Amanda in Mexico: Feb/ March Update

Hello from Mexico! I hope this newsletter finds you well! The weeks have flown by and it's hard to believe we are in mid-March!

The end of February / beginning of March were incredibly busy as we had a fundraiser for the school on March 1st. We also had to have marks in by March 3rd. All the staff were quite busy, but we feel so blessed to be part of this ministry and share about what God is doing here in Chihuahua, Mexico!

The fundraiser went very well. A local church did an amazing job helping us prepare some delicous meals to sell. All the staff were involved in serving the food and clean-up. We also had 5 students come to the fundraiser to represent the school. They sang "My Lighthouse" by Rend Collective in Spanish with Amelia and Joel for the people who came to support us. One of our teachers shared her testimony, as well as another friend who is involved in the Oaks of Righteousness Mountain Ministry.

In February we took a team to the mountains for the outreach event. It was a lot of fun! Two of our teachers took over the children's event, telling the Bible story in the Tarahumara language! Meanwhile, my brother-in-law, sister, Ana Crsitina and I ministered to the adults. It was a lot of fun to see the adults get up and participate in the children's song we sang with them! Someone had donated a lot of adult & children clothing, which we gave away at the end. Their laughter and joy as they went through the clothes was pricless! I praise God for bringing these beautiful people into my life and giving me the opportunity to go into their village to get to know them!

This week we entered our 1st reading week. As a school, we want to promote reading, hoping the children will learn to love to read. It has been a lot of fun to have guest readers come in and read to the children. I love to see the community getting involved! The students have also had a lot of fun with the "Drop Everything And Read" alarms that go off during the day. I had to laugh to myself today as I had to take a book away from one of my students (after multiple warnings!) who was trying to read secretly in her desk while I was teaching. It was truly an honor, as it was the first time in my 7 years of teaching I have ever had to take a book away. It gives me such joy to see the students learning to enjoy a good book!

We are so thankful for our Director couple and family, the Friesens, who have left their home in Canada to come teach us how to build up and establish the school. Nathan, our director, has been observing us as we teach and giving us advice on how we can grow and better our teaching practices. We are so blessed and extremely grateful for the passion, experience and dedication they are bringing into the school, as well as the creative new ideas they have brought with them (such as reading weeks).

We had visitors from Canada! What a joy and blessing!!

Praise and Prayer:

Praise God for the successeful local fundraiser! We were able to pay off the school's solar panels!

Praise God for the mission  fundraiser that was held in Canada end of February! The Lord has provided for the school to be able to put in a basketball court! The kids are SO excited!

Praise God for the mission team coming at the end of this month! They will be doing children's ministry with our students, as well as putting in the basketball court!

Please pray for the staff and students for love, wisdom, patience and joy as the Lord continues to build up the ministry.

Please pray for the team coming end of this month.

Pray that many more people will hear the gospel and put their trust in Jesus Christ!

Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement and support!

God bless!

Amanda.