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April 26th, 2013 From: John Bloom - School Principal Dear praying friends, April, 2013
Spring has come to northern Arizona although we have had some very cold nights recently. We are playing softball outside most days. Spring on the Rez usually means WIND which means SAND in the eyes and mouth and hair. However, the tulips and daffodils are blooming and the chickens are laying. (in December I bought 9 hens at an auction. For about a month they didn’t lay any eggs but since about Feb we get 6 or 7 a day. I sell them to the staff here.) Just one more month until graduation. We only have one senior and three eighth grade graduates this year so it will be a shorter ceremony. If I’ve counted correctly, Thomuel will be the 100th graduate of Carrizo Christian Academy.
I want to give you an update on Raven – the 7th grade girl I wrote about in the last newsletter. Further tests have revealed that now there is now nothing wrong with her heart even though earlier tests indicated a major problem. PTL. The mother gives full credit to God that He answered our prayers. She gave another testimony in church recently and said she is now a believer and that prayer and Bible reading are now a part of their daily family life. This all has been a real encouragement to us here.
We have had the accreditation visit I mentioned in the last newsletter. Four ACSI team members spent three days here looking at what we are doing and gave us high marks – especially for our emphasis on Biblical training and discipleship. They recommended that we retain our accreditation. This is a great answer to prayer.
We are still in need of a kindergarten teacher for next year. We also need a maintenance man as well as a computer type person. God has provided an art teacher and a cook for next year already.
Recently the mission staff voted to NOT participate in the National School Lunch Program next year. New regulations have made it increasingly difficult to comply with all they want us to do. So, this will be a major increase in our expenses for the school year. If you would like to help feed the school children gifts can be designated for the school food fund. We estimate that it costs about $150 per day to feed our students and teachers. We serve both breakfast and lunch – about 150 meals a day. We are also suggesting that if someone is coming to visit that they organize a food drive and bring some food with them. Contact me for a list of needed items.
Be sure to address anything to us or the mission as BOX 1080, Teec Nos Pos, Az 86514. The post office is returning anything that does not have our new address. Ruth and I want to thank you for your prayers and faithful support of the work here.
March 29th, 2013 From: Kelli Wilson - Junior High Teacher Dear Friends,
It’s Spring Break and a lovely day, so I decided to send you all an update letter. My biggest news, which most of you have already heard, is that I moved into the new duplex that was built this summer!!!!!! I’ve been living here for approximately 6 months. Thanks to everyone that made it possible! It is such a blessing to live in a new, warm, well-built (with love) home. I’m still rearranging furniture and organizing closets, but it definitely feels like ‘home’.
There are approximately 6 weeks of school left and I’m hoping we all make it. The Friday that Spring Break began, I had a couple boys that wanted to stay after school and get caught up on all their work. It took every teacher instinct in me to be able to say ‘yes’. All I know is that this teacher was ready for Spring Break. I think God has been extra gracious to me this year; sending me breaks at just the right time, giving me the grace to hold on until then, and letting the breaks completely refresh and rejuvenate me.
Many of you have been praying for a student of mine, Raven, and her family. I wanted to thank you so much for your prayers and give you an update. Raven and her brother and sisters have only been attending our school for a few years, but there the Lord has already made a huge difference in their lives. Raven’s mother told Raven she would do anything for her and Raven asked her mother to pray with her. And now they often pray together as a family. I tear up every time I think about this 12 year old girl pointing her mother to the Lord. Please continue to pray for Raven’s family. Pray that the Lord will continue the work He began. Pray that Raven’s mother will continue to trust the Lord in hard times and will grow in her trust and faith in Him. Pray for Raven’s father to trust in the Lord as well.
While you’re praying, would you also pray for…
- My students to survive Jr. High and to make decisions that would honor the Lord. Pray that we’ll catch them and help them not to do wrong.
- Staff needs at Immanuel Mission for next year. As far as I’m aware we have some people interested in teaching Kindergarten but no commitments yet. We also still need someone to help out in maintenance, a new school cook, and someone to help with computers and technology. We are excited for a new art teacher and a new HS history teacher. Pray that they’ll adjust well to life on the Rez and as missionaries.
Thank you for all your prayers! It means so much to me to know that there are many members of Christ’s body working together to see His mission accomplished in me and here at Immanuel Mission. I look forward to seeing many of you this summer, or in His perfect time, in Heaven.
Your Sister-In-Christ,
Kelli Wilson
March 20th, 2013 From: Becky Knopf - 5th & 6th Grade Teacher Immanuel Mission March 15, 2013
We have a brand new addition to our playground – a speed boat, stripped down to nothing dangerous. It looks funny, sitting out there in the desert, amongst ‘normal’ playground equipment, but it is a real ‘hit’ with everybody. No one can resist sitting in it. What a hoot! [It didn’t run and no one would give any money for it, so this is the obvious solution] :-) 
Brad Keating and his daughter are here for a couple of days (again) and this time he brought a “Birdie Ball” golf set up. My students will get to golf with it during P.E. It amazes me that although we are a tiny place, way out here, at the edge of nowhere, we still have a “rock climbing wall”, 2 sets of pickle ball equipment, a playground boat, and today, we were given “Birdie Ball” golf equipment – AND golf lessons from a real golfer! [Just last week, a hand bell choir and a choir (all the kids dressed in formal wear) played for us – from Salt Lake City!]
We’ve got black hooded sweatshirts on sale for $20 each that say Immanuel Mission (white) Falcons (turquoise). If you are interested in getting one, move fast. A church (or maybe a family) in Pennsylvania donated them to us to raise money for the athletic fund, and they look real nice. Everyone on staff was given one this past CHRISTmas, along with every student from 7th grade to 12th grade! SWEEEEEEEEEEEET.
My class is too small to run a restaurant this year, much to the community’s disappoint-ment, so we are having an Ice Cream Social instead. We’ll be selling every ice cream item we can think of, from floats and milkshakes to Sundaes and Banana Splits. It is scheduled for Friday, April 5th, 6pm – 8pm, if you want to come. Whether you come, or not, please pray for us.
We are in the final quarter of the school year. Thank you for praying for my 7 students and me. Sometimes they seem VERY intent on following the Lord Jesus, and other times, they look bored stiff during Bible class and chapels. No one can ‘walk in another’s shoes’ and doubtless they are going through things I never faced as a child. Life is tough, but God is faithful, wise, and good. Our memory verse this week is I Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, for you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. This is my prayer for you.
I do praise the Lord, and thank you for your prayers, support, and interest in the work out here. Thank you for each Box Top for Education. I miss you.
God bless you, Becky
P.S. If you are curious, we always need wide-ruled paper, black dry erase markers, and masking tape.
January 8th, 2013 From: - Management A new video has recently been posted on Creative Impact Ministries’ website. This video features Esther Yazzie, our Navajo Language and Culture teacher. We hope you follow the link and enjoy hearing Esther tell her story. Immanuel Mission: Esther Yazzie
January 6th, 2013 From: Julie Snyder - 2nd Grade Teacher While home over Christmas break, Julie Snyder was interviewed and featured on the front page of her local newspaper. Click on the picture below to link to the article. Enjoy!
November 13th, 2012 From: - Management In September and October of 2012, Jim and Lynn Adams of CreativeImpactMinistries.org came to create a video for Immanuel Mission. Here is a link to the videos.
Tour of Immanuel Mission (6 minute tour)
Trailer for Immanuel Mission: God With Us (2 minute trailer to the short documentary)
Immanuel Mission: God With Us (30 minute short documentary)
Immanuel Mission: Esther Yazzie (5 minute interview of Esther Yazzie Navajo Language and Culture teacher)
All of the above
November 10th, 2012 From: John Bloom - School Principal We currently have 86 students enrolled for the 2012/2013 school year. We have only one senior but currently have 9 Kindergarteners. We have many new students that have transferred in from the local public school. Their parents have heard of the quality education offered at Immanuel Mission School. Some are driving 10 – 15 miles to get their kids here. We rejoice that more kids and their families are hearing the gospel. Some of these are contacts made through our summer outreach programs into the community. We have three new staff members. See their introductory articles elsewhere in this newsletter. God has graciously provided what we need to give the students a quality Christ centered education.
November 10th, 2012 From: John Bloom - School Principal We had a great summer with the various youth groups. Our main project was to build a duplex on the Mission campus. It consists of two one bedroom apartments. It has gone up so fast that one side is 100% done and occupied and the other side about 90% done. We are waiting on electricity to be turned on and gas hooked up in the second apartment.
Pray for needed funds to complete this project. We are about $1,000 short of what is needed to finish. God has provided much of the materials through donations and some through timely auctions. This housing is for some of our single staff who are crowded into various apartments. You can see pictures of the duplex on our Facebook
page.
We baptized six Navajo believers this summer. This is a huge step for us and for them. It was prompted by a young man named Lenny who had professed Christ last summer. When I asked him if he was still following the Lord he responded by saying “yes, and I want to get baptized this year”. Well, it kind of snowballed from there and five others also asked for baptism. So we filled up one of our trash dumpsters with water (cleaned it first) and immersed them in front of many family and friends. Some Navajo Christian leaders are reluctant to baptize believers right away after salvation as they have seen so many profess, then fall away. Pray for wisdom as we need to see more take this important step.
November 10th, 2012 From: Solomon Sun - 3rd & 4th Grade Teacher & Boys Basketball Coach The buzz in 3rd and 4th grade is the continued addition of more students to our classroom. God has blessed our school with amazing news kids this year. Since the beginning of the year, I have received three more returning students to go with three completely new students. My roster is up to seventeen students now! This is the class size that I have dreamed about for Immanuel School. I like using the word roster like a team roster. Even though we are one of the larger classes, we are still a very tight knit team. We work very hard at believing in each other and relying on each other’s roles to accomplish tasks. God is our captain and He knows how to manage all of our different personalities. It is wonderful to see how God works in His way, which makes our teambuilding fun to be a part of. Each of my seventeen students is special to have. I am especially grateful for the return of 4th grade sisters that I have asked my supporters to pray for in the past. These girls are a very sweet, brave duo to have as students. They have experienced real hurt in their family lives. They have come back to us safe, yet continue to go through turmoil at home. Their return to our school was delayed due to being released from a children’s home that they were placed in over the summer, as well as other decisions needing to be made regarding custody. I prayed to see them when I returned in the fall and having to wait for them the first three weeks was difficult. God answers prayer, He protects, and He has a plan for their lives. I definitely believe in their self-worth. God cherishes these little girls. Obviously, I had concerns as their teacher to what affects the most recent trauma at home and being in child-protective services may have had. What I see to this point is the Holy Spirit filling these girls with the strength and resiliency that only God can give. They returned to my class with such open hearts, smiles, to learn more and seemed almost better equipped to handle my teaching. They have come to school everyday so far, as believers, more appreciative, more eager and confidant, happier. This is a happiness from Jesus in the face of evil. These girls are teaching me more than they know. God is in control, which means that He knows what and who is to best carry out the plans for all of us. For these girls, I just know that the intervention and efforts of those who took care of them in the past and during the summer were directed by God, whether they knew it or not. Thank God for the work of many others, who I don’t know, but who certainly took an interest in these girls and helped to protect them. Please continue to say a prayer for all the children of this school. Help to build a prayer barrier around their homes so that the evil one can’t get through. Please pray for our homes and pressures of the devil all around us. Nothing is more powerful than your prayer. Thank you.
November 10th, 2012 From: Isaiah Shannon - Bus Driver I am the new bus driver here at the Mission. The following is an attempt at relating the events that led up to my employment here at Immanuel Mission: While visiting my brother Willard, John discovered I was old enough to drive bus and was not at the time engaged in regular employment. He then offered me a job and after some consideration I accepted. And so begins a harrowing tale fraught with driving tests, drug test, more drug tests, first aid and CPR tests, fingerprinting tests (calling this a test goes under the heading of creative license), you name it, if it can be tested they did it! By the Lord’s grace I succeeded in passing all the above.
One new experience for me was the chance to teach archery as part of PE here at the school. While a lot of the students here are more into the modern culture than I am, it still seems funny for a white fellow to be teaching Indians how to shoot a bow.
Since coming here I have been able to spend much more time studying the Holy Scriptures due to the slower pace of life. While there are other things that I enjoy about living here this has had the most significant impact on my outlook on life and the future.
In him who bore our sin,
Isaiah Shannon
Proverbs 3:1-7 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
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