Dear praying friends,
School has started for another year. We have 82 wonderful students enrolled. There are 10 kindergartners which is good for the future of the school. We have three new teachers; Cindy Lauersdorf comes from Phoenix and is teaching first grade. Hannah Barr is from Longmont CO and is teaching second grade. Becky Allen is from Manhattan, KS and is teaching HS English, Science and Spanish. Please pray for these new teachers that they will have a minimum of problems adjusting to another culture and living in a mission community. We praise God He has once again supplied what we needed for the year. Their stories of how God called and led them here are really neat and you will be able to read about them in the fall mission newsletter. By the way, if you want more IM news you can subscribe to get all the news at http://www.immanuelmission.org/.
Please be praying about the great expense of bus gas and propane. We run two buses everyday on 30 – 40 mile routes getting about 5 miles to the gallon. We have gas delivered about 5 times a year. A truck full of gas is around $5,000. A load of propane is around $7,000. These are our largest expenses. For many years we have been adding insulation to all the buildings to conserve heat but the cost of propane keeps going up.
We had a great summer with six work groups coming. The new Vo-tech building is almost ready. Please be praying God will provide a teacher for that program. We were able to do a lot of work in the community as well as hold many Bible clubs. We enjoyed having three new groups this year from Tulsa, OK, Portland, OR and Woodland Pk, CO.
As most of you know on July 18 our daughter-in-law Katie (Davey’s wife) had a severe headache. When taken to the ER they found severe bleeding in her brain. Immediate surgery was performed to relieve the pressure but they gave little hope that she would survive or recover. But God has seen fit to spare her and she is doing great. She is still in the rehab center but her progress is remarkable. You can follow this miracle on the internet at katiebloomprogress.blogspot.com. We spent a week in Des Moines in July praying for the miracle and watching the kids so Davey could be at the hospital. Davey has been on the radio and TV in Des Moines giving God the glory for what He has done. We know many of you have been part of the prayers for Katie and we thank you.
I turned 60 this summer, got false teeth and began an oral chelation regimen to reduce plaque in my arteries. Because of the new teeth and perhaps the pills I have lost over 30 pounds and feel great. I was able to go backpacking again this summer and plan to climb 14,000 ft. Mt. Wilson again this fall (maybe not to the top).
Johnny is in his senior year at Emmaus and is the student body president. He seems to be in all their promotional materials.
Again, we thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
John & Ruth Bloom
Immanuel Mission 