Rats being roasted over campfires; children sneaking through the fence; trash all over the ground; a drunk 8 year old; mismatched, unfinished buildings; teachers at odds with each other; not enough money to run a school…these are some of the things that greeted us upon our introduction to our new school. To say that it was an encouraging situation would be a misrepresentation of our true feelings. BUT…

Isn’t God the God of the impossible? Didn’t God send us here to make a difference? God has also given us a lot of encouragement. A man in the village told us that he would like to be a Christian, and we were able to give him a Steps To Christ that he is reading with enthusiasm. Many parents have come to us and told us that they would like to send their children to our school, although they would not have considered it before. People have started to join us for family worship in the evenings, and our songs of happy praise ring out over the village. Neighbors ask how many of us live here, and when we tell them 12, they shake their heads and ask how in the world we can be so quiet when we have so many kids.

We are thankful for all the encouragement that God has given us, but now we realize that with school starting in just one week, we have a lot of work to do. Travis has been organizing our kids into little work crews to clean up the garbage down at the school. They cleaned the classrooms, the chapel, the bathing areas, and a lot of the grounds so far, but it is just a drop in the bucket. They tell me that it is like cleaning up a city dump, there is just so much that needs to be done.

Last year the girls dorm burned down, but all the charred remains still stand, and there is still not enough money for a new girl’s dorm. The mission was able to raise almost $4,000 to build a new dorm to house 60 students, but as you might be able to guess, that is not enough to do a good job with. We are revolted at the thought of building another inferior building and still call this a Christian school. I have been reading about Moses and the children of Israel and how careful God wanted them to be about how they laid out their camp, and how they built the sanctuary. Everything they did was a fit representation of the God they served. Oh how we long to be able to do the same!

The mission indicated that they wanted us to make this school more self-supporting by creating industry, and agriculture programs. We have great ideas, and the room to do most of it. There are rice fields lying dormant at the school. But, those rice fields are large, and there are no tools to work them. We desperately need a tractor type thing to cultivate the fields so that we can get started growing vegetables and rice to feed all the children…hopefully eliminating their relish for roasted rats! We want to grow soybeans to make soy milk, and tofu. We want to grow peanuts to make our own peanut butter. We want to build a mechanics shop to teach the boys to fix motorbikes, and to weld. We want to have a bakery, and a sewing room to teach the children useful occupations. We also want to beautify the place. We don’t want our Christian school to have peeling paint, missing slats, and a mix of nice houses and junky brick, bamboo and leaf houses. We want to build a church that shows that Jesus is the center of our school.

But even more important than all this, we want to build characters. We want to teach the children to love Jesus with all their hearts, and to serve others. Jesus is the only one who can lift them out of the gutter of life and elevate them to be children of God. This is the main goal and focus of our ministry and no discouraging outlook can change that.

Now, in case you think that we are superhuman and can do all this ourselves, let me assure you that you are quite mistaken! We need God’s people to join us in this work. We need non-stop prayer. (Which is the reason God made the world round, so that while we are sleeping, you can be praying!) We need helpers…the first dire need is a godly English teacher with a degree. School starts in one week, and we are still lacking in that department. We also need donors who will support the school and help us to fix what is already there, to build the new dorm, the church, and a house for us so that we can live on the school grounds instead of in the village.

We believe with all our hearts that God has great plans for this school, and we are looking forward to seeing just how He will work all things together for the good of this school, and these precious children that HE longs to take to heaven.