News from Mount Zion

Project:Republica Dominicana High School Missions Trip to Elias Pina, Dominican Republic After nearly nine months of preparation and 19 hours of travel, the Mount Zion High School mission's team, weary and hungry, and a little apprehensive, arrived safely at our hotel in a small town outside of Elias Pina, DR to begin our adventure of a lifetime. What an adventure it was! Our team of 19 students and 9 leaders spent a week working in the poverty stricken village of Elias Pina, located nearly 5 hours west of the Capital city, Santo Domingo. Our days were full with all kinds of ministry opportunities. We ministered to hundreds of children and adults at both schools and churches, and worked on construction projects like building a church structure and finishing 4 bathrooms for the ministry center. And through word and action, had the privilege to bring the love of Jesus Christ to many people in the village. What can compare to the joy of fulfilling the Great Commission? What can compare to ministering to children, helping with building projects or sharing the love of Christ? What can compare to seeing the joy on the faces of young children as they accept Jesus Christ into their hearts? Now we know, nothing! Thank you to our Mount Zion families and community who helped to make this trip possible. I know that it was a trip our high schools students will never forget. I hope and pray that we are all changed forever. 8th Grade Missions Trip to Dominican Republic One word to describe the 2006 8th grade trip to the Dominican Republic is this: life-changing. We witnessed a miracle, lives turned over to Christ, and even revival in our group. When we first arrived, we realized that nothing could have prepared us for the culture shock we experienced. Some of us were in tears at the poverty. I don't think we realized just how poor some of the citizens of the Dominican Republic are. However, despite the fact that they had next to nothing, they were some of the most content people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Throughout the week we went to a couple different churches and a daycare center. At one of the churches, we gave medical attention to those that needed it and handed out medicines. We spent a lot of time with the children at Dr. Enerio's school. We even held a chapel service with them near the end of the week. We also spent one, long day conversing and playing with the people in the neighborhood. The boys played baseball with the Dominican boys, while many of the girls played with the younger children in the area. It touched our hearts every time, when we would go outside and hear children yelling, "Americanos! Americanos!" They were so welcoming and loving towards us. The school children would wait outside by the gate for us to come out, during their recess. Once we opened the gate, they came flooding over and began talking to us and having us join in their games. We saw and did things in the Dominican Republic that we will never forget. We were all changed, and we all made new friends. We opened up to each other and learned just how powerful God is in our lives, if we just give it all to Him. This trip will not be something that we put on a shelf and forget about. No, this trip will remain with us for the rest of our lives, and the people we encountered will remain in our prayers and in our hearts.

Jars of Clay Concert a Success

Technology Stands Out Governor Craig Benson Last spring, former Governor Benson visited Mount Zion Christian Schools.  He spent over two hours discussing the laptop initiative that he had started while Governor and learning about what is happening at Mount Zion in the area of technology.   Mount Zion is trailblazing a path to effectively use the best practices in education that have proven to help accelerate the ability of students. At Mount Zion we ask each of our teachers to prepare lesson plans for three levels of learning abilities in their class. We emphasize this approach because we realize that some students have natural ability in certain subjects while other students struggle to understand the basics in that same subject. In the future, we are praying that our school will be known to have the best teaching practices of any school in New England. This, coupled with our strong commitment to Jesus Christ, will underscore our motto, "equipping students for God's purpose." Salute to Our Troops! At our Christmas concert this year the First Grade sang patriotic songs in honor of our troops. View the songs. (QT) First Graders sing for our troops. Mount Zion puts faith in Christianity and technology An exerpt from Scott Dolan's article in The Manchester Union Leader: BEDFORD - The physics class at the newly opened Mount Zion Christian Schools looks strikingly different from similar classes at other schools. In Principal Bob Carter's physics class last week, for example, each of the students had their personal laptop computers open as they followed along with Carter through a wireless network while he projected the lesson from his own computer. Carter moved back and forth at the front of the classroom between his laptop and an oversized dry-erase board on which he wrote notes over the projected image. See the full story. Physics class records data during a lab.