One Is Worth More Than All

19 February 2012

First two weeks of inservice

Peru.

This word carries thousands of pictures, faces, words, scenes, and feelings in my mind when I'm not here. Those who have lived outside of the USA can probably identify. Now I'm back, and the images of home are those which haunt me. I'm so glad we can lean on God. His presense and His Word sustain us no matter where we go!

When I was preparing to leave the States for Peru for the 6th time (that is counting the time I came back for my sister's wedding ;) earlier this month, I wasn't excited about saying good-bye to my family and friends. One, I was a little apprehensive about the possibility of a new position at the school that would involve more responsibility and require more of me. Two, I was saddened by the thought of leaving family members again and close friends. But I know God wants me here. I was and am certain of it.

When I arrived at the Lima airport, I had the uncanny feeling that I had never left. It didn't take long before my feelings of sadness changed to match my thoughts. "Yes, I am in the right place. I I know this is where God wants me. I am glad to be back."

I had been a little bummed that I had chosen to fly back on Thursday with a 7 hour lay-over in Houston. Most of the other teachers were flying on Friday or Saturday. However, as it turns out, my friend Katrina was able to postpone a short trip she was making to pick me up from the airport, take me back to her house, introduce me to her new boyfriend, and treat me to lunch! We got to catch up; what an encouragement! And as it turned out, I realized after I arrived that I needed to move all of my things from the house I was staying in before I left back to the teachers' house. I wouldn't have had time to do that and organize everything if I had come back on Friday or Saturday. God knows what He is doing!

I found out on Saturday that I was not going to be taking a new position at the school, because there was no one to teach 5th grade. Although I had been excited about a new opportunity--Relief flooded me!

On Monday our entire school staff headed out for a retreat. We had nine spiritual emphasis sessions with topics like "The Mind of Christ" and "Having a Biblical Worldview." We also had team building games and great bonding time!

Thursday and Friday we began work at school. Many of us were assigned to committees for revision of handbooks for parents, personel, and academics.

The next week our work on committes continued as well as work in our classrooms and on our computers--lesson plans!

This week we have POM (Parent Orientation Meetings). Please pray they will go smoothly, and that we would be able to connect well with the parents in order to establish long-lasting, spiritually relevant relationships.

02 January 2012

One of the last recesses of the year

Memoir Trip Home, December 2011

I have seen God's goodness shown in so many ways and through so many friends during this long trip home. These are just some of the ways God showed me his kindness during my long trip. A little background: We safely made it to the airport on time after getting lost several times because our driver did not know the way. Unbeknownst to me my Peruvian residency had expired. I was not allowed to leave the country on my Dec. 21, 12:05am flight...... 1. Amber Griffin went to bat for me and tried to convince the immigration official to let me out of the country. 2. Tammy Holdren called my immigrations consultant, Mr. Voysest, who then called me and gave me advice. 3. Amber called Mr. Surrett (interim director, LMCS) who called two different times to make sure all was well; she called Sue Ellen who called and comforted me; and she called me the next day to how I was doing. 4. Sarah Hodupp texted me to encourage me while I was trying to find a solution to my flight in the Lima airport. 5. After trying to no avail to pass through immigrations to get on my flight. I went back to the check in counter at Continental. All of the counters (including other airlines) were closed, but one. There was only ONE Continental lady left! She was very nice, and reserved a flight for me for the next day. 6. Nicole Dickson had called Maranda and Vicky who had already left the airport. Maranda, Vicky, Hadon, and Heidi turned around and came back to the airport, waited with me for several hours until I got my luggage back, and accompanied me all the way home to La Molina again; we arrived at approx. 2:30am. 7. Oh and, while at the airport, we had waited longer than the lady had said for my luggage to arrive. So, Vicky and I went to get help. There was one man in the office who said our luggage must be where the lady had indicated, but another man came up behind him and told us he would help us. He led us straight to my luggage. 8. Next day, Claudia helped me get a taxi to immigrations in Lima and a taxi to the airport again, and she confirmed my flight. 9. Maranda made me breakfast. Vicky gave me estofado de pollo for supper later that day. Vicky, Maranda, Heidi Robbins, and Monica helped me find my lost taxi when I was stuck in immigrations in downtown Lima. 10. I had a great witnessing opportunity with the taxi man on the way to immigrations. 11. Claudia helped me get a taxi to immigrations in Lima and a taxi to the airport again, and she confirmed my flight. 12. Mr. Voysest got all of my paperwork in order, but the person in the department of justice who needed to sign my papers was on vacation. However, the director of the department of justice came down and signed it for us! 13. My friends Daniel and Heather DeLand checked their documents because of what happened to me. Their documents were also expired, and they were leaving that same day for the States. By the time they got to immigrations it was already closed for the day. Mr. Voysest went to the back door and pleaded for help. The lady said no, then she changed her mind, and she legalized their documents. 14. Heidi Robbins encouraged me and hung out with me for a little while on Wednesday. 15. God protected me when my taxi driver almost got into a fight with a very angry pedestrian at the airport during my second attempt to leave Lima. The pedestrian man hit our taxi several times with his hands/fists and tried to open my driver's door to fight him. 15. My second flight out of Lima (Dec. 22, 12:05am) was cancelled because of airplane maintanence. The same lady who helped me the night before was there, and she did not charge me the $300 they were supposed to for changing my ticket from the day before. She put me on a flight to Newark->Cleveland->Greenville. 16. My flight to Cleveland out of Newark was delayed over an hour so I missed my connecting flight to Greenville from Cleveland. The airport lady in Cleveland was extremely nice (her niece is married to a Peruvian). She put me on flight to Charlotte->Greenville for the next morning and gave me a hotel voucher for an upscale hotel and food vouchers. 17. The hotel shuttle took me to the hotel. I learned how to use the fancy elevator. (If you´re ever in one of those, you have to slide your room key in the elevator panel to make it work...just a hint ;) I got to order room service! The food was good, and I slept like a rock on the plush bed. After a hot shower before bed and another one in the morning, I was ready to go! 18. Got to use Continental's free phone to call my fam in Cleveland, free Wi-fi in the hotel, free Wi-fi in Cleveland airport, free Wi-fi in Charlotte. 19. Met a Christian on the plane to Charlotte. 20. Missed my 10:27am flight to Greenville because my flight out of Cleveland was late. Someone had left 4 quarters in the pay phone so I could call my dad in Charlottle to let him know. (I don't have a state-side cell phone.) 21. Praise the Lord there was another flight to Greenville at 1:10pm! On that 20 min. flight I had a good conversation with my seat partner. 22. My sister, brother-in-law, my new foster niece, and my dad met me at the airport! 23. One suitcase made it; the other one was delivered to my house the next day! 24. My missionary friends prayed all the way home and hundreds of people had been PRAYING for me and writing encouraging messages on facebook! Now after reading all of this, you must agree with me that God is good!

My Blog

Dear Family and Friends,

I must apologize for not keeping up with my blog. Besides being busy, the reason I have not posted my updates is because many of my students are online a lot of the time. My updates have been name-specific, and I want to be able to ask for your specific prayers without "the whole world" knowing. Another reason is because most of my family and friends are already on Facebook, so they are able to see most of what is happening here. If you would like to receive my quarterly updates by e-mail or postal mail, please e-mail me at emilyslmcs@gmail.com . Please specify if you would like to receive my update by e-mail or postal mail.

Sincerely,
Emily Snodgrass