This is Elsa Schuler, our Continuing English Education (CEE) helper at Colegio Diospi Suyana.  We all adore her.  She is positive, energetic, patient, godly, and a great listener.  Elsa grew up in Wiesbaden, Germany, in the same Baptist church where Klaus and Tina John (our hospital’s founders and directors) attended.  Since she was a girl, she has heard the Johns give reports to their home church about their dreams for Diospi Suyana hospital, then she has seen the Lord build it and bless it.  She said that she always wanted to come and see for herself and serve here as she could.  Elsa finished high school and did a banking internship.  She liked it just fine but she started to think about a career as an elementary school teacher.  She had heard all about the school they were building in Curahuasi and thought it would be good to come do a tiny internship here to see if she liked teaching and education before she started her studies in Germany.  Since she speaks absolutely perfect English and has lots of family living in the States, she was assigned to our little group.  What a blessing from God!

Elsa goes to class with our American kids during the school day to help them understand what is going on and to help them with their homework.  When they have Quechua class, which is too advanced for the older kids, they can go tutor with her.  During their English classes, they leave and study German with Elsa.  She is a wonderful teacher and they all love learning German.  She has them doing dialogues, flash cards, drawings, and she has translated a few kids’ books for their amusement.  When our classes begin at 12:50, Elsa and I discuss the day as we munch our lunch, and then she helps with the CEE class, sharing about life in Germany, the Lord, and learning English along the way.  I love her contributions and I especially love being with her each day.  She has become a special friend who cares about these kids along with me.  The only bad thing about Elsa is that she is leaving in June.  We can only hope and pray for God to send us more wonderful volunteers like Elsa.