Road to Indonesia---OE

 Our high school students just left for OE (Outdoor Education).  It is our schools version of a mission trip.  They study the anthropology aspects before they leave and are gone for 2 weeks. Usually, seeing as how we live in a mission community in Indonesia, this 2 weeks is spent in very, very remote locations, usually involving a plane ride to get to!!! With covid restrictions, they are going to a beach village closer to home and within driving distance. It is a "green zone" with no covid, and everyone was tested before they went and will be required to wear masks while they are there. They are "camping" for this 2 weeks. They will do some construction and kids Bible School activities and some low level medical care, etc.   They will keep a spiritual journal and also write a paper after they return.  The school has done this for years and has the logisitics down to a science....as much as one can with changing locations, covid, etc.  The biggest single problem is that the principal is the moving force behind this trip.  And she had a motorscooter accident a week and a half ago driving out to the village to make arrangements.  She has a fractured pelvis!  She is in a wheelchair for 4-6 weeks.  They are going ahead with OE, but people are a little nervous because she truly does all the arranging and trouble shooting for this trip. The other person who is able to do major trouble shooting and has gone on these trips for over 20 years, is 70 years old and faithfully social distancing as much as possible. She is going, but doing the cooking rather than the activities, and will generally be out of the loop.  This situation needs prayers. 

The kindergarten teacher has also become too ill to continue. He is a happy little man who is 62.  He loves his job, but is sick with an unknown cause. He needs to go back to the States. There really are not just subs waiting in the wings here. The kindergarten is combined with grade 1 for the rest of the year. The numbers in these grades is very low, so it should be OK, but of course everyone is concerned about the gentleman. 

What are Rick and I doing? Our online teaching for Peking University starts on March 8, so we are prepping that.  We also are teaching one online session here for the 7 students who are not going on the mission trip.  Some of the topics being covered are anthropology, language learning, etc. We are doing a session on cross-cultural living.  Of course Rick still is teaching grade 7 math and doing some fill-in activities (like weekly meetings with a sr. who is doing an independent study on Dostoyevsky and philosphy and leading a a middle school STEM activity.) I am still teaching my  2 periods a day of grade 8 language arts, prepping for when my jr. and sr. return for Brit Lit, and filling in a few hours of resource room teaching as the special ed teacher is gone on OE.  Life is full and good.