New iberian mission association (nima) mission of faith

New Iberian Mission Association (NIMA) :: Mission of Faith

http://www.missionoffaith.org/PrintArticle105.phtml[12/3/2013 9:39:24 AM]

October-November-December 2013 Update

Articles / NIMAPosted by agape on Nov 20, 2013 - 03:10 PM

This is the New Iberian Mission Association (NIMA) Update for October-December, 2013.

NIMA is the outreach of Agape Christian Church of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and friends around theworld. Our main outreach in Guatemala is the Community Christian Hospital, Morning Glory ChristianAcademy that includes the primary school and the college preparation secondary school located on theLlano de la Virgen properties near San Raymundo Guatemala. There are now several Christian churchesthat are under the direction of NIMA with the mother church being Sacsuy Christian Church. We partnerwith Casas por Cristo in serving the people of the area in many ways.

Inside this edition...

"A Legacy of Hope""Boiling Frogs"

by Lori Nij

"Team Work""A Short History of NIMA"

by Herb Pinney

"Teacher Proposal""New Developments..."

by Samuel & Tiffany Houck

...and more!

Read more [1]

Ocober—December 2013 Update

NIMA Prayer Request:Morning Glory Christian School is asking for your prayers as a Board of Directors is being formed toserve and advance the ministry. The Board will give much needed support to Lori so that she can focuson her daily activities at the school. The Board will also serve alongside Herb Pinney and relieve him ofmany of the duties that he has single-handedly juggled for many years. We know that God will bless ourefforts to further His Kingdom. The goal is to have the Board in place by January 2014. Please pray forthis important development!

Morning Glory Christmas Catelog [2]

Give a gift that makes a difference! Honor someone you love by giving on their behalf!You can share Christ’s love with your friends in Guatemala this holiday season... Look inside for greatways to be a part of the ministry at Morning Glory!



A Legacy of Hope

Lori Nij, Colegio Cristiano Mañana Gloriosa, San Raymundo,Guatemala

Thirteen years ago when I walked intothat first run-down classroom ofvillage children at what was tobecome MORNING GLORY CHRISTIANSCHOOL, I was astonished by theapathy and hopelessness in theexpressions of those children. Most ofthem lived in the homes around theschool, spent their mornings workingin the fields, firecracker factories, orin their home, and studied in theafternoons. The children wore raggedclothes and everything about themscreamed poverty. Their parents sawno value in education and the onlyimportant thing in their lives was thefood on the table today. For the firstthree years of Morning Glory it was aconstant battle with the parents toallow the children to come to schooland to stay in school, especially thelittle girls. Culturally in Guatemala therole of a woman is to get married orlive with a man and spend her lifeserving him and her children. Youdon’t have to have much booklearning to gather wood, cook, washclothes by hand and be an unpaidservant. The woman´s role is so

ingrained in culture that it is part of the marriage ceremony. After the traditional service and dinner thewomen and mother-in-law take the bride into the kitchen and instruct her on her role. Then as a symbolof her station in life, her wedding veil is removed and an apron is placed over her wedding dress. Overand over I would battle with the parents, and in those first years I lost most of the battles. One little girlwas especially bright. She was different from the other children in that she had a dream.

She wanted more than anything else to be a teacher. She wanted to read and learn. But her mom anddad saw no value in her dream and they sure weren’t going to pay any money for her to go to school.When I met Vilma she was nine years old and in first grade. She was one of the brightest children in myclass. She loved coming to school and loved learning. She would read any book that I could find for herto read and spend every free minute asking me questions about the world.

But there was one drawback. Vilma had to work to pay for her food and contribute to her family welfare.Every morning Vilma would get up really early, carry a wooden box full of tomatoes into the marketplacein San Raymundo, and sell her tomatoes to anyone who would buy them. Many times I would go to themarket only to find Vilma sitting on the sidewalk surrounded by tomatoes, doing her homework betweencustomers. After fourth grade, MORNING GLORY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL moved to all morning classes.Many of the other children from the village dropped out of school. The parents simply would not considerthe loss of income from the children not working. Vilma’s mom was one of those parents. She wasn´tgoing to lose the money from the tomatoes nor pay absolutely anything for Vilma to go to school,something she considered completely useless. I argued and argued with her, finally convinced her to letVilma stay in school if she still brought in the same amount of money selling in the afternoon and if Ipaid for all the notebooks, uniform and everything Vilma would need. Not only did I agree, but I fundeda second box of tomatoes for Vilma to sell. The agreement was she would sell Mom’s tomatoes first andput aside the money she had to take to Mom. She would then sell the second box that I provided for herand the profit from that box was to go into a piggy bank for Vilma´s school expenses. And sell tomatoesshe did; not only did she sell tomatoes every afternoon but she maintained some of the highest gradesat Morning Glory.

Time came and went and Vilma graduated with honors from Morning Glory. But by now she was sellingfour boxes of tomatoes every day, two for mom and two for the piggy bank. I talked to the director ofthe public secondary school and he agreed to give Vilma one of the government scholarships available topay the parents of working children to allow them to go to school. For three years I followed Vilma



through secondary school. We would always buy the tomatoes we used in our home from her to help herout. I was so proud when she graduated with honors from secondary school.

Then I lost track. Vilma dropped off the map; when I asked about her, her mom would only say she wasworking in Guatemala City. So for five years I neither saw her nor heard anything about her.

Then last Monday morning after the end-of-year parent meeting, I was just kindof sitting there catching my breath. Ithad been a hard morning. It is neverpleasant to have to tell a mom that herchild has failed the year. No matter howmany times I have warned them, theyalways seem to think that a miracle willhappen at the last moment. Some momscan get pretty angry and tell me what Iam going to live and die of. This hadbeen one such morning. Two moms wereextremely angry and I had to confrontthem with their own failure. If they neverhad time for their children... if they weretoo busy to make sure that the child didhis homework or to even attend themultiple times I had called them to myoffice, why did they think I could or evenwould work an eleventh-hour save? Eventhough three hundred plus moms werehappy and grateful, those two angry moms pretty much ruined my morning.

Then Tabi walked in with a beautiful young woman in full Mayan dress. Her face looked familiar but Ijust couldn’t place her. She looked at me, smiling when she realized that I didn´t recognize her. Thenshe spoke and it dawned on me. Standing before me was Vilma, the tomato girl. She proudly handed mea folder and said, "Miss Lori, I have come to ask you for a job." As I opened her folder the tears beganto roll down my face. Vilma had graduated with honors from one of the top public teaching schools inGuatemala City as a fully certified preschool teacher. And here she stood before me, confident and allgrown up--the little girl who sat outside the market on the sidewalk, surrounded by tomatoes doing herschoolwork.

As she saw my tears, she began to cry. Then Heyson, my director, who had been her fifth grade teacher,began to cry... and pretty soon we were all crying. During those years that she was gone she had spenta year working and saving to pay for her school, three years studying and the last year working andearning enough to build a small room behind her mom's house to come home to live. She hugged meever-so-tightly and handed me her diploma and said these words: "This is for you. If it had not been foryou, your encouragement, and the opportunity that MORNING GLORY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL gave me Iwould be like my friends that live around here. Old before my time, mother to a handful of children andliving the hopeless life of poverty that they live. Thank you for believing in me, for teaching me tobelieve in myself, for fighting with my parents, and most of all, thank you for the chance you gave me. Iwould love to work for you because I dream of teaching little girls like me that there is hope, and withGod’s help and lots of hard work they can reach for the stars and make it. I want to pass on the legacyof hope that you gave me."

"Legacy of Hope." What beautiful words... meaningful and profound, yet simple. A legacy of Hope is thepromise of Morning Glory. Psalm 30 says, "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in themorning... You turned my sadness into dancing. You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy."The darkness of poverty and ignorance lasts but a moment but morning comes with learning and God’sglory dawns bright and joyful.

If you ever doubt that the money you send or the prayers you say are significant, I ask you toremember Vilma, the little girl that sold tomatoes in the market... now a confident, educated teacherand a strong woman of God. If it was just one life saved it would be worth it, but like Vilma arehundreds of others--girls and boys, now young women and young men whose lives have been changed,whose horizons loom bright and hopeful. Lives YOU have touched, lives you have changed. Indeed it is aLEGACY OF HOPE.

Post note: You better believe I will move heaven and earth to find a way to hire this young woman.

NIMA Notice:



Mary Beeks is taking over as director of Sponsor/Student relationship. Rob willcontinue to be our chief recruiter. All information requests are to be sent toMary at:E-mail: [email protected] [3], Snail mail: 3848 Walden Way,Dallas, TX 75287

Have You Seen The Vision?

Shannon Slee, Quincy, Illinois

It isn’t always easy to see the biggerpicture, is it? As followers of Jesus, Godalmost always challenges us to step out infaith even when we can’t see where His pathis going to end up.

For Old Testament Jews, that meantbelieving that the one true God they servedwould one day send them a Savior. For theMagi, it meant worshiping a baby Whoseministry to save the world had only justbegun. For Jesus’ disciples after Hiscrucifixion, that looked like trusting in Himeven when they hadn’t seen the emptygrave or met their resurrected Friend andLord. In the early church, and even in many

countries today, it often means facing persecution and even death with nothing more tangible than thehope of an eternal reward. In my sheltered, cozy life, it means loving and investing in two tiny, helplesshumans with the faith that one day they will honor God and glorify His name by serving Him and othersin His name. For Lori and others at Morning Glory, I know it means powering through difficult days withthe belief that all of their efforts will have incredible payoffs in the lives of the students and theirfamilies. It may take months or years or even decades to see the fruit, but time and time again God hascome through.

When Herb sent me this picture of the two-room building that will serve the students of the secondaryschool, my first thought was how rough it looked. But then I remembered that I have seen the vision ofMorning Glory as it fits into the mission of the all-powerful God of the universe. In each of the threetimes I have had the privilege to travel to Guatemala on short-term mission trips, I have seen theincredible progress that has been made in every interval between. Because I have seen this vision, Iknow that in what seems like the blink of an eye, this run-down building will be cleaned up and fixed upand filled with scores of students, hungry for knowledge and being equipped to contribute to theircommunity and the community of God. I’m so grateful for the inspiration they provide those of us whoknow and love them. Even if you don’t get to see the results in person, know that our God is one whoworks all things together for our good and will accomplish the challenge He has begun.

I’m excited to be able to contribute to the realization of the vision this Christmas through a gift from theMorning Glory Christmas Catalog. I will be giving a gift in honor of my parents, whose godly influenceplayed the role in my life that Lori and Morning Glory Christian School play in the lives of hundreds ofchildren and their families in the Llano, San Raymundo, and the surrounding areas in Guatemala. Ifyou’ve seen the vision, I sure hope you’ll consider doing the same.

NIMA Notice:Attention Morning Glory short-term mission trip alumni! Dean Pinney is going to be heading up theformation of the Morning Glory "kitchen cabinet," a group of past visitors who will weigh in, give financialsupport, and pray for the ongoing development of the ministry in Guatemala. We look forward to yourvaluable participation!



Team Work: A Big Job Takes A Big Team

Herb Pinney, Agapé Christian Church, Las Cruces, New Mexico

In 2000 B.C., a trade road from Tibet transported borax ore to the city of Babylon; in 800 A.D., on thesilk-road, borax, a very expensive ore, came into Europe, and then Marco Polo brought borax back toItaly to use in very expensive porcelain. The European glass makers used borax to harden glass andmake it able to withstand extreme temperatures. Borax was used in gold refining. It was veryexpensive.

In the 1880s the world’s largest deposit of borax was found in the Panamint Mountains on the west sideof Death Valley in the Mojave Desert of California. This ore is very heavy and the new mother lode was165 miles from the nearest rail head.

Thus begun the race to be able to carry tons of ore over dusty desert trails of sand and rock; all effortsproved unsuccessful until in 1883 a mule skinner named Francis Marion Smith hitched 18 big Missourimules and two horses to a hardwood wagon that could haul ten tons of borax ore at a time, with watertanks in train behind the ore truck, and began to successfully haul the ore. Each trip took ten days to getthe ten tons of valuable rock across the desert trail on to market.

The trip was in temperatures that reached 125 degrees fahrenheit during the day in the summer time; inwinter freezing weather and cold winds blew down from the 14,000-foot Sierra Nevada wall of rock justto the west.

During the years of 20-mule team transport, not a single break-down happened on the trips, nor was asingle animal lost on the treks. A modern invention replaced the mules in the 1890s; a steam enginenamed “Dinah” that promptly broke down, and was hauled back to town by the mules Dinah replaced.



Then a railroad spur was laid and borax became plentiful to the world market as laundry and hand soap,marketed as 20-Mule Team Borax; a natural product with no side effects as laundry soap, a successfulroach killer, and a hundred other uses in the growing market of ideas in the United States (Shannonmakes her cloth diaper detergent with it!).

Then came space travel, and the boron from the rock borax became triethylborne and was JP 7 fuel forthe Pratt-Whitney F1 engines and fuel for the NASA Saturn, Apollo, and sky lab projects. God created allthat we need for our successful life on this planet, and much of it looks just like a rock scatteredalongside the road that we travel everyday.

The Pacific Borax company had a rich find, and a real problem: how do you transport-- in the 1880s--tons of rock over the sands of the Mojave Desert along with a ton of wagons and another three tons ofwater? Smith had the answer and the skill to make it happen. He was a mule skinner and had thequality team to back up his ability to make them work together as a team. He tried one trip with tenmules and they just could not pull the weight of the load. He doubled his team and became a success.But the success was in the power of each mule only as it was hitched in synergism to 19 others eachpulling their weight. Today the New Iberian Mission is very much like the 20-mule team. We each mustpull our own weight and feel that we can only be a success as we pull in harness with all the rest of theteam.

Each of our Update readers is a very important part of our Morning Glory family outreach to the “Vilmas”of Guatemala. We have a million-dollar campus and more than a quarter of a million dollars in operationneeds each year. This is no time for any of us to be Lone Rangers. We are to be a part of the team andeach one must pull his and her own weight.

That is why things have worked so well so far; our total staff in Guatemala and all our friends here in theUnited States are all pulling their weight and doing a great job.

The only problem has been that the job that I have been doing for the last 30 years has gotten way toolarge for one person to do as a volunteer job along with many other jobs that need done every week. Itwas kind of like Smith when he tried to pull the load of ore with only ten mules; it was just too large ajob, so he had to expand his efforts.

As we moved along with giant steps in Guatemala, I was able to barely keep pace here. A few years agoShannon Slee came in to help with the Update, taking time off between babies (and for sure, welcomeback, dear Shannon!). Clifford Shaw from Billings, Montana, an old ministry friend came along as myprayer partner and personal coach. But the work just kept pilling up. There were rumors of help coming,but it just didn’t show up.

Then two wonderful women from Dallas and a young couple of Millennials from Tennessee cametogether with me at two different ends of one week in October with a workable plan to do what Smithdid when he added the extra ten mules--get more qualified and working help to get the job done.

We have always been totally transparent with you. When there was sin in the camp we told you, and wetold you what we were going to do or had already done about it. We asked your help to solve problemsthat we knew needed handled. This time, it is not sin or a problem in Guatemala, but a need for morehelp to handle all the work done here in the United States so we can pay for and get more help inGuatemala.

As an example, we have not kept up with the wonderfully expanded sponsored children’s program as itshifted from my direction to being directed by Rob. Children graduated and we did not inform you. Giftsand notes fell through the cracks, and no one wanted that to happen. One of the new members of theboard of directors that came on in October as a part of this change up is Mary Beeks. She has been toGuatemala many times and she loves the children. She is taking over the sponsorship program as ofDecember 2013.

I have been busy getting a complete list of sponsored children and sponsors put together for Mary. Itmay take a while to get it all straightened out, but Mary is the totally responsible one for sponsors andchildren. This is going to require a lot of help from Rob, who has done a fantastic job of recruiting newsponsors and organizing children for them and making sure that I get the money from the sponsors. Robwill continue as our chief recruiter. This will be a very full-time job going to a part-time non-salariedmanger. We are excited that Mary will be on board getting this program fully operable.



Another problem has been conflicting internet postings and a lack of organization between our outreachin the United States and from different ones in Guatemala. As of December 1, all our internetinformation and crafting and changes will come from a director on the new board and his wife, a non-voting member of the board. Sam and Tiffany Houck will be in charge of communications and will beworking with my right-hand man, Daniel, to organize and harmonize all internet projects. Allcommunications will be by e-mail and a hard copy file set-up has also been put in place for copies of allcommunications about the internet, so there is a full record of all that we are doing and plan to do.Another advantage to the board with Sam, Tiff, and Daniel is that they are Millennials, which brings ayouth point of view to the board.

We are breaking down several more of Herb’s jobs and are working with some very good people that willtake over as spiritual advisors to both the staff in the USA and in Guatemala. One to take over reachingout to megachurches and new churches for financial help, one to take over national and internationalmanagement in contacting and working with governmental agencies and major corporations; another totake over representing us to Bible Colleges, directing and planning interns, short-term missions and theplanning of the same. Dean Pinney, who has been my assistant, is taking over as director of Alumni. Weare bringing together under Dean’s expertise all of our past visitors to the campus as an inner group thatwe will call our "kitchen cabinet."

The idea of this board is not a group to sit around and vote on things, but a group of working directorswho all have important work to do--committed friends of Morning Glory Christian School who will getinvolved and get the job done.

In short, what I am talking about is teamwork. The synergism of this kind of working board can propelMorning Glory and all the dreams and plans well into the future with far more to accomplish than hasbeen accomplished. This is the kind of teamwork that has brought us to where we are and will take uson to where God intends us to be in the years and decades ahead.

Enjoying God's Vision & Provision

Shannon Slee, Quincy, Illinois

Herb asked me to share an update on life in the Slee household since the addition of baby EllianaMikayla on July 30. Our sweet, happy, healthy girl has been a tremendous source of joy to us even aswe have learned to adapt to having two little ones just seventeen months apart. Desmond is crazy aboutElliana and showers her with affection...most of the time!



Jordan has been putting in lots of extra hours in order to allow me to stay at home doing this incrediblyimportant ministry of "training these children up in the way they should go." For him, that has meanttaking on side jobs in the evenings when he is home along with working multiple weeks out oftown...nearly a thousand miles away at times. Needless to say, with a new baby, that wasn’t easy onany of us, but we made it through and are so very grateful for his commitment to this family! As for me,I believe the biggest development in my life has been a clearer sense of God’s vision and a greaterconfidence in His provision. As I continue to study His Word and learn from lessons He gives me daily asI serve my family, I believe that that vision for my life is this--to love Him and others wholeheartedlyand to raise children who will honor Him and extend His grace to the next generation. As for Hisprovision--needs aren’t always met easily, but I know that when we’ve given our all, we can restassured that He will see us through to tomorrow and fill in the gaps where we’ve fallen short. That hasgiven me great peace as I’ve missed my husband, struggled through chaotic moments with cryingbabies, and kept tabs on a lean checking account. I am learning to exemplify the definition of love thatTim Kimmel, in his book, Grace Based Parenting, writes: "Love is the commitment of my will to yourneeds and best interests, regardless of the cost." I will admit, as I’m sure Lori would about her manychildren at Morning Glory, that some days are really, really tough. But the joy that comes from seeingthe fruit of our labors of love makes every effort worthwhile and energizes us for each new day!

NIMA HousekeepingThis past year, the budget for the school and churches in Guatemala to be raised in the First World was$16,000 per month. The budget for report, support, travel, communication, and raising finances in theFirst World is $1,000 per month. The budget for offices, equipment, and utilities in the USA is basicallycovered by Agape Christian Church. This past year we, on several occasions, ran a few weeks late. Withthe increase in students, the budget in Guatemala will have to go up for 2014. I really need for myheavy hitters that made as-needed large gifts to come on a more regular basis until we get thefundraising by the new person or persons on the new board in full operation. Many have made an annualcommitment for their sponsored youth and we urgently ask everyone to check and see if their gift givingis up-to-date.

Boiling Frogs

Lori Nij, Colegio Cristiano Mañana Gloriosa, San Raymundo,Guatemala

There is an old adage... I am not sure where I first heard it. The story goes like this: if you put a frog ina pot of boiling water, the frog will immediately jump out and run away to safety. But put a frog in a potof cold water and bring it to a slow boil and the frog will stay in the pot until it boils to death, nevernoting the change in the water temperature. People react to change the same way--rapid change causesus to run away in fear, but slow and gradual change is rarely noted.



Lately many people have asked me to describe my philosophy of education. They look at me kind ofweirdly when I answer, "boiling frogs."

Twelve years ago when I began MORNING GLORY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL I knew where I wanted to go, butthe change was so far from the Guatemalan norm that I didn’t even dare try. That first year weregistered ninety children for school, but daily attendance was a challenge. If I demanded anything, theparents voted with their feet, removing their children from school. Everything was free; I provided thepencils, the notebooks, the snacks, backpacks, and even bought the first uniforms. Any commitment onthe parents' part was impossible. Even so, I constantly fought with them to leave their children in schooland not take them out for any excuse and put them to work. But this was a long way from the conceptof parental responsibility and participation that was my goal. Slowly and surely I began to teach,example, and push. Each year I turned the fire up just a notch. First, the parents paid half the price ofthe uniform and bought half the school supplies. Then we added a small monthly fee. Little by little weadded parental responsibilities. In the bimonthly parent meetings I began to talk about parenting andfinancial accountability. As parents would come into my office to tell me how they didn’t have anymoney, we would spend time talking about hard work and money management.

Slowly but surely the lessons began to sink in. One morning a mother of six children came to my officewith a sob story of how there was no way she could by uniforms for the four children who were still inschool. Her husband worked in construction in Guatemala City and what he made just barely covered hisdaily bus fare and sparse meals for the kids. She wanted her kids to get an education so they wouldn'tend up like her. This family lived in a corn cane, tin roof shack on land her husband had inherited fromhis family. I began to talk to her and explore her possibilities. I learned she loved to raise animals. Igave her a hundred quetzal bill and told her: "You can choose, buy the uniforms today, or I will give thechildren permission to come in their normal clothes for the first two months of school and you can investthis money in chickens to raise and sell." She chose to raise chickens and we had a long talk about theimportance of reinvestment and not eating all the profit and the principle. Three months later she cameinto my office with the money for four uniforms. She had not only raised the chickens but she hadbutchered them and taken them into Guatemala City to sell in the market to sell and thus increased herprofit margin. She took the profit, bought the uniforms and bought two boxes of chickens and the feedto raise the chickens. Once again she butchered the chickens and sold them herself, this time doublingher profit. Fast forward eight years. Her husband no longer works in construction; he drives the pickupthat takes her oldest three daughters into the different markets to sell chickens. Her old corn cane shackhas been replaced by a house made of cement blocks. She has two large chicken houses and now hasher own breeding hens. Her children have long ago graduated and continue to study, financed by herchicken business. She is only one of many examples--mothers raise pigs, have backyard vegetablegardens. I taught one mother to make fried fruit pies to sell; others make tostadas, tamales ornumerable other things investing the profits in the education of their children.

In twelve years I have continually turned up the fire of parental responsibility. The parents now coverone-eighth of the cost of each child, three-fourths of the cost of transportation and are fully responsiblefor uniforms and school supplies. When we had a meeting this last month to talk about the future, theyall agreed that if it became necessary they would pick up an even bigger portion of the cost. At the sametime I have watched my families prosper, blessed by God. Families that have learned the importance ofthe tithe, how to budget, how to prioritize spending, and the Miss Lori philosophy of a squirrel hole foremergencies. These are now faithful parents. Families who twelve years ago lived in tin roof shacks nowhave formal simple homes. Mothers have become grandmothers and we have begun with the second



generation. Parents who never dreamed of an education now have children in the university. As thoseeducated children enter the work force, the family economy rises once again.

The long-term goal of MORNING GLORY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL is to better the lives of our studentsthrough Christian economic principles and it is working.

However, even though the parents are responding with responsibility, the everyday costs of educating achild at Morning Glory continue to rise. University-trained teachers demand higher salaries; specializedmusic, computer, and English teachers do not come cheap. Instruments, books and computers add tothe educational costs. Each time we raise our educational level, our base costs go up.

Once again, this year we are raising our educational level, adding new textbooks to our teachingcurriculum. With this change we will be using the highest level textbooks offered in Guatemala. We areadding a reading book based on stories about Christian values and heroes of the faith. Each story is alesson about following God. So along with reading skills, our children will be reading material that buildstheir Christian life. This series of books comes in nine levels, one for each grade level; they are notcheap but we feel that it is an investment that will reap eternal benefits in the lives of our children. Thisis where you come in. Many of our parents, especially those with multiple children in Morning Glory, aregoing to struggle to be able to buy these text books. We are offering a delayed payment plan and manyhave started already making monthly layaway payments for next January. The text book company isgiving us a 20% commission that we will use to buy books for our most needy students.

We ask that those of you who would like to buy a Christmas gift for a/your sponsored child considerbuying the text book package. We budget twenty dollars from your monthly fee for books and if youchoose to add another thirty it will completely cover the fifty dollar cost for books for the next year. Thereading books, if cared for correctly, can be passed from child to child so it is basically a one-timeexpense.

We have prayerfully considered this decision and we feel it is necessary to continue to challenge ourstudents and teachers to reach for excellence. Hopefully the frogs won’t jump out of the water.

Teacher Proposal

Tiffany Houck, Nashville, Tennessee

Greetings to the faithful followers and supporters of Morning Glory Christian School! I hope this letterfinds you well. We would love to share with you something new that is currently in the works!

As many of you know, Morning Glory has been struggling with funding for the general maintainence ofthe school and the ever-increasing amount of students. In addition to that constant struggle, there arealso a great deal of new projects and ideas that have already been well thought-out, planned, andorganized for the addition and betterment of curriculum that are currently on standby, just waiting to beimplemented. The project is simply growing quicker than it can support itself.

One area of the budget that is not being met is that of the teachers' salaries. Lori has been stretchingthe funds to their limit as well as pulling out of her own salary to make ends just barely meet. Notpaying the teachers is obviously not an option... so allow me to further explain why greater budgetexibility within the teacher salary realm is more than vital to the very reason Morning Glory exists.

The education that Morning Glory offers its students gives them opportunities that they would otherwisenot have been able to have; that is obvious. Further, the children are brought up in a system that setsthem apart... a system that intertwines with Judeo-Christian principles not through force but throughsimple, factual,and logical proverbial teachings that equip the students to grow into responsible adultsdeveloped in their God-given abilities.

We strive to see our students truly learn, understand, and apply Christian principles to their lives anddaily activities. We want them to see God's hand in creation and understand His perfect plan for theirlives. To do this we need good, hardworking, and well-rounded teachers. This brings us to the point ofthis letter.

Guatemala’s public education system accepts mediocrity; Morning Glory Christian School does not. Inorder to continue and expand, we cannot expect our teachers to resist conforming to the mediocrity theywere raised in unless we encourage and motivate them correctly, and of course, pay them on time,allowing enough flexibility in the budget for future benefits or perhaps the opportunity to expand theirpersonal education in university and/or beyond.



A new program is being put together for teacher sponsorship. It will be similar to sponsoring a child,except Morning Glory supporters would have the opportunity to sponsor a teacher and follow them intheir educational success and as they directly affect the lives of the students. Individual shortbiographies about the Morning Glory teachers' goals and perhaps why they became interested inteaching within the fields they are in will be available, just as the student sponsor program is designed.

Currently the teachers receive the same salary as the public school teachers in the area. As I’m sure youall know, the level of education in these institutions is very poor and not much is expected out of theteachers. Most teachers work at a primary school in the morning from 7:30am-12:30pm and work at asecondary school in the afternoon from 1:00-5:00pm.

Teachers at Morning Glory are held to a higher standard. We expect and in most cases receive a muchgreater commitment and quality of teaching from our teachers than the local public schools do fromtheirs. We want to do more and our teachers can do more, but it is wrong to ask someone who isworking so hard and giving so much to give more and still have to continue working a second jobelsewhere with even less resources to provide for their own families' needs.

Secondly, some of our teachers need more education themselves. As Guatemalan educational regulationschange daily and we ourselves seek to take our education to the next level, it is pertinent that ourteachers have the opportunity to attend university and further themselves, benefiting not only them butthe very mission you support. Our goal is to be able to raise salary enough so that they have the optionof quitting their other jobs and focus on their work with us and further their own education in theprocess. We do not wish to simply pay them more. We want them to be encouraged and motivated andto know they have a group of people out there who pray for them and want to see them succeed andare willing to not only fund but mentor and minister to them as well. We want to show our teachers thesame care and love we show our students, being as they are a very important part of the mission.

We are currently working out the details as to how this program will actually function but we wanted tointroduce it to you and ask that you begin praying about this endeavor. If you think you might beinterested in partnering with a teacher, please send an e-mail to [email protected] [4] [email protected] [5] and look for details in the next newsletter! God bless you!



NIMA Victory Prayer Hotline:The Victory Prayer Hotline is open! We are here to take your requests, problems,disasters, and praises to the Lord right away! Between the three of us who are availablefor you to call, we have well over 130 years of ministry experience at your service. Ifmore than one call is needed, we can set you up a counseling program. Also, if you arecalling from a per-minute land line, give us your number and we will call you back on ourdime, since we all three have total national unlimited minutes.

VictoryHotline:

Herb Pinney:575.650.3915Melba Pinney:575.386.0032Dean Pinney:682.888.2138

NIMA Noice:Herb would like to invite any of you in the Dallas area, or who can be in the area that have the time, tocome to the NIMA meeting at Valley View Christian Church, 17601 Marsh Lane, Dallas, Texas 75287 at 3PM on Sunday, December 29, 2013. This is not an official meeting of any kind; it is an "iron sharpensiron" meeting for ideas, suggestions and for your information while I will be in the Metro-plex over thatweekend. For information, call Herb at 575.650.3915. We would love to see many of you there at thatmeeting. We want your ideas!

A Short History of NIMA and Morning GloryAcademy



Herb Pinney, Agapé Christian Church, Las Cruces, New Mexico

In 1952 we had become good friends and fellow students at New Mexico School of Mines, now called NewMexico Tech; we worked in science lab together, and he and family went to church with me. CarlTodachene was from Two Grey Hills on the Navajo Reservation. Upon graduation Carl and his familywere moving back to Two Grey Hills and I encouraged them to continue going to church. That is whenCarl told me that there were no churches on the reservation at that time, and had not been since the1868 treaty.

After I began my five more years of Bible college to prepare to be a "tent maker church planter," Idecided in a missions class to not only build churches in the United States, but to begin an effort to buildmission churches that would extend from the top to the bottom of the old Iberian Empire in the WesternHemisphere. That would mean to begin with the Navajo Reservation at Four Corners and move south tothe Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America.

After Graduating from Ozark Christian College [6] in 1962, I began building a new church at Aztec,New Mexico, and joined with David Scates and Vernon Hollett to break into the Navajo Reservation withChristian churches of all kinds. The Lord gave us victory, and today, churches, Christian schools, andmissions are all over the largest reservation in the United States. We moved south into New Mexico,Mexico, and then Central America and Colombia, South America. Our goal was to build churches,schools, medical centers, and Christian families and train Christian ministers that could also be "tentmaker church planters" and send them south. In my mind it was a two-hundred-year plan that wouldhave us working with other Christian missions to use the synergism of our joint efforts to accomplish animpossible dream and improbable plan.

In the process of putting this plan into operation, Lori Pinney taught at Colegio Biblico in Eagle Pass,Texas [7], and worked all over Mexico for several years. Here she met and fell in love with an olderstudent from San Raymundo, Guatemala--one Eugenio “Queno” Nij, a graduate of a German carpentryand cabinet building school in Guatemala. His church had sent him to Colegio to learn to be theirpreacher. He was to come back to San Raymundo and earn his living as a carpenter while preaching forhis home congregation.

While at Colegio, Lori’s sister, just younger than she, was living with her doing a nursing degree. She fellin love with Edgar Clavijo, a Colombian student. Edgar and Queno graduated the same year and HerbPinney was the graduation speaker. Edgar and Linda went to Colombia, and Lori and Queno went toGuatemala and Queno’s home church.

The next few years brought great changes in Colombia and their drug-lords-run government, andbecause of life threats, the Clavijos moved back to the States and are serving the Lord in SoutheastTexas. In Guatemala, Lori and Queno were on a roller coaster of service and opportunities. Guatemalawas just coming out of a 30-year civil war, and the problems were gigantic. During this time, Lori addedto her family of a girl born in Mexico and a boy born in Guatemala. As Queno preached for his homechurch, Lori became the representative for the medical services of UNESCO and at times turned thechurches of the community into epidemic centers to handle the many communicable diseases that cametheir way. In the process of reaching out medically, a hospital was built on the property that NIMAbought at the Llano just north of San Raymundo.



A time-out happened when Queno was arrested for murder one, and put in prison without a trial orrepresentation. It was a life sentence. He was the victim of a contrived charge brought by liberalAmerican politics that wanted to stem the vigilante response to lawlessness. The situation broke wideopen with the help of Baroness Caroline Cox of the House of Lords in London and Christian Solidarity ofEurope that sent a very highly trained undercover investigator. While in prison Queno brought 260 mento Christ, according to prison records. NIMA helped provide food to feed and medicine to heal manyprisoners during that time. Having been totally exonerated of all charges, Queno returned to SanReymundo a national hero... and out of grace with his home church.

At this point Lori took over our one-room, uncertified preschool, and things began to snowball. Withaccreditation, the school name was changed from Case de Agape to Morning Glory and our campusblossomed. Over the next eleven years one building has been built after another and many neighboringpieces of land have bought and added to the ever-expanding campus that contains the fully-equippedhospital. The campus is now home to more than ten school and hospital buildings.

During this time we have received one honor, reward, and highest recognition after another, includingthe last two years in a row being named the number one marching band in Guatemala. Lori Nij servedon the national education committee, Queno was chaplain for the President of the land, Lori was namedteacher of the year for all Guatemala, and the school received the highest academic rating in all ofGuatemala’s public and private schools. We have brought together an outstanding group of teachers,have been granted federal accreditation for a secondary college prep. school, and after one year, theregistrations at the beginning of enrollment doubled for 2014.

Up to this point the United States fundraiser, representative, and communicator with supporters andadvisor has been Herb Pinney of Agap&eacue; Christian Church, with tremendous help from the GoodLord. Starting in January 2014, a vastly expanded board of directors, each a highly respected person inhis or her field of specialty, will come together to capitalize on their various areas of expertise. With thegreatly enlarged board of directors and the increased blessings of the Good Lord, we feel the synergismof the men and women on board will propel the outreach of New Iberian Mission and create acontinuation program to see the work in Guatemala and the work in the United States reach far beyondtoday's scale and dreams. Included in this vision for the next decade are a Bible College for CentralAmerica, and an adult education trade school for the 91% of Guatemalan adults who cannot read or holdgood jobs, along with the planting of many more churches in Central America. One of the goals of theadult trade school is to teach the Bible; the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic; a trade; andmore, so we can extend our "tent maker church planters" on into Central and South America.

We have three building projects on the table at the present time: 1) the remodeling of the existing homeon the new property bought in 2013 to provide three new classrooms for the secondary school in 2014;2) the new secondary permanent building on the new property; and 3) the fellowship hall and SundaySchool rooms for the Sacsuy Christian Church. We are excited for your partnership as we move forwardwith God’s blessing in the coming year.

New Developments in NIMA Communications

Samuel Houck, Nashville, Tennessee

Hello followers of NIMA Missions. My name is Samuel Houck and my wife Tiffany and I are are veryexcited to be working with NIMA. We have been asked by Herb to help bring NIMA into the modern eratechnologically. As Herb himself says, he is a smoke signals generation kinda fellow but willing to learnand ready go into the 21st century. What we along with others are doing is pulling and putting the



school's resources and information online in one conglomerate, user-friendly website with databases foradministration purposes. This is allowing us to get organized and have all of our resources in order andat the fingertips of Herb and those who need to access information quickly. The days of going to yourchurch and checking the bulletin board for mission updates have come and gone. For many, such formsof communication may seem archaic; even more so to the newest generation of NIMA supporters. As theeconomy changes, new churches come on board, and the school expands, we are faced with a weakness.This weakness is our ability to get the information about new happenings out in a timely manner. Withmore and more short-term groups visiting Guatemala from all over the country, the demand for fastinformation is increasing. With the school growing at the rate it is, we would not want to allow it to runpast us resulting in a lack of funding as has been the case lately. Paper letters are expensive and timeconsuming and if we have resources available that allow us to be better stewards of the mission’smoney and time, then we feel led to take advantage of them. Up until now, newsletters have been goingout every month or two. If you wanted to contact someone or talk in person, you had to hunt down apersonal email or call Guatemala, which is obviously a hassle. The current websites contain bits andpieces of the picture but in most cases are outdated. The goal is to have all the information in one placeand provide you with an accurate, up-to-date picture of what your time, prayer, and money issupporting. We want you to know just how important you are to the individual students you support andto the mission at large. You may not feel like you are doing much, but every prayer you pray and everycent you provide is put into spreading Christ’s love. We are 100% dependent upon your involvement. Atthe same time, as stewards of the resources God has imparted to us, we understand the importance ofbeing held accountable for our actions and proving that these funds and even the time individualsdedicate to coming down on a team is put to good use for furthering the kingdom. As part of improvingcommunication, there will be a contact section on the new website. If you call, we will answer or call youback as soon as possible. If you email, you will get a response. Many younger folks are very used tofinding information quickly, and if they don’t find it, they simply move on to the next area of interest.Our goal is to catch and inform. We look forward to keeping you up-to-date and letting you know justhow impactful you are as part of NIMA and Morning Glory Christian School.

Our Information SectionNew Iberian Mission AssociationPO Box 15133Las Cruces, NM 88004-5133

Office: 575.647.2168Mobile: 575.650.3915Home: 575.386.0032

www.morningglorychristianacademy.org [8]www.missionoffaith.org [9]

This article is from New Iberian Mission Association (NIMA) :: Mission of Faith http://www.missionoffaith.org/

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