Hello Friends!

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on Me… to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61: 1-3) This prophecy was fulfilled through Jesus over 2000 years ago and experienced in our lives in these last two months. We hope and pray for all of you, our precious partners in this ministry of “nurturing, teaching, and empowering children with Christ’s love” and strengthening families, that you will experience a great joy this season!!

On October 22^nd Malava Christian Academy held their graduation ceremony as the kindergarten students celebrated moving up to primary school and all the other students celebrated their advancement to the next grade. This was a huge event with board member Pastor Musonye in attendance along with guest speaker Bishop Walter Mido of the Association of Christian Schools International. All the parents were there to witness the skits and music performed by each class. The end of the program marked the beginning of a two-month break for the students. The 2025 school year starts in January with the addition of Grade 5 to Malava Christian Academy. We will once again be accommodating this classroom in the multi-purpose hall, but November of 2025 the new classrooms will need to be built. Please consider partnering with us!

This week several of the teachers have gone with Teresa to attend the final training conducted by ACSI. Malava Christian Academy will be visited by the association in April of 2025 to be inspected and given a special accreditation. This is so exciting as ROCK Ministries continues the mission “to share the transforming love and favor of God with the children in our care by nurturing them and empowering them through education to discover their God-given gifts and purpose as contributing members of their communities and ambassadors of Christ’s love.” Continuing to expand the school all the way to Form 4 (Grade 12) will increase this missional opportunity. Phase one is the building of four classrooms to hold grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 for now (cost estimated at about $105,000) but will one day accommodate the preschool classrooms as a three-story building will be under construction to hold classrooms for Grades 1-12. An architect has already drawn up plans for this building which will also contain a library, lab rooms, and offices.

During the month of November, the teachers will be preparing for the upcoming year before they leave on holiday. We would like to continue the tradition that Mama Elaine started many years ago of blessing the staff with a Christmas bonus. This ends up being about an extra $1200 above our monthly budget to be distributed among the 20 staff. If you would like to contribute an extra donation for this, just do so on the donation page of this website.

Some of our ROCK Ministries International children residing in the children’s home will be traveling to spend the holiday with extended family. Please pray for safety as they travel and for good connections to be made with their families. It will be a little quieter on campus but a beautiful time to connect with the few ROCK children remaining in the home including Jonathan, our newest child recently rescued from his alcoholic father who had been beating him and threatening to kill him. He is so happy to be in a safe place and told Teresa recently that he is never going back. Please pray for his mental and emotional healing. Mark, the preschool teacher, is still living in the boys’ house and has brought great stability there. His heart for God and love for the children is evident. During November some children are sitting for exams and in December the ROCK secondary students will be able to attend camp again like they did last year.

Kyon and I would like to thank you so much for your prayers, cards, and emails since the September newsletter. Taiden’s memorial service was held on October 25^th and blessed all those who attended including Taiden’s family and friends, our Church on the Rock family, and many others. The Holy Spirit’s presence was experienced by many. This photo documents one of the many miracles as it was the first time in six years that the children were together with both of their biological parents. God is opening up new opportunities for us to share His “crown of beauty instead of ashes” with our family here in Alaska thanks to your prayers!

Grace and peace, Kyon and Cindy