Van Essen, Matthew & Sarah

I am looking forward to joining the Immanuel Mission School teaching team this coming school year (2024-2025). My teaching assignment will be Grades 3 and 4. The school is a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with children and families living in the surrounding Navajo community.

I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior when I was five years old. I was blessed to be raised in a family where I was taught the word of God. Even as a young child the Lord used Acts 16:31, a verse I had memorized, to speak to my heart about my need to be saved.

I studied elementary education at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. I then attended Emmaus Bible College as a continuing education student. 

Sarah and I were married in 2001. The Lord blessed our marriage with twelve children: 8 boys and 4 girls. We were grieved to lose our son, David, in a drowning accident in 2021. We are thankful that he had trusted the Lord Jesus as his Savior and that we do not grieve as those who have no hope.

The Lord called us this spring (2024) to the work at Immanuel Mission in the Four Corners region of Arizona. We are excited for this new chapter in our lives and look forward to meeting the students and their families.