On Monday our Presbyterian High School started its second academic year. The high school is located in Armenia Bonito outside of La Ceiba, Honduras. You will remember this time last year the school held its grand opening to launch the high school.

In Honduras high school goes from 7th to 12th grade. Last year we started with just 7th grade. This year we open with a class in 7th grade and a new class in 8th grade. This school is such an amazing blessing for this super-poor community. The average Honduran only has 6.1 years of education and to give these kids an option like this is amazing.

The school is growing and has its problems and hardships, but John and Kathy Clow, our Honduran teaching staff and our Honduran attorney are doing a great job at keeping everything moving forward.

If you’d like to support the Presbyterian High School with a onetime, tax-deductible contribution go HERE. If you would like to learn how to sponsor one of the students attending the high school go HERE.

On February 10th our new Christian high school opened. The Centro Educativo Presbiteriano de La Ceiba (the Presbyterian Education Center of La Ceiba) has 25 students and after two months of instruction we can report things are going very well.

This week the students are taking their first quarter exams. They have a test in each subject. Next week is a national holiday and every school takes off the entire week for Holy Week (Semana Santa).

Our school is in the middle of Armenia Bonito, a super-poor community outside of La Ceiba, Honduras. Less than one-third of the kids in this community attend high school. In fact, before our school opened, there wasn’t a high school within walking distance.

Thus far, we are thrilled with our students and teachers. The kids are receiving a quality, affordable, Christian based education. Our tuition is the second cheapest high school tuition in La Ceiba. The kids are being taught a basic core curriculum. In addition they are learning English, computers and Bible. Each day they study a little Spurgeon and in Bible class they are studying the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Our school is not without problems. We have a computer lab that has no computers and a library that has no books. The funds just don’t exist to provide some of the basics. If you’d like to prayerfully contribute to the purchasing of computers and books you can make an online contribution right HERE.

Please pray we have the finances to properly educate the kids and pray they continue to grow in education and faith.

On Monday, February 10th our new high school opened for business. The Centro Educativo Presbiteriano de La Ceiba (the Presbyterian Education Center of La Ceiba) held its first day of classes. The 24 seventh graders arrived in their crisp new uniforms, carrying brand new backpacks full of school supplies.

This first day of class was the culmination of work by dozens of people over the past three years. It was very emotional for us to see it all come together.

The staff organized a nice event. Each of the five teachers introduced themselves and talked about the classes they are going to teach. The Director talked about the special opportunity the students were receiving. Two of our Presbyterian pastors were present. Pastor Israel gave a short message from Genesis 1:1 and pastor Jesús prayed for the kids. The kids sang the Honduran national anthem and introduced themselves. At the end the teachers gave the kids a snack to celebrate the special occasion.

If you’d like to see a short video of the first day click HERE.

We are excited beyond words that these kids will be receiving a quality Christian education. Less than one-third of Hondurans go to school beyond the sixth grade. That makes this a rare opportunity for these kids. Our tuition is one of the cheapest in La Ceiba. This will ensure our students receive the best education for the price in the region.

Please join us in praying for our 24 students and five staff.

On Thursday our team organized our sixth annual school supply distribution for the kids of Armenia Bonito. This was the least chaotic of our six school supply distributions we’ve hosted. Never before have so many kids received school supplies from us. We gave school supplies to 535 kids.

The school year in Honduras begins in February and ends in November. Public school is “free” up to the sixth grade, but the kids must pay for their own uniforms and school supplies. The average person in Honduras makes $4,000/year and the unemployment rate is above 30%. Most families in Honduras are struggling to afford food. This means that if a parent sends their child to school they may have to make the choice between purchasing rice and beans for their kids or notebooks and pencils. Because of this tough choice many parents do not send their children to school. We have been told by many parents that our annual school supply distribution is the only way their family could afford to send their kids to school.

We hosted the school supply distribution at our ministry center. We had 10 gringos and 15 Honduran volunteers. The kids waited outside and were led in, in groups of 10. They received notebooks, erasers, compasses, pencils, sharpeners, pens, colored markers and much more. Our team of volunteers did an amazing job. All 535 kids received school supplies in less than 1 hour.

Thanks so much to the individuals and churches from the U.S. who sent school supplies and money to make this event a reality. Watch the 1 minute 30 second video HERE.