Friday, November 17, 2017 we had our last school day before Thanksgiving. Yep. Even with the days missed for hurricanes (we did not take off for Columbus Day or Veteran’s Day or other three day weekend holidays) we are taking a break for Thanksgiving.

The parents of the students are looking forward to not driving our worsening road for a week – pot holes do not get filled, more electric lines are descending onto the roads as the broken poles shift. The staff is looking forward to not making creative lunches for the students – dehydrated meals are lovely but how do you add veggies and balance when there are so few choices around?

We SO appreciate your parcels – sent with such thoughtfulness!  Today we received cans of pulled pork and spaghetti sauce, crackers, acrylic paints, solar powered Christmas lights (well, they are nice year round but our students still want to celebrate Christmas at home and so this was a request we made), etc.

One of our senders sent some great craft paper and supplies.  We all practiced creating a 3 by 3 grid on the  12 by 12 inch square paper and then  used paper folding and glue to create little boxes to which we affixed felt turkeys and ornaments.  We stuffed the boxes with things many supporters sent – peanuts, granola, trail mix, gummy candies, beef jerky, candles, etc.  and each student took home two or more boxes.  They were instructed to SHARE or GIVE these to their parents and grandparents with words of THANKS. Hopefully that will happen!

Friday, November 17 also found us saying GOODBYE FOR NOW to a student  of ours who has been with us since nursery school.  Mizael and his mom and brother are moving to the States for a little while… well, that is the plan. Mizael will be continuing his education with us through Google documents, Skype, and online learning with his present teacher, Betsy, as his supervisor.  They have been practicing in person and on days Mizael has missed for dental appointments. When his house has had BOTH electricity and Internet connections he has been able to continue his educational learning from home. We celebrated an early Christmas with Mizael and after hugs and prayers, sent him on his way.

Pray with us for the needs of

• teachers – B.S. in education or interpreting/ASL as a minimum requirement; knowledgeable in ASL and Deaf children or willing to learn on the job; servant-hearted and willing to go the extra hundred miles or minutes or hours depending on the need at the time.
• support workers  – meal prep; dorm supervisor; maintenance worker –
• STUDENTS – we will be down to TWO in person students in January and one remote student. We are prayerfully before the Throne of Grace awaiting God’s direction, praising Him for His blessings through this time of storms and the way He has provided for us to continue in spite of what seems at times to be insurmountable odds.

Someone asked, “are you actively recruiting students?” and our answer was NOT AT THIS TIME.  With only ONE teacher full time, and the special needs of our present students – their need for much time spent one on one, even just one teacher with 4 students has been short-staffed.  We are seeking God’s direction – are these our last 3 students? Does God have another plan for the ministry?

^{Philippians 4:19} 

God shall supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

So many Deaf Adults have asked about literacy classes and we know that could lead into Bible classes, financial planning and budgeting classes, mathematics, child care, etc. We know if we begin on that track, we will need social workers and independent living support workers, nutrition counselors or medically informed people who would be able to help with teaching biology and addressing personal medical issues.

But before we can launch a NEW program, we need to have the workers to DO THAT and so we are praying for God to send people with hearts to serve 24/7; prepared to do what is needed to reach the Deaf of the east end of Puerto Rico or further- if we can accommodate Deaf adults in our dorms for short terms or longer terms, if God opens a way to do that, we want to be open and ready for His leading.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

And with so many schools closing since the hurricanes, with so many people leaving the island, we anticipate the parents of Deaf children finding that their child is suddenly without an interpreter, without support in the public schools, and will consider bringing them to CSCD. We don’t want to turn away any child or their family.  We want to serve the community as God has called us to serve Him – joyfully and thankfully.

Pray with us for all of this.

^{Ephesians 3: 20} Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

This is the NUMBER ONE QUESTION people are asking, right after HOW ARE YOU?

We are fine. The buildings are 90% fine.  Little things need repaired.  We will get to those in 2018 when we have electricity and when the hardware stores have had time to restock lumber and whatever else we may need. Insurance will cover much of the costs and we trust God to cover the rest.

We had a 1 year old generator that took us through Hurricane Irma and into Hurricane Maria but running it 15 hours per day for a month finally made that generator less generous.  Nor could the females on staff generate enough pull to make Black Max run.

GOD KNEW.  That same week that Black Max the generator decided to not run no matter how much we pulled, the Second Union Church of Guaynabo PR came and delivered a gift and cash and a new yellow generator which ran delightfully!  New Yellow Generator runs the classroom though sometimes, the teacher opts for heat and quiet rather than lights, fans and generator hum.

(Valie, our local maintenance volunteer, has adopted Black Max for his home since we’ve been given a larger generator by FEMA.) My God SUPPLIES! (Phil 4:19)

NEED #1 was checked off the list when FEMA came and established a communication Hotspot for Deaf in the area.  They installed a (relatively) quiet diesel generator and they provide gas and maintenance for that. No more pulling.  No more spilling gasoline. No more using a flashlight in the dark to see if the tank is full enough!  And a satellite dish rigged up to provide Internet signal for videophone and video messaging (and of course we use it for the classroom and after work hours and weekends for our e-mail and blogging and entertainment purposes). One student’s mother is taking online classes – she is delighted to sit in the office with a fan and Internet as she does her homework.

NEED #2 required dollars and sense – We have a generator for the classroom and need to buy gas and oil and take care of that. Pray for both of those.  Especially SENSE, since none of us are generator mechanics and it seems from previous experience that generators can be finicky about their oil.

NEED #3 – We have people sending parcels which arrive randomly but consistently. Most parcels are filled with GREAT STUFF  and we are so excited to open them – CANDLES! batteries D, AA, AAA; solar light products; canned foods (SPAM, ham, tuna, chicken); tortillas, crackers, rice cakes, jam, peanut butter, trail mix, granola bars (ok I said HEALTHY SNACKS… but please send one chocolate or sugar snack per box??), powdered milk.  THESE THINGS ARE STILL NEEDED.

Some people actually stop by and drop off boxes – today a couple brought bandaids, peanutbutter crackers, etc etc etc. WOW  Huge blessing to meet the givers!

One parcel packer sent school lunches – tacos in a box with black beans, cheese spread, tortillas, canned chicken 🙂  another sent a recipe and the things to make raisin bran muffins; another sent a birthday party in a box! how creative!

As special events, like a birthday, the parcel opener has been squirreling away things that can be wrapped and given as gifts. With Christmas coming and the stores and mail and banks being slow to deliver, I think we will be squirreling more things and opening our own “FREE” STORE for the families, students, etc to have selections from. YOUR THOUGHTFUL PARCEL COULD HELP A CHILD ENJOY CHRISTMAS or KINGS’ DAY.

NEED #4 Some have sent games and puzzles, coloring books, word search games, and others are already packing craft things that we can make for Christmas gifts.

NEED #5 We still use lots of candles around the school in the evenings. We have been instructed to CONSERVE and so we do.  Only the school fridges and freezer are running on the generated power. We use apartment lights sparingly and fans turn off as we leave rooms.

NEED #6 Candles are lovely but little Deaf boys like matches too much to allow candles to be safe. We made sure that solar lights donated by crisis relief teams made it to the homes of our little Deaf boys.  ALSO It’s hard to imagine Christmas without the pretty lights… so if any of you are into solar lighting, maybe you would locate and send some strings of lights that each of the students and staff could take home to decorate an outdoor tree or plant as part of their Christmas celebration.

If you have a question or thought on this, shoot an email to the school director at emhoke@cscdluquillo.com

If you want to make a donation

• generator for the classroom fund
• Solar Panels for the classroom building fund
• General Needs fund
• School lunches fund
• Student tuition fund

Any other reason fund… here is a link to the e-giving page / DONATE link page  with instructions and addresses to send checks or the option to give online.

We have some work teams in the plans for the coming year – if you are interested and know WELDING, CARPENTRY, TREE STUMP REMOVAL, ELECTRICAL REPAIR, GROUNDS MAINTENANCE, PAINTING, please contact Betsy at emhoke@cscdluquillo.com

Thanks for your generosity in sending parcels.  Thanks for the prayers and love that accompanies them.  Thanks for your prayers and cards and letters and cash included to see us through  this period of bank closure.  My God SUPPLIES! above all I ever asked or thought!

Praise GOD from Whom ALL blessings FLOW!

it’s been a while.  but from the photo you can see that we are alive and well.  living without electricity is interesting.  41 days since it went off after hurricane Irma… and counting.

on Thursday October 19, FEMA brought us a large generator  and Sprint plans to set us up as comunication hub for the deaf community.  Wow.

let me post this while i can…from a wifi Hotspot in town.  in the country we are still in the dark many times!