Great is thy reward!

I can't believe that it is October already! These last two months have flown by! The school kids are doing great! We have a total of twenty kids from Kindergarten through eighth grade now. I am getting to know them a lot better now. I had the opportunity to give the Chapel lesson this week. My verse focus was Jeremiah 29:11. God led me to focus on this verse to help the children see how important they each are to God. And they He has plans for their future!

I thought this would be a good time to show a little about the school schedule, so listed below is a typical week at school:

Monday

8AM School Opening program
11:30AM Lunch at Church (kids walk from the school to the church)
12-12:30 Playground
12:30 Music with the Sprinkles
3PM Bus departs for home

Tuesday

8AM School Opening program at Church
8:15AM Chapel
11:30AM Lunch at Church
12-12:30 Playground
2:15PM Story hour and Library book check-out
3PM Bus departs for home

Wednesday

8AM School Opening program
11:30AM Lunch at Church
12-12:30 Playground
2:15PM P.E.
3PM Bus departs for home

Thursday

8AM School opening program
11:30AM Lunch at Church
12-12:30 Playground
2:15PM Music with Miss Springer
3PM Bus departs for home

Friday is a duplicate of Wednesday

I cannot remember if I have mentioned about the Sprinkles. They are a husband and wife team who travel around and teach music to the kids on the reservation. They live on the Apache reservation currently. They bring with them keyboards, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, drums and sometimes other instruments. They teach the kids to read music and how to play the instruments. At the end of the lesson time, the children get to practice and play music on whichever instruments they choose. The Sprinkles do a great job relating to the children. They are good at keeping them focused and disciplined. The school kids all LOVE this time. All of the kids seem to be very musically inclined. I believe music class is their favorite extracurricular activity. The Sprinkles do a great job and we all really appreciate their dedication and initiative!

Miss Anne does the story hour and library time. She also does a wonderful job. She organizes the library and records the books that are checked out. She insures that books are returned. She also gives the chapel lesson. She is an inspiration of service and dedication. Miss Anne also plans the music and plays the piano at the church service on Sunday mornings. Thank you Miss Anne!

Mr. Jim is also dedicated in service and love. He works at the mission almost every day somewhere. He is currently working on the new staff house during the day. He serves communion and takes up offering most Sundays. He just generally does an awesome job and is also an inspiration in the area of service. Thank you Mr. Jim!

Mr. Bill is also an inspiration in service. He does so many things, I am afraid that I will forget something. He is currently traveling in the Northwest and promoting missions to Christian congregations all over Oregon and Washington and Montana and places in Northern California. While here he ran the school bus route to the reservation some mornings, especially until Jerry was familiar enough to do it by himself. He also made sure the van was serviced and full of gasoline when needed. He is the preacher at Dilkon Christian Church on the Navajo reservation, about 50 miles from here. So, he preaches there on Sunday morning at 9AM, Sunday evening at 6PM and Wednesday evening at 6PM. While serving the congregation there and maintaining their property, he also drove 50 miles over to Red Sands each day since I have been here. He would obtain the construction materials for the new house and the trailer. He also helped in the construction work. He would babysit the children when needed. He mopped the floors in the church, taught P.E. twice a week and preached at the Red Sands Christian Church on Sunday mornings (after having already preached at Dilkon). And, I am quite sure I am leaving things out. He does an amazing job. Thank you Mr. Bill! We miss you and pray for your safe travel!

Miss Dawn Springer is another amazing person here. She has been ministering here for fifteen years. She currently teaches the Kindergarten through Second grade AND functions as the School Principal. She does an amazing job. She submits monthly reports to the board. She teaches her class of 10 students five days a week. She provides the students with snacks and drinks and inspiration. She also performs her public ministry for the "Least of these", providing meals, clothing and emotional support for homeless people here in Winslow, Arizona. Miss Springer also alternates teaching the preschool through first grade Sunday School class and the Service time Wee Worship at Red Sands Church on Sunday. I am sure that I will forget lots of things that Miss Springer does. She is a bundle of energy and efficiency. The children all love her and so do adults! Thank you Miss Springer!

I apologize if the following thank yous are not as specific, but I do not observe all of these people in their jobs, as I have the others.

Ms. Tami is also a bundle of efficiency and love. She teaches the third and fourth grade class at the school. She works had to show them love and have them love and respect one another. She also motivates her kids and provides them with occassional snacks. She teachs the chapel lesson and, on Sunday, she alternates teaching the preschool-first grade Sunday School class or the Wee Worship during the Sunday Service with Miss Dawn. All this, and she cares for her husband and three children after hours, providing food and love.

Mr. Daron teaches the fifth and sixth grades at the school. He does a great job and is being motivational for the children. He is good at relating to them and sharing fun time and serious work time with them. While Mr. Bill is gone, he is helping to teach the P.E. classes. Mr. Daron also does maintenance around the church and generally does what needs to be done. He is also working on the new staff house in his spare time. He is also preaching at Red Sands Christian Church while Mr. Bill is absent.

Mr. Jerry teaches the seventh and eighth grades. He drives the school bus each morning to pick up the kids on the reservation and returns them home each evening. He works individually with the children in his class to makes sure that they stay on task and learn as much as possible. The curriculum is tough and the kids are doing great! He also spends a lot of time outside of class preparing his Lesson plans and reading through the material so that he knows it well enough to teach it. He is also teaching P.E. while Mr. Bill is gone. Jerry is also teaching the Adult Sunday School class at Red Sands Christian Church on Sundays and driving the church bus route to pick up the church-goers.

In addition to their regular duties, the teachers also are responsible for one of the following each week. They alternate weeks:

1. Cleaning and mopping the school and the bathrooms when the kids are not there.
2. Leading the morning opening program
3. Leading prayer at lunch time and cleaning up the lunchroom after lunch each day.
4. Playground duty-observing the children after lunch while they play on the playground.

I hope that you all have enjoyed this entry. I wanted to let you know about all the people serving here and what a great job they are all doing! Continue to pray for all of us and I will get back to my regular personal post next week.

On Saturday, October 11th, we will welcome the NTM board members for their semi annual board meeting.