PLEASE PRAY for both of us, for the people around us, and for the doctors and medical staff we encounter. I am scared, because not only do I have NO IDEA what's wrong but also because I cannot be effective in advocating for her treatment with my very limited Spanish.
Thank you.
And now how I really feel: absolutely scared out of my wits. and angry. Like cindy doesn't have enough to deal with???? Is her middle name Job??? I'm really not at all confident in this situation- we've never had a problem with the RA doctor at Tezza, but I have little peace with the situation she's in now. I know part of that is just because I'm worried about her and I can't communicate in Medical Spanish. But it's more than that- it's the whole vibe of the place, of the way the nurses reacted or did NOT react.... I understand now why no one ever wants to leave their sick folks alone at a clinic here in Peru... Hearing that "we don't know" what's wrong didn't help either. And now she called to say they can't take her to do the MRI until tomorrow morning, which means another day staying at the hospital, and my cynical side says "yeah, another day in the clinic, more money for them, so of course they won't do it until tomorrow..." She has insurance, but it reimburses after the fact, so it's also the stress of making sure we've always got access to cash for whatever they need to do next...
Until today, our big prayer request would have been "guidance for what on earth we're supposed to do after December" and "miraculous provision of the next-level RA drugs that Cindy needs but that are exorbitantly expensive". And really, those both still apply. The school would love to have us another year (my third grade class wants to have a garage sale to help "pay for me") and we've got nothing job-wise looking good for us in the States. But we can NOT ask our friends and family alone to support us for another year. So, we're unsure of what our next move will be.
Cindy's RA is so severe that all of the drugs available to her now are no longer inhibiting the disease at all. It's barely controlling the pain. But affording the next-level of drugs is WAY beyond our ability, even here in lower-cost Peru. Only God can provide that. We are currently pursing several assistance options through the drug companies and through the Peru ministry of health and hoping God will use that option in a miraculous way.
It's tough living with a loved one in chronic pain. I am trusting God to provide for both of us. (I believe, help my unbelief, ya know?) (I miss my parents and family tonight!)
A happy note: I had to leave school early today, and left a sub with my class. When I told them why I was leaving (Miss Cindy's in the clinica), every one of their faces showed sincere concern and two of them said "we should pray for her". And as I left the room, that's what they were doing. (When I asked who would like to pray, seven hands went up! My class this year has truly been a blessing.
I just talked to Cindy- she told me not to come back, that she's just going to sleep with all the pain killers, and when she heard the tears in my voice actually said to me "Emily, call me if you need anything- God is a loving and faithful God." SHE is comforting ME! So, I suppose I shall go to bed since I've got to be at the clinic in the morning at 8.
Love to you all,
Emily Leinbach (and Cindy)
I am really not a very good missionary as far as updating the people who have played a part in my life. Here's the low-down on the situation this evening in Peru.
What I wrote on Facebook:
Most of you know that a year ago Cindy was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It has been difficult watching her body fink out on her over the past sixteen months, even with the RA meds that she's been taking, she is in near-constant pain. This past week, a different kind of pain started coming off and on and then pretty much on starting last night. This morning she was in tears and in pain no matter what position she was in: standing, sitting, lying down, etc. It's pain deep inside her left leg.
This morning she went with a Peruvian friend to clinic, which is what they call hospital. They wanted to admit her overnight; we were told at first because they thought it was sciatic nerve issue and since she was on so many other meds for the RA, they wanted her in clinic overnight. So she was admitted. AFTER paying a sizable deposit.
Well, after a very frustrating four hours spent with her at clinic, and another spanish-speaking-friend's help, we have discovered that really, they haven't decided what's wrong with her, they need to do an MRI, and the MRI isn't in the clinic (usually in Peru the MRI is not at the actual hospital, it's in an MRI center) and so we have to go to another place to get the MRI and WHY on EARTH they didn't send her this afternoon to get an MRI?????? is beyond me...
Anyway. Her RA doctor was there with the other doctor, and neither one thinks this pain has anything to do with the RA. Like she needs anything else wrong with her body.
PLEASE PRAY for both of us, for the people around us, and for the doctors and medical staff we encounter. I am scared, because not only do I have NO IDEA what's wrong but also because I cannot be effective in advocating for her treatment with my very limited Spanish.
Thank you.
And now how I really feel: absolutely scared out of my wits. and angry. Like cindy doesn't have enough to deal with???? Is her middle name Job??? I'm really not at all confident in this situation- we've never had a problem with the RA doctor at Tezza, but I have little peace with the situation she's in now. I know part of that is just because I'm worried about her and I can't communicate in Medical Spanish. But it's more than that- it's the whole vibe of the place, of the way the nurses reacted or did NOT react.... I understand now why no one ever wants to leave their sick folks alone at a clinic here in Peru... Hearing that "we don't know" what's wrong didn't help either. And now she called to say they can't take her to do the MRI until tomorrow morning, which means another day staying at the hospital, and my cynical side says "yeah, another day in the clinic, more money for them, so of course they won't do it until tomorrow..." She has insurance, but it reimburses after the fact, so it's also the stress of making sure we've always got access to cash for whatever they need to do next...
Until today, our big prayer request would have been "guidance for what on earth we're supposed to do after December" and "miraculous provision of the next-level RA drugs that Cindy needs but that are exorbitantly expensive". And really, those both still apply. The school would love to have us another year (my third grade class wants to have a garage sale to help "pay for me") and we've got nothing job-wise looking good for us in the States. But we can NOT ask our friends and family alone to support us for another year. So, we're unsure of what our next move will be.
Cindy's RA is so severe that all of the drugs available to her now are no longer inhibiting the disease at all. It's barely controlling the pain. But affording the next-level of drugs is WAY beyond our ability, even here in lower-cost Peru. Only God can provide that. We are currently pursing several assistance options through the drug companies and through the Peru ministry of health and hoping God will use that option in a miraculous way.
It's tough living with a loved one in chronic pain. I am trusting God to provide for both of us. (I believe, help my unbelief, ya know?) (I miss my parents and family tonight!)
A happy note: I had to leave school early today, and left a sub with my class. When I told them why I was leaving (Miss Cindy's in the clinica), every one of their faces showed sincere concern and two of them said "we should pray for her". And as I left the room, that's what they were doing. (When I asked who would like to pray, seven hands went up! My class this year has truly been a blessing.
I just talked to Cindy- she told me not to come back, that she's just going to sleep with all the pain killers, and when she heard the tears in my voice actually said to me "Emily, call me if you need anything- God is a loving and faithful God." SHE is comforting ME! So, I suppose I shall go to bed since I've got to be at the clinic in the morning at 8.
Love to you all,
Emily Leinbach (and Cindy)
Sunday, October 4
I am a terrible missionary....
Oh, wait, that sounds like i'm a terrible missionary because I'm not sharing the Gospel- I'm doing THAT. I'm just not sharing anything else! Like, I'm not sharing my experiences with anyone through any of the multiple ways open and available to me through modern technology. Facebook, email, my blogs, the Internet phone we can use just like we're in the States...
I am a terrible communicator, and for that I am truly sorry. I tend to think this way: I want to share all this stuff with people, but i'm really tired or don't have very much time, and i won't be able to write it all, so i will just wait til later...
BUT LATER NEVER HAPPENS. Yes, I realize the complete silliness of this. I am going to try something new: tidbits.
Today's tidbits:
-How did I ever think that sweet potato was yucky????
-THE SUN IS OUT TODAY! cindy and i went out and sat in the park for more than half and hour just to BE in the sunshine...
-I should have brought that gorgeous purple formal dress I bought for $2.50 at Goodwill two years ago... Peruvian women DRESS UP for weddings!
-I really really don't like the whole "grading" part of being a teacher...
-It's sad when you're left speechless after watching the "in memory" montage of the Emmy's (repeated here a few days after the event) because you had NO IDEA that all those people were dead! Bea Arthur?!? (I'm so sorry, Meg!) Ed McMahon? I can't even remember the rest, because there were so many!
My goal is to do tidbits on a regular basis. Nothing deep or profound, but at least it's something!
Love you all!
Emily
I am a terrible communicator, and for that I am truly sorry. I tend to think this way: I want to share all this stuff with people, but i'm really tired or don't have very much time, and i won't be able to write it all, so i will just wait til later...
BUT LATER NEVER HAPPENS. Yes, I realize the complete silliness of this. I am going to try something new: tidbits.
Today's tidbits:
-How did I ever think that sweet potato was yucky????
-THE SUN IS OUT TODAY! cindy and i went out and sat in the park for more than half and hour just to BE in the sunshine...
-I should have brought that gorgeous purple formal dress I bought for $2.50 at Goodwill two years ago... Peruvian women DRESS UP for weddings!
-I really really don't like the whole "grading" part of being a teacher...
-It's sad when you're left speechless after watching the "in memory" montage of the Emmy's (repeated here a few days after the event) because you had NO IDEA that all those people were dead! Bea Arthur?!? (I'm so sorry, Meg!) Ed McMahon? I can't even remember the rest, because there were so many!
My goal is to do tidbits on a regular basis. Nothing deep or profound, but at least it's something!
Love you all!
Emily
Monday, June 15
weirdest things make you miss people...
So, sometimes the weirdest things trigger rather intense feelings of homesick "i miss so-and-so".
For example:
For example:
- We have a(nother) new roommate (bringing the total population of our three-bedroom apartment to FIVE women for the next five weeks). This new roommate has a MAC notebook (laptop, for those of you not Mac literate.) It's white, just like Dana's old one. It "breathes", just like Dana's old one. Seeing it sitting around the apartment makes me very very homesick for Dana.
- At school three days a week we have after school beginning gymnastic classes. Just walking past the room where the class is held and seeing the little girls doing all the same exercises (just in Spanish) as another little girl used to do them makes me very very homesick for Holly. How's life going in teenager land?
- Every year there's a huge garage sale that the missionary population of Lima has- as different families come and go. Last year we got some great things for very cheap. This year I was thrilled to find (squeamish males look away) boxes and boxes and boxes of the exact kind of feminine hygiene product i need- and each box for only ONE SOL!!!! (That's about 30 cents, folks... when a little 8 pack of OB down here costs 13 soles... these boxes of 24 and 40 were going for ONE SOL!!!!) It was a gift from the Tampon Fairy- and made me miss two very dear cousins... I won't embarrass them by naming names. :)
- The same new roommie previously mentioned also brought dvds of the Anne of Green Gables movies, and we watched the first movie over the weekend. It's been awhile since i've seen them, and it made me miss my one-time kindred spirit. I hope she's doing well with her husband and (hopefully still alive) brain-damaged cat. Mwaouw.
- Same roommie is from the Warsaw IN area (yeah small world) and mentioned tonight at dinner that she had gone up to see Chicago at the Elkhart County Fair... and that just made me homesick for Indiana long summer days and for everyone i've ever gone to the Fair with...
Monday, June 8
Happening in Third Grade...
I had to say goodbye to one of my students last Friday- his family is moving to Canada! I really and truly will miss him- I loved his attitude and smile and sense of humor and work. We had a big ole party for him at the end of the day, which we'd planned for all week (mothers involved and everything) and STILL managed to keep a secret from Patrick! It was so much fun. We had a cake, and one of the mothers took last year's class picture, photoshopped me into it with his second grade teacher, and got it framed with a mat that we could all sign. All the kids had made cards or letters at home for him and brought them in and then we took a picture of all of us in the classroom. And then we prayed for him. I started, and told the kids that if they wanted to say a short prayer for him, to raise their hands and I'd say their name. About six kids did that, including one boy that is new this year and not from a believing background, but had become good friends with Patrick. It was so beautiful to be able to do that, to encourage them to pray for each other, and to hear Patrick say "It doesn't matter where we are, God is still with us."
It's been one week without him, and we said several times every day "I miss Patrick".
The only good thing about it is that now i have 16 students, which (unlike 17) CAN be evenly divided into rows, or work groups, etc. *grin*
This week in third grade we are learning about classifying animals, how to divide words into syllables, adding -ing to words, all about the trials of Job, and we are starting a new grammar chapter (yeah action verbs!). The verb chapter has baseball as its theme and so a lot of the sentences use baseball words and verbs. That's great for the USofA, but here in Peru- well, i spend as much time explaining the game of baseball and the vocab in the practice pages as I do explaining the actual lesson! *grin* I wish I had one of those World Series dvd things from when the White Sox won... we could watch it as a Grammar movie!
It's been one week without him, and we said several times every day "I miss Patrick".
The only good thing about it is that now i have 16 students, which (unlike 17) CAN be evenly divided into rows, or work groups, etc. *grin*
This week in third grade we are learning about classifying animals, how to divide words into syllables, adding -ing to words, all about the trials of Job, and we are starting a new grammar chapter (yeah action verbs!). The verb chapter has baseball as its theme and so a lot of the sentences use baseball words and verbs. That's great for the USofA, but here in Peru- well, i spend as much time explaining the game of baseball and the vocab in the practice pages as I do explaining the actual lesson! *grin* I wish I had one of those World Series dvd things from when the White Sox won... we could watch it as a Grammar movie!
Sunday, May 3
Fish Flu????
Okay, I know that the big news right now is the "swine flu" but I think that another tragedy might be getting lost in the glare of the piggy sickness. I am talking about the very real and odorific Fish Flu.
No, there is not a shred of scientific data to back this up, no 24/7 media coverage, no CDC and WHO verification- just the irrefutable evidence of my aromatic sensors. For close to a week now, becoming emergent in the dead, dark hours of the early early morning, and strengthening into the mid-morning, the olfactory evidence permeates the Lima air; how can we go on ignoring this? The level of the disgusting odor can only be attributed to widespread fishy death and decay- yes, I believe we are facing a massive crisis, the beginning stages of Fish Flu! Why is no one helping the little guys?
Ok, so seriously, all kidding aside, the last week every morning it has smelled like the ocean. Now, every once in a while, we here in Monterrico are treated to the pleasant scent of the Pacific, some five miles away. It is a truly nice, oceany scent, causing one to want to immediately stop all activities and proceed post haste to the coast.
But not this week. No, this week it smells like the ocean downcurrent of a sewage or chemical plant- an ocean so fetid that all marine life is bobbing along on the surface, floating in bloated testimony to the inevitable end of all mortal creatures. This week it is the scent of ocean beaches full of washed up half-decayed fish flesh that infiltrates our homes and schools, causing us to wince in the still hours of our night's sleep and sending us burrowing under our covers to use our sheets as makeshift gas masks.
No one seems to know the source of this mysterious pungency; so I am left to conclude the obvious: it must be a terrible new illness, killing massive amounts of fish, which the government and worldwide health agencies are engaging in equally massive conspiracies in order to cover up. The world is already on the edge of panic due to the little piggy sickness: a Fish Flu crisis would send it over the edge into full-blown hysteria.
And if you believe that, I've got some very fertile, green, Eden-like property down here in Lima that I'm selling at a bargain basement prices! (Folks, Lima is a desert, getting less than an inch of rain every year.)
Nevertheless, the aromatic facts of this account are true. It smells kinda like a dogfood factory. I used to live near one, so I know this to be true. And it doesn't smell nice.
Well, it's been fun! Tune in next time for another installment of the Mad Musings of MLE.
No, there is not a shred of scientific data to back this up, no 24/7 media coverage, no CDC and WHO verification- just the irrefutable evidence of my aromatic sensors. For close to a week now, becoming emergent in the dead, dark hours of the early early morning, and strengthening into the mid-morning, the olfactory evidence permeates the Lima air; how can we go on ignoring this? The level of the disgusting odor can only be attributed to widespread fishy death and decay- yes, I believe we are facing a massive crisis, the beginning stages of Fish Flu! Why is no one helping the little guys?
Ok, so seriously, all kidding aside, the last week every morning it has smelled like the ocean. Now, every once in a while, we here in Monterrico are treated to the pleasant scent of the Pacific, some five miles away. It is a truly nice, oceany scent, causing one to want to immediately stop all activities and proceed post haste to the coast.
But not this week. No, this week it smells like the ocean downcurrent of a sewage or chemical plant- an ocean so fetid that all marine life is bobbing along on the surface, floating in bloated testimony to the inevitable end of all mortal creatures. This week it is the scent of ocean beaches full of washed up half-decayed fish flesh that infiltrates our homes and schools, causing us to wince in the still hours of our night's sleep and sending us burrowing under our covers to use our sheets as makeshift gas masks.
No one seems to know the source of this mysterious pungency; so I am left to conclude the obvious: it must be a terrible new illness, killing massive amounts of fish, which the government and worldwide health agencies are engaging in equally massive conspiracies in order to cover up. The world is already on the edge of panic due to the little piggy sickness: a Fish Flu crisis would send it over the edge into full-blown hysteria.
And if you believe that, I've got some very fertile, green, Eden-like property down here in Lima that I'm selling at a bargain basement prices! (Folks, Lima is a desert, getting less than an inch of rain every year.)
Nevertheless, the aromatic facts of this account are true. It smells kinda like a dogfood factory. I used to live near one, so I know this to be true. And it doesn't smell nice.
Well, it's been fun! Tune in next time for another installment of the Mad Musings of MLE.
Sunday, March 22
One year ago today...
On March 22, which was a Saturday, Cindy and I (along with some amazing friends from church) emptied our apartment in Chicago, loaded up a moving truck with all of our stuff, and headed to Indiana, where we unloaded all that stuff into our parents' garage and basement, and tried to wrap our heads around the fact that in 4 days we would be moving out of the COUNTRY.
wow. what a difference a year makes.
If you say that "a year ago today" is the actual DAY, meaning SUNDAY, then a year ago was Easter and we were spending it with the Leinbach clan at Granma and Grandpa's house, which they sold and moved out of about 6 months later. Happy memories of that day, playing games and chasing little girls around the house.
Strange to think that a year ago I had never met any of the children or staff that now make up my daily existence. It is VERY VERY nice, however, to start the school year WITH my class actually at the beginning of the school year! *grin*
We do still need a fifth grade teacher, and a Kindergarten teacher. These classes right now are more than adequately covered, but not ideally covered. They are sharing English teachers between two classes; this teaches adequately, but is not ideal for the students in each class as far as the relationship with the teacher, etc. So, we're praying for a fifth grade teacher (so our roommie Heidi can just be a fourth grade teacher instead of a language arts teacher for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade).
I need to go back to grading my math papers! Just thought I'd send a brief note about what we were doing last year! Thanks to all of you who helped us during that very stressful time of deadlines and goodbyes.
love to all,
emily
wow. what a difference a year makes.
If you say that "a year ago today" is the actual DAY, meaning SUNDAY, then a year ago was Easter and we were spending it with the Leinbach clan at Granma and Grandpa's house, which they sold and moved out of about 6 months later. Happy memories of that day, playing games and chasing little girls around the house.
Strange to think that a year ago I had never met any of the children or staff that now make up my daily existence. It is VERY VERY nice, however, to start the school year WITH my class actually at the beginning of the school year! *grin*
We do still need a fifth grade teacher, and a Kindergarten teacher. These classes right now are more than adequately covered, but not ideally covered. They are sharing English teachers between two classes; this teaches adequately, but is not ideal for the students in each class as far as the relationship with the teacher, etc. So, we're praying for a fifth grade teacher (so our roommie Heidi can just be a fourth grade teacher instead of a language arts teacher for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade).
I need to go back to grading my math papers! Just thought I'd send a brief note about what we were doing last year! Thanks to all of you who helped us during that very stressful time of deadlines and goodbyes.
love to all,
emily
Saturday, March 14
83.3
Degrees F right now here in my bedroom. That's with the blinds closed to block the sun and the fan going. BUT it isn't too humid, so that's great. i'm enjoying the warm weather (except for the two hours on weekday afternoons when it gets horrifically hot and humid and there's so little air movement in my classroom that all 18 of us in the room are just turning into little piles of sticky nothingness and getting 17 little sticky piles of nothingness to do reading lessons just isn't fun).
two weeks of school are done! 38 more to go! Friday was a very good day, praise Jesus, and i'm feeling hopeful and excited about the prospects of my classroom this year! new year, new class, new routines, all things that I am trying to figure out as we go... Friday there were several moments of "ah ha! THAT'S how i can do that!" in my daily routines with the kids. i have a total of 12 girls and 5 boys! (that's better than the 15 girls and 3 boys i was expecting!) three of the boys are new students from non-Christian homes, and it's interesting to see them learn how to use a Bible, memorize verses, listen to well-known stories for the first time (Jonah, for example). I am also learning to appreciate girls more, and to have more patience with them in groups! (don't know why, buy i have more patience with boys in classroom settings...)
please continue to pray for "my boys" that I taught last year. the now-fourth-graders are still the same old boys, with only 2 girls this year, and yesterday saw the first major "incident" involving at least 4 of them and at least 2 sets of parents. Pray particulary for salvation for all the boys (i don't want to give specific names) because there are two in particular who derive great pleasure in the control they have over manipulating the tempers of their classmates, pressing buttons until explosions occur. It makes me so sad to see; even more sad is that one of the boys who IS saved and has a sweet heart will follow his non-saved friend's example in this respect, and seems to be doing so even more this year than last. Pray also for the ONE girl in the class that was here last year: she misses the other two from last year (one is in the States, one's family is experiencing financial hardship and can't afford tuition) and the new girl isn't exactly the optimal personality match. So please pray for Maia.
I am excited to begin to know all my "new kids" and look forward to sharing them with all of you. I will be dumping our camera into the computer later today, so hope to upload some pics soon!
with love and thanks to all of my friends who are family and family who are friends,
emily
two weeks of school are done! 38 more to go! Friday was a very good day, praise Jesus, and i'm feeling hopeful and excited about the prospects of my classroom this year! new year, new class, new routines, all things that I am trying to figure out as we go... Friday there were several moments of "ah ha! THAT'S how i can do that!" in my daily routines with the kids. i have a total of 12 girls and 5 boys! (that's better than the 15 girls and 3 boys i was expecting!) three of the boys are new students from non-Christian homes, and it's interesting to see them learn how to use a Bible, memorize verses, listen to well-known stories for the first time (Jonah, for example). I am also learning to appreciate girls more, and to have more patience with them in groups! (don't know why, buy i have more patience with boys in classroom settings...)
please continue to pray for "my boys" that I taught last year. the now-fourth-graders are still the same old boys, with only 2 girls this year, and yesterday saw the first major "incident" involving at least 4 of them and at least 2 sets of parents. Pray particulary for salvation for all the boys (i don't want to give specific names) because there are two in particular who derive great pleasure in the control they have over manipulating the tempers of their classmates, pressing buttons until explosions occur. It makes me so sad to see; even more sad is that one of the boys who IS saved and has a sweet heart will follow his non-saved friend's example in this respect, and seems to be doing so even more this year than last. Pray also for the ONE girl in the class that was here last year: she misses the other two from last year (one is in the States, one's family is experiencing financial hardship and can't afford tuition) and the new girl isn't exactly the optimal personality match. So please pray for Maia.
I am excited to begin to know all my "new kids" and look forward to sharing them with all of you. I will be dumping our camera into the computer later today, so hope to upload some pics soon!
with love and thanks to all of my friends who are family and family who are friends,
emily
Tuesday, February 3
Another Step of Faith
Well, as of now, we are planning to go back to Lima for a second year of teaching!
No, we haven't raised the full amount of support we need (a little less than $14000), but in seven days we received commitments for a little more than HALF of it. We're taking that as a confirmation of God's provision and direction for the next eleven months (to go back).
If you are one of the people who have generously pledged to support us, THANK YOU. Please go ahead and fulfill those pledges at this time; make checks out to either Emily OR Cindy and mail them to us at our parents' address. (If you need this address, please email me.)
Please continue to visit http://www.peruleinbachsisters.blogspot.com/ for support updates and information on our return.
Love to you all!
No, we haven't raised the full amount of support we need (a little less than $14000), but in seven days we received commitments for a little more than HALF of it. We're taking that as a confirmation of God's provision and direction for the next eleven months (to go back).
If you are one of the people who have generously pledged to support us, THANK YOU. Please go ahead and fulfill those pledges at this time; make checks out to either Emily OR Cindy and mail them to us at our parents' address. (If you need this address, please email me.)
Please continue to visit http://www.peruleinbachsisters.blogspot.com/ for support updates and information on our return.
Love to you all!
Friday, January 30
Please check out the Leinbach Sisters Blog
I am overwhlemed; Thank You!
Please go here http://peruleinbachsisters.blogspot.com/ for daily information about how much we have had pledged to us for our return to Peru this year.
Please go here http://peruleinbachsisters.blogspot.com/ for daily information about how much we have had pledged to us for our return to Peru this year.
Sunday, January 4
Peru comes to US
There's a double meaning to the title of this post: I was going to write Peru comes to Chicago, but the events didn't all happen in Chicago. Then I thought Michigan, but not all in michigan either. So I just decided to say that Peru comes to us (as in the plural pronoun) and realized (hee hee) is can capitalize that and give it double meaning!
Last weekend, our roommate in Peru (and veteran missionary teacher that really really helped us survive) Katie Brink arrived at O'Hare with her fiance, Jose Manuel (who is Peruvian). Cindy and I had so much fun meeting them at the airport and shuttling them around city until her parents got into town SUnday afternoon. We stayed the night in the apartmnet of friends of ours from church who were out of town, went to our chicago church on sunday, took them down to the HAncock center adn then sent them UP to the observation deck as a wedding surprise gift. We ran out of time, but KAtie's parents arrived (driving on their way from Colorado) to pick them up nad take them to Grand Rapids, where the wedding was to be held.
So, yesterday, Cindy, me, Mom and Dad, and Heidi (our other roommate from PEru who came down to Indiana from Chicago to drive to the wedding with us) drove a nice 2 hours to the church where KAtie's long-distance wedding came together in wonderful style! Our head principal, NAncy Miller, was also there, up from Ohio where she's spending the last of her furlough time. It was a little of our Peru life here in the States, and what a pleasure to share some of those people with our parents! And what an honor to be there to support Katie, and even MORE importantly, Jose Manuel, whose family will not celebrate with him until the wedding celebration in Peru on January 24. I was so thankful that NAncy and the rest of us could provide at least four familiar faces from his life in Peru.
Please note; this is a copy of the post I just left on the Leinbach Sisters blog. Forgive the duplication. I couldn't add pics tonight. I'll try tomorrow.
Last weekend, our roommate in Peru (and veteran missionary teacher that really really helped us survive) Katie Brink arrived at O'Hare with her fiance, Jose Manuel (who is Peruvian). Cindy and I had so much fun meeting them at the airport and shuttling them around city until her parents got into town SUnday afternoon. We stayed the night in the apartmnet of friends of ours from church who were out of town, went to our chicago church on sunday, took them down to the HAncock center adn then sent them UP to the observation deck as a wedding surprise gift. We ran out of time, but KAtie's parents arrived (driving on their way from Colorado) to pick them up nad take them to Grand Rapids, where the wedding was to be held.
So, yesterday, Cindy, me, Mom and Dad, and Heidi (our other roommate from PEru who came down to Indiana from Chicago to drive to the wedding with us) drove a nice 2 hours to the church where KAtie's long-distance wedding came together in wonderful style! Our head principal, NAncy Miller, was also there, up from Ohio where she's spending the last of her furlough time. It was a little of our Peru life here in the States, and what a pleasure to share some of those people with our parents! And what an honor to be there to support Katie, and even MORE importantly, Jose Manuel, whose family will not celebrate with him until the wedding celebration in Peru on January 24. I was so thankful that NAncy and the rest of us could provide at least four familiar faces from his life in Peru.
Please note; this is a copy of the post I just left on the Leinbach Sisters blog. Forgive the duplication. I couldn't add pics tonight. I'll try tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)