Sorry this blog post has been a bit late. We have been busy with the illness and passing of my mother, who was almost 92 years old. She was able to live by herself, with our watchful eyes on her, until just the last several weeks. So things have been a little busy and I was distracted with other things.
As promised, I have a teacher bio for you today. Marissa Stauffer is one of our great set of teachers who have chosen to help us in our inaugural year. Hopefully she will be with us a long time! I will turn the rest of the blog over to her, with a couple notes at the end.
On March 15, 1998, Marissa Beth Stauffer was born to James and Janette. I was the first child in my family of 2 sisters-Delphine and Rosene, and 3 brothers- Bradley, Jolen, and Blaine. I am the first grandchild on both sides, so I’m told that I was pretty special to my younger aunts and uncles! We have always lived on a farm and as children had to help feed calves and do chores. For the first 4 years of my life, we did not live at the farm, but had to drive every morning and evening. Dad had a little S10 that had no back seat, so my brother and I sat on toolboxes.
I started school in 2004 at our private Christian school. One memory I have of school is in 4th grade. We were in our classroom when Mr. (Daniel) Shaum came and knocked on our door and told us that one of the 6th grade boys had been shot and the ambulance was coming. We stood by the windows and watched him being loaded in the ambulance. It ended up being a stray bullet, but it had the adults shook up because there was a threat out towards the private schools. He was fine and lives a normal life today. Another one was in 5th grade when we were skating on the ice rink at school. Miss (Janet) Hoover slid into the edge and broke her leg. After that, we had a teacher who scooted around on her chair! A highlight from 5th grade, was the day we dressed as Indians and invited the other classes to view the boards we made of the different Indians.
It was my choice to go through high school. School wasn’t a struggle for me, so it wasn’t a hard decision. Tenth through twelfth grade was all self-paced so there was the option of getting all your credits done in less than 12 years. I worked hard and got enough credits in eleven and a half years. I did my last test the last week of January 2015 and graduated May of 2015.
The Fall of 2012 was a wonderful season for me. I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior and was baptized into the Wisler Mennonite Church.
My first job, after I was done with school, was doing laundry at Goshen Birth Center. I would be on call and would only be called in after there was a birth. I did that until the summer of 2016, before my youngest brother was born.
In the spring of 2016, I worked at Country Garden Greenhouses. I enjoyed working with flowers and getting a tan before everyone else! We usually started the end of February. I worked 6 seasons there and thoroughly enjoyed every year of it.
September 19,2016 was a special day for our family. A little brother, Blaine Edward, was born to our family. He was 9 years behind my youngest sister, and he finished our family off. We now had 3 boys and 3 girls, and we were every other one as far as gender. He brought a lot of joy to our family for a short 3 years and 1 month. October 19, 2019, was like any other fall Saturday. Dad had some custom hay wrapping to do and he had taken Jolen along to help him, and Blaine, being a normal 3-year-old boy, loved to ride along. Dad was loading the wrapper and, without realizing that Blaine had ran behind him, backed over him, thus ushering us into the valley of death. He left a big hole and is still missed by us all. We realized the blessing we have of a large community that is there for each other. Thank you to you all for being there for us.
I started my “dream” job of secretary at my uncle’s mechanic shop, Wakarusa Ag, in June 2019. I answered phones, cleaned, and tried to keep the books straight! Just so you know, it’s a hard job to keep a mechanic shop clean. Aside from a mechanic shop, we also sold new equipment and lawn mowers. I worked there Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for 3 years.
In June of 2020, I decided I wanted to do something different than butchering chicken on Tuesday and Thursday. I accepted a job opportunity at Calico Point, a fabric store. I have always loved to sew, and I have enjoyed expanding my knowledge on fabrics and machines. If you have any sewing needs, come on over!
In July of 2022, I got a call wondering if I would be interested in teaching in Belize. Central America has always been on my bucket list. I never imagined that I would live there, but God had other plans. After much praying, I decided to take up the offer. I left the middle of August 2022 to a world filled with unknowns and adventure. I knew only one family there. She had been my 4th grade teacher! I got down there and was thrown into learning lots of new things- using outhouses, taking lukewarm showers, a different climate, a different culture, riding scooter, driving manual vehicles, surviving without AC, to name only a few. I taught at high school, where we had grades 9-12. I was not a home room teacher but taught several subjects to the different classes. I taught an English class to three different classes, a “Keeping Financial Records” class, and 2 levels of Home Economics classes. I also stocked and tended a snack shop we had for the students to buy from. One of the memories I have is the time we went back to the village of Santa Theresa for a graduation supper. It had been raining all day and mind you their roads are nothing to be desired when it rains a lot. We sloshed around on the back of a truck, with a roof, for an hour on muddy roads full of potholes! It was still raining when we got there. The house was between one-half and one mile off the road. We headed down the narrow, muddy, slippery footpath. We enjoyed our delicious meal of rice, caldo chicken, and poch. As we were finishing, they said that the river we had to cross was quickly rising and would soon be uncrossable. We quickly left and the river was up to the log that had been laid across for the bridge. One guy ended up falling in the river! Thankfully we made it out of there and were not stranded back there for the night! I also had to get use to all the different animals- howler monkeys, tarantulas, snakes (venomous and non-venomous), red bugs, and scorpions.
I thoroughly enjoyed my term there. I loved the warm culture and the warm climate. In December when I came back for Christmas, I met with UCCS school board about possibly teaching at UCCS. After much prayer and contemplation, I decided to return to the States and teach at UCCS. God proved faithful again in giving direction.
School left out the first week of June. The two girls I lived with, and another friend and I wanted to go snorkeling before we left, so we stayed for another 2 weeks after school was out. I came back home and tried to adjust to the States’ way of life again and get ready for another school term.
On December 3, 2023, our church took votes for a deacon and minister. My Dad was in the lot for deacon. It was a stressful time, but the support from the church was strong. He was ordained as deacon that Wednesday. We sometimes ask “Why, God” but we can trust His plan.
I can’t help but praise God for the guidance and direction He has given me in my life. He has promised to be there for His children. I trust that He will be there for whatever He has for my future, whatever it may be.
Thank you Marissa, for sharing your life story with us. You have had quite a varied group of jobs and experiences!
We recently discovered that when the temperature gets very cold, the window frames are leaking enough air to make the rooms much colder that they need to be! Because of that, we will need to construct storm windows over them for the winter. We are also continuing to work towards getting the south hall improved for next year, in case we need it. And of course, the roof still needs to be replaced over the south part of the building. If you want to help with a financial donation, you can go on our website, www.uccs.school, there is a Donate button there, or you can contact us for more information. If you would like to make a totally anonymous donation, there is a button on our website to go through the Anabaptist Financial group. You can direct them to send your donation to us, and your identity remains private. Thanks in advance for your support!