Thanksgiving-A Day to be Thankful For

Thanksgiving Celebration

Our Thanksgiving day dawned a bit chilly, but beautiful all the same! We started it off in the kitchen, baking pies and other goodies. I ran up to the roof for a quick phone call with family and was blessed to be able to talk to about 15 relatives all gathered together for the day. Our own feast took place midday and we enjoyed it with a few families from the village as well as some girls from our English class. After dinner, we set out to the court in the middle of the village to play volleyball with some of the locals. As we played, the sun was setting over the mountains, the little village boys were weaving in and out of us playing a soccer game, the cheers and laughter of the teams were rising, onlookers gathered in clusters, and I just drank it all in. One word came to mind…FULL. Our God is so good. On a day that has historically been quite difficult for me to be so far from family, He met me with the reminder of His fullness and His gifts. Here. Now. What a great God we serve!

Peeling apples for the pie!

The table is set!

The family 

Family and Staff-EVERYONE!

Our director and his wife cutting the turkey!

The kids and I excitedly awaiting our food!

The feast...

He was SO happy :)

5 of our English class girls showed up to celebrate with us!

At least 40 guests 

Desert anyone?

Preparing for our Christmas Music Recital

The students have been working hard on piano and/or guitar solos for our upcoming music recital! This little one in the picture below made his music teacher very happy when he excitedly showed me a scratch "in the shape of an eighth note" on the table ;)! They have learned well!

The eighth note shaped scratch...look closely :)

Our most recent class photo!

Special Events

We've had a ton of special events lately and have been enjoying every minute! 

A Special Visit

We were so blessed last weekend by a visit from two of our girls that had been adopted last year by family members. They came back to celebrate a birthday and we were ecstatic! They looked wonderful!

Together again!

A Thanksgiving Visit

A group of volunteers from the city visited us this past week to celebrate Thanksgiving a little early. They brought with them traditional Thanksgiving food of every type imaginable. The students enjoyed a presentation about the pilgrims and then made pilgrim and indian hats! We ended with the feast. What fun! Thank you to all of you involved in bringing us this special treat!

Mexican Revolution Parade

One of our students took part in a huge parade to celebrate the Mexican Revolution today! We loved getting a taste of true Mexican culture and history!

The parade stopped at each corner and performed dances, karate moves, pyramids, and many other things!

Some younger students in traditional Mexican dress

The floats threw out candy!

Women in traditional Mexican dress

God's Goodness

Why We Do What We Do...

We are so blessed by our kids here and are constantly reminded why we do what we do! I wanted to share a few encouraging stories to share their enthusiasm with you. 

One day, our student with special needs was listening to an interactive Bible story on the iPad. The story was about Jesus healing the crippled man who was lowered through the roof. When it reached the point where Jesus commanded the man to stand up, the student started shouting in an otherwise quiet classroom and waving his hands excitedly at me. He struggles with speech, so at first I looked at him in bewilderment, trying to figure out what was going on! Then I noticed that he was reading this story and a huge smile spread over my face. He was in complete awe over the power of Jesus and proceeded to excitedly reenact the entire story for me complete with hand motions. It was such a blessing to me to re-experience Jesus' miracle through the eyes of a child. Our God is truly great and deserves such awe and worship!

During Bible class one afternoon, three of our boys started talking over each other excitedly! After calming them down and listening to their stories individually, I found out that they had witnessed to a little boy out in the fields the day before. The boy said he wanted a Bible and that he was interested in knowing more about Christ. One of the three sharing said to me: "Maestra Amber, I'm so happy it almost makes me want to cry! I've never done that before!" To see their passion for sharing the gospel brought such joy to my heart!

We have had several students with soft hearts before the Lord lately. They are excited to follow him with their lives! What an immense blessing!

Important Happenings

We had two surgeries occur this past week. One of our new students had reconstructive surgery on her hand and our director's wife, Amy, had a fairly major surgery as well. We are thanking the Lord that both surgeries were successful and both are in recovery. We would appreciate further prayers for a restful and complete recovery!

Special Field Trip!

We were given tickets last week to see an opera geared toward children in a beautiful building downtown! An orchestra came out and played beforehand. It was such a treat!

Getting ready to leave

High up seats!

Ready for the show!

English Class Pizza Party!

Last week, we invited our English class girls from the village over to make pizza while we were teaching them English. They learned Jenny's wonderful recipe and had a blast at the same time. It was a great chance to continue building relationships with them!

Making the crust

Toppings anyone?

Everyday Fun...

A puppet show in Bible class

A precious gift from a student

Friday game time!