Blog 54 12 Jun 2017 Destiny's Graduation / Arkansas Trip

Excited Over Her Accomplishment!

Giving Her Speech

Faculty Praying Over Each Student

Graduation for a Very Special Student!

Destiny Parton, Christian Ministries Academy, May 19, 2017

I do not know of any student who has worked harder to achieve this milestone.  I am so proud of all that she has accomplished; but most of all I am so grateful for her willingness to follow God's leading and to be one of those rare young people who truly desire more than anything else in life to become everything God has planned for her to become.  Destiny, I love you and I am so, so proud of you!

Destiny Parton has been an integral part of my life for over twelve years.  As a Kindergartner, Destiny was in my Junior Church and Wednesday night Pee Wee Patch club.  In First Grade, she entered my school classroom.  Her entire class was one of my top favorite classes of over (so far) 25+ years in the classroom. She was a kind and considerate girl who had to work extra hard at memorizing just to keep up with addittion and phonics.  Destiny has always been a hard worker and a determined student.  

I was privileged to be her teacher again in third grade, then again in seventh and eighth to help prepare her for high school.  Destiny's 5th-6th Grade teacher was my good friend and colleague, Miss Kristen Hall. So, between us, Kris and I were responsible for 2/3 of her school years before high school and 1/2 total. I know that Miss Hall also thought very highly of Destiny and counted it a privilege to be one of her teachers.  She often spoke of her sweet spirit and Godly attitude.  Truly, in my heart, Destiny is more to me than just a student.  I am so grateful that the Lord allowed me to be a part of her formative years.  As I said in Every Kid Is Different, Destiny has called me her teacher, but I have learned so much from her about what truly counts in life.

I wish you all the best in your new endeavours! I am excited to watch God's plan unfold in your life. Destiny plans to attend Champion Christian College this fall.  

 

 

Other Graduates: of which I was also pleased to be able to attend at least part of the ceremony:

Many former students of Gospel Light High School, May 21

Joe Pultz, Lakeside HS, May 21 (ceremonies at the Convention Center)

Congrats to Joe on earning an academic scholarship towards college tuition.  I appreciate Michaela's words of homage for Miss Hall and myself.  I was so encouraged while I was out soulwinning on Saturday with Heritage Baptist Church to see two young men out doing the same thing for GL -- Nick Cantrell and Junior.  I was amused by Isaiah's inclusion in his video clips of a memorable part of our joint 1st Grade experience.  (Disclaimer: I am 99% certain that that picture was taken on Isaiah's 6th birthday.)

Other Highlites From My Trip to Arkansas:

Heritage Baptist Church was a blessing to me.  It was wonderful to see the faithfulness of God's people in God's House and to rejoice over the blessings of the past two years.  It was great to hold the two babies born since I have been gone.

And, of course, all my crew!

Time With Friends was much cherished and too short.  I truly felt like I was coming home for a visit.  Thank you to all who think of me as family and treated me as such during my stay.

Blog 53 16 May 2017 Mount Hebron Graduation

GRADUATION CEREMONIES

 

 

KINDERGARTEN

Five students will be moving on to 1st Grade!

Aby, Javier, Jonathan,Tommy, and Samy are very excited.  Their teacher is very excited with their bilingual skills. They are learning English much faster than I am learning Spanish. 

Here is the 5-year-old SS class reciting Psalm 1, Sunday, April 30.Yes, in Spanish!
(Benjamin, Tommy, Jonathan,(?), Javier, Samy, Aby, (?), (?).
Hma Laura is their teacher.

HIGH SCHOOL

Angel has worked so hard the past two years in order to be able to graduate at the end of this school year.  He has completed 172 paces in two years which is no easy feat.

As of now, Angel plans to enroll in Hyles-Anderson College next year.  He believes the Lord would have him serve in Missions and will continue to seek His will as to where.

Brenda Gonzalez, Joel's sister, whose family are missionaries to El Salvador, finished her last semester of High School with us.  She is a tremendous young person with a heart to serve the Lord.

I was also privileged to help Joel finish his last year of High School. He will also be attending Hyles-Anderson.

The Great Commission

Bible Clubs

Our Soulwinners took Bible Clubs to many areas of Monterrey during Spring Break week and saw over 500 people saved!

Ladies' Soulwinning

I continue to go out every Friday afternoon with the group of ladies led by Jenny.  There are several other groups in different areas that go on different days.  We have had more than ten ladies every week for quite some time.  

I went soulwinning Friday with Tammy, Pastor Jonathan's sister. She saw one lady saved and one very Catholic couple promised to think about this decision over the weekend as the re-read the verses on the tract. The lady with whom she was talking had a five-year old son who interrupted them a time or two. Tammy suggested I take out the Wordless Book and go through the colors with him. I know my colors, and how to say what they stand for except for growing. I am sure my grammar was not very good, but the words got through. As he was only five, I did not pressure him to pray with me. I am not sure how much he understood, but God is. His Mom got saved, he had the Gospel story told to Him (albeit roughly), and I went through the Salvation plan for the first time in Spanish (other than with Jessica, who is already saved).

Language Update

I have gone through the basic plan of salvation with a five-year-old. (story above)

While telling the Easter story to the Kindergarteners I did very well until the end.  I said, in Spanish, "Jesus had no sin. Jesus died for our sin."  The students were listening and even moved by Jesus' death ~ until I confused the word for sin with the word for fish.  They all started laughing, and Samy said: "Ha ha - Hma Emily say 'Jesus no have fish; Jesus die for fish." The moment was lost.

I have had some trouble starting Disc 2 of Rosetta Stone. For some reason, my laptop does not want to read it.  I have taken some ribbing for taking over a year to finish the first disc, some of which I am sure I deserve; however, for those unfamiliar with the program, I thought I would share a few details.  Disc 1 was comprised of four core units each containing 32 lessons and a test: that is 128 lessons and four tests.  I had to repeat a majority of the speaking lessons numerous times.  I still struggle with the vowel pronunciations.

Finished Mural:

Easter Fun:

I have enjoyed Jon's sister and her girls being here for a few months.  She let me come and help dye Easter Eggs with the younger cousins.  

And her youngest, Grace was our only 1st Grader this year.

Prayer Corner

Please pray for our 3 graduates who will be attending Hyles-Anderson College.

Please pray for God's leading regarding help in the school for next year.

Please pray for our church ministries and the Ashcraft family.

Blog 52 18 April 2017 Missions Trip

School News:

As I am writing this, we have just finished Spring Break and are returning to class to finish out the school year.  In my next blog I plan to feature graduation pictures of Angel and also our Kindergartners.  I will tell you a little of Angel's plans as he seeks to follow the Lord's will for his life.

Here is a pic of the spelling abilities of our Kindergartners:

As for our teenagers, I am pleased to report that they spent the majority of their Spring Break helping to host a group of young people from Florida on a missions' trip.  The majority of our teeenagers possess a true sevant's heart.

With permission from the leaders of Calvary Baptist Church of Middleburg, FL, I am including a few pics of their visit to Mount Hebron.



Manual Labor:
  While the majority of the group painted the outside of our school and office buildings, Mrs Annette Pledger and a few of the girls created this beautiful mural for our Kindergarten Room:

     The finished project in next blog!

Outings:
  Horsetail Falls
  The Flag

    

The Caves (no flash photography, but we enjoyed a really good lunch with Mexican Hamburgers!)

And Elotes!

Mount Chipinque
(where Pastor Jonathan's grandfather was called to Monterrey)

Soulwinning:
98 total souls were saved as a result of this trip, including one young lady from Calvary Baptist
  Door to Door on Friday Teen Soulwinning
  Street Rallies -- many more people were watching this evangelistic film from their living rooms and roof tops)

The Dorms:
  This group of young people stayed in our campus dormitories.

The most outstanding quality of this group of young people was their love of missions.  When Pastor Jonathan first sent the schedule, their youth leader requested that he replace some of the sightseeing with more soulwinning times.  They brought with them  a projector and an evangelistic outreach film with a Gospel presentation.  All the young people had great attitudes and a sincere desire to serve the Lord.  I am glad they came during our Spring Break so that I could be as much a part as I was.  Thank you, Clavary Baptist Church!

I am including a link below for anyone who thinks they might like to come and visit for a true missionarry experience (and a little sightseeing):

www.ibmh.mx/missions-trip

Prayer Corner:

Thank you for your continued and faithful prayers for me, 
Mount Hebron Christian Acadamy, and the ministries of 
Mount Hebron Baptist Church, as well as 
Pastor Ashcraft and his family.

This week, April 18-21, we our having neighborhood 
Bible Clubs in many different areas of Monterrey.  These are patterned after the S.M.I.T.E. model.

Blog 51 21 Mar 2017

Christian School News:  

It is difficult to describe how quiet the classroom is while all the students are working on their paces.  The high schoolers are all working diligently toward finishing the year out strong!

This pic is from the first day of spring, which also happens to be Francisco's birthday.
Feliz Cumpleaños, Fran!

It is equally difficult to describe how loud the Kindergarten classroom is with most of the students repeating most of the directions while attempting to learn all the new English words.

In this pic, (also 21 March) we are learning the long sound for my favorite letter, "E!"

The Great Commission:

We continue to have a large group of ladies at our group each Friday.  We are still taking two vehicles, and still seeing many saved each week.  Of note since my last blog is the fact that my friend Lydia won her first soul to the Lord! Also, Stephanie and her husband Trent, who are here at Mount Hebron attending Language School, each won thier first souls in Spanish.  Praise the Lord! 

Stephanie, with kids from the Bus Route

Lydia, on the right

The Local Church

The Conference is over, but our fervor and commitment for service is still strong.  During March we have had a Vision Service highlighting various opportunities for ministry at Mount Hebron, and a Missions Emphasis service.

I am still helping in the 3-Year-Olds I am teaching (learning) the 23rd Psalm (in Spanish).

Interesting & Exciting Happenings:

I appreciate the blessing that Heritage Baptist Church has been to me since my moving to Mexico.  Most recently, the Lord has used them to make it possible for me to buy much needed new glasses.  

Adapting to my Changing Life:

I have finally finished Disc 1 of Rosetta Stone!!
I definitely feel as though another dimension is being added to my life as I absorb more and more of the culture and language of a foreign country.

Prayer Corner:

Please pray for:  

Mt Hebron Baptist Church

        Pastor Jonathan and Jenny Ashcraft and Family

        Mrs Brenda (Jon's mom) who is seeing a health specialist in the states

         New and existing outreach ministries

  Mt Hebron Christian Academy

         Students

         Teachers (help for next year)

  Miss Emily A Knight (yes, me :) )

         As I learn Spanish

        Wisdom regarding finances

== March Adventures ==

The weather has been incredibly beautiful here, much more like Spring than winter.  On one of these beautiful days, we had a great time kite-flying in the big field.  It was well past dark when we stopped.  

On a different evening, one of the college students came to ask me if they could borrow my softball equipment.  I said yes, but asked if girls were playing, too.  He said yes and some of the kids that live on the property. So, of course, I went and joined them -- sorry no pics.  :)
{FYI: The 1st video starts with Lucas running, but has the best view of all the kids.  The 3rd one is me :) }