The phone call came one afternoon before I got home from
teaching.
Jeanne took the call.
"What?
How many?"
Jeanne met me at
the door as I got home.
"You're not
going to believe this.
A pastor here in
town called today...and she had just returned from a meeting up in Austin.
She said she saw Pastor Steve...and he gave
her almost 20 boxes of books for the schools in Mexico!!"
Pastor Steve Buchele is a dear fellow, one of
the pastors at
St. Philips UMC in Round Rock, Texas.
He put out the word about the need for books...and
his people responded!
So, Andrew and I laid down the seats in our
small-but-utilitarian Toyota Matrix and headed over to
Trinity UMC.
There, Rev. Danette met us at the door...and
we started moving the boxes from the foyer of the church into the car.
She was a bit doubtful of our being able to get it
all in...but she didn't realize that Andrew and I are by now professional
"missionary packers"--that means we can do magical things with large
amounts of stuff.
Ten minutes after
arriving, we had the 20 boxes of books in the car...with only one box under
Andrew's feet.
After getting all the boxes out and into our carport, we
began the process of sorting, separating and repacking--theology and adult
religious books in one pile, children's books and novels in another, and all
the rest in yet another! Priority-one
was getting the children's books to Laurens...and fully one-half of the books
were books for children and youth.
So, bright and early one Saturday morning, we loaded up the
cars with the ten boxes of books...and headed to Monterrey.
Again,
thanks be to God, we weren't stopped at a single check-point...and got all the
books to the children at
El Instituto Laurens in Monterrey.
Here are some pictures of our visit and of
the children enjoying the gift of reading.
 |
| Laurens now has a Library! (That's a rare thing in Mexican Schools.) |
 |
| Andrew with "the haul." (Yes, he is now 6' tall!) |
|
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| Jeanne with Mrs. Andrea, English Coordinator, in the Library. |
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| One of the reading corners... |
 |
| Enjoying a book...! |
 |
| Reading aloud. |
 |
| Dr. Suess, helping another generation of readers... |
 |
| Hangin' out reading...! |
|
 |
| Reading, reading, reading...! |
Now, we just have to get the theology/religious books
sorted...and down to
the Seminary!
Thank you--ALL OF YOU--who have had a part so far in getting
books to us for the school in Monterrey.
If you have children's books lying around looking for a home, please
consider gifting them in this direction.
So far, almost 3000 books have found their way to us...and they are
helping, teaching, changing lives. God
is good...and His people are, too!
Jon, Jeanne...and the J.A.M!
2 comments:
Hello,
I was a student at Instituto Lauren from 1974 to 1982 and we had a library back then already. While I know that public schools in Mexico, specially in poor communities have no "libraries", most private schools have them. They are not huge like the ones you may see in the US, but they exist and some private schools have some spectacular libraries. What I find sad is that Instituto Laurens, while being a private school, and not cheap by Mexican economy standards, lends themselves to be pictured as if they need evangelical charity. They are also a Church and own extensive land by the Carretera a la Presa zone, one of the most expensive areas developing around Monterrey, which is one of the wealthier cities of Latin America. Either they are being dishonest, or you are. Those books may serve others better.
Instituto Laurens is not a church, but it is associated with the Methodist Church of Mexico. The land on the Carratera Nacional is now their second campus...and served the families in that part of the metro area. Have you been back since 1982?? There have been a lot of changes in the last 30 years. You are right--Monterrey is one of the wealthier cities in Latin America...but the wealth--as you well know--is centered in San Pedro and in key families. The vast majority of the city is not wealthy.
With regard to "libraries," while Laurens may have had one in the past...and in fact has one now...as in most Latino contexts, the libraries are little-used collections of TEXT BOOKS. Useful for research, perhaps, but little else. In fact, anyone who has spent any time in Latin America knows that while literate, there is not a love for reading.
Our goal is to encourage a love for reading by providing wonderful reading for the up-and-coming students. These youngsters--mostly primary school students--do for the first time have access to "good reading"...novels and storybooks that will encourage them to ENJOY reading and become life-long readers. Laurens would be hard-pressed to put together this type of library on their own since 1) books in Mexico are terribly expensive and 2) there are few who see the great importance of this kind of reading discipline.
The books are mostly used and donated by churches. My wife and I carry them down ourselves. So, there is no dishonesty going on. We are simply filling a need...and so glad that we can do so. Would you like to help the children develop a love for reading?? Just contact us, and we'll be happy to take your used novels and children's story books down for you!
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