Instituto El Rey is a High School up the road from the library that serves the River Valley. I thought I'd share their annual report with you, and also their request for Science and English teachers. It is a wonderful place to live and work.
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Instituto El Rey Annual Report December 2005
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus,
Greetings from a finally sunny Honduras!
There are many scriptures in the Bible that say "...give thanks to God...". I would like to quote one of those scriptures in its entirety, Psalm 100 - in my Bible it is titled "A Psalm for Thanksgiving"; maybe it is entitled the same in yours.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before Him with joyful singing.
Know that the Lord Himself is God.
It is He who has made us and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Then verse 4 says, Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him; bless His name.
verse 5, For the Lord is good.
His lovinging kindness is everlasting
And HIs faithfulness to all generations.
As I reflect on the events of this past year, I am so grateful to God for His goodness; for His loving kindness, and for His faithfulness to go before us and prepare the way. What a blessing and a wonder it is to behold Him through what He is doing here, in and through Insitituto El Rey!
Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving - a day of giving thanks to God for all that He has blessed us with. We hope and pray that you also enjoyed a wonderful day of giving thanks.
During a period of 3 weeks beginning about October 23 we have been pummelled by hurricanes Beta, Wilma and Gamma. It rained about 30 inches during the first two hurricanes, but Hurricane Gamma, which began November 16, became a deluge of about 35 inches causing the rivers near the school to become raging torrents which swept away the nearby bridge isolating the villages of Yaruca, Toncontin, Urraco and others off the main road. These villages represent about 725 families, or about 5, 075 people, who were totally cut off from food supplies for five days until the rivers subsided and allowed some to begin to cross to Rio Viejo. Two churches in La Ceiba brought up food and clothing which we helped distribute. We thank God for all of you who have prayed for the people and for us during this time!
We had the closing ceremony for the school year on November 10. In this ceremony we recognize the top scholars, perfect attendance, the teachers and the parents come to receive the report cards for their students. We started the year with 142 students in the 7th thru 11th grades. Four students left school for various reasons thus giving us a closing total of 138! Of those, 29 received academic excellence with an average of 91% or greater. Six students received our highest award called "sobresaliente". In all their classes they always earned a grade of 91% or higher during the entire school year. (For the higher grades that included non-optional classes as chemistry, physics and statistics.) We had nine students with perfect attendance. Three other students missed perfect attendance by one day because the river was too high to cross.
In the first week of November we had pre-matricula for the coming year. Prospective students and their parents came for an interview with the principal and took a short admission test. We have more than 65 matriculated for the 7th grade, but we have openings for 48 students. It is a bitter-sweet situation.
Our teachers are the key to the "success" of the school! They are Ester Ramirez, our principal, who has been with us for 5 years; Cesar Banegas has also been with us since the beginning and teaches chemistry, physics, biology and general science; our Spanish teacher is Julia Palma; Liliana Buck teaches mathematics and has a master's degree in Finance; Nely Mejia teaches Practical Activities, art and Music; Milvia Corea teaches social studies and civics; Joseph Medina teaches computer classes and physical education; Damaris Martinez teaches math, accounting and Bible; and David Fortin teaches social studies, Spanish, Bible and Music. Nely and Damaris were born here in the valley and have returned to work in this ministry. These are our Honduran teachers.
We have volunteer teachers - Chris Struna has been developing and teaching the computer program for the past two years. Susie Substad and her family have been helping at the school this past year. While she taught English her husband taught the carpentry class and her 4 children helped in various ways at the school. Kimberley Roelofs from Minneapolis helped out for a month, and Mike Seger, a teacher from our home in Maple Valley came to teach for two month during the summer. Jennifer Morgan who was with us the end of last year and this year taught English, music, physical education and cooked lunches for our teachers. And then there is us - administrators. We also teach English, Bible, art, math and a physics lab.
So there you have it. A mixture of people bringing their talents, personality and creativity saying "Use me, Lord". What a blessing each one has been in this ministry to the students!
By the way, next year we will need another science teacher and one, if not two, English teachers. Perhaps God is calling you to one of these needs!
The cost this year to operate the school was about $78,000. God has miraculously supplied what was needed through the years! Thank you so much for your generous giving, giving to the scholarship program and praying for Instituto El Rey.
We hope you have a most wonderful and blessed Christmas as you celebrate the birth of Jesus.
God bless you.
And now - "To gain for the Lamb the reward of His sacrifice", Earl and Sharon Washburn, Administrators of Instituto El Rey.