School Supplies for Santa Rita

Soon after school started (here the school year begins in January) we were contacted by the community development committee in Santa Rita to help with school supplies. Many of the children had only 1 or 2 notebooks of the 7+ notebooks they needed and didn't have any of the other basic supplies. Well, we were still playing catch up from the tube project and also from the supplies for the construction of our Bible study building, but we really wanted to help with this very important need. We thought about posting the need on here and in our monthly update, but realistically by the time the money got here they would be 2 months into the school year.

God worked everything out. One of the men who was on Andy's team heard about the need. He gave us cash before he left to purchase supplies for each grade... no more waiting for mail to be opened, checks to be deposited, and ATM's to be working, God provided the money directly into our hands for this project!

Jimmy put an order in at the bookstore, since each teacher had provided us a list of exactly what their grade needed. The owner of the bookstore gave us everything at his cost and separated each item that he bought in bulk for each grade according to their lists. This enabled us to give 50% more to the school than what the money normally would have bought. Last Tuesday morning we picked up 7 boxes of school supplies (one for each grade) and delivered them to their prospective classrooms... everyone loves us on those days!

Here are some of the students from each grade along with some of the boxes of supplies. I won't name them all, but there are so many kids in these photos that I love so much and am thankful for the interaction God gives me with them each week to teach them about Him!

{Kindergarten}

This teacher was so nice. She was gone the day the teachers were suppose to make the list of supplies needed, so I don't think she was expecting anything. The man at the bookstore helped Jimmy pick out all kinds of fun stuff that preschoolers usually need for school, like finger paints, paper, crayons, and scissors. She was thrilled!

{1st Grade}

Rosa is the 1st grade teacher. She has never attended our Bible studies, but is always nice to us and really, she was one of the voices who helped us get into the community. I am very thankful for her. She and her husband are good parents, so I have a lot of respect for them for that reason as well.

{2nd Grade}

{3rd Grade}

{4th Grade}

The teacher, who will remain nameless, ran as fast as he could when he saw us coming, so he's not in the photo. He's the one who told his students that no one in his class was allowed to come to our Bible studies. He hasn't liked us from the beginning. He has asked us for stuff (like soccer balls and money) before and we have said no. We aren't really into buying friends. We prefer to help the community out as a whole. Anyway, Jimmy decided to have some fun with this. He told Reyes that he was going to drop the school supplies off for all the grades, but he was going to keep 4th grade's supplies, because he doesn't want to force someone to take something from him who doesn't like him! Well that was going to make a whole bunch of parents really angry with the 4th grade teacher. This teacher knew that, so he came after our Bible studies and after a long drawn out conversation of him saying "I never said..." and Jimmy making it clear that he knew exactly what he had said... a remarkable thing happened... pigs started flying. That teacher apologized. So the next time that this teacher starts some other hateful rumor about us I am going to remember that moment... it was beautiful and we will probably never get another!

{5th Grade}

This is normally a closet, so I think they did some restructuring or something and moved the 6th grade back over to this building.

{6th Grade}

The 3 on the left, Elmer, Mercedes, and Sofia, actually come to both Bible studies each week! Reyes (that's his last name, but what we call him) is Rosa's husband. He is the town mayor and also in charge of the elementary and secondary schools in Santa Rita. We really appreciate him. He genuinely cares about the community and I think one of the best things this community has going for them. A co-op might work if everyone had his attitude, but everyone doesn't. We really like working with him.

We are so thankful for the man who gave the money to be able to meet this need. It goes a long way to show those who don't attend our Bible studies or understand really why we are there that we do care about them. Please pray that God will use this simple action to soften their hearts and that those who don't know Him will come find out more!

One Room Down

We are still painting in Santa Rita. We went Friday and we will probably go most everyday this week to finish up the other 5 classrooms. Quincho has been helping us. It is fun. People come by to talk, it has been a great way to get to know people. This has really been a great outreach!

Before

After

The wife of one of the team members sent down 3 suitcases worth of supplies for the teachers. We sorted everything out by grade and presented it to them today. It was fun to see them go through their boxes of goodies. The third grade teacher said, “The fence, the paint, the flowers, what more could we ask for!” We are so thankful for our teams they make so much more possible! One said that we had done more to help the school than the minister of education. We always tell them it is all from Christians in the States. This has really communicated God’s love.

Ana, Carlos, & Marcos received Bibles last night. Marcos and Carlos just moved to New Horizon for school. They are Kekchi. They have not accepted Christ yet, but haven’t missed a week. Ana is the daughter of the old president in Santa Rita. Please pray for all of them to come to know the Lord soon.

Ana

Carlos

Marcos

Please pray for the kids time in NH. The Catholic church is causing problems again. I only had 4 yesterday. They keep changing their time to conflict with ours and then harassing people who come to ours. Everyone is so afraid. We are going to hold the kids time in the morning next week to throw them off. Religion is sending so many people to Hell.

The boy in the above picture is Alex. His stepdad is Quincho’s uncle. He is in the running to be the next president of New Horizon. We are friends, but we are trying to keep that a secret, so he will still get elected! His name is Parvil. Please pray for this upcoming election. He told us he thinks things are going to be much easier for us in the village soon. We are not sure what he meant by that, but it was encouraging none the less. He spoke to Jimmy a couple months ago about Quincho’s attitude. He knew that Quincho really respected Jimmy and thought maybe he could encourage him to be more respectful and helpful to his mom. Sunday Jimmy ran into Parvil and he told him that Quincho had stopped by his house the other day. Parvil said his demeanor had completely change.d Quincho even told him that he had accepted Christ. He said that he saw a big difference in him. We are so proud of him!!!

Parvil

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: Anytime we are away from home. Quincho sleeps on a hammock on our back porch, guards our house, and feeds our dogs. The team brought down beef jerky for Jimmy and he has made such a stink about it, that we all know that he doesn’t want to share any of it. Well Quincho called us to ask about the Chicken jerky that had been left on our porch. He knew if it was Jimmy’s he wouldn’t have left it there, so he wanted to know what was going on. We told him it was for the dogs. Since it wasn’t Jimmy’s he decided to try some. He called us back to say it wasn’t very good. Then he asked what the dirt was for. We didn’t understand that part until we got back. He had never seen one of those little pouches that comes inside food sometimes to absorb moisture and preserve freshness. He thought it had to be a seasoning. Since the first slice of chicken wasn’t good he thought maybe he was supposed to use the “seasoning” packet. So he ate another one with “seasoning” on top. He said, “It tasted like dirt!”