Claire Ohlsen, RCC Missionary, Peru
Hi All,
A quick update and prayer request from Lima:
Last Sunday my roommate discovered the bed bugs that had been nibbling on her and began to move around to the rest of the house. Since bed bugs get everywhere and their very hard to get rid of, we did a few loads of HOT laundry and evacuated our house on Sunday. We stayed at a friend’s house that night. After everything that has happened at our house this quarter, we were FED UP.
On Monday we went to the school and our principal, admin assistant and other teachers helped us get a hold of our landlord, schedule a cleaning lady and a fumigator. And, to throw a little more excitement into it, Tuesday was the last week of the quarter and our grades were due, and we were both leaving town Tuesday afternoon for a five day vacation. Needless to say, Monday and Tuesday were extremely hectic! We have a wonderful community here and people were very helpful so Debbie and I were able to get the rest of our things out of the house and to the cleaners, move into a friend’s guest room, pack up for our trip and haggle with the landlord before we left on Tuesday.
Now we are both back in Lima and second quarter starts tomorrow. We’re staying with our friends Jens and Annie until Thursday when the rounds of Fumigation should be complete. Between now and Thursday we need to decide if we’re going to stay at the house or move; see if the landlord has approved the handyman to come fix the rest of the problems in our house; buy a new mattress. All this requires a lot of time, translating, extra money, haggling, finding people to sit at our house while repair people are there, and decision-making. Ideally we would like to have everything done so we can move back to our house by Thursday after school. If things aren’t finished by then, we may stay at Jens and Annie’s through the weekend and be apartment hunting.
Please pray for God’s favor in all our communications, his wisdom in our decision making, and some peace as we have to do this all in addition to our already busy teaching schedule.
Thank you all!
I hardly know where to begin! The past 6 weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, adjusting, planning, re-planning, and teaching. I’ll try to paint a simple picture of my life over the last month and a half J
On the school-front:
School started August 7th which means teaching 5 classes each day, 3rd-11th grade. I have 20 students many of which are a pleasure to teach and some of which are a struggle. We have weekly faculty meetings, morning staff devotions and prayer, and other weekly duties as well. It’s a full plate every week! I’m still creating each lesson since the school doesn’t have a curriculum chosen yet. My evenings and weekends are usually spent dreaming up the upcoming classes J It’s long and often arduous but I spoke with the principal today and I’m hoping this is the beginning of more support for the ESL program. I have students that come from different backgrounds, many of which have absentee parents and a lack of consistency in their lives which is evident in their classroom behavior. I hope to be a point of encouragement and stability for them. I’m also the senior class advisor which I enjoy. There are 8 graduating seniors and I get to help them plan the fundraising throughout the year for the major event in May – the Senior trip. I like getting to know the seniors and their parents and I hope to have a stronger bond with them in their last year, before they head off into the “real world.”
In my home:
My roommate Debbie and I have been laughing at how many things in our house can possibly break! So far we’ve dealt with (or are still dealing with) a refrigerator that doesn’t get cold, a hot water heater that doesn’t heat water, a washing machine that locks our clothes inside, a shower head that doesn’t stay attached to the wall, a clock that doesn’t tell time, broken electrical outlets, internet, kitchen faucet, cupboards, and a random fish smell that appears and disappears in our hallway. Not to mention all the dishes that I have broken! It’s like a mix of monster house, Gilligan’s island and McGyver here J We’ve spent considerable time talking in broken Spanish with repairmen, being a little frustrated and laughing at how completely absurd it can be! We did receive a suitcase of clothes, home, and school stuff from my mom via a wonderful friend who came to visit her brother in Lima. We had “Christmas” in August and it greatly improved out outlook on life!
Lima life:
I think I’ve found a church to attend here -thank you Jesus! It’s a Spanish-speaking Calvary Chapel and I really enjoy their worship and the teaching. My Spanish has improved to the point where I can understand almost all of the sermon as long as I have my English Bible to read from. I can’t say anything about the sermon in Spanish but hopefully that will come with time J They also sing a lot of songs that I’m familiar with so I’m learning words as I sing and translate in my head. Some ladies associated with the school along with the teachers have started a ladies Bible study during the week. I’ve only been able to attend once but they’ve moved closer to where I live so I’m looking forward to going more regularly. On Aug. 27, I went to a government office to begin process for residency in Peru. I’ve been fingerprinted within an inch of my life and I still need to go to immigration as well. The Peruvians sure love their paperwork! Last weekend many of the teacher got away from the city for an overnighter at the beach. We stayed at a conference center called Kawai and, although it was not an island in the Hawaiian chain, it was a wonderful quite retreat. It’s still winter here so it was cloudy and windy but beautiful just the same. And it was soooo great to get out of the hustle bustle and smog of the city!
Prayer:
Please join me in praying for our house that it would be a place of refuge at the end of the day, not just a place for more work; for wisdom in lesson planning; for guidance in classroom management and teaching strategies; for a teaching mentor; and for my students.
And lastly, I’ve heard from a few of you that you’d like to support me financially by contributing to the Network of International Christian Schools. God provides for each of the teachers here, including myself, in amazing ways. I invite you to be a part of that provision for my financial needs if you are able. The NICS contribution information is attached to this email. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement, emails and pictures! I MISS SEATTLE, MY FAMILY AND YOU!
Signing off,
Claire (McGyver)
Christmas at Casa 3 ICSL Staff Kawai
Claire at Kawai
