As I am typing this, our Liam’s new little furball, and hopefully a solution to a mouse problem we have had since Christmas, is curled up in my lap. Mike is also curled up, on the couch, finally more of himself again but wearing out quickly after a bout with COVID. It happened so crazily, he was over the worst of it before we confirmed it was the virus. Over spring break, he was working with another teacher to scrub black mold out of one of our classrooms and came down with a fever and headache. With a negative COVID test result, we moved from a reaction to the mold to a possible case of dengue and Mike spent a miserable week worn down but seeming ok. When he finally started having less of a chest cold and no fever last week, we began to dismiss it and move on….until he lost his sense of taste. A second COVID test confirmed he had the virus and we all began isolation while the elementary moved back to virtual school. Though feeling well again, all of you who know Mike can understand his annoyance at not having his energy back yet. But as we say here, poco a poco, little by little.
We are so thankful that Mike´s case wasn´t more serious, and that the kids and I stayed healthy. Pucallpa’s second wave has been, as one reporter put it, more of a tsunami with hospitals again at critical levels and the vaccine not yet available among the general population. Pucallpa and its surrounding region made the jump to Extremo (Extreme), the highest alert level here in Peru. It has been a bit surreal to find ourselves almost exactly where we were a year ago in this pandemic. Our middle and high school have returned to virtual learning through the end of the school year to comply with government law and take precautions against spreading the virus. Our small elementary is hoping to finish out the few weeks we have left off-site with precautions in place. Our school year looks to end much like it started with modified attempts at normal, and all the emotions that occur when that normal can’t happen.
It can be easy to get lost in all this worry and frustration. Ironically, although is anything ironic with God, my class is studying prayer right now, a section of our Bible curriculum that I love. I love it so intensely because I get to watch my kids slowly grow from “Thank you for this day. Please help us have a good day. Amen.” pray-ers, to prayer warriors who drop their scripted statements and have real, personal conversations with their Father. It is a joyful transformation that I love watching, and a blessed reminder to me that my Father can “take whatever I throw at Him” in the way of prayer.
So pray with us! Please pray for the continued protection and safety of our dear school community, our missionary families, and especially our home Pucallpa and its people. Let’s pray for the eradication of this virus and not just a return to normal, but a “return” to better…that through these challenges, we will all emerge stronger in our faith and dependence of God. Please pray especially for our five graduating seniors along with their families as they prepare for their new paths ahead and that we might celebrate them in a special way before they leave us.
And, if you don’t mind, pray this cute, cuddly kitten is a mouse terrorizer:)
With all our love,
M,M,E and L
Family of 4 Serving 1 