{"id":287,"date":"2016-11-28T20:22:28","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T20:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/weekly-offerings\/?p=287"},"modified":"2016-12-01T20:19:52","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T20:19:52","slug":"minute-mission-mari-duran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2016\/11\/28\/minute-mission-mari-duran\/","title":{"rendered":"Minute for Mission – Mari Duran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Menaul School\u2019s academic excellence, diversity, and values inspire achievement<\/h3>\n

\"m-duran-crop\"Mari Duran is a happy seventh grader who wants to be a judge when she grows up. Right now, however, she is enjoying life as an honor student, a cheerleader, a volleyball player, and a budding actress at the Presbyterian-related Menaul School<\/a> in Albuquerque, New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Mari did not coast to the achievement she is now experiencing. She was born to a drug-addicted mother and taken directly from the hospital into foster care. \u00a0Her maternal grandmother, Debra Duran, gained custody four months later and eventually adopted Mari.<\/p>\n

Debra, a widow, vowed to care well for Mari, teach her moral values, and afford her a good education. When the time came to choose a middle school, she found Menaul School\u2019s mission reflected her goals for Mari.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides a good education and they teach values, so it\u2019s not just me teaching them at home,\u201d Debra says. \u201cShe\u2019s learning them at school; she\u2019s also learning about Jesus and about God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debra likes the diversity of cultures, races, and ethnicities Mari experiences at Menaul. It is one of the Presbyterian racial-ethnic institutions supported by gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering<\/a>. The schools receive half of the offering\u2019s receipts, while the other half goes to help current and retired church workers and their families who are in need.<\/p>\n

Mari, whose ethnicity is Native American and Hispanic, is among the 60 percent of Menaul students who come from racial-ethnic groups. Mari has no reluctance to recommend Menaul to prospective students. \u201cIt\u2019s a great school,\u201d she says. \u201cIf they\u2019re worried about their studies, the teachers will be with them. There\u2019s diversity like they have never experienced in any other school. Overall, it\u2019s wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debra sees Menaul offering her granddaughter opportunities she never had. Debra grew up in an impoverished family and had to leave high school before graduation. She was able to earn her GED and attend college later in life and now sells real estate. But Debra enjoys thinking about Mari attending prom, taking college preparatory classes, and selecting a college. While Mari still has much time to choose a career, she\u2019s clear why at this point she wants to be a judge. Her ambition stems not from a desire to dispense justice, but from a longing to help people resolve problems. Demonstrating a precocious understanding of the judicial system, she would like to preside in family court. \u201cI want to help people and families work things out,\u201d Mari explains.<\/p>\n

The critical funding from the Christmas Joy Offering enables Presbyterian racial-ethnic schools to provide Mari and students like her opportunities to overcome obstacles and excel. Your generous gift will help these schools continue their transformative ministries.<\/p>\n

Let us pray:<\/h3>\n

Transforming God, Thank you for young people who pursue ambitious dreams
\nand for opportunities to help them achieve those dreams.
\nHelp our racial-ethnic schools as they nurture dreams and as they
\nencourage students to reach their God-given potential. Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Menaul School\u2019s academic excellence, diversity, and values inspire achievement Mari Duran is a happy seventh grader who wants to be a judge when she grows up. Right now, however, she is enjoying life as an honor student, a cheerleader, a volleyball player, and a budding actress at the Presbyterian-related Menaul School in Albuquerque, New Mexico…. Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,10],"tags":[13,22,145,146,65],"class_list":["post-287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas-joy-offering","category-education","category-racial-ethnic","tag-christmas-joy-offering","tag-menaul-school","tag-racial-ethnic-and-womens-ministries","tag-racial-ethnic-leadership-development","tag-racial-ethnic-schools-and-colleges"],"yoast_head":"\nMinute for Mission - Mari Duran - Where Your Heart Is...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The critical funding from the Christmas Joy Offering enables Presbyterian racial-ethnic schools to provide opportunities to overcome obstacles and excel.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2016\/11\/28\/minute-mission-mari-duran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minute for Mission - 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