New beginnings

As there are times of saying goodbye [see last post], so are there also times of welcoming new staff and making new beginnings....

Just in time for the new school year, several new staff have arrived here at CVE to help with our newest big project, an accredited school program.

This year CVE has begun a new project in the area of education by teaming up with a program called CONAFE that provides accredited education for rural areas. Through this program CVE is now able to give on-site accredited education to our 9 Middle school students, as well as 5 of our grade school students who are in need of a more-structured or individualized educational environment.

Todd, Paulina "Pau", and Eli have joined Rohde (who taught Michel B., Blanca, and José last year) and Carissa teaching in the new school. Eli and Rohde both spent the summer in Hermosillo (our state capital) receiving training and certification to be able to teach through the CONAFE program and are now living on campus to facilitate their new positions.

Our Middle school students and teachers

(Top row, L to R: Todd, Karla, Lupita, Lili, Michelle M., Armando, Jaqui, Rohde, Pau;

Bottom row, L to R: Fede, Uriel, Francisco)

Our grade school students and teachers

(Top Row, L to R: Carissa, Alexia, Eli, Tania, Kristi;

Bottom Row, L to R: José, Ezequiel, Michel B.)

We are thankful for God’s provision in bringing each one of our new teachers to CVE. Please be prayerful for our teachers and students as they begin the new school year. Please pray that our students can not only receive a solid education but even more importantly grow in faith and spiritual understanding through the godly examples they see in the staff.

Limón and Kristi in Morelia, Michoacán

We also have welcomed back Limón (Joel) and his bride, Kristi. After their wedding in May and spending some time in Morelia studying Spanish, they have settled in Magdalena. Limón and Kristi have also joined our education team, with Limón helping out with homework and Kristi in the grade school. Limón also continues his work with the garden project, livestock, and at the ranch. Welcome back- we are so thankful that God has brought you back to Magdalena and CVE!

As we begin this new school project, we are reminded once again that this is God's work and we trust Him to take it from its beginning to a fruitful end. It is only through and because of Him and His blessing that anything of worth can be accomplished. We continue to depend upon your prayers and God's grace for each day!

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5

A time to say goodbye….

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1

Here at CVE it seems we have recently been going through a time of saying goodbyes… Over the past month or so we have said goodbye to several of our CVE family:

DAVID

On Saturday, July 18^th David left CVE to return to IL. He will be getting married on Sept. 6 to Stephanie R. ¡Felicidades!

(Stephanie, Yaneli, and David)

David first came to Magdalena the summer of 2006 to help as summer staff. That summer he helped with summer school and caring for the boys, among other things....

About a year later, God called David down to serve full-time. He became a mentor for the boys and also eventually became involved in supervising some of our on-site education.

Now about 2 years later, God has called David on to another chapter of his life and our prayers are with him and Stephanie as they lay the foundation for a marriage built on Christ Jesus. We are thankful for the time David spent here in Magdalena and the many ways God has used him to touch the lives of the children, church, and community members.

David, we will miss you and look forward to when you come back to visit!

MARIO

Mario (6 years old) came to live at CVE in December of 2008. He joined the kids in the Sibling House with Jenna as his caregiver.

(by Jenna)

Meeting new kids is usually pretty easy. Falling in love with them and developing relationships with them isn’t really hard either. Seeing kids leave is full of heartache, and it is really, really hard. This year, it seems that we have said a lot of goodbyes. One of the goodbyes was to Mario. He left in mid July to return to his parents. I know that to most people that seems like a happy ending. To those who love Christ and want to see people saved, it is something that just makes you surrender to the Lord and trust in Him to grow seeds that He’s helped us to plant. He alone can grant increase and we pray that He will!

MAGDA and BLANCA

(by Keith and Emily)

Magda and Blanca were 2 of the first 7 kids that came to CVE back in February of 2005. Magda was 8 and Blanca 6. Over the 4+ years they spent here, the girls have changed a lot.

(Blanca is the 4th over from the left in the front row, Magda is next to her on the right)

(Top row: Blanca is the 6th over from the left, Magda is the 2nd over from the right)

Magda came with a lot of anger in her heart, and there were MANY battles with her in the first few months. She rarely smiled and would not look anyone in the eye. God did a wonderful work in her and her heart became softer and softer through the years. The past year taking care of her, she has been very cheerful, fun-loving (always ready to pick on someone), and she LOVES to play with babies/kids. She was by far the best with our daughter Kaleigh... always knowing what to do to make her laugh or keep her entertained. She has turned into such a special young lady, and is very different from the angry Magda who arrived over 4 years ago. Praise God for His work in her life!

(In June, Magda graduated from 6th grade #1 in her class.)

Blanca- who doesn't know Blanca? I think almost every person who has stepped foot on CVE ground has met Blanca. My favorite things about her- she is not scared to meet new people, she is always ready to find new friends in the groups, she is very easily entertained, and usually willing to help out. She was always sad to see her work-team friends leave but was quick to make new ones as the next group arrived. Her soft heart will be missed by all of us here at CVE.


As these girls have now left CVE please continue to lift them up to God in prayer. Pray that He would pursue them with His love, that they would come to the Cross and claim Jesus as their Saviour. Pray that their adjustment to life with their family will go well and that they can be a good example in their daily walk. Pray for comfort and nearness of God's Spirit as they face whatever challenges lie ahead of them.


We praise God for His work in their lives and trust he will continue to be with them in the future. May He give the increase in their lives.

SUMMER STAFF

Last but not least we also said goodbye to our summer staff, 5 young people with hearts of service and love for God.

(L to R: Melissa, Brad, Monica, Dan, Amanda)

We appreciate so much all of their help with summer school, the reading program, helping care for the kids, with swimming lessons, meals, cleaning, teaching or assisting with VBS, writing blog posts, etc…and for their godly examples for our CVE kids. It was a great summer and we give thanks to God for His provision with such great help! May God bless each of you as you continue on in His plan for your lives!

As we continue to go through times of changes here at CVE we covet your continued support in prayer!

Pray for the Church in Magdalena!

Pray for the Church in Magdalena as the number of those searching continues to grow! Today we had over 200 in attendance in the services and only 1 was a visitor from the US. We are excited to see many new adults and older kids attending. Many of those attending have never had any experience singing out of a song book or sitting still during a service, we are thankful for those that come, but along with that we have to be patient and understand that there will be disruptions and challenges. Pray that we can teach each of those that attend how to have a respectful presence and that above all that they can see the love of the Father through each of us.

You can also pray for the upcoming baptisms we are planning in September. We thank the Lord daily that we are privileged to witness His work here. We are thankful for each of you everywhere that pray for CVE and the Magdalena Church on a regular basis. None of us are here on our own strength, we are very certain of that.

Bill and Joan Schick and family would also like to thank each of you for your prayers during there time away for the death of Bill's Mother. They do rejoice that she could go peacefully knowing that the reward of her faith awaited her. Isn't that what we all long for ?

More VBS

Today ended VBS 2009. The week has flown by and although we may be a little physically tired from it, spiritually it is incredibly exciting to see all of the children and adults that came to hear about Jesus the All-Powerful.

We know that success can't be measured in numbers, but one does have to marvel at the sheer number of people that stepped foot in church this week. Today close to 300 people arrived and around 360 came all week.

The school bus that Joel drove rolled in bursting at the seams with 131 people in it.

A group of kids lining up to sign the attendance sheet and recite their memory verse. Prizes were given out to those who consistently came and remembered their verse.

Thanks again to our VBS volunteers for all of their decorating, cleaning, and willingness to pitch in wherever!

Audrey, Amanda, Allison, and José

Dan helping keeping an eye on some of the kids before we got started.

Kali, Monica, and Bere sporting purple headbands to help the kids to know which table to sign up at.

The 3 and 4 year old class trying to imagine what it would be like to be blind, since one of our stories was when Jesus healed the blindman.

Thanks to each one who kept VBS in their prayers this week as many seeds were planted. Keep praying that those seeds could be watered and that the All-Powerful God could give the increase!

Vacation Bible School

As promised, here are a few pictures of Vacation Bible School week ...

It has been awesome to see the church full of kids and adults that are excited to learn more about Christ and His power. Today (Tuesday), we had more than 230 kids and adults who came from Magdalena and the surrounding area.

Jaqueline & Magda waiting at the 12+ years old registration table.

7 - 8 year old girls' class

Also, a big thanks to our VBS volunteers who did an excellent job of decorating for our theme: "Jesucristo: El Todopoderoso" - Jesus: The All-Powerful

Please continue to pray for us this week, that the truth of Christ and His power could reach the hearts of those who come.

VBS 2009 (8/3-7)

It's that time again for us here at the Magdalena church - VBS starts Monday (8/3)!!! Our theme this year is "Jesucristo: El Todopoderoso" (Jesus Christ: The All-Powerful), and it focuses on the life of Jesus and His many miracles.

This is always a crazy week for us here at CVE, as most of our time is spent at church with the many children that come eager to learn about Jesus. We are looking forward to an exciting week focusing on Jesus and His great power.

Some Prayer Requests for this week:

• For the people passing out invitations in certain areas of town on Sunday afternoon (8/2).
• For the Schicks, as they will be returning home Tuesday night from Bill's mom's funeral and jumping into VBS on Wed.
• For our teachers and route drivers. Monday we will be short 5 teachers and Tuesday short 3 teachers.
• For continued stamina and joy to make it through the week.
• That each and every child who comes would see that Jesus Christ truly is the All-Powerful.

Hopefully we will be able to post some pictures from this year's VBS soon.

If you would like to see some of the posts from last year's VBS click Here, Here, or Here

Reading Program

At the same time we started summer classes, we also began another round of the reading program. The kids come into the schoolroom in three different groups each afternoon to read for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The group of the older boys - Ezequiel, Armando, and Michel

The group of the older girls - Michelle and Lili

The group of the younger children - Julissa, Diego, Aaron, and Mario

They receive points for how many minutes they read and their points advance them to the finish line. Along the way, they can reach certain benchmarks. Once they pass a benchmark they receive one ticket. Some of the things they can buy with their tickets are

• a cookie
• a pencil
• water balloons (for an impending water balloon fight)
• photos
• time on the computer
• dinner in town
• dessert and games at Carissa's
• a new book

Each of the prizes have a different ticket value so this a great learning opportunity for the kids to learn the value of saving up for something better. It's interesting to see which kids go for the instant gratification and purchase a cookie, and which kids hold on to their tickets for a bigger prize.

For the most part, the kids enjoy coming in and reading. They have a large selection of books to choose from.

José



Yaneli

Daniel