Dear praying friends,

I see that I haven't written a newsletter since late January. We have been very busy but also I've been just a bit lazy in not communicating with you. Please forgive me. We so appreciate those who pray and support the work here. We are near the end of another school year (three weeks left) and have been sustained by your prayers and concern for us.

I have traveled more than usual this spring: Dubuque, IA for Christian Ministries Seminar (where good contacts were made for next year), Sante Fe for administrators conference, Kansas and MO for spring break, Phoenix for 7/8 trip, and Rehoboth for Native American Schools Conference. Next week Ruth and I take the 11/12 grade to Washington, D.C. and NYC for their end of year trip. This all takes lots of planning and usually involves a lot of driving. We did break down in Phoenix but God worked amazingly to keep us safe and we were able to get the bus fixed without major inconvenience.

We have done well in the sports area. Our girls BB team won its fourth league championship. The boys took fourth place. Our girls and guys teamed up with some other schools to win the all star VB and BB games this past weekend. We are now playing co-ed softball in PE and having an in house tournament with good competition.

We have had a wet winter and spring so the desert is as green as I've ever seen it. We are expecting more rain this week.

One of our former students who has been coming to Ruth's craft class trusted the Lord this spring which is very exciting. Pray for Bernelda Begay that she would stay true to the Lord and that her mother Francis will trust the Lord soon. We will have a youth group minister in their home this summer.

We have had three youth groups and several couples here this spring helping us out. They have been a great help and encouragement. We have eight youth groups scheduled for the summer. The main project this summer will be to erect a 40x80 metal building which will house our vo-tech program. The building has been ordered and paid for. We still need several thousand dollars for the cement.

We have 7 seniors and 9 eighth graders graduating on May 12. Pray for all the preparations and that the program will speak to the parents and community about the Lord. Four of the seniors are professing believers.

We have two teachers planning to come next year. Solomon Sun and his wife Sarah will come to teach 4th grade. Kelli Wilson is coming to teach 1st grade. Solomon and Kelli are both graduates of Emmaus. Darrel Valdois finally got his bus drivers certification so we are looking pretty good for next year. We still are in desperate need of a maintenance man

Ruth has grown to enjoy her job as bookkeeper which is a major answer to prayer.

Again, thank you for praying for the work here. What a joy to have 89 children (and by extension about 45 homes) under the sound of the gospel each day.

John & Ruth Bloom

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12)

To my praying friends:

The first few days of March were spent at the NMCAA Basketball Tournament. This year yet again our girls team won the championship. All the games were exciting and the last couple were close. This is now the 4th consecutive year they have won.

At the end of the first full week we had the privilege of a bell and vocal choir from a Utah Christian school coming and performing for the whole school. This is the second time they have come I think. It was a treat to have them and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Also that evening the 5th & 6th grade class had their annual Restaurant fundraiser. Since their are only 8 of them total the Junior High helped out some and shared in the profits for their class trip. For the entertainment Anne sang and Darlene (visiting from California) play her violin.

During their Spring Break a group from Emmaus came to help out for a week. The guys did various projects including digging around my trailer home. We are planning to build a new auto shop in it's place so it was scheduled to be moved. Since it was set into the ground so there was no step up to the door it took quite a but of digging around it to prepare it for moving.

Over our Spring Break the following week Ranson and I finished the digging then disconnected the water, sewer, electricity, phone, and gas. Then we put on the axles and wheels and with a little help from the backhoe we pulled it out. We carefully maneuvered it through Mission housing and it is now parked down by the dumpster. The plan is to turn it into a storage shed behind the school. That will get all our school storage from the second floor down to the same level as all the classrooms.

The next week after moving the trailer a group from Pueblo, Colorado came for a few days to help out. The guys in that group tore out the insides of my old home (I am now living in the block house next to where the trailer was.) They also removed all the windows and covered the holes with metal siding. As of the end of March my old house has basically been destroyed as a home and is now ready for a new additions that will make it a good storage shed.

During March I have been able to spend a lot more time with several of the students at their home. They preschool to upper elementary age. With a little of their help we have built (and are expanding) a bike trail by their house. It is about 2-1/2 feet wide and 1,250 feet long so far. Some might wonder what building a bike trail has much of anything to do with sharing the gospel. Well, to these 4 kids it means everything it means a whole lot more than just somewhere to ride their bikes. I think relationships are one of the keys.

Pray for the students here to have a change of heart toward the Lord. Very, very few get this encouragement from home. In fact, many of them are encouraged to do whatever they feel like and easily get their own way by whining or simply ignoring any kind of authority. Your prayer is important in this area.

For Christ we serve,

Andrew Nelson

Here is a preview of the photos I have posted for March. You can view all 38 of them on my website including the State Basketball Tournament and other March Snapshots ... plus a video clip of the Bell Choir. Visit my website for more frequent news and photos. www.drewnels.net

Dear Friends,

I thank the Lord that you are joining us in the work He is doing here at Immanuel Mission. I shared recently at a Ladies Missionary Conference in Fullerton, California. The Lord gave me the story about the demon-possessed boy that the disciples weren't able to help. In Mark 9:29 Jesus says, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer." It feels like much of the work we are involved in here at Immanuel Mission is like that demon possessed boy. There is so much we cannot do without the help of your prayers. I'm so encouraged that we are not alone in this work.

We saw one of our women who comes regularly to our craft class trust the Lord this winter and then within a few weeks her faith was shaken and we despaired of her continuing in her new walk with the Lord. But He is faithful and she is coming again and slowly trusting us and, I hope, the Lord more and more. Another woman has begun coming to church with her mother and we see her also drawing closer to saving faith in the Lord Jesus. Since Valentine's Day, a whole new group has started coming each week to our craft class. These are Lorena Herbert's sisters and nieces. We've been praying for Lorena's family for years and her nieces attended or attend our school. We would be thrilled if the Lord chooses this year to be the time He saves Lorena's family. Keep praying.

The rest of the year will go by in a blur I am sure. We are a month away from the Academic Meet that we participate in with three other mission schools. I am in charge of the event and don't have Debbie Nininger to help me this year so pray that I'll find someone else or that God will provide time and energy to do it myself. That seems to be how He has provided for us this year—not with permanent staff but with extra energy and short term helpers that have been a great encouragement. The day after the Meet is over, I go with the Blooms and the 11 th and 12th graders on a week long trip to NYC and DC. I am excited to go with them but will need to prepare for a substitute for my 4th graders while I am gone. I have some who are praying about subbing for me, but don't have it locked in yet. Darrel Valdois is now driving the bus so we are thanking the Lord for that. It is kind of fun to look back over the year and see how God has provided for us just at the right time and just the right amount. We've seen him fill jar after jar of oil and make the flour last until the next rain time and time again.

I am thankful that the Lord has let us be hungry this year so that He could fill us and we would more clearly know it was from Him. Continue to pray about staff for next year. There are several that are praying and planning to come. John Bloom knows more than I about the specifics in that area. It is looking like I will get to go back to upper grades music and math. I took a week off of consumer math with my 11th and 12 th graders and did Driver's Ed. for a week. That was fun. Two have gotten their driver's licenses and two plan to soon. Three aren't 18 so will need to finish the process with a parent. Ok, now I'm just rambling.

Talk to you later,

Anne Denny