SCHOOL BEGINS AT OUR AMAZON BOARDING SCHOOL

After a summer filled with scrubbing walls, painting, and making new curtains we were finally ready! Tomorrow the school’s boat would leave early to go pick up our boarding students from town. A lot of prayer and planning had gone into the preparations for this school year. Our boarding school for missionaries’ children was about to begin classes for another year.

Clean paint and bright new curtains make their rooms look homey and inviting. Love and a focus on obedience to God’s Word will be the factor that will make a dorm become a warm and welcoming place.

As the morning dawned on the new day our boat left and later returned with chattering students catching up on the news of the summer events. Three of our four boarding students are from the same family and had just arrived on a flight from the U.S. hours earlier. Mom and Dad looked pretty tired but the kids were excitedly checking out their new rooms. Julianne & Elyssa were coming to school for their first time. They are in 6th and 5th grade respectively and couldn’t wait to join their brother Riley, who is in 8th grade and has been attending here since 5th grade.

Bethany, who is in 6th grade, came out with her parents to bring her older sisters to attend our high school. She really wanted to stay but Mom and Dad had plans for her to continue home schooling. While here one of our staff members tested Bethany to determine if we could help with some of the areas she was struggling with in school. The results showed that she was a good fit for our program for students with Learning Disabilities. Bethany got her wish and returned to join the 6th grade class and our dorm 4 days later. Because I (Debbie) am trained to help students with learning disabilities I have Bethany for a few minutes daily and for an 80 minute session two times a week.

Les is also involved in teaching in the grade school. He teaches 5th and 6th grade Bible and 8th grade Spelling. We haven’t completely left cooking behind. We are in the main kitchen two days a week and cook breakfast for our dorm daily.

What is this really all about? There are men, women and children in many tribes that have never heard the Gospel. We are here educating kids so Mom and Dad can be there. Each of us is a part of the team to expand the reach of the Gospel.