Learning beyond the textbooks

    So we are now in full swing with school. We are both really enjoying this semester, although it has been a lot more work. My classes are a lot of writing and presentations this semester, which has been a bit of a challenge for me, because writing is probably my least favorite thing to do. Every Monday I give a 30 minute Bible study in Spanish. Thirty minutes may not sound like a really long time, but, for me, in Spanish, that is a REALLY long time. It has been fun to able to express myself a little bit more in my new language, but still is a challenge to be able to completely express all the things that I am thinking. I feel like our school does a really great job of helping us to prepare for our future jobs by helping us to write and present Bible studies now before we get to Peru. So, all this work is very beneficial and is really helping me to build more confidence in my speaking abilities in Spanish.

   This weekend one pastor and one of the leaders from the student ministry in Augusta, GA came here to Costa Rica to encourage us and to give us a little more training for the field. We have really enjoyed getting to see them and have them here. We were able to talk a lot about our transition to Cusco and to dream more about what God might do there both medically and in the lives of students. Today while we were eating lunch, they asked us if we could possibly meet them in Peru for one of their medical mission trips so that we could function as medical providers as well as translators. 'Translators?' I thought...that actually may be possible!

    Nathan has been very busy so far this trimester. He has actually been working a few days a week (in between his classes) with a few ophthalmologists around the city. He has been seeing patients in clinic and spending time in the operating room with them. He is not really able to do much ophthalmology on his own, since he is not licensed in the country, but this has been very beneficial for learning ophthalmology spanish and to see how their clinics and operating rooms here work. We have been very grateful for this opportunity and he is enjoying building relationships with some of the doctors.

      My ESL classes begin again this Wednesday night. I will be teaching with my same teaching partner and we will again teach the advanced students. I am hoping that since we know many of the students from last semester that I will be able to form deeper relationships with them over these next few weeks. Please be in prayer for that.