Amanda in Mexico

March - April Newsletter
Kuira! I hope this email finds you well. I also hope you have a blessed Easter season, as we remember the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. I want to share a passage with you that caught my attention. Matthew 13:44 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!"
I always thought that these 2 parables were the same thing, just using different illustrations, but after reading a commentary, I realized that in the 2nd parable, the merchant is God and we are the pearls of great value. He sacrificed everything to redeem us. Wow! What an amazing reminder that God sees us of such great value that He was willing to do whatever it takes so that we could be His, even dying on a cross to take our punishment. How could our response be any less than to completely leave our old life to start a new life with Him? Thank you Jesus!
URIQUE, COPPER CANYON 
We are currently on Spring Break, and since we have 2 weeks of vacation, I decided to combine March and April in 1 newsletter. We have been quite busy in school the past 6 weeks and we are all ready for a break. At the beginning of March, one  of our students ran a 42 K marathon in the beautiful Copper Canyon. What a beautiful view and we were so, so proud of her as she crossed the finish line! The event was a 2 day event, so we arrived on Friday and returned home on Monday. It was a weekend full of adventure and seeing God's protection, as one thing after another seemed to go wrong. The truck brakes overheating on the long trek down into the canyon, three of our students had a near-drowning experience in the river, I lost my keys for the vehicle the last night and a few students and I had to return home on the bus... yet, God took care of us, and now we have all these memories and learnt so much for future outings. It was so neat to see the students encourage each other, get to know each other better, and getting out of their comfort zones. One day I arrived at the Basketball court to see our students playing a tournament against all the red cross workers that were there to help in the marathon. Over and over again, I have no choice but to praise God for what HE is doing in these students lives. 

Missions Trip to Sonora April 4-8

After getting back from the race, the students got to work raising the rest of the money to fund their missions trip to Guaymas, Sonora. They baked a bunch of sweets and went door to door selling cookies. They raised the funds, and just like that, the time came for us to go on our trip. We left 6 am Monday morning and returned 8 pm Friday evening. What a blast to see the kids experience all the new things like seeing the ocean for the first time, experiencing the Sonora heat, seeing  dolphins and sealions for the first time... and getting the opportunity to pet them! The first evening we arrived at the church that hosted us and the pastor took us to a park and the kids bought themselves foam spray. They had so much fun chasing each  other around with the foam... but my favorite part was when I saw 2 of our girls sharing the foam.... first one girl chased the other for a while, getting her completely full of foam, then she stopped and passed it to her friend so she too had a chance to chase the other one. That's what I would call a true friend, hahaha.
The students also had the opportunity to serve. Each day, they had one service activity and one fun activity. We were so proud of them as the dug 15 + holes for and elderly couple and helped them plant some fruit trees. The students also had the opportunity to serve in the church's feeding program and present some songs and a skit. I absolutely loved seeing the kids serving and experiencing all these new things, but I also learned something very interesting... as amazing as it is to watch the students grow in their faith and step out of their comfort zones, youth leaders really do sacrifice a whole lot to go out  on a trip to be with youth for  a week. A huge shout out to all my former youth leaders, I realize now it was a whole lot of sacrifice for them to hang out with a bunch of know-it-all, attituded, immature youth! Praise God for their commitment to loving us and putting up with us so that one day we too could follow in their footsteps, loving on other youth.... and experience what they experienced!! Honestly though, I have no doubt that it is completely worth it, because they are the precious pearls Jesus died for so that He could redeem them, just like everyone of us.  
Lastly, I would like to share about a young woman that had been living with us before Christmas. She returned to her home in the mountains. We were sad to see her go, as we knew that the situation she was going back to was not ideal. We prayed with her and encouraged her to come back whenever she wanted to. We weren't quite sure what was going to happen, what the future held for her and her little boy. We didn't hear from her for several weeks, until one day she called and all she said was "Remember the women's shelter we talked about? Well, I just wanted to tell you I am still in." Then we didn't hear from her again for several weeks, then one day we got the phone call, "I will be arriving on the bus tomorrow." She arrived here near the beginning of March with her little boy. We were so excited to see her back, but we weren't quite sure what things were going to look like, as it was all so sudden. The first week and a half was a crazy week of job hunting, going to from store to store, every restaurant close by. Finally, at the last place we knew to look, she got offered a job on the spot, working in the kitchen of a local restaurant. Praise God! Now we get to listen to her joyful stories as she comes home from work each evening, telling us about everything that happened at work. She is getting to know Jesus and desires to know Him more. She wants to make a better life for her and her son; she also has the desire to help us open a women's shelter one day, and wants to receive discipleship. Please pray for healing for her that she can come to know God as her Healer, Comforter, Provider, Best Friend and Lord. 
Thank you so much for taking the time to read what has been happening here in Chihuahua. We could not be here without your prayers and support. Thank you!! Please keep our students in your prayers, that the vacation would be a time of rest and they wouldn't get caught up in things they may regret later. If you would ever like to come visit our ministry and meet the people in our ministry, I know they would love to meet the people who make this ministry possible, and we would love to have you!! God bless!   Amanda.