Hello from Mexico! I hope this newsletter finds you well. It is hard to believe we are entering May and the school year is nearing the end. Praise God for how He is working in the ministry and I am so excited to see what He has in store!
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April 30 we celebrate "Children's Day". We spent the day celebrating our students with games, cake and a pinata. Psalm 127:3 “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.”
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The month of April we re-entered school after a 2 week Easter break. The students were happy to be back and it was nice to see their renewed energy to learn. I am so excited to share that all of my students are now working at the same level in Mathematics! I am teaching the Jr. High class and when the students entered in September, I had students who were at a Grade 7 level, others who were at a grade 5 level, yet others who were not yet familiar with multiplication. We worked with these students at their own level, and thanks to the all the hard work from the teachers, today they were all sitting together in Math class, working on the same problems! As for our other students who were just learning to read, I am so happy to share that they are reading and putting words together! This is a huge step for them, as they no longer carry the label “illiterate”. My prayer is that each of these students will come to understand that, if they work at it, they can accomplish amazing things; that they do not need to carry the labels society places on them, rather they can rise above them. It is also exciting to see these students are all comfortable praying for things that are important to them, as well as for others (with the exception of 3 students that entered in January, they are still learning… and the other students jump at the chance to teach them how to pray). I remember when they entered in September, and some of them had never prayed before. How beautiful to see these sweet students accepting the Biblical Truths! Praise God! Mark 10:15 “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
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Learning about different places in the world.
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Music class with Amelia
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This past month I have been visiting a young woman who was going through a very difficult time. One evening, when I arrived for our weekly visit, I unexpectedly met her husband at home. He has had his own struggles. I felt at loss of how to move forward as I was not prepared. The wife invited me inside and I began talking to them. The Lord placed it on my heart to share the plan of salvation with her husband. He shared about his own struggles. He was broken and shared his desire to live differently. He wanted to accept Christ, but was afraid of falling back. The Lord was working in his heart that night, and he gave his life to Christ. I have been doing Bible studies with the couple since. Please keep this couple in your prayers, especially for the man, that God would send a godly male mentor into his life.
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I also had the opportunity to go visit Ana Cristina in the mountains again. Like always, I returned very blessed to hear of how the Lord is working in her life, as well as her family and community. Someone gave me 2 bunnies to bring them, and the joy those bunnies brought to her household was a lot of fun to watch! It reminds me of how we need to take time to enjoy on the small things in life. Ecclesiastes 5:18 Here is what I have found out: the best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for during the short life that God has given us; this is our fate.
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Praise and Prayer:
Praise God for our former teacher, Martha, who had her baby, a beautiful baby girl named Elizabeth. Thank you so much for those who were praying for her.
Praise God for Efrain, who gave his life to Christ this past month.
Praise God for the advances in the students’ learning.
Praise God for how He is working in and through Ana Cristina in the ministry.
Pray for Efrain and Serafina as they are attending weekly Bible studies that they would grow in their faith and grow to love one another more.
Pray for God’s provision for the ministry, especially as we plan for the next school year.
Pray for Amelia as she continues to invest in the youth.
Thank you so much for your prayers! We are so blessed to have you a part of this ministry! Thank you for every word of encouragement, prayer and your support. God bless you! Amanda.
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