Calle 5 #14-32
La Mesa, Colombia
aaronlaurak@gmail.com
The "Work" Begins
Dear friends and family,
Just yesterday I was feeling pangs of loneliness and solitude. Then this morning the post-lady came by and blessed us with 16 pieces of mail, and said a package was waiting for us in the office! What a wonderful morning we had opening Christmas letters and reading church bulletins and looking at updated photos of friends and family! Our theory is that mail gets backed up in Bogota, especially during the holidays, because there were letters sent as early as November and as late as January that all arrived at the same time! Thank you to the many people who sent us personal notes and updates. We love hearing about your lives.
We have had two very full weeks at school. Aaron is usually there from 7am to 2pm. He designed and implemented an English placement test for the 6-11th graders. The past week he's been giving the test, and interviewing each student in English. The top 12-15 students from each grade will then study with him more intensively once a week. The focus of that class will be on conversational English. He's also enjoyed his weekly English class for the professors of the school. They are a bright, motivated group and aren't afraid to ask questions and try to speak English.
Laura often comes to the school at 10:00 with Abigail. Occasionally there are children who have head or tummy aches that she checks over. She was surprised to learn there's a "health club" of sorts, made up of upperclassmen who have taken first-aid and help stock and run the nursing station. Tomorrow, the 18th, Laura will accompany these students as they get re-certified in first aid by the local Red Cross. Laura's also been in a few meetings helping to plan the sexual education curriculum for the students.
The church asked us to help plan and participate in youth activities. So probably two Saturday evenings a month we will be involved with the youth. We'll be part of team, which is exciting, and seems more sustainable than if we just did it ourselves. The first event will be Saturday the 25th, where we'll watch a movie then have a discussion. Also once a month we will lead the adult sunday school lesson. Weekends will sometimes be quite full, once Aaron starts teaching Saturday mornings at the Theology School, and Laura travels to Anapoima to do health workshops. So our "day of rest" will be Monday, when Aaron does not have classes, and we can relax around the house without any commitments.
Actually, on top of everything, last friday Laura woke up with a fever of 103 and raging diarrhea. So we promptly went to the Clinic and discovered it was a virus going around. The past week has been a slow but steady recovery of energy and appetite. Abigail also got a milder case of the same virus on Tuesday. She spent one day more tired and feverish, but she's back to her busy, energetic self.
Abigail thoroughly enjoys being a little person who can do things. Not only can she walk, but she's almost running! She can walk backwards, tries to jump down little stairs, and wants to climb everything. We had our first wall-coloring incident and learned not to let her loose with crayons. When Laura's cooking she likes to empty the cupboards. When music is playing she claps and hums and turns in circles. When she's mad her face gets red and stormy and she flings herself around. When she's happy she squeals and convulses with laughter. Living life with a toddler is certainly not dull.
It's been an exciting time with the start of the school year. Please pray that we remain healthy and find quality family time together now that our lives are much fuller with work.
Thank you so much for your support and interest in us. Keep in touch!
Love,
Laura, Aaron and Abigail Kauffman