Greetings everyone! I wanted to thank-you all for your prayers. God has blessed with a tremendous start and I can see His spirit moving here in Mount Vernon, Ohio. I'm sorry this took so long to post; let me fill you in where we are at.
On Friday Adan and I had the chance to meet the new staff including the assistant boys' dean, the chaplain, and the Principal, along with catching up with returning staff. We were excited by the various suggestions each made for ways we could be helpful. Some of the things we are now working on include:
Friday night we were able to join the students for vespers, which was a bonfire up by the athletic fields. After the music was done, seven students went up to share what they were thankful for and light a candle representing a day of the week. Without fail, every single student thanked God for the opportunity to be back at MVA. What a blessing to see how these young people are enjoying their experience at MVA and that God is blessing them. It was also a blessing to hear Paul Torchia, speak to the students on what it means to be still and know that God is there for us even when we try doing things on our own. His talk about letting God lead and never getting to that point where we quit following and messed up, was fantastic. Afterwards, Adan and I had a chance to pray with several students and then meet with several of them (in addition to the ones we met earlier in the day). This is an incredible group of young people!
Adan and I also had the opportunity to join the students for Sabbath School at the Academy and church at the Hill Church. Praise God for the work he is doing through the staff at MVA to minister to these young people. We also want to praise God for sending Anthony Czaja (an MVA Alumnus) our way to provide us with a video camera for making the promotional video, as well as an additional willing hand to help out at the school.
Saturday evening Adan and I had the privilege of helping out with vespers. Adan, myself, Chaplain Torchia, and several students lead music and then Adan gave a message about the reality of spiritual warfare but how God has won the victory for us. Several students throughout the evening and following day approached him to thank him for the great work God did through him (which of course, we thank God for, as all the credit goes to Him). Afterwards, we were blessed to be able and participate in one of the first Student Association events of the year. It was great to watch the classes competing with one another and see the strong student leadership exemplified in the SA officer.
An unexpected area God was able to use us was at the local Adventist elementary school. God has blessed the school with the highest enrollment they've seen in years and it is a privilege to be able to help this, another one of God's institutions, with their program. On Sunday Adan and I went to MVE (Mount Vernon SDA Elementary) where he reprogrammed phones while I picked out music and organized the handbell curriculum which I will get to teach for the next five weeks. I am excited to be working with the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders and introduce them to the art of ringing and the excitement of music.
Lastly, Adan and I ended our day with spending time at MVA figuring out shots for the promotional video. We were blessed with the unexpected privilege of being able to help with supervising the open gym time, where we were able to hang out with more of the students, play games with them, and get to know them a little bit better. I am so excited for the work God is doing at MVA through the staff and volunteers. I have been tremendously blessed by each student I have met and I am grateful to God for the amazing work Adan Rodarte, my partner in this adventure, is doing to help out. God is moving!
I want to end this long post by saying we have updated the projects list (check that tab regularly). If you see a project you can help with, let me know. Our biggest needs right now are:
On Friday Adan and I had the chance to meet the new staff including the assistant boys' dean, the chaplain, and the Principal, along with catching up with returning staff. We were excited by the various suggestions each made for ways we could be helpful. Some of the things we are now working on include:
- Substituting for the Handbell choir (Cascabel)
- Finding a taskforce maintenance worker for the Academy (we have contacted the SM program directors at several SDA Universities and are awaiting replies)
- Filing papers and compiling statistics for an academic report for the school
- Answering phones and fixing the phone screens / voice-mail messages (thanks Adan)
- The 40 Day Devotional study with the kids (the books have arrived and are at the Academy. We will begin after the class pastors are elected)
- Forming a devotional book library (we are waiting to hear back from churches)
- A Mission Spotlight video for the alumni and constituents
- Making a 5-7 minute promotional video for overseas recruiting for MVA
Friday night we were able to join the students for vespers, which was a bonfire up by the athletic fields. After the music was done, seven students went up to share what they were thankful for and light a candle representing a day of the week. Without fail, every single student thanked God for the opportunity to be back at MVA. What a blessing to see how these young people are enjoying their experience at MVA and that God is blessing them. It was also a blessing to hear Paul Torchia, speak to the students on what it means to be still and know that God is there for us even when we try doing things on our own. His talk about letting God lead and never getting to that point where we quit following and messed up, was fantastic. Afterwards, Adan and I had a chance to pray with several students and then meet with several of them (in addition to the ones we met earlier in the day). This is an incredible group of young people!
Adan and I also had the opportunity to join the students for Sabbath School at the Academy and church at the Hill Church. Praise God for the work he is doing through the staff at MVA to minister to these young people. We also want to praise God for sending Anthony Czaja (an MVA Alumnus) our way to provide us with a video camera for making the promotional video, as well as an additional willing hand to help out at the school.
Saturday evening Adan and I had the privilege of helping out with vespers. Adan, myself, Chaplain Torchia, and several students lead music and then Adan gave a message about the reality of spiritual warfare but how God has won the victory for us. Several students throughout the evening and following day approached him to thank him for the great work God did through him (which of course, we thank God for, as all the credit goes to Him). Afterwards, we were blessed to be able and participate in one of the first Student Association events of the year. It was great to watch the classes competing with one another and see the strong student leadership exemplified in the SA officer.
An unexpected area God was able to use us was at the local Adventist elementary school. God has blessed the school with the highest enrollment they've seen in years and it is a privilege to be able to help this, another one of God's institutions, with their program. On Sunday Adan and I went to MVE (Mount Vernon SDA Elementary) where he reprogrammed phones while I picked out music and organized the handbell curriculum which I will get to teach for the next five weeks. I am excited to be working with the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders and introduce them to the art of ringing and the excitement of music.
Lastly, Adan and I ended our day with spending time at MVA figuring out shots for the promotional video. We were blessed with the unexpected privilege of being able to help with supervising the open gym time, where we were able to hang out with more of the students, play games with them, and get to know them a little bit better. I am so excited for the work God is doing at MVA through the staff and volunteers. I have been tremendously blessed by each student I have met and I am grateful to God for the amazing work Adan Rodarte, my partner in this adventure, is doing to help out. God is moving!
I want to end this long post by saying we have updated the projects list (check that tab regularly). If you see a project you can help with, let me know. Our biggest needs right now are:
- Finding people with video knowledge to help shoot and edit the promo video
- Finding a task-force maintenance worker for the Academy (we want to thank James Syvertson, former MVA student, for his willingness to help in the search process)
- Calling churches to solicit donations of used devotional books for our library (we want to thank Jennie Downing, an MVA alumnus, for her willingness to help with phone calls)
- Prayer for this school and this project (we want to thank all who have been praying for us; your prayers are being answered)
I don't have any technical knowledge on how to create videos, but I could read some tutorials? and there's a generic movie making program on my family's mac. Also, I have a camera that can shoot high quality video. Not sure if it's HD, though...
ReplyDeleteWe'd love to have your photographic eye Gen! When you get back into town, swing on by MVA!
ReplyDelete