Architectural Rendering of Phase I of our New Mission Base

As you know, we began to raise money to build a Mission Center (including a first-class school, community center and church) in Cercadillo last year.  Since then, I’ve investigated a range of land options to house the new Center – but, despite my efforts, none of these options have been right for our needs.   Keep praying, my friends!  The good news is that we now have $63,800 of the anticipated $150,000 needed to complete the Mission Center!

At the same time, I’ve been looking for a new Mission Base (my home, office space, storage, staff/volunteer quarters) to rent when my current lease expires in January 2020. (The owner has been gracious to allow me to stay here until June 2020 due to some health issues I’ll discuss below.) Finding a new place was not on my radar at the beginning of the year.  I would have been most happy to continue here.  However, it’s not an option.   And finding a similar place in this area that is large enough to meet all our storage needs also does not seem like an option.    So now what?

I believe that God is opening up new opportunities, beyond even those we anticipated last year.  I believe it is time to BUILD a Mission Base!  A Mission Base would lay a foundation for future growth of The Cercadillo Project; it would relieve the urgent need for a new home and office space for me, provide space to store all the Project supplies and create a studio apartment for long term volunteers.   Also, by purchasing 1/3 of an acre here in Villa Mella we will have space to build additional housing for new staff and for the future teachers of our school.

Total estimated costs are $130,000: 

Land acquisition $55,000

Three bedroom house $75,000  (including office space for Project administration, storage, studio apartment

If you would like to help meet this urgent need you may send your tax-deductible donation with the designation :

“Build with Cercadillo 4126A”

 https://ssmfi.org/missionary/ina-york/

Shepherd’s Staff Mission Facilitators
6739 Academy Road NE, Suite 320
Albuquerque, NM 87109

The Quinleys are coming!  The Quinleys are coming!

RYAN QUINLEY interned with us several years ago during college and after completing seminary studies is now planning to return FULL TIME, along with his wife Cayla and their two little cuties!!!  Ryan’s main responsibilities will center around church planting/pastoring.  More information will be coming shortly, but for now please pray for this family as they make plans to be with us by the beginning of summer 2020!!!

It’s been a rough few months, but I’m still here!

And on a personal note:

A friend suggested that this picture and caption summarized my last few months.  She may be right!  🙂

In early September I had a non-cancerous tumor removed from under an old appendectomy scar.  There were some complications that resulted in another surgery in mid November and then a few other complications.  However, I’m on the mend now!  It’s been hard to be sidelined this long, but I hope to be back in full swing very soon.

I have been well-cared for by medical staff and dear friends here in the DR.

I know I say this every time, but I am truly thankful for all of you who are in this adventure with us through your prayers and your giving.  Merry, merry Christmas and the very best 2020 to you!

¡Estudiantes Brilliantes 2019!

(Shining Students)

Every free moment I could find between January through May was invested in providing a quality tutoring experience for 25 students from our community.

Four of our youth (pictured above) helped with the tutoring, along with college students from IBI and our faithful Marcelina and Carmencita.

Partnering for math fact review.

Becoming familiar with numbers.

Answering questions from reading passages.

Subtraction Bowling.  “I started with 10.  I knocked down six.  Four are standing.  10 – 6 = 4 and 10 – 4 = 6.”

Practicing the order of the alphabet with a floor puzzle.

Three students who excelled in Math, Reading and Classroom Behavior.

 

All the late nights of lesson planning, days of material development and hours of hauling supplies back and forth from Cercadillo were worth it when I scored their ending evaluations!  What great progress they made!  Previous non-readers are reading, non-writers are writing, non-math-ers are math-ing, and unruly kids are learning to rule their own behaviors!

I long for the day when we have our own school so we aren’t constantly trying to play catch up with our kids!

In these last few months when I wasn’t preparing for, or leading out in Estudiantes Brillantes I was working with a team to find land we can buy to build our dream school.  So far we’ve run into a lot of dead ends.  One piece of land that might be a possibility for us is $50,000 usd per acre.  And that is land with no road, no water, no electricity.    I thought we would be much further along in the process.

So far $58,500 has been given!  We are most likely going to need another $100,000.  Sometimes it seems like it’s just too big of a dream.  But then I think of our kids and I remember who our God is, and I have hope.

If you’d like to help us make this dream school a reality, you can send a tax deductible gift to

“Build with Cercadillo”

 ssmfi.org/missionary/ina-york