November Update:
The New School Adventure!
Hello from Mexico! What a blessing to be able to share with you what God has been doing here! Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I know I couldn't be here without you! The Lord has been so, so good! This past month the Lord opened the doors for this new school to begin, a school of which I have been dreaming of for almost a year now.  On October 19, 8 youth, 1 little boy, and the other teacher all crammed into my 5 seater Ford Escape and we were off to our new adventure. Honestly, I must say, these kids' parents are pretty amazing for believing in this dream and sending their kids. We have a big, empty shop that someones lending us with an outhouse that doesn't even have a toilet... just a hole in the ground... and a basketball court that the kids love! So we set up 9 desks, an oven, a chalkboard, 3 tables, and a wood stove, and we were ready for the year. We've been in school for a month now and it has been such an adventure! I remember as a little kid I always wanted to live like a pioneer... that dream seems to be coming true! Almost every day something goes wrong, but the kids don't mind. For a week we were studying in this smoke cloud because the wood stove wasn't working properly. Today the kids accidently locked my keys into my vehicle. The other day I broke the window... it's become almost a daily thing, but I am so thankful that God is in the midst of it all, no matter how chaotic!
God has blessed the school with the most amazing students and helper, and I am so thankful I get to work with them. The students make me smile, laugh and use all my patience every day and I love them so much! It has definitely been a change, going from grade 1 teacher to teaching youth between the ages of 12-16. One of our students, Sandra, acceptes Jesus Christ as her Savior this summer. She's been faithfully reading and studying her Bible, attending church and asking questions about her faith. Today on our way home from school, she was sharing about how her grandparents have already gotten so angry with her and forbidden her to go to church. All her neighbors and aunts and uncles have been giving her a very hard time, as she is the first one to become a Christian amongst them. It's so amazing though to see her siblings and mom are starting to accompany her to church!! 
It's so fun to watch these youth and little Fredy opening their hearts to God's love! Most of these students come from homes where alcohol, drugs and broken relationships are normal, and they are eagerly soaking it all up as we have been teaching them about who Jesus is, that He has a plan for each person, and how deeply He loves them. They are beginning to dream outside of this "box" they've grown up in. My prayer for each one of them is that they will come to know Jesus personally and break the chains and the cycle from the past generations; and that they would become the next missionaries to bring the gospel to the Tarahumara people. Before closing, I'd like to share a sweet story about Fredy. He is our 8 year old that is coming to school because he comes from a very difficult home and has many behaviour problems. He struggles a lot with feelings of worthlessness, which results in him inflicting pain upon himself. My heart breaks for him every time he begins calling himself stupid and starts punching himself in the head or stabbing himself with his pencil, etc. We've been working a lot with him, trying to show him he has a worth by loving on him and taking time for him one on one. So the day, Fredy was working on his Spanish when he noticed he had made a mistake. He began calling himself stupid and hitting himself, and I just repeated to him that he was not stupid, that God loves him and God doesnt want him to hurt himself. All of a sudden he snapped out of his mood and told me, "Later, I am gonna tell God that when I grow up I want to be a superhero". I encouraged him that was a wonderful idea and asked him if he wanted to pray. So he wrote this prayer in his notebook: God, help me to become a Superhero so that I can help other people". It is something so simple and small, yet I know that God works through these simple, pure prayers.
Prayer requests:
Please pray for Sandra and her family, that she can be a light to them and her community, and that she could stay strong in her faith. 
Pray for us as teachers, that God gives us wisdom to deal with issues of worthlessness and substance abuse.
- Pray for the students, that they would come to know Jesus personally. 
Thank you for all your prayers and I hope you have a blessed day! Amanda