As most of you already know there are 3 children in the Mercado family: Beverly, Kesler, and Byron. Thanks to the faithful support of you, their sponsors, they all had the opportunity to go to school this year. 2 of the children, Beverly and Kesler, passed their year of school this year however, Byron did not which is why we are sad.

One of our missionaries had a meeting with Olga the other day and Olga had just come from another meeting with the director of the children’s school. It wasn’t long into the meeting before Olga tearfully told us that Byron didn’t pass school this year. Thankfully, our missionary had just had a discussion with one of Olga’s friends a few days before and this woman also had a child who didn’t pass the year. So our missionary and Olga’s friend, who were both in this meeting, were able to encourage Olga. As we did with her friend we encouraged Olga not to be distraught by this because we at Servants recognize that this was a hard year for a lot of our children. Most of them were able to be enrolled in better schools this year which is a huge blessing but at the same time better schools means a better, and for most students, a tougher education than what they had been getting. This is good because we believe it’s important for our kids to have quality educations but at the same time we recognize the need for tutors for some of our families based on the results of this year’s schooling. Thankfully, God already has it in the works to send us 3 new missionaries in January who have histories in teaching and a passion for helping children with their educations. We assured Olga that this was not a waste of time because even through Byron didn’t pass he still learned some things which is better than him not being in school at all and learning nothing or being in a school that doesn’t have a good of an education and learning less.

Olga, and all of us at Servants, are so proud of Beverly and Kesler for their hard work. Olga has expressed repeatedly how thankful she is and what a blessing it is for all of her kids to have had the opportunity to go to a better school this year. Also, we are happy to celebrate that Beverly will now be starting her next level of education next year.

Beverly being able to advance to her next level of education is a another blessing from God not only because of her hard work but because of what Olga was able to do these last 2 weeks to help make this possible. You see, in Guatemala once you reach a certain level of education your parents need to sign papers for you to advance further. Because Olga was brought to Guatemala illegally in the past she had not identification, legal papers, or papers showing she had custody of her children. Thankfully, through the support of Servants and the family’s sponsors, Olga was able to return to Honduras 2 weeks ago and finish the process of getting all the papers she needs for the whole family to have legal documentation. It was a process that was supposed to take less than a week but ended up taking 2 weeks to complete. Olga is very thankful it is finally done as she’s been trying to save to do it for almost 2 years and if she hadn’t been able to do it Beverly would not have been able to advance in her schooling.

Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support for the Mercado family. Please pray for Byron to do better in schooling next year and for Beverly and Kesler to continue to do well in school. Please also pray for our missionaries who are coming to join us next year. Olga’s family and many of our other families are anxious to have more people here who can help with the tutoring for the children in the Serving At Risk Families ministry. Finally, please pray for Olga and her food selling business. She was not making much profit after her first few days and then with her trip to Honduras she hasn’t had the business open for awhile. She is seeking the Lord on what work He wants her to do because now that she has her legal papers she can get a legal job but she also realizes that she can make more money and have more time with her kids if she continues her food selling business and it is profitable. Please pray for clarity of God’s will and for provisions for this whole family.