February So Far

Time has absolutely flown by these past couple of weeks! I have written some of the highlights below:

Mission Team
We enjoyed meeting a team of 18 people from Louisiana who came down to help us with construction and other projects this past week. They were incredibly hard workers and blessed us in many ways!

Flag Day
We drove the students in earlier this week for a little flag ceremony at our sister school in the city. Although the ceremony was short, we made the most of our trip by taking the kids out to Applebee's for breakfast afterward. The kids were all wearing their uniforms and speaking English to us, so I guess we brought on quite a bit of curiosity :). Jenny and I were both approached by a waitress who wanted to know what we do and why we do it. We had a chance to share a little bit of our mission and were excited to show the kids how we can share God's word through our actions!

Teaching and Kid's Club
We have been intentional about teaching the kids to be the "light of the world," and had a wonderful opportunity this week to help them practice! With the help of the mission team, we ran a Kid's Club this Tuesday (kind of like a VBS). We had about 80 kids show up! We played games, make little crafts, heard a short little message, and then fed them dinner. It was fun to watch our kid's mingle and take the risks of making new friends. We're hoping to have a Kid's Club once a month! I've posted pictures below!

Valentine's Day Party
The students have been working hard to earn what we call a "compliment party," so we chose to celebrate it on Valentine's Day! We spent the whole morning at school enjoying fun activities with them, decorating heart-shaped cookies, walking to the park for a game of baseball and volleyball, etc. I hope you enjoy some of our pictures below!

Accreditation
We are so incredibly blessed to have received accreditation for this school year! Thank you so much for all your prayers on that front! Praise the Lord! Now that we are accredited, we would appreciate prayer as we are currently pursuing some materials to help the students prepare for the big end of the year test. We are hoping to discover any gaps in our curriculum before the test comes!

Kids Club with 80 kids!

The kids with their Valentine's Day teddy bears, all ready for our compliment party! 

Decorating cookies!

Playdough with Miss Kylie! 

Volleyball at the park! 

Baseball at the park! 

5 new baby kittens born this week!

Building Electric Circuits in Science!

Family and Kylie!

Live worship during our morning song time, newly labeled library books, sifted corn, branded cows, cleared rubble, and playing with the kids were just some of the many ways our families were able to help out as they visited us last week! We had an absolutely WONDERFUL time sharing the ministry and the vision with them! We were able to treat them to a few Mexican dinners and a tour of Guadalajara as well. :)

Words cannot describe how much of a support they were last week, so I've attached millions of pictures below (ok...maybe not millions). I just couldn't choose!

We were also extremely excited to pick up Kylie on the same day that our parents left and she has been spending the last two days getting to know the kids and the general ministry. She got a chance to observe how school runs today and tomorrow will jump right in :) The kids have already fallen in love with her and ask Jenny and I where "Miss Kylie" is if they see us! We are so thankful for God's provision of her and her willing, sweet heart to serve!

As for school, we've been staying fairly on schedule. We're excited to use the new leveled library to help match reading levels to "Just Right" books (for all you teacher friends out there). God has really been showing me the power of prayer through multiple clear, and I mean CLEAR answers to prayer. I'm excited to increase my prayers for the ministry and would appreciate prayer from all of you as well. God is good!

Great quotes of the last few weeks:

*"Maestra Amber, I broke my muscle!"
*"Maestra Jenny, can you count me how many minutes it takes me to brush my teeth in one second?"
*After learning the song Bind Us Together Lord, one of the students was overheard this morning singing "Bang us together, Lord, Bang us together..."
*Student: "Maestra Jenny, do you know your brother Jeff?" Jenny: "Yes, yes I do." Student: "Oh, well he's over looking for the mens."
*Student: "Maestra Jenny, how can a baby come out of a mommy's tummy...even if she has a really fat shirt on?"
*Student: "I want be a baby someday. Then I won't ever cry!"
*Teacher's Question: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Student response: "A barbie!"
*Adult Reminder: "When you get in your bed, you're not going to be..." Correct response would have been "talking." Student's actual response: "Peeing!" Well, I suppose that would be a correct response as well...


Enjoy the pics!

Our new leveled library! Thank you Mom!!

Empty dish sinks (with a lot of hard work)! 

Dixie rides all around! :) 

The Courters with Dixie! 

Live worship in the classroom! 

Our baby owl, not so small anymore...

Chris helping out with the little ones!

Hard at work sifting corn! 

The kids made a little sign to welcome "Miss Kylie!"  

Miss Kylie meets Dixie