Who Are Missionaries and Their Comments About
the Value of MK Teachers and Schools.
"We have much to thank the Lord for in the provision
of missionary
boarding schools for three generations.
"For Sharon's grandparents of Buffalo NY, who served
in Africa from
1923 till the Lord took them in 1969 and 1971, a small missionary
boarding school in then Northern Rhodesia, enabled their 7 children
(including Sharon's mother) to have quality primary education.
It
allowed her grand parents to continue their ministry where God
used
them both in so many incredible ways. All 7 of these children
grew up
not only to attain higher education (nurses, doctor, teachers)
but more
than that, to serve the Lord in different parts of the world.
Of
interest in those days, it took two weeks on foot (with hammocks)
to
get to school so they only had one long term every year.
"Sharon's parents (from USA and South Africa) served the Lord in Zambia, Africa from 1955 to 1989 (when her Dad went to be with the Lord) and to last week (Jan 2006) when her mother returned to USA for retirement. For them, the same missionary boarding school provided a quality Christian education from grade 1 grade 9 for their three children. If there were home schooling options in those days, her parents did not know about it. Whilst they did not enjoy sending their children away, it allowed them to continue their ministry of running the mission hospital and printing Christian and gospel literature for Zambia. All three children went on to competently complete higher education and serve the Lord in their own spheres. "Sharon looks back on her 9 years at Sakeji as a positive, growing time. Of course, it was not easy to say good bye and be away from home. In fact, she says, that part got harder as she got older. And, of course, life was not always easy. But, to this day, she is very grateful for the positive godly influence the staff at the school had on her life. She is especially grateful for two things that were ingrained into the young lives at this boarding school a) learning the discipline of a daily Quiet Time every morning and b) Scripture memorization. She quoted 100 verses at one sitting, four different times in her later years there. A number of those verses are still in her mind. She continues to be thankful for these two disciplines learned at the MK boarding school.
"Now, we (Sharon and I from PA and NC USA) have also been thankful for missionary boarding schools for our three children. We have more options of home schooling, but for us, boarding school, for the most part, has seemed the right thing. We have home schooled a couple of years here and there and were thankful for those times, too.
"We are thankful for dedicated, godly staff at each of the missionary run boarding schools our children have and are attending (Sakeji School, Zambia for grade 1 7 and Rift Valley Academy, Kenya, for grade 8 12), called of the Lord and continuing to follow the Lord in their own lives. "Besides providing each of our children a quality education, it has allowed us to be more involved in the local work on the mission hospital, maintenance, and village work. "Teachers and staff in a boarding school are so much more influential on young people's lives than in a normal day school. (So are the other children, too.) We are thankful first and foremost for their godly influence on our children for their willingness to invest their lives in being an example and then guiding and training them in the things of the Lord, while also giving a quality education. We have been thankful when staff have been honest enough to share problems about our children so that we and the school are a team working together in unity for the sake of rearing our children to love and serve the Lord. They are parents to our children during the months they are at school. We would not be sending them to a school where there was little discipline or godly teaching.
"Of interest, what took Sharon's mom two weeks by foot in the 1930s, took her and her siblings two days by car in the 1970s, and now can take our children two hours by small plane!
"May the Lord give you wisdom and joy in giving to those He Himself has called for the purpose of training MKs."