Dear brothers & sisters, friends & family,
we give God Almighty all of the glory for all that He is doing here. We were very blessed by the many church groups that came to serve here this summer. Thank you for all of your kindness and hard work! They built a second kindergarten to help us comply with a new Mexican law, they worked on the fence, and much much more!
The children had a wonderful time with the groups this summer, making new friends and rekindling old relationships. We have received 5 new children this summer which puts our family at 45 children/56 counting kids of staff. One of the staff ladies is pregnant. Any ideas who? Keep reading.
A group from VA Beach lets Miriam, Martha & Anna help paint the new kinder
This summer the government brought us a 4 year old boy whose parents were in jail. He was a precious little guy who got along well with all of the kids. We only had him for a couple of months before his mom got out of prison and took him back home.
We also received a little girl who we suspected was a victim of child abuse. DIF, the Mexican equivalent of Child Protective Services, is investigating the case. So if you think of these two children, please pray that the Lord will touch their little hearts, grant them comfort and save their souls from an eternity separated from God Almighty.
Some of the kindergarten graduates
Many children graduated this summer. Sonia Edith and Alejandra Castro graduated from high school. We just found out today that Alejandra was accepted to the university in Juarez. Sonia is working on getting her student visa to be able to study English in the U.S. Jorge Jr. graduated from middle school. Alfredo, Daniel and Jonathan, graduated from 6th grade and 4 children graduated from kindergarten, including my son Daniel.
One night we took our boys out to celebrate a birthday. In the public bathroom Jeremiah accidentally peed all over the toilette seat right as I was telling him not to. He quickly replied, "Sorry, my fault." So I took the opportunity to tell the boys how important it is for a man to take responsibility for his actions. Jeremiah responded by saying, "I had a good teacher"-as prideful thoughts rushed into my mind, he finished his sentence with, "I learned it from the pirates-that-don't-do-anything (Jonah, Veggie Tales video)." I responded with a humbled, "Oh."
Students and teachers in front of school
Enrollment is way up and we need help!
The Kindergarten & Elementary schools are doing very well thanks to the Lord. We currently have 171 students. I think one reason enrollment is so high this year is that God is using Matthew, the English teacher, to draw people to the school to study English from a native English speaker. Matthew and Lee (American couple from New Jersey) are huge assets to this ministry!
Expenses in the school rose this year. We now have 10 teachers (including PE, Computer, English & Kindergarten), a bus driver, a band director, a teacher's assistant (for kindergarten), and a full time cleaning lady. The Lord is allowing the school to grow but we really need your help. We charge the kids from the community what we believe that they can afford. Guadalupe is a poor community so we only charge them $32 per month.
There are some really poor families that we provide free education to and many with discounted tuition. Most of the children from the Ranch have sponsors, but not all.
The Ranch has been subsidizing our school so as to not discriminate against families who want a good education for their children but can't afford it.
But, the Ranch is no longer in a position to subsidize the school since we lost 20% of our entire support as of August. It was our home church in New Orleans that so kindly and sacrificially supported the Ranch $3,000/month for many, many years. But since the church was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, they have to rebuild which means a new mortgage note. The reason why it hasn't happened until now is because the bank loan just went through. So we are in a serious situation right now and need your help!!!
For example, we are one month behind in paying our electric bill, which for a two month period is $1,869. Ouch. For us no electricity means no running water which causes serious health problems etc…
Having said all of that, we calculated that if we receive $50 per student whether from the community or the Ranch, the school would be financially independent of the Ranch. And since the kids in the low income community already pay $32/month, we are asking for you to consider sponsoring a child from the community for $20/month. We need 150 children sponsored from the community.
The other 21 students are Ranch kids. Some of them are already sponsored at $30/ month. We are also asking you to consider sponsoring a Ranch child for $25/month; and, we will assign two sponsors per child equaling $50/mo.
Sponsoring a child will be a huge blessing to the Ranch, the school and the community for His glory & the advancement of His kingdom! Therefore, if this is something that the Lord is leading you to do, please contact Lee@rancho3m.com. We will send you the name & photo of the child and also ask you to pray for their salvation. Thank you!!!
Although we are faced with serious financial challenges at this time, we still feel very led to open a middle school here in order to assist us in discipling the children more effectively and in reaching out to the community more extensively. Here are just a few examples of the good fruit that we have seen recently in the community from our grammar school:
Just recently, one of the student's mom started attending the church service here and the Lord saved her. Pastor Billy Raies from Midland preached that Sunday. This mom told me the other day that she had just accepted a job at a bar to make ends meet, but once the Lord saved her, she said that she couldn't start working there. Oh the transforming power of Jesus Christ!!!
If you are reading this right now and aren't sure if you are going to heaven or hell when you die, then you need to click the following link:
Two Ways to Live
Two weeks ago at service (held in the school library) another married couple whose son attends our school came to church here for the first time. If you think about them, please pray that they will continue to come and that He will save them for His glory!
And just yesterday, we had a lady attend our service for the first time. She received a Bible, and she and her children heard the gospel. These are exciting times!
David, some boys from Ranch, and mine helping to dig trench for electric wire at the LAPC in Juarez
(The building is in the distance)
We have also been given the privilege to manage the construction of the LAPC dorms in Juarez that will serve all of the Spanish speaking world. This is a very exciting project and we would like to thank all of the teams that have helped and are helping to complete it: Gracia Soberana of Juarez, Rancho3M, Lakeview Christian Center of New Orleans, Covenant Life, Knoxville, Virginia Beach, Kingsway, Christian Life Center of Midland and Vista New Life of El Paso.
One reason why we are so excited about this project is that if in the future the Lord calls one of our guys to be a pastor (as he has a number of times in the past), we can send them there to study and be discipled under the pastoral team of Gracia Soberana, and sent to plant a church where needed in Mexico. It is very difficult for a native Spanish speaker to learn English well enough to attend the Gaithersburg PC and even harder to understand the vocabulary of it's very gifted instructors. So we are VERY privileged to be a part of its construction and are grateful to all who have worked on it thus far. Thank you!!!
To better protect the Lord's Sheep (children and workers at the Ranch), we have been working on a fence that encompasses all 18.8 acres of the Ranch property. Our "three year" fence project is still under way with two years under our belts. We really need to finish. Just a few weeks ago someone stole our pickup that we used daily. Two nights ago some guys came here and stole over 15 of the children's bicycles. The children will be so much safer when the fence is done.
So far, we have two thirds of all of the posts set. We still need to set 135 posts, 10 feet apart, in the front of the Ranch. The pole and cement costs $30.00 each and the 335 panels left to weld up costs $125 each for material, plus the cost of the gate. Our older boys do most of the welding to save on labor and to teach them a valuable skill. If the Lord puts it on your heart to purchase a panel and or to set a post please write on the check "fence." And thank you in advance for allowing God to use you to help protect His kids. Also, there is a married couple that is kindly willing to match up to $7,000 that you give. Thank you!!!
Fence posts set in NW side of Ranch
Still missing panels
(Boys' Dorm in the distance)
So what staff member is pregnant? It's Lety. Teo & Lety are the parents of Jair, whom the Lord healed completely of cancer. They also have a daughter, Abi, who is two years old. Teo is the acting principal of our school and they are doing very well. Teo & I and share a sheep fold for our 6 sheep. I'll tell you, if you are looking to promote humility in your life, buy a sheep. Then read in the Bible all the references about Christians being sheep and Jesus being our Pastor. They are a dumb animal and in GREAT need of a shepherd.
Three of our dumb sheep
We had 8, but two ran away from the fold and were never seen again. They were probably attacked by dogs and killed. It was a valuable lesson.
Thank you for your prayers and support. We all appreciate you guys so much. I am sorry that it has been so long since our last newsletter. Also if you know of anyone looking to get rid of a school bus, please let me know. Thank you!!!
Because of the cross of Jesus Christ,
Dean Adamek
Rancho 3M
P.O. Box 3660
Fabens, TX 79838
915-204-5526 cell
866-884-8321 fax
lee@rancho3m.com
dean@rancho3m.com
www.rancho3m.com