Note: The update is available as a printable PDF here.
Dear Friends and Family,
Summer has arrived and with it, many exciting activities in ministry and opportunities to see family! We are so thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness and for each of you who stands with us in prayer and support.
I would like to share some updates on what has been happening in our ministry and family life over these past couple of months.
Local Church Ministry
At the end of May, we celebrated a special breakfast for the women of our church and their friends. Gabriel and Paloma, a wonderful young couple from Morelia, Michoacán, joined us for the weekend to minister. Paloma led a beautiful ministry time with the ladies that included creative activities such as Bible journaling and hat painting. We were blessed to have a large turnout, and many women opened their hearts to Christ and His Word during this time. Paloma did an excellent job sharing the Word of God and guiding the activities.
The following Sunday, Gabriel and Paloma were with us to preach to our congregation. It was truly a fruitful weekend, and our church family was greatly blessed by their ministry. Gabriel and Paloma have been part of our online Bible School for several years as students, and more recently, as course facilitators. They have done outstanding work, and we’re hoping to have them soon as Bible School teachers as well. Both are excellent, well-grounded teachers who share the Word boldly.
Online Bible School
June 16 marked the closing meeting of our spring semester with our online Bible School. Well over 200 students successfully completed their courses, many working toward either a degree or a certificate program. There’s been particular excitement about our new certificate programs: 1) Certificate of Basic Old Testament Studies and 2) Certificate in Fundamental Theology. We concluded our semester with a special Zoom meeting where Pastor Ofir Peña shared a beautiful word on discernment. The meeting was so well attended that Zoom warned me our space was almost full on our current plan—a first for us!
We are now working on recording new courses—one on the covenants, and soon, another on the Local Church with Mark Simpson. I’m also using this summer break to make several improvements to our online platform. With AI going mainstream, we need to take this into account as students write essays. I’m integrating changes that will allow them to use AI but simultaneously require them to think critically through their answers. We believe these adjustments will help students improve their writing while keeping them academically honest (not copying and pasting or generating answers with AI).
Our fall semester begins in August, and we’re hoping that at least 100 of our students will graduate with a certificate when the semester concludes. We’re also looking forward to having Mark Simpson with us in early September to minister to our church and record the course on the local church.
Family
We are eagerly anticipating a week with our son Daniel, his wife Elisa, and our granddaughter Ella. We’ll be meeting Ella for the first time at the end of July when they come to spend about a week with us. In August, we plan to visit my parents, and then in November, our son David Jeremiah will join us for Thanksgiving. It will be such a blessing to spend time with family.
Thanks to Our Supporters
We want to sincerely thank each of you who prays for us or supports our ministry financially. We believe we are truly making an impact both in our local town of Tulancingo as well as across the nation through the online school and the Advanced School of Ministry. We appreciate your prayers for the Lord’s provision and safety as we and our guests travel this summer.
With love,
David and Sara Lont with Anna