I’m not really going to put up a narcissistic post, but I am in the pictures, and they are selfies, so that’s probably a subjective statement.
Friday morning we took off in our van with its newly rebuilt transmission (seemed to handle the mountains well) and headed the 3 hours to Puebla. Dayton was signed up to take the ACT test at Puebla Christian School on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. until noon.
We got there on Friday in time for Beth to teach her Geometry student, Emma Bult (a daughter of the director of Camino’s Puebla Biblical Seminary). Emma takes all her clases at PCS, but she struggles in math and needed a one-on-one teacher this year. It’s been very difficult to do this via the Internet due to some special needs involved, but Beth found teaching her in person was truly a joy. So, we were glad we at least had one opportunity for an in-person class session.
While we were there we also got to catch up with some teachers and staff at the school and for Beth to talk to some students (and their parents) to whom she is giving a weekly tutorial session online for an Algebra class. Several of the MKs are struggling with some of the concepts and mostly are struggling with following their teacher who is brilliant but who apparently doesn’t have the patience for re-teaching or explaining concepts more than one way. Sometimes math students need to be taught multiple ways to solve equations because they may connect better with one method over another. So, Beth spends an hour every Wednesday afternoon with several boys who have questions and need some re-teaching. This is new and has only had one session, but it went well, and everyone seemed excited to continuing through the semester.
Of course, our main ministry here has always been MK Education, but over the years that side of ministry has decreased due to missionary attrition, but it seems to be on the upswing again. We’re glad to see that happening. We sure would love to see more workers for the harvest down here. So many missionaries have left in recent years (not just our mission but many others) that there apparently are gaping needs in Mexico for all sorts of ministry types.
While having a great conversation with the temporary fill-in principal (just this semester), I noticed Keith Myers had a WV coffee mug and so I couldn’t resist asking him where he was from. Yup, Fairmont, WV. Turns out, we are both supported the same church in that area. Small world. So, in order to preserve the memory of our chance to meet him, I took a selfie. This was not the first selfie I’ve ever taken, but it probably was one of the first 5 I’ve ever taken. I don’t take them very often. I guess I did it right. That looks like us.
Later that afternoon, I accompanied our country facilitator and host for the night on a quick run to Costco since he needed to pick up some foods for cooking up a special meal.
While we were there, we providentially ran into a couple that is fairly new to our field and are still in language school there in Puebla. Zac and Jennifer Malthaner are doing an amazing job learning the language and are a bombshell of joy and bubblyness (it’s probably a word…don’t look it up though) that is fun to be around. So, in order to preserve the memory of our providential appointment in Costco (along with Jonathan Baker to my left, your right, I took a selfie. BTW, Zac and Jennifer are young enough to be from the selfie generation and I had to laugh while they corrected my selfie-skills. I guess it came out ok.
That meal we were shopping for was for our co-workers, Chalo and Beth Sandoval. Beth has been undergoing chemo for leukemia for some months now, and thankfully, Friday was her last chemo treatment. By the time Jonathan and wife Barbara had the meal ready and we went over there, Beth had only been home for about an hour. We’ve prayed often for Beth and Chalo, and it was a blessing to be able to see them in their home and to preserve the memory of our visit with…you guessed it:
Finally, strange thing happened Friday evening as we were sitting around chatting and watching YouTube videos with our hosts. My hands began to break out in some sort of allergic reaction. I took a Zyrtec pill, but it didn’t help. I didn’t want to take a Benadryl because I needed to be alert for the 3 hour Saturday afternoon drive back home. I finally took a Benadryl and promptly slept for about 2 hours. I woke up with no real change and things just seemed to get worse from there.
By 10:45 I knew I was not going to sleep with the itching and blistering and burning, so Bethie and I went to an emergency room (not the one that almost killed me last year) and they wrote a prescription for a cream and an injection. I got the injection. It seemed to bring the itchiness down and I slept ok. Unfortunately, the hands look more red, though possibly trying to heal. They’re beginning to itch again. Not sure if I need another injection or a different medicine. Fortunately, it hasn’t spread past my elbows and is only on my forearms and hands/fingers. (No problems breathing or anything serious so far.) We have no idea what caused it. It’s possible I’m allergic to Puebla, but I hope not!
I don’t know if taking a picture of one’s hands is considered a selfie, but I took these pics with my regular camera, so I don’t think so. But just to preserve the memory…
Other than the fingers-thumb placement, and just based on the redness and swelling, I can’t really tell my left hand from my right hand. According to Jesus, that’s a good thing, so I’m gonna go with that.
Gotta hand it to me for reaching around with my left hand to snap the picture of my right hand…not that I know which is which or anything.
Knowing Your ABCDs 