MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas from Quito, Ecuador!

Students… they bring us joy, they make us cry; watching them grow is the reason we are here.

Our boys hang out with some of Dave's students 
from Korea, Ecuador, and Iran 

Alumni… their visits back from college bring to mind the proverb “Leadership is planting trees under whose shade you’ll never sit.” Still it’s nice to see the saplings!

Alliance Academy... all three boys are now in our school full-time and sang their hearts out in the Christmas concerts. You can see Aaron (in a green shirt) here in last year's program. We'll let you know when this year's program is available on the web!

Vista Seminar… where Dave just presented to the broader community three classes on World Religions and Cults.

Entre Nosotras… the international-themed Christmas party of this book club for AAI moms gave Beth the chance to sport a sombrero for her beloved Mexico.

Year three for Beth on the Entre Nosotras team

Dunked... Our oldest son, Levi was baptized in his birthday month of November.

A definite highlight of the year for our family

Refreshed… and relieved to have friends for the journey—that’s how Beth feels after hosting her weekly mom’s group. This is our fifth year!              

A sampling of the (mostly) happy chaos of Beth's group

Anonymous donors… continue to bless us with the opportunity to receive a $200 boost in our account for each new monthly supporter who signs up (until February 28). Please consider this great chance to increase your giving  impact. Our work only happens with your help. Thank you so much!     

                        Love in Christ,                           

The SAAVEDRA Family

Other shots from our end of the year activities...

A ninja-themed birthday for our girl; 
can you tell she has three brothers?

Star Wars and soccer fans: they are their father's sons!

Evangeline and Aaron celebrate after his Christmas concert.

A Christmas gift of swim lessons from the MN grandparents; 
what else from the land of 10,000 lakes?

Luke and Levi survive another piano recital

¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!

CREATING SPACE

The activities and busy moments of life can pile up one after another, until we're laboring under a crushing weight of responsibilities and commitments. We recognize the feeling all too well as adults, but it's familiar to teens, too, like the students at the Alliance Academy International (AAI).

Dave snapped this view from our roof,
one of our family's favorite spaces to relax

The need to create space to breathe, space to rest, and space to ask the questions that niggle at the edges of our conscience is a driving force behind the changes to the weekly chapel structure at AAI. Dave has a new responsibility this year to serve on the chaplaincy team and he is encouraged to see some of his ideas for a new use of chapel space come to fruition. In the traditional model, chapel has been an information-driven time to bring in speakers, but the team was looking for a more interactive, relationship-focused option that would engage a generation unfamiliar with sermons.

Hence, Discipleship, Nurturing and Accountability (DNA) Groups were born. They are led by the mature Christian staff members at AAI and structured around leisure interests like scrapbooking, jogging, drama, and chess. Every high school student selects a DNA group to attend during the typical chapel time. Then the groups gather to enjoy a kind of Sabbath rest together, having fun, deepening relationships, and all the while creating space for the kind of deep conversations that form the foundation for spiritual growth.

Already teachers and students alike are reporting that they are dialoguing on topics they have always wanted to explore, but for which they never had time in the classroom. Students have a safe space to open up to trusted adults with whom they are building a history. Once or so a month, there continue to be community assembly times, following the more traditional chapel format, and our prayer is that the groundwork of relationship building in the other weeks opens the way to make that a more meaningful time.

In the word of long-time AAI staff, Greg Collord, "Pray that our staff will wisely love, listen to, and learn about each young person so that they can best help each one mature in Christ. And particularly pray for those students who do not yet know Jesus, that they will commit to follow him before they leave AAI."

LEGAL UPDATE

We shared our concerns with many of you over the summer about sweeping reforms in Ecuadorian laws which have called into question some of the ways that we operate the school, handle curriculum, support our special education students, and cover expenses.

Our director, David Wells, issued the following statement:
"The AAI continues to operate outside the authority and supervision of Ecuador's Ministry of Education, in accord with an "Acuerdo Ministerial" signed by the Minister of Education in 2010. Officials within the Ministry periodically pressure for compliance with Ministry regulations and reporting requirements, but there has been no official change in the school's status. We expect to have a meeting [soon] with the Minister of Education, or his representatives, to discuss the Alliance Academy's historical and current contribution to education in Ecuador, and we are praying that this will result in an ongoing commitment to permit for the AAI's ministry and services to be offered according to the school's unique philosophy and purposes. Your prayers are coveted."

FINANCIAL UPDATE

God's goodness, as well as the generosity of his people, leave us in awe when we consider how our work with HCJB Global has been supported over the past seven years. Thank you!!!

Doing some giving of our own
at a 5K run for local charities in Quito

We want to share a neat opportunity to boost the impact of your giving. An anonymous donor has offered to help HCJB Global missionaries who, like us, are underfunded, by giving a one-time $100 donation for each new monthly supporter who makes a commitment during this October. If you haven't financially supported HCJB Global in the past, and you believe in the work we are doing, would you consider becoming a monthly donor? This is a great way to increase the impact of your gift, as well as meet the need of our deficit of about $350 per month. A link to the donate page is on the sidebar on the right. Thanks so much!

A TASTE OF AAI

For some chuckles and a glimpse of AAI humor, check out this promo for the upcoming Man Up Retreat for Alliance Academy high school guys...

SEARCHING FOR THE GIFTS

Change always comes bearing gifts. - Price Pritchett

Our kids are ready to search for gifts!

What a season of change we are in! The Alliance Academy International (AAI) has been facing a whirlwind of staffing changes, curriculum changes, structural changes and calendar changes. We eagerly invite your prayers as we strive for good relationships and favor with government agencies. Our hope is to be an example of excellence in education, particularly in the area of special needs education, which is not part of the national curriculum here. A sizeable portion of our students receive these important services.

Though curriculum changes are a ton of work, and though it hurts to say goodbye to departing staff friends, and though it stretches us to contemplate a much longer school year, we are looking for the gifts that come with change.

We aim for updated curriculum to be stronger than ever. We hope that new staff recruiting methods will result in more long-term commitments from teachers and a more stable community. We anticipate that a longer school year will provide more moments for building into the lives of young people.

Another gift (and big responsibility) in this season is Beth's recent election to the AAI school board. Please keep her and the board in prayer as they navigate changes ahead. Thanks!

DAVE'S DOINGS

Just as a drive through the beautiful Andes mountains is filled with peaks and valleys, emotionally this year in Ecuador has been a rollercoaster. Dave has been taken into the confidence of students struggling with relationships with parents and peers, with intense questioning, suicidal thoughts, self-injury and depression.

Dave with World Religions students
ready to present on the Amish

In a very mobile international school like AAI, we don't always get to see healing happen before students leave. That makes us value the lift that comes from the emotional "peaks" even more, such as Dave's recent induction into the AAI Teachers' Hall of Fame, based on votes from students and faculty.

Holding the Hall of Fame statue

Dave also cherishes students' moments of deep engagement in class or when a young person has the confidence to share their soul, knowing they will be heard. Your prayers and support are key to keeping us going through the highs and lows and we send out a huge THANK YOU!

CHOCOLATE, COFFEE, AND BANANA CHIPS

Come visit and eat with us,
just like Beth's weekly moms' group (above) does.
We've got lots of practice!

It's been two years since the family traveled to the U.S., so we're packing our bags with the finest Ecuadorian chocolate, coffee, and banana chips to share with all of you when we arrive in the States this summer.

We will be at Hope Christian Church in Shoreview, MN on July 7 and August 5; at Palos Bible Church in Palos Heights, IL on July 14; and at Trinity Vineyard in St. Charles, IL on July 21 and 28. We'll be looking for friends to spend time with during the week, too, so please give us a call at 1-651-447-6147 (rings to our computer) or drop us a line at thesaavedras[at]gmail[dot]com and we'll plan a get together. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!

BONUS LAUGHS!

You know you're raising missionary kids when...

• a friend comes to play bringing a bag of imported goodies and you have to explain to your kids that the little "donuts" are actually called "Cheerios".
• your foreign-born daughter gets asked what month she was born in and she shouts, "Ecuador!"
• shorts are always a reasonable option for wearing to school.
• one of the first questions your kids ask when you announce guests is "English or Spanish?"

And extra bonus laughs for this send-up video featuring the AAI staff. Dave appears at 1:53.

A LOVE WITHOUT END, AMEN.

And he said, "“Let me tell you a secret about a father's love,
A secret that my daddy said was just between us."
He said, "“Daddies don't just love their children every now and then.
It's a love without end, amen, it's a love without end, amen."  

- sung by George Strait

Even if you're not a country music fan, this song is worth a listen (the last verse, especially, is a kicker). I've been humming this song and thinking about the kids that Dave works with at the Alliance Academy (AAI). Sadly, many of them don’t experience a “love without end” from their fathers. Many students feel their parents’ love for them is based on how well they perform in school or what successes they have in extracurricular activities. One student’s parents said their number one goal for her is that she get a job that makes a lot of money, because someday when they are gone, “Money will be your mother and father.”

        Recently, a number of students have said to Dave that he is like a father to them. 

Notes of appreciation Dave received from 
students after a recent chapel.

While it is a joy and privilege to walk alongside teens in a mentoring role, we know our time in the lives of these young people is limited, as they prepare to head into the world. More than anything, we want them to know the “love without end, amen” that comes from Father God. Human love will fail us, but God’s love never does.

        Our heart is also to see relationships between parents and children restored. A student who just finished Dave’s Prison Epistles class (in which they studied a theology of family) said he no longer feels estranged from his father and that their relationship has improved greatly this semester. He even brought his dad along to play soccer at a family day event at school. 

        Would you please pray with us that the students at the AAI would experience the sense of belovedness that comes from knowing the love of Father God for us? We want to see them transformed (and then go on to transform the world!) by the divine love that goes on without end. 

Dave is blessed with a great relationship

 with his own father, Américo, who lives just blocks 

away from us. 

        From the maternal side, I have a number of great upcoming opportunities to teach and encourage moms and daughters. In March, I will be sharing about God-centered self-worth with Entre Nosotras, our school's group for moms. Later, I get to help out with "Handmade", a three day retreat for high school girls. My hope is to spark dialogue and generate questions about where we get our ideas of feminine identity. Finally, in April, I've been invited to speak to the high school girls on the topic on healthy sexuality. Should be lively! 

        Thank you again, so much, for the honor of journeying along with us. We are so grateful for your prayers and support. Please keep in touch!

Peace to you,

Beth (for Dave and the whole family)