Earlier this week we said goodbye to our two interns who have been with us this summer. Jonathan and Ricardo came to us from the Lydia Patterson Institute in El Paso, TX. Both of them actually live across the border in Juarez, Mexico and make the commute every day during the school year into El Paso to go to school and get their education.
The Lydia Patterson Institute is a United Methodist Preparatory School that was started in 1913 by a Methodist woman named Lydia Patterson. She started the school to give young people from Mexico a place to get a good education in hopes of giving them a better opportunity in life. Since that time, the Lydia Patterson Institute has gone on to be an innovator in teaching English as a second language and preparing their students for college. Of the incoming freshman class, 95% will go on to graduate from high school, and 98% of those graduates will go on to study at colleges and universities across the United States.
We were fortunate this year to have Jonathan and Ricardo with us. They did so much for us behind the scenes that might have never been noticed, but it made a huge difference to so many in our community. They were incredible young men with a great work ethic, high values, a zeal for learning, and tremendous respect for everyone they met. Jonathan is beginning his senior year at Lydia Patterson this fall and Ricardo will begin college starting in August.
Today, I want to acknowledge the hope that these two young men give me. We would be fortunate to have more young men like them in our world! Also, I want to invite you to join me in prayer today for both of these young men as well as the many other students at Lydia Patterson and the ministry that is happening there as they all begin a new school year and new journeys in life.
