August 28th, the La Roca Community School opened it's doors to 150 elementary students. We are very blessed to have excellent teachers again this year and are looking forward to another year filled with great success!

All of the La Roca children and youth have begun their 2006/2007 school year. This year we have 14 students attending elementary school, 6 junior high, 6 junior college and 2 are in their first year at the university!

We are very proud of all of them and are excited for all of the opportunities that they will have this year to learn and grow.

Welcome to our new series called "Getting to Know". In each newsletter we will be highlighting one of our La Roca residents. Our hope is that through this article you will get to know our families in a deeper way.

In this issue we are highlighting Isidro Santiago Martinez.

Isidro, now 20, was brought to La Roca along with his younger sister and brother, by his mother when he was 12 years old. His mother could not afford to care for them and knew that La Roca could provide them with a good home, food and education.

Although Isidro rebelled a lot as a teenager, often getting into fights and disobeying at school, he is now a successful young man. He is very responsible and hard working. Isidro is a full-time student in his final year at Junior College studying accounting. When he graduates he wants to go on to the University to study Architecture, which is his true passion. Isidro has an amazing gift as a carpenter and with construction. He accredits that to all his years at La Roca helping first learn how to pour cement as a young boy and then on to building entire buildings with teams that have come to La Roca.

Isidro also loves kids and all of our little boys look up to him as a role model. He looks forward to having his own children some day and says he will be a kind and good father to his children.

In August all of our children between the ages of 6 and 13 went to a week long Christian camp sponsored by Genesis Diez Expeditions and St. Johns Lutheran Church of Grove City, Ohio.

The theme for the week was "You Are Special" based on the book by Max Lucado. The kids had an amazing time as they were each paired up one-on-one with an American "Amigo" for the week. They developed strong bonds with their amigos while playing sports, going to the beach, visiting the Jersey Milk park and going shopping.

When we returned to pick them up at the end of the week, everyone ~ amigos and La Roca children ~ were crying while saying their goodbyes. The bus ride home was quiet and filled with lots of tears, but as soon as they arrived home to see their moms and siblings the stories of their great adventures throughout the week began!

While the older kids were off at camp, the moms and younger children spent a fun filled day at a local park and zoo.

The children could not get enough of the swings, slides and playground equipment; they just played and played all day long. They also had a zoo with all the favorites including tigers and monkeys. Everyone had an awesome time.

Afterwards, to top off the day, everyone was treated to dinner at McDonald's!

Our last two missions teams of the summer were fantastic.

Mid July brought us a missions group from Reno, Nevada. Among many other projects and activities, they made a much needed repair to our church floor that had rotted and begun to cave in. The team also led a group of our youth to the beach for a powerful night of evangelism. A great crowd was pulled away from the local bar along side the beach by the sounds of the great praise and worship songs that the group sang. Many people were touched with the love of Jesus that night.

St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, Mountain View, CA, was our last group of the summer. They treated us to an end of the year trip to the waterpark where everyone was blessed by the cool water and great food. They were a fun group with lots of energy and love that they poured into all of our children and mothers.

We look forward to receiving these groups again next year along with many others. Please click here if you'd like to learn more about short term missions at La Roca.

We were blessed to have Sheila and April, mother and daughter, with us for the month of August.

Sheila contacted Servants Network in the spring to see if she could come to La Roca to do her final practicum for her Masters Degree in Social Work and Intercultural Studies. Of course we said yes and we were so blessed to have her and her daughter with us. It was an unforgettable experience for the both of them.

If you're interested in doing an internship through Servants Network at La Roca, please email us at info@servantsnetwork.org

Angeles and her children Monica (10), Oralando(3), and Gabby(1), have left La Roca. Angeles's husband contacted her after spending nearly a year in a drug rehabilitation center and asked her to return to him. Please pray for her and her childrens safety and well- being. We have left the door open for her to return if needed.

About 9 months ago we announced that Claudia Hernandez finally received her birth certificate. Claudia was born in Oaxaca, Mexico and was abandoned as a baby. She never knew her birth date nor had any contacts with anyone that could prove who she was, but by a miracle of God the government gave her this important document.

Since Claudia didn't know her birth date, she chose August 22nd to be the big day. So this year, with the help of the Los Siervos group from the United Methodist Church of Encinitas, CA, Claudia celebrated her first birthday party.

Claudia was overjoyed by the surprise birthday party. She received a cake specially decorated for her and was overwhelmed by her many birthday presents.

It was a day that she will never forget and is grateful to all those that helped make it such a special day for her.

In July the La Roca youth attended the week long "Next Level" Christian youth conference in Juarez, Mexico.

The event was life changing for many of our youth as their hearts were opened up to a new and deeper relationship with the Lord and fellow believers. They all had wonderful time and are very grateful to all of you that sent in financial support to help make the trip possible for them! Thank You!

This summer we had several guest Pastors speak at La Roca. It was awesome to hear from these ministers of God speak on such subjects as forgiveness, trusting God and obeying our call.

The Lord is using all of them in a mighty way and their experiences and insights have helped lead all of us to see areas of our lives that we can change so that we can have a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the Lord and with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Make sure to check the new Servants Network website often for all of the latest information about what is going on at La Roca.