Ok so do you want the good news first or the sad news first??? We’ll go with the sad news first since it’s always better to end on a happy note.  🙂

Last week one of our missionaries in Guatemala spent some time with Dayana and could tell she was very upset. Knowing that Dayana had a meeting that morning with the director of the school her sons attend our missionary asked her if everything was ok. Dayana was hesitant to talk about it at first but she eventually shared that she found out that morning that Estuardo, her oldest son, failed his year of school. Through tears Dayana expressed that she is so sad because she wants her boys to have a good education so that they can have the opportunity at a good life. She doesn’t understand what happened because the year before this Estuardo was not able to go to school because Dayana couldn’t afford it and he was so happy to have the opportunity to go to school this year. Dayana also expressed that she feels so bad about this because she knows that the only way Estuardo was able to go to school this year was through the generosity of you, her faithful supporters. She told us that she feels worried that Servants and the people who are helping her family through Servants will feel like it was a waste of money and time for Estuardo to go to school this year. Our missionary assured her that this is not how Servants operates and the missionary also said she is confident that none of her supporters would feel that way either.

At Servants we understand that this year 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 Dayana that this was not a waste of time because even though Estuardo didn’t pass he still learned some things which is better than him not being in school at all and learning nothing.

The good news is that Andre, Dayana’s youngest son, passed his year of school. He only had 2 classes that were lower in grades and he will be able to retake those classes during the next 2 months of vacation. Dayana, and all of us at Servants, are so proud of Andre and all of his hard work and Dayana is also so very thankful for the opportunity given to both of her boys to go to school this year.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for the Mansilla family. Please continue to pray for Estuardo to do better in school next year. Dayana has told him he needs to work during all of vacation to help make some money. Her hope is that he will realize how hard it is to find a job and that the jobs you find when you have a lower level of education are very hard. She is hoping this will motivate him to do better next year. Please also pray for Andre to do well in his 2 classes he needs to retake during vacation. He told us he is a little sad he has to take the classes during vacation but he realizes it’s his own fault. Finally, please pray for our missionaries who are coming to join us next year. Dayana’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.