This is how laundry is done here! When I first saw clothes being washed on a rock, it was so intriguing I couldn't wait to try it. I may or may not have washed those rags more often than necessary because of how fun it seemed to me to do laundry this way...

Kuira from Mexico! What a joy to be sharing with you once again what the Lord is doing here amongst the Tarahumara people. Although I know we serve an Awesome, Incredible God, he never ceases to amaze me with the way He reveals Himself at work. A verse that He has so strongly placed on my heart this past month is Psalm 34:18 - The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

We got to take this family to a restaurant... I guess they don't go very often, it sounded like a Christmas banquet as there was so much excitement about what they were going to order. Shouts of joy as they received their food....

Making tortillas and tortillas and more tortillas....
Praise God for this vehicle He provided for the school! What a blessing.
Just over a month ago, some of my students and I began working in the kitchen at one of the apple orchards. There were 240 workers at this orchard. We washed endless dishes, chopped sack after sack of vegetables, and made over 1000 tortillas daily... all by hand. I can't express how proud I was of these 14-17 year old girls. We worked 55 hours a week and the students were so excited to open their $90 paycheck each Saturday.... It brings such a smile to my face to see these youth get so excited about those paychecks. When I was their age, I cannot say I would have gone to work so hard for (what I would have considered) so little. 
But what caught my attention the most was getting to know the Tarahumara people outside of the "Christian circle." I saw so much despair, hurt and hopelessness. One of  my students made a comment that made me so sad, " Teacher, why is it that nobody I know has their real dad anymore? Why do men just always leave their wives and families for a different woman? We suffer so much because our dads leave us". This is very true, as there are so many broken families, hurting women and lost men everywhere I look around me. The more I listened to my students and the people around me, this was the main message I heard: "True love doesn't exist. No husband/wife is ever faithful, and if you ever truly give your heart to someone and love them, then they will surely cheat on you. The only way you can know if someone truly loves you is if they are very jealous/controlling over you..." This message couldn't be further from the truth and it really pressed on my heart. No matter how I tried to explain that God's love was True and He had much more for their futures that this painful cycle, the students struggle to believe their lives could truly ever be any different. As I observed all the brokenness around me, I felt the discouragement settle in, beginning to believe the lie that I couldn't truly make any difference. I think that is why the verse above caught my attention so much.
In the midst of so much discouragement, God was doing something amazing. This past Thursday, a man and his wife from the apple orchard I worked at, attended church. I was surprised to see them there, as I don't remember ever seeing them there before. His nieces are students at the school, and about a year ago, the girls accepted Jesus as their Savior. I had heard the girls mention a few weeks back that their uncle was interested in hearing more about Jesus. So, at the end of the church service, I felt God leading me to talk to this couple. Along with his niece, we went to go talk to them. Not knowing quite what to talk about, I just asked them straight out if they wanted to hear more about Jesus. The man eagerly agreed. I began to share the story of creation and sin entering the world and I wondered how in the world do I make someone who doesn't have a biblical upbringing or Christian influences understand the gospel. The Holy Spirit took over and I was amazed as I saw this couple nodding, understanding, and so eager to know how they could accept Jesus as their Savior. They both chose to accept Jesus that evening, Praise God! Luke 15:7 "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner  who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
I wish I could have seen the party going on in heaven that night. Please pray for this couple, as there is so much opposition from friends and families when a person chooses to follow Jesus.
Yesterday was our first day of school. A big part of the summer I spent stressing, trying to plan and put things in place for the school. I felt so much discouragement as, every time I found a teacher or someone who was willing to be involved in some way with the school, it fell through. One person after another agreed to help in some way with the school, whether it was teaching music, helping with the boys, building a classroom, etc., and slowly one person after another wasn't able to follow through. I was so confused and asked God, "Don't You want this school to work? Don't You want these kids to learn new things?" and all I ever got back was, "Trust me. Trust me." I would get so frustrated, trying to prove to Him how much I was trusting Him already. I would wonder if maybe I was hearing God wrong about opening this school, yet God confirmed it over and over and over again that He wanted this school to open. God kept placing it on people's hearts to donate a bunch of instruments, computers, school supplies, etc. for the school. Every time I was blown away at the generosity as one donation after another came in. Shortly before school started, a donation came in to buy a vehicle for the school. I still don't understand what God's plan is, and what exactly this school year is going to look like, but I have peace knowing that God is in this. He doesn't start something and then leave it hanging half way through. Please keep us in our prayers as we work with the students. We have 7 students enrolled this year and they are so incredibly talented. Please pray that each student would fall in love with Jesus this year, that He would become the center of their world. Pray that they would choose to live different than so many youth around them. Pray for patience for me personally, to learn to enjoy the process of God doing His amazing work. Honestly, even if I feel so uncertain about this school year, one thing I know for sure is I absolutely love these kids and I can't wait to walk alongside them and show them how amazing Jesus is! We would really appreciate your prayers and thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all the ways you have walked alongside us in this ministry. I know I always say this, but we truly couldn't be here without your prayers and your support. Thank you. God bless! Amanda.
Today was the student's first computer class... they were so excited, as most of these students have never had access to a computer before. A lot of fun to watch the students enjoy a typing program as if it were a computer game!