We thank God that even the number of problems remained high, nothing can
take away the peace and joy in our hearts knowing our God is in control and His
blessings always outnumber troubles.
Teachers Training
Shirley, our chief trainer returned on 4/2/2014 to Bishkek and came to
Tokmok on 4/9 to start Montessori training for our teachers. We do not have
experienced teachers but we praise God for He brought us people that have good
characters and strong desire for learning. These qualities are very precious
for teachers.
Do pray for Sanura, Nurzada as they are going through extensive training
under Shirley. We are very pleased that God brought Shirley to us to be a very
important partner of our team, but do pray for her health and restore her sleep.
Additional Hiring
We are still in need of more teachers, cook and a part-time nurse to
prepare for the full capacity of our school. Since Tokmok is a small town of a
population of 50,000, pray that God will bring us the right people of His
choice to meet our needs.
Licensing
Our application for the licensing for the kindergarten /preschool with
the Ministry of Education has been submitted with a charter for our school. We
were led to believe that it will be approved by the end of April so we may
start the school in early May. We should not start the school without the
license, pray for God’s provision and give us patience as we are waiting for
His time.
On the evening of 4/18/2014, we had the first meeting with interested
parents to inform them of our purpose, goals and rules of our new school. We inform
them of our plan to start a preparatory class on 5/2 through 5/16. The meeting
went very well because while some of us addressed the parents of their
questions and concerns, the children (5 of them) stayed with the teachers. At
the end of the meeting, all children were ready to come to school and actually
were reluctant to go home while the parents felt comfortable to entrust their
children in our care.
During this preparatory 2 weeks, we will further find out if there is a
good fit between students and school. Only if teachers feel confident with the
students and the children feel comfortable and eager to come to school, then we
should be ready to take in the children as our official students under a formal
“school & parent” contract.
We are planning a second meeting on 4/23 to invite more families to join
us so we may have up to 16 children of age 3 – 4 1/2 years at this time. Please
pray that God will send suitable students whose parents are willing to partner
with us for their children’s life learning.
Mysterious Loss of
Application Documents & Our U.S. Passports
In February, we came in through Kyrgyzstan airport, and applied for
business visa upon entry so we may later on extend for additional 3 -6 months. The
application was sent to Foreign Affair Department and on 4/17 Sophia was
supposed to go to Bishkek to pay for the fees and picked up the approved document.
However, upon her return to Tokmok, she looked very sad and told us bad news: that Foreign Affair Department has lost all
the documents for application processed on that day, including ours together
with ours original passports. That
almost started a riot for all the people applying for their visas. Sophia
remained quiet and the officials just told Sophia to check back on Monday, not
offering any explanation for they too probably had no clear idea of what had
happened. We Need Urgent Prayer!!
We are still waiting for gas hook-up for cooking and heating necessary
for the kindergarten which we started applying more than 6 months ago. We were
told that are in the queue but the gas company cannot give us any firm date,
even though we already paid for the installation. As you can see without God, we can do nothing
on our own. We need to learn “Trust
& Obey” on everything and for every moment.
Our rebuilding of the furnace for heating was finally completed and
tested. The gas furnace we added has yet to be tested since we do not have gas
yet.
The work on the playground, landscape and additional fencing were on
hold because of the rainy weather. And can you imagine that we still have snow
in the middle of April!
Please pray for our community garbage management project which was
initially perceived as a good idea by majority but somehow it led to many
conflicts between neighbors of ours. Pray for wisdom for us that we may still shine
for Jesus and not to become tools for Satan and cause disharmony among
community, neighbors and local government.
Again many thanks for your continual support to lift us up during this
challenging time. Do pray for all our health! John has teeth problem, Christa’s
bladder infection and Sophia’s continuous coughing. May we always remember that
God’s grace is sufficient for us!
Love in Him,
Christa & John
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