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For the Sake of the Gospel

When thinking about my journey to GEM it’s hard to find the best starting point. While there was a momentary decision to step into partnership with GEM, the Lord has so intentionally and intricately worked in my life to lead me to this point. I find it hard to discern what to say because I couldn’t simply state what I’m stepping into without sharing a testament of the goodness and faithfulness of God, and for that, I could write a book.

The past couple of years of my life has been nothing short of amazing. Throughout my time in college, the Lord has used so much to draw me near to Him, grow my faith, and sanctify me. Never have I understood the Gospel more, nor have I known the love and grace of God in such a real way. Time and time again He has revealed to me His faithfulness (2 Corinthians 1:20) and steadfast love (1 John 4:7-21). Time and time again I’ve been reminded of my own brokenness and need for forgiveness, and I’ve been brought to my knees in awe of how He has delivered and redeemed me (Isaiah 53, Romans 5). And time and time again I’ve been reminded of the gift it is to share such a great truth with others, as well as the blessing it is to have received this mission from the Lord (Isaiah 52:7, Acts 1:8)! Through homeless ministry, church outreach, youth groups, and classroom teaching, the Lord has broken my heart for the lost and grown in me a deep love for the Gospel. I have been blessed to see His beauty and wonder through knowing His sons and daughters, and I have had the opportunity to know His character and love more by doing life with them. It was through this time of growth that the Lord introduced me to and called me to serve with GEM after graduating college and to teach in one of their gospel-saturated schools. In all the uncertainty of life and the constant discovery and discerning that takes place in all seasons, the Lord has made one thing abundantly clear:  all my days will be spent building the Kingdom and sharing the truth of His love (Acts 20:24). Of course, this is the call of all Christ-followers, but sometimes it takes time for this truth to really penetrate the heart. Overall I have learned more and more that we are to live our lives on mission to love others as Christ has loved us. Every day we wake up we are stepping onto the mission field, that’s 365 opportunities a year to be a light and share the Gospel. My heart has been heavy with the burden to reach the unreached and follow His will to any and every nation He leads me to. And for the next two years, He has led me to Puerto Escondido. I couldn’t be more excited and expectant for all He will do!! He has never let me down, and in everything He has far exceeded and totally crumbled my expectations, so I know He’ll be faithful to do it again!!

The overall mission of the GEM is to share the gospel around the world through education that is quality, affordable, and accessible. My role within this, most straightforwardly, is to be one of those missionaries providing education. The Lord had equipped me through my time at school to step into this role of educator. However, I believe my role goes beyond that of the classroom because I believe the ministry and mission the Lord calls us into is an all-encompassing one. One thing He has really taught me is that effective evangelism is rooted in relationships and consistency. Yes, the Gospel can be shared in a moment with words and a seed is planted (which is great because His word never returns void), but growth and roots are seen in longevity, in discipleship. The Gospel we share is one of love, yet we live in a world where love is a lost concept, an unknown idea, or a twisted mutation of what it should be. Therefore, it takes relationship and consistency to display the love that we are speaking of. And relationship and consistency will often go beyond the classroom walls. So my role with GEM, in Mexico, and everywhere the Lord has called me is to continue to let Him saturate every area of my life with His love, so that in every season and all moments His love can be found. Whether in the school building, on the beach, or at the market, my job is to share the Gospel.

To share our God.

To be His light.

And while I know I have much growing and sanctifying to do, this is my prayer for how He may work in me and through me, as well as all my fellow missionaries!

This is an INCREDIBLY condensed summary of how the Lord led me to and prepared my heart to serve with GEM, there’s plenty more to be said of His goodness through that journey. I hope you can join us in prayer as we move to our new homes and begin to live and serve here all for the sake of the Gospel!

– Hunter Benson, GEM Missionary–Kindergarten Teacher

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Remembering the Big Picture

Being a missionary is not always easy and even when it feels easiest it is really some of the toughest times. I do not mean anything bad by this but it just takes intentionality to keep your focus on God and not let Satan tempt you. This is especially true when you are working for God in a new country. Working in another country with a language different from what you know is hard and you are far away from your comforts too.

One of the times that it is hard to not be able to speak the same language as my students is when I am teaching Bible. This is a time I really want my students to understand what I am saying although verses from the Bible can be hard to understand in your first language. This means I have to really simplify what I say during Bible time to help my students comprehend the topics we are discussing.

Not speaking the same language as my students has truly pushed me so hard in my teaching and my faith. In the classroom what I do to help my students understand in Bible class and others is use simple English and speak slowly. I also use some hand signals or act things out as well as other visuals like printed off pictures of things. Another thing that I do is use lots of repetition. My students repeat words after me that I believe are important and I repeat my direction many times. Also I review topics from previous lessons at the start of every class. Repetition is something I have found to be so beneficial and valuable for my students and we have done lots of review in our classes but they know it now and I can start them off counting and they will finish counting now.

Not speaking the same language as my students has pushed me in my faith because I am not always sure what they are saying on going through. This is hard because I am not sure how I can help them best or what I can say that they will understand to help counsel them. To help me and my students with this I have started to pray more intentionally. I pray for students by name and what I have noticed about their personality, academics, or their families. I do not know everything they may be going through but I know that God does and He hears even our unspoken prayer requests. I give each student and their worries to God because He knows them better than I will.

As I have been praying intentionally for my students it helps to remind me especially on my hard days of why I am here. I am not here to be far away, I am not not here to take a tour of the town, I am not here for a stamp in my passport, and I could go on and on. I am here to not just teach but show God’s love to these students, their families, and their community. This can take work sometimes to let go of my bad days and fully give them to God so that I can teach and live with the right attitude. Not just on my bad days but on my good days too when I just want to be at the beach I need to be intentional and continue to pray to God and pray for my students.

Sometimes in the States, in Mexico, or just in my classroom I have good days and I have bad days but no matter the day it is important to pray. The big picture is that one day we will all be able to go home to God’s kingdom and we want to make sure that the way we live glorifies Him and put the Gospel on display of others to see as well. There is always someone watching the choices you make especially as a teacher so it is important that we live and love the way God would. It will be an amazing day when we are all by God’s side and surrounded by so many people who we know and love.

– Sydni Williams, GEM Missionary

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Blessing Amidst Hardship – A Message from Casey Herring

Hey GEM family! I am writing this in hopes that it is encouraging to you and gets you excited about everything God is doing through our ministry.  I recently just got back from Puerto Escondido. I came to meet with our school directors, meet with staff, and participate in some end-of-the-year events (like graduations).  It was an AMAZING week and I want to share some of the highlights. I hope you take away from this post how awesome and great our God is! He is great, and greatly to be praised!

First, La Luz (Juquila): I met with Tito and Betty and started our meeting by saying how hard this year was and how it was probably the worst we’ll ever have because of the pandemic. I tried to be encouraging… and then I let them talk. I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. I thought we were going to work through program problems, staff problems, money problems, etc. Instead, they just shared about how this was actually the best ministry year we’ve ever had in Juquila. They shared that the pandemic created the perfect opportunity in Juquila for our La Luz team to go and be with our school families in their homes (virtual schooling wasn’t possible).

Tito and Betty said that over the course of this school year, because students couldn’t come to classes, they were in different homes every day and 4 school parents came to faith and made decisions to follow Jesus!  They are currently meeting with each family in their home once a week studying the bible and discipling them! In addition to that, there are 10 more families (non-Christians) that they have started to study the bible with on a weekly basis. They said it started by just dropping off homework each week, then it turned into real conversations about hardship and life, and then finally over time Tito and Betty and their teachers were given permission to open the bible and share from God’s word. It’s been an amazing work over the course of the whole school year! I am confident there will be more salvation and rejoicing in Heaven!

The meeting with Cornerstone (Huatulco) was basically the same.  This is their second year in existence as a school. Talk about a tough time to start a school, right?  Nope, according to Sandra and David, it was the perfect time! Last school year they built relationships, this year they spent the whole school year in their homes.  Sandra and David said 8 families made decisions to return to the Lord and recommit their lives to Jesus (and be committed to gathering with their local churches)! They also said there were 5 new converts (all adults) this school year…including the water guy who delivers water weekly and a construction worker who was hired to build new bathrooms on campus!

I wish you could’ve heard their stories and seen their excitement. They’re tired, exhausted really, and have had so many hard things to deal with this school year. But mostly they’re just so happy to be reaching their communities and serving God in a meaningful/impactful way.  They had so many stories of God’s grace and how lives have been changed.  This post is a very poor replacement for their stories.  It’s truly incredible how God is working through our schools and moving in those two communities.

For Manantial, staff has been working through hardships in the midst of an unprecedented time. Virtual school in a developing country is NOT easy! However, this trip has given me the chance to meet with and talk to our directors, leaders, teachers, and school parents. It was a hard year–for sure–but our people and our school parents LOVE Manantial and are so grateful for our school. Parents are hopeful and excited for this next school year.  I’ve heard so many stories over the last week from parents about how much Manantial means to their children and to them.

God is at work and He’s doing great things.

Thank you all for your encouragement, support, and prayers. The Lord has proven Himself once again to be so faithful in tough times, and in the darkness His glory shines ever so bright.

I pray that you are encouraged and blessed by all the ways Christ is working throughout Global Education Ministries. May Christ be glorified, honored, and praised.

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All Followers of Jesus are Teachers

Many of us can talk about one teacher that changed our life. For me, it was a High School teacher that lived out the Great Commission in his job by sharing the truths of Jesus in his class. It changed my life as I saw a picture of someone carrying out the Great Commission in a secular environment. Teaching is life-changing.

Over the past six months, my entire view of teaching has been transformed. While my only teaching experience has come amid COVID, I can say without a doubt that teaching is difficult but it is also life-changing. There is a weight that all teachers feel, as one thinks about the future impact that the students before them could have. Despite not feeling particularly gifted in school teaching, I am encouraged by Jesus’ call to make disciples or to make students of Jesus.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples [students of Jesus] of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” ”
Matthew 28:18-20

As followers of Jesus, whether a professional educator or not, we are all teachers and we are all students. The Great Commission is primarily spoken of in the context of missions and ministry, I believe that it also carries the message to be a student of Jesus and a teacher for Jesus. It doesn’t matter your profession or your giftings, as a follower of Jesus, this is our mission.

Before one can be a teacher of any area, they must first be a student. In the same way, one must be a disciple or student of Jesus before they can teach others about Jesus. As students, we are spending time in His word and His presence. We desire to learn from Jesus our teacher.

The Great Commission is a call for all disciples or students of Jesus to make students of Jesus of all nations. Jesus is our teacher. He taught his students/disciples during His ministry and He was preparing them for when they would carry forth His ministry and teach others. We are all carrying forth His ministry of discipleship and teaching.

Jesus cared about teaching the truth and teaching it in a way His listeners would understand. He didn’t just teach to pass along more information. Many of His listeners had lots of knowledge but they had not truly meditated on it. Rather, Jesus sought for his listeners to discover. He did so by asking really good questions that prompted His listeners to reflect. Someone doesn’t become a follower of Jesus just by head knowledge. Someone becomes a follower of Jesus through discovery and through the work of the Holy Spirit in opening one’s eyes to their need for a savior. It is through the life-changing work of teaching that God is using followers of Jesus to transform the lives of others for eternity.

All Followers of Jesus are Teachers.

– James Shank, GEM Missionary

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My Favorite Moments at El Manantial

August of 2015 began my journey in Mexico. It was only the second time I had traveled out of the country. The first time was just one month earlier when I went to Canada for missionary training. The idea of moving to another country was a little scary, but I had no doubt that God was calling me to serve with Global Education Ministries. I have been blessed by the experiences where God has shown His work in the school and in my life.

One of my favorite moments was a conversation I had with a parent of one of my students. After our Christmas play, the mom of the student (who portrayed Gabriel) came up to me and said that she was very thankful that her son had the opportunity to be in the play. She said that it was good for him. He is one of my students who knows a good amount about the Bible but doesn’t understand how real it is and how God can change his life. This is why it was a big deal for him to play the angel who shared with Mary and Joseph about the coming of Jesus.

The sweetest moment I’ve had with a student was during our VBS week. We had a church from Oregon come down and share Jesus with our students through crafts, memory verses, Bible stories and new worship songs. After the gospel message was shared with the fifth and sixth graders, the fifth-grade teacher and I stayed around to talk with any students who had questions. One of my girls asked me how we can know God is real. I was able to share with her how God directs each of our lives. I specifically shared with her how God CEMbrought me to Puerto to teach her. I was grateful that I could openly share with her about God’s desire to be a part of her life.

Our weekly chapel time has also been a part of some precious moments for me. After lunch on Fridays, we have the unique opportunity to worship God by singing, combined with hand motions for each song. What makes that time so precious is that I can stand alongside my sixth graders and the fifth graders and do the hand motions together. I love to see the pure joy in each kid’s face that you don’t often have the opportunity to see in class.

Being a first-year teacher in a foreign country has been challenging, but each of those memories I mentioned has made me so grateful that God chose to bring me to Puerto Escondido and the Manantial School. Conversations with parents, sharing gospel truths with students, and singing praises to God with young people are all reasons why my first year living and working in Puerto has been truly special. I hope you are encouraged by hearing how God has been working in my life through our school in Mexico!

 

12311072_10153737475897037_6591797797304556083_nTracy Frohlich graduated from Erskine College, in South Carolina with a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology in 2013. She loves worshiping God through music and is excited about what the Lord will teach her through this unique opportunity in Puerto Escondido!