It has been a gift from the Lord to have all repeat teachers this year. Expectations are already known. Consistency is a major need in children’s lives. But our God, who never changes, walks with us through changes that we face. Please pray for the need of new early childhood teachers for next year. We have been so happy with Tiffany teaching kindergarten but we are thrilled that the Lord is giving her and JR a baby due in June. If you know of someone the Lord might send to teach at Immanuel Mission, please connect me with them. A teaching degree would be ideal but we can work with someone who has a heart for children’s ministry. —Miss Denny
This fall a group of girls 5th-8th grade asked about having a volleyball team. After praying about the details (Could all the girls commit? Who would we play? Would the girls be too shy to play in front of others?), the Lord put it on my heart to just go ahead and start working with these girls! This week is our last week of practice and then the girls will play together as a team against a team made up of their own family members! Through this the Lord reminded me that there are times when all of the details I worried about aren’t what matters. Our God desires that we step forth in faith, offer what we have to the Lord and let Him work. Through these practices the girls and I have gotten closer and we have been able to look at different Scriptures together and grow in ways that don’t only have to do with the game of volleyball. Please keep these young ladies in your prayers going forward. They have a lot going on in life and, like all of us, need Christ. I’m thankful for the way the Lord has worked even through something as simple as volleyball. —Liz Skillen
Then: Immanuel Mission is located on the Navajo Nation in the northeast corner of Arizona. It began in 1924 when Clara Holcomb and her parents came to bring the Gospel to the Navajo people. After unhappy experiences with government boarding schools, parents asked the missionaries to teach their children. So in the late 40’s they began a small boarding school for primary students. In the 70’s the dorms burned down and the mission staff decided to purchase buses instead of boarding. In the 80’s a high school was added and there were times with up to 125 students. Due to a reduction in students and teachers, in 2018 we dropped the high school to once again focus on K-8th grade and a year later added a pre-K.
Now: I love to say that the school is a tool for evangelism. Our primary goal is to reach our neighbors with the message of salvation and new life in Christ. In addition to the school, we have other ministries such as a vibrant church, open shop, sewing class, Mom’s group, and home Bible studies. In the summer, church groups from all over the US come to do work projects and VBS in the community.
Needs: We have a pressing need for a bus mechanic/maintenance person. We will need a 5th/6th grade teacher and a Kindergarten teacher. Pray with us that the Lord who has provided for 100 years will continue to provide.
To paraphrase the Macedonian, “Come over to Arizona and help us!”
Recently the mission invited a videographer to visit. As she questioned me about my experience as a teacher, my mind and heart were flooded with 11 years of memories—some which made me grin and others that brought me tears. Since the interview I have given more thought to the privilege of reaching children with the Gospel. The Lord has brought so many children into my life, I’ve lost count, although we were childless. Each child has reached my heart, and I loved them as if they were my own. Watching them grow up gave me such joy as a grandparent would enjoy.
Now into my 12th year in Kindergarten, the Lord continues to give me great joy in joining Him in His work among these young children. I also have been sensing the Lord’s nudging to prepare the way for a younger godly teacher who will carry on teaching with the same passion to reach children for Jesus Christ – to receive Him as their Savior and learn to walk in His ways. Truly the Word of God is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
Pray with us for the Lord to send such a servant to Immanuel Mission. And soon! This will be my last year teaching Kindergarten. I am thrilled with the opportunities the Lord has already given to spend time in ladies Bible study here at IM and continuing outreach with the precious message of the Gospel to the Navajo.
It’s been a good year so far. I enjoy cooking and working in the school kitchen, and also doing school janitorial duties. It keeps me on my toes and I’m also getting my exercise. After a long summer, I think we skipped fall, we are suddenly in winter. The Lord has provided us with a load of firewood, an answer to prayer for pumpkins for school kids, a new roof for the school—it is awesome! I am thankful to be here and thankful for your continued support to Immanuel Mission.
One hundred years is a long time if you’re a steel pipe. November 6th, 2024, while digging a hole underneath the old water tank, we had time to think about things. The broken pipe is not 100 years old, but it is crying. Snowing, and chilly outside. The school is getting a new roof! Wray Roofing all the way from Kansas. Damage from our hailstorm last summer is slowly being erased. Gas leak! Turns out a stove was just barely on. God protects us. Bus and vans are still bringing the students to school! We need another bus, a driver, a bus mechanic, maintenance and teaching staff. Still, we keep going. Everyone works hard. We make plans for Thanksgiving. So much to be thankful for. Please continue praying for us all and this ministry.
Teaching Bible class this school year has been an absolute delight! After struggling with the dilemma of students simply memorizing facts to pass multiple choice tests and not really engaging with God’s Word or enjoying Bible class over my last couple years of teaching, this year has been so much better! My 5th graders have been doing a timeline project each quarter instead of traditional tests. We read and discuss a short passage each day in Bible class, and then they review it and engage with what’s happening in the passage, as they look for Bible verses and come up with ideas for illustrations to use on their timelines as we go along. This system has worked so well, and we’ve had many good impromptu discussions about things in Scripture as they’ve been working on their timelines. It’s been so neat to watch many of my students truly enjoy learning about God in Bible class this year!
We moved from Greenwood, Nebraska to Immanuel Mission in mid-July. I, Matt, am teaching grades 3 & 4 at Immanuel Mission School. My wife, Sarah, also spends considerable time in the classroom teaching 4th grade math and helping with reading groups. Our eight youngest children are also here with us and keep us quite busy. Our high school students, Linia (18), Nehemiah (16), and Miriam (15) are all homeschooling with Sarah as their main teacher. They are seldom bored as they participate in bus and van cleaning, work projects of all kinds, basketball, guitar, piano, bicycle repair, babysitting, and Navajo language learning. Jeremiah (13), Sammy (12), Joel (10), Micah (8), and Cassia (5) are all in classrooms at the school. Thank you for praying for us as we settle into life here at the mission and as we begin to meet people through Immanuel Navajo Chapel and the ministry of the school. It is a joy to be a part of what the Lord is doing here at Immanuel Mission.
We thank the Lord for all your prayers this summer when we had the devastating hail storm. Raefer Begaye, Nate Lee and others have done a lot of work cleaning up, repairing and replacing. Praise the Lord for Brotherhood Mutual and Jim Hollinger with Wray Roofing from Kansas who came and replaced the roof of the school and gym. We still have more to do—some inside fixes were put on hold until we had the roof repaired, slides still need to be replaced, windows aren’t all finished, but God is faithful and has sent several workers this fall to help.
Immanuel Mission 