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This IssueExciting announcements An encouraging visit from Rocky Mountain Conference Youth Director School program includes agriculture La Vida Mission School is pursuing accreditation under the E.A. Sutherland Education Association World Servants used our facility as a platform from which to minister to the Navajo community. A teacher’s work is never done Danny and Glori Williams have been working daily on lesson plans, course work and putting together new classrooms. In Memory of & Honorarium Special thanks, positions to fill, needs, coming events Bredenkamps lead outWe are excited to announce that La Vida Mission School and Church are starting Pathfinders, Adventurers and Eager Beaver clubs for the coming school year.
This year clubs will be integrated with classsroom studies, Sabbath School classes, and the work-study program. First semester Home Economics class will teach basic sewing, cooking and baking honors. There will also be auto mechanics, woodworking, agriculture and gardening honors taught during the work-study program. Pathfinders plan to go out to serve and witness by doing what is needed at homes in the Navajo community. At times students and staff will go out together and at times they will be joined by visiting mission groups. This outreach program starts the very first week of school when we are joined by Hacienda Heights youth group from Los Angeles. Eager Beavers (K), Adventurers (grades 1–4) and Pathfinders (grades 5–8) will be involved in witnessing. It was fun to see the teachers’ excitement as they looked through the progressive workbooks and honors books, thinking about how and when they could teach the various subjects. Later in the year we will take students out into God’s nature for a tenday camping trip, which will include an outdoor school. La Vida also will join the Rocky Mountain Conference clubs in their activities. It has been a while since we have had clubs here at the mission, so we have the usual start-up expenses. We need dress uniforms, field uniforms, the costs of our mission service projects to the community, including materials and transportation costs. Student work books, Bibles, and honors supplies for each honor also must be purchased. The youth clubs will be open to community youth as well as to our students, since the youth clubs are an outreach program in themselves. Eager Beavers field uniform, tee shirt, scarf and chips (badges) may be purchased as a set for about $25 a child. Adventurer field uniform, tee shirt only, is $5.95. Award badges will vary in price for each child, depending on the awards they earn. Pathfinder uniform tee shirt and cap will come to $15.90 per child. Their honor badge cost is determined by honors earned per child. Anyone wishing to help the clubs may do so in several ways. If sending a check, please mark the donation for Pathfinders, otherwise it will go into the general account. A gift card from Target, Wal- Mart, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Lowes or Costco could be sent to help purchase needed supplies. More than anything, we need your prayers as we go about this year doing God’s will for us. Thank you for you support, Bramans visitLa Vida received an encouraging visit from Rocky Mountain Conference Youth Director, and experienced missionary, Pete Braman, and his wife Susie. They were excited about possibilities of working with mission Pathfinders and staff. In October a group of 15 youth and five adults, including Braman and Don and Chris Hill, will be ready to “do our agenda” with hard-working, goodspirited youth. Braman explained that he likes to have the students work in rotation, alternating physical work with community service. Before going into the community, “the kids need to learn cultural sensitivity and have a debriefing.” After Monte Church meets with La Vida staff, we will be prepared to debrief the youth before they go out. Braman added that there will be an offering taken during Camporee to help La Vida with Pathfinder uniforms and other club needs. School program includes agricultureThis year La Vida Mission School is pursuing accreditation under the E.A. Sutherland Education Association (EASEA). EASEA chose its accrediting criteria from the counsel given to E.G. White, which includes the counsel that agriculture is to be the AB and C of education. Each school desiring to follow God’s counsel (and the requirements for EASEA accreditation) needs to have an active agriculture program along with a work study program in which the students work alongside their teachers. Since agriculture lends itself to teaching spiritual lessons as well as practical ones, it is ideal for training young minds and hands for future usefulness. And, since everyone needs to eat, what could be more practical? One of the biggest challenges involved in establishing an agriculture program at La Vida is the poor soil quality. The worst factor is the high sodium content of the desert soil. Sodium, or salt, has been associated with barrenness all the way back to Bible times. The story of Gideon’s son, Abimilech’s, conquest of Shechem ends with him beating down the city and sowing it with salt so that it would remain perpetually barren (see Judges 9:45). The soil around LVM has about 32 times more sodium than it should ideally have. Unfortunately, even the greenhouse soil contains 16 times as much sodium as it should have. The agriculture program may be seriously challenged by this excessive sodium, but it is not to be thwarted. One of the things that tempers the excessive deficiencies of the soil is a high humus content. Of course, desert soil has very little humus so one the priorities is to make compost. There are a few plant sources and even more animal manures that are available for composting. Our soil has been analyzed in the laboratory and noted soil scientist, Neal Kinsey, has laid out a fertilization plan to try to get La Vida’s soil productive. Along with the compost there will need to be ammendments purchased and anyone who has a burden for the teaching of agriculture to our students is encouraged to support this new project with money or labor. David Boatwright is heading up the agriculture/work-study program beginning in August. He has taught agriculture at Oklahoma Academy and Weimar academy and college and was just beginning an agriculture project on his own small farm in Tennessee when he accepted a call to the mission. Boatwright points to the 35th chapter of Isaiah, verse 2, in which God promises that “The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.” This prompts the admonition in verse 3 to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. The agriculture program at LVM may have weak hands and feeble knees right now but, with your strengthening and confirming, this desert can be made to blossom as a rose. God is just waiting to bless the efforts of his followers. Keep watching in subsequent issues of Navajo News to see how He will do it in the agriculture program. Live to serveMorning and evening during the last week of June a team of energetic young people swarmed over the south end of campus preparing meals, having worship and seeking out vans leaving to do community work. World Servants, a non-denominational group, used our facility for the second year in a row as a platform from which to minister to the Navajo community. They served in the White Rock community doing construction and renovation projects on individual homes, on community buildings and a church. La Vida staff were invited to join the team for cafeteria meals and for a picnic held at White Rock Chapter House on the last day of their stay. World Servants’ motto is, Live to Serve. We’re glad we were able to help. A teacher’s work is never doneDanny and Glori Williams have been working daily, since returning from classes at Union College, on lesson plans, completing course work and putting together the new grades 1 through 4 classroom for next year. Since Glori teaches music, the new classroom will double as a music room.
The classroom is divided into three colorful and inviting sections: the main classroom, a reading area and music/drama area. Summer work projects nearly completed in the new classroom include building shelves, painting window insets, putting up white boards and sorting books. Charity Garcia’s, (Charity, head teacher, is currently enrolled in a summer graduate school class at Andrews University) grades 5–8 classroom will have its floor painted and a new reception counter will be put in place near the office where Glori serves as school secretary. Norla Chee will be teaching Kindergarten, using the former grades 1–4 classroom, as well as serving as school librarian.
Dedications
Bulletin BoardOur special thanks to:
Positions to Fill:
La Vida Needs:
Coming Events:
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La Vida Missions, Inc. is an independent Seventh-day Adventist Mission to the Navajo. It operates a boarding school for Navajo children, first through eight grade, a clinic and evangelism outreach for the Navajo community. The mission is located on Hwy 371, 55 miles north of I-40 New Mexico Exit #53, or 50 miles south of Farmington, New Mexico. Mission Administrator Federal Tax Exemption 85-0168123 © 2006 La Vida Missions, Inc. |
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