August means

Full time for this school year:
Rosa Soto – from Harrisburg PA – (standing, back row, brown shirt on the right)
Rosa’s blog is http://myjourneyhishands.blogspot.com/
Here, Rosa is preparing to be grossed out during our Fear Factor game as part of our Back to School week. The theme of the day was BE BOLD for God!

Amanda Swink – from Lewisberry PA (seated in the brown shirt on the right)
Amanda’s blog is http://amandaswink.tumblr.com/

Betsy Hoke from Hanover PA (standing, back row, pink shirt)
Betsy’s blog is http://1beachchair.wordpress.com

7 week July/August volunteer
Rachel Mellott – (standing, back row, left most)
Rachel’s blog is http://imhishands.blogspot.com/

Rachel planned our Back to School Bible School week and participated in the activities as well. Here she is helping with the memory verse review activity.

Part-time but fairly permanent volunteers AND the Science Teachers for this school year
Rebekah (holding little Joella in the middle of the standing back row) and Brendan Yoder from many places but currently residing in Luquillo

Tess Dozier – from Wisconsin and Luquillo PR – hoping to become a fulltime worker in 2014
Tess’s blog is http://cuentosexcentricospr.blogspot.com/

We participated in Deaf Nation Expo.

Classes ended on May 22 and we celebrated the school year with a talent program! Each student did something and all of their parents enjoyed seeing the hard work. We had a good day to celebrate and thank God for all He has done in us this school year.

Kioneyshka – How Great Thou Art! – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Saul the magician – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Kristian directs the bells – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Kevin plays the guitar and sings – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Gaby the dragon – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Larimar plays the guitar – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Kristian plays the violin – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Juan leads exercise video – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Lara Michele- days of the week – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Mizael reports on rockets – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

Carlos and Betsy play a duet, Hector sings and signs – VIEW ON YOUTUBE

March has been a month of guests:
A lovely family from Saskatchewan served as guest planters, our friend Hector was a guest speaker in chapel and the Hokansons from Kansas were guest chefs!

We were delighted to meet Stef’s fiancé and see that he is an excellent guest dishwasher… regular COQUI guests came by and two delightful young people from Gallaudet stopped in one day.

Just to keep us on our toes, we had chapel outside – we also had no electricity!
Kevin served as our musician and he played The Old Rugged Cross and How Great Thou Art. Our weekly Surf the Bible Drill was also held outside. It was a fun start to our day!

1 ) Check out the blurry face on the right – we can’t get Juan to STAY STILL for a photo!
Now you may know how to pray for Stef a little more specifically!

The students are preparing their own introductions to their favorite songs
in sign language or on the bells or on stringed instruments.
Hector Saroza along with Stefanie Beals will be providing the vocals for our
February 14th concert sponsored by Margaret Upperman at the Playa Azul Community Center.

2)  Alyssa quizzes students on their multiplication facts as they enter the classroom.

3) Elizabeth prepares lessons at the classroom computer.

4) Judy More instructs Larimar while Kevin and Kristian work independently under her supervision.

5) Visitor/volunteer Elaine carries out repairs to our school mailing list. If you WANT a paper newsletter, you may want to send your address again – IN CASE we messed up your address 🙁

6) Volunteers Margaret and Doreen work on soup labels and boxtops4 education.

7) Dorothy, the mother of Juan Jose, prepares lunch for the students and workers.

8)Reading specialist Yvonne Yancey does some phonetic awareness activities with the students one on one.

Gerry Martin is working on some kitchen improvements for the school.

Alyssa Freitag (Minnesota) and Meghan Little (New York) joined us in January 2013.

Alyssa is an interpreting student who has taken a semester away from studies to serve with us and gain some experience in ASL with children.

Meghan is a recent graphic arts graduate who joined us for 2 weeks before launching her career. Meghan did some graphic art work for us while she was here and introduced us to some new programs which we are loving.

Our group photo from January 18!

Back row:
Philip, Carlos, Kevin, Judy, Betsy

Middle row:
Kristian, Margaret, Tess, Meghan, Larimar, Stef, LaraMichelle, Elizabeth, Alyssa

Frontrow:
Saul, Mizael, Juan, Gaby, Kiioney

We have 9 students at this time. We are praying for the Orocovis girls who would like to come to school here but we have some paperwork and redtape to get through first.

Also pray for a the 3year old boy whose parents have called. They are looking at educational alternatives. Pray they will make a decision ASAP – as the child is in the late stages of optimal language development and we would love to begin working with them as soon as possible so that their child will not lag behind in linguistic (as well as cognitive) development.

We wish you a Merry December!
Come back to see photos of our Christmas Celebrations!

This page was last modified on Monday, February 04, 2013 08:58:57 PM

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DEAF OBSERVERS working with the OXACA Mexico Police Department

12-19-12

LAST DAY OF CLASSES for 2012

Wednesday we were treated to a yummy lunch and some lovely gifts by some old friends of the school.

After that, we played the bells for the families. EVERYONE had someone from there family present!

Finally our string ensemble played and we sang together. We shared our favorite Christmas things and used these as object lessons
to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our guests in the school chapel.

SNOW COMES TO ESD!

12-12-12

One a warm and breezy day, a blizzard hit our school. We started with paper snow flakes. Then we had a frozen t-shirt contest.
In the end, there were buckets of (fake) snow in the chapel. The kids enjoyed throwing and sliding and making snow angels.

12-01-12

It is December and the rains have begun! The umbrella “taxi” is carpooling and we are all enjoying cool weather to sleep!

A Christmas parcel arrived! Something for everyone and extras as well 🙂
Thanks to all who remember our students and our ministry at this special time of year.

Classes continue full speed ahead. The students enjoy independent reading time and snacks in the library. Today, Bazooka came along and tried to con some snacks for himself.

Classes end on December 19 – most of the staff will be leaving the island during our Christmas break. Pray for safety in flights and times of rest and refreshing for each one.