Ummm...Not sure what to title this....

Hey all!

Things are going pretty well down here. After getting a good chance to visit people in Princeville, Leo, and Dallas, I arrived back down in Magdalena and started teaching the next day. Thankfully, it was only a two-day week, Thursday and Friday, when the kids and teachers could all get a warm-up after 3 full weeks of no school. The following week went really well, so I'm guessing even the kids were ready for a routine again. Also, thanks to my recent trip home, I am once again equipped to rock the fashion world with my original creations, fascinating wardrobe, and sizzling good looks every Friday. As you can see from the pictures, it feels good to be back on top of everybody's "I want to look like him" list. Once again, I have taken up permanent residence on the cutting edge of fashion, a veritable rock star when it comes to scintilating clothing combinations.

As far as other news goes, we just finished with the Fairbury work team and have just begun with the Cissna Park team, which really doesn't change my routine that much, being in the school all day. Right now the big projects are building a new fence around the entire CVE campus and working on the new house, with a few other side jobs thrown in here and there.

Prayer Requests:

Obviously, Haiti and our missionaries there should be weighing heavily on all of us, given the severity of the problem and the enormity of the need.

As for me, we're currently searching for good education options for the kids as they graduate our secondary school, along with looking for ways to improve our curriculum and find a way to be licensed more independently and permanently than CONAFE (our current licensing group) allows. That, and looking to expand next year to include all of our primary kids.

In general, please pray for my spiritual growth, that I could have right priorities (God's priorities) and escape Satan's snares while actively ministering in Christ's kingdom, rather than just being comfortably involved in teaching math and English.

Keep praying for the boys on campus I mentioned in the last entry (Daniel, Poncho, Michel), as they are definitely long-term projects.

Keep praying for the church here, as we definitely would like to see more adults, especially men, attending, learning, and changing. We have lots of kids, so there's a lot of seed-planting that can bear fruit down the road, but in the meantime we'd love to help with a harvest as well.

Kid Profile:

Marcos (aka Poncho) is about 10 years old, very short, very energetic, incredibly impulsive, and desperate for attention (especially from men)! He can be extremely cheerful, polite, gentlemanly, and charismatic, but there is another side, too, unfortunately. Due to a variety of reasons, he's very behind and easily frustrated in school. His intelligence isn't the issue, however...matters of intelligence in life and in school aren't all that important and can be overcome. However, I fear the end results of Marcos's strong will (stubbornness and pride) and impulsiveness as he grows into a young man with more and more physical capability to enforce his desires and pursue his impulses. It will take a God-sized hammer, a lot of Christ-kike intervention, and a lot of prayer in his life to break his heart and will into pieces small enough to be useful in God's kingdom.

Thanks,

Todd