Amanda in Mexico

May - June Newsletter.

Hello from Mexico! We are enjoying our daily +35*C temperatures here! It is absolutely gorgeous and I feel so blessed to be sitting here outside, in the shade of course, writing this newsletter for you. I want to tell you I feel so blessed to have you standing with me and this ministry in prayer. God has been doing amazing things here in the Tarahumara community and I am excited to share with you.
 

The months of May and June flew by as we tied up the year. Once we returned to school, my students and I did a project on prejudices, where we went into the community to do surveys about prejudices people have about other cultures; we had people from the different cultures come in and present their culture through an interview; and we the students wrote an essay about what they had learnt. It was a very neat and eye opening experience for the students. They had never heard about prejudices before and were very surprised to find out that many of the ideas they had about the different cultures were actually false. I was very proud of my students as they worked so hard and tried to understand the other cultures. I already miss them as I am now on vacation.
 
We ended the school year with parties, a field day, and a trip to the caverns in Chihuahua, followed with a trip to the park. It was also hard to say good bye to the Friesen family, as they made their way back to Canada. They will be truly missed by the students and staff, as they left such a powerful impact on Oaks of Righteousness! We were truly blessed to have them here for this last school year!
 
This past week God has been reminding me of His goodness! It can be hard to get myself motivated some days when I have no schedule pressuring me to get going. I can get into overthinking modes and feel discouraged. Yet it is so necessary to take time to rest and renew my energy. This past week I had 3 wonderful experiences with different individuals. One was while in the mountains. There is one lady that always comes to the evangelism event, but her face looks sad, like she has had a very hard life. I sat down beside her and with my VERY broken Tarahumara language, tried to start a conversation with her. When we ran out of things to talk about, I taught her how to write her name with a stick in the sand. I got so excited for her as she learnt how to write each letter. I know that our writing lesson won’t make a huge difference in her life, but I pray she felt Jesus’ deep love for her through me. The second experience was when a very sweet, young couple came to me to ask me for advice on starting a godly dating relationship. I was so proud and excited for this young couple. They truly want to honor God with their relationship and asked for guidance. I have known the girl now for many, many years, and I have seen God transforming her into a beautiful young woman. What a blessing to be able to be a part of this next chapter in her life! The third experience was sitting down with a young girl, a former student of mine, and asking her if she understood why Jesus came and why we need Him in our lives. She confessed she had heard about it but didn’t understand. I asked if I could explain it to her. She agreed. It was so beautiful to see her listening so intently as I explained the salvation message to her. I know God is working in her heart and am looking forward to more deep conversations with her, as she told me she would like a Bible so she could read it.
 
God has truly been so good and I ask you to continue to pray for us, that we will be faithful in serving God as He opens the doors.
Praise and Prayer:
Praise God that we now have the teachers lined up for next school year!
Praise God for the hearts that are opening to the gospel.
Pray for me as I am preparing  to go on a one month missions trip to India next month. My friend, Mita, has invited me to serve in the ministry she works with in India, and I am so excited to see what God will teach me there!
Pray for God’s provision for the finances for next school year, as we have hired more teachers and will be accepting more students, which will make the cost to run the ministry go up.
God bless you! Amanda
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