End of the Year Report

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Wilsons!

It is hard to believe that as we go into the New Year, we will begin our 6^th month living and serving here in Ecuador. It has been a whirlwind as we started hitting the ground running when we arrived in July. We have been constantly working on improving the school, interacting with the Hacienda kids and growing in our own spiritual life. 
Words cannot express how much we appreciate all of you and how you have been a part of God’s work here. We are truly blessed by so many individuals, families and churches who have loved on us, prayed over and for us, sent us monetary support and words of encouragement. Since you have been involved in the work here, we wanted to briefly remind you of how God has worked at the Hacienda of Hope Christian Academy and in our lives over the past 5 months and about our plans for the future.

• Since we began school, we have been teaching our teachers classroom management skills and to be better equipped to deal with discipline problems. We are trying to create an atmosphere of involvement and investment among our teachers because when our staff is fully invested in our school and our kids, the students will learn and grow. 
• We, as administrators, are also trying to show investment in our staff. We have been working on balancing the school budget. With careful planning and lots of work, we have been able to give all of our employees raises. This will make us more competitive with the surrounding schools and help us keep turnover low. 
• We are working on creating more programs and avenues for the students to grow in their spiritual walk with God. A couple new programs include our students learning about serving others by volunteering at Camp Bellevue working with the kids at the after school programs and our high school students gaining leadership skills and roles by leading school chapel once a week.
• During the month of December, students collected non-perishable food to donate to needy families. On the 19th we broke up into groups (9 total) and went out into the community. The students sang Christmas songs, prayed over the families and delivered the food. Students and staff were able to see and serve the poor in their communities. We were also able to use this time to learn about how people, rich and poor, need God in their lives and that we need to be in constant prayer for others.
• For Christmas, we had the privilege of hosting the Hacienda’s Christmas party. We had our 17 Hacienda kids, plus 3 more kids and 6 adults sleeping in our house! Justin and Jauna Reeger (Directors of the orphanage) along with Courtney Hard (Case Manager) planned a spectacular 24 hour extravaganza that involved: hide and seek in the school building, Christmas cookie and gingerbread house decorating contest, hot cocoa and movies, Christmas morning with full breakfast, Christmas stockings and presents after breakfast, games outside and a Christmas luncheon. It was amazing to see the joy in the kids’ faces as we spent time together and as they opened so many Christmas presents that were donated by you.

God has blessed us enormously by leading us here to Ecuador. We couldn’t imagine being anywhere else at this point in our lives. We pray that God can continue to use us in growing His kingdom here in Ecuador. 
Here are some things that we are looking forward in the coming years and some hopes/dreams we have for the Hacienda of Hope Christian Academy. Please join us in prayer for these things.

• We are still in need of personal support. We are short about $1,000 a month. We continue to work knowing that God bought us here and He will provide for us so we are always looking for more people to partner with us.
• One day we would love to be able to raise enough money ($150,000) to expand and update the school. We currently are in need of a gymnasium for large events and to have a place for the students to have recess when it rains. We currently have them cram into classrooms if it rains during recess. This gets to be a bit chaotic for our students and teachers. 
• We would also like to tile all of our classrooms. All our classrooms currently have old carpet in them. To try to preserve the life of the carpet, students have been taking off their shoes before entering any classroom. This takes up time and space and caused a lot of inconvenience. 
• We have recently updated our internet capabilities and bandwidth. We have dreams that our school can become more up to date in technology. Currently we have a lab with about 20 nice computers, however we really need our teachers to have technology available to them in their classrooms.  Laptops or Ipads would be ideal.
• Right now we are in need teachers for our English curriculum, Ecuadorian or volunteers from the States, to help out. Both of us have been helping teach class because we are so short staffed. This has kept us so busy that we have not been able to take Spanish classes yet. We are actively seeking English speakers- preferably Christian volunteers to join in our efforts.
• With more staff, we would like to start offering elective classes and focus on building skills students can use later in life. Horticulture, agriculture, art and technology are among the list. With more staff we also would like to be able to plan more service projects and afterschool clubs and groups for our students to be a part of.
• We are trying to grow our school. Our total enrollment for this school year is about 170 students, many of them come from Tabacundo or neighboring Cayambe. However, we have a large community just up the mountain from us in San Jose Chico that we haven’t really touched. We dream the school being able to reach out to this poorer village and be a light into their community.
• We sometimes can be so caught up in the whole school aspect of our work here, but we are always striving to focus more on God in everything we do with our students and staff. Please continue to pray that we can be a light to those around us.

Thank you for all your love and support,

Jake and Tanya Wilson