Partners in the classroom

Here's a great example of what a school partnership can look like!

Last fall, St. John Lutheran School in Wrightstown, WI selected Friends Network as the recipient of its students’ quarterly offerings. Teacher Natalie Schultz reached out to learn about ways to engage her students in the ministry of Friends Network through encouraging relationships with our missionaries.  We connected Mrs. Schultz and her classroom with missionary Lauren Christman in Seoul, South Korea.  Over the first few months of the school year, Lauren sent videos and emails to the students, and the students had the opportunity to respond.  As they learned more about the life of a missionary and the important gospel work Lauren and our other missionaries are doing in the field, Mrs. Schultz’s class decided to write letters to ALL of the Friends Network missionaries!

At our annual retreat in Chiang Mai, Thailand this past January, we were able to surprise the missionaries with letters from kids they had never met, asking them questions about their lives and letting them know that a school in Wrightstown, Wisconsin was praying for them. 

Following the retreat, several of our missionaries started writing to the students as well, creating a lot of excitement for both the senders and the receivers.  Another FN missionary, Jake Wassermann (pictured below), even had a chance to visit the students in person when he was in the midwest a few weeks after the retreat. 

Mrs. Schultz was happy to facilitate this connection between missionaries and her students. She wrote:

“It was truly delightful to watch the awe of what missionaries get to do every day develop in my students throughout the year!  Most importantly, I was able to teach them through this experience that our mission field is also right in front of us.  We are to ‘go and make disciples of all nations!’”

Thank you, Mrs. Schultz, for fostering a love for mission work in these future evangelists!

To learn more about partnering with Friends Network, please contact info@friendsnet.org.