Cubbies

Tonight was the first week of Awana for the year. I am very happy that Zachary is joining us as a Cubbie's leader! Glad to have you part of the team Zachary! This year we have 17 Cubbies. We are looking forward to a great year ahead.

A New Beginning

Today was our kick off Sunday at church for the new school year. This year I am teaching the fourth grade Sunday School class which means I have the same children as last year. I wanted to continue building on what we learned last year and hope to develop deeper relationships with the class. I am looking forward to a great year ahead as some really special kids.

The Gathering Place

We have just spent three Sundays here at our home church in B.C. We have sure enjoyed being able to worship together again and connect with our church family here. We'll miss you! Thanks so much for your love and support!

Life Beyond Tim Hortons

Yes, there is life and coffee beyond Tim Horton's. There were some good times of fellowship over a good brew of Venezuelan coffee.

Under the Mango Trees

No fancy church building or comfortable pews, no fancy clothes, or hymn books, however under the mango trees is all we needed to provide a great setting for many good teaching times, prayer times, and fellowship times.

The Simple Life

We live in such an instant society, oh to get back to the simple way of life. Well, while we were with our brothers and sisters it was like a step back in time. And we were enjoying a simpler way of life. The pictures with our water pump show our high tech water filtering system. Our clothes got wet but I am not sure how clean they actually got. I was just glad that I was not washing clothes for the whole family.

The Church

Thanks so much for your prayers for us and our time with our brothers and sisters. Our time was very profitable. There was much time spent in the Word and in prayer . There were so many encouraging and positive things happening. I wish you could have all been there together with us for our communion service to hear their testimonies. Please be praying for our brothers and sisters as they get back to the normal grind of life. They face much opposition and need our prayers as they seek to teach and spread the gospel to all those in walking distance. One dear brother walks four hours one way to teach the Word. How many of us would be willing to do that? (When we get home we will be sending out a more detailed account of your time with the church, and we will be sending pictures. If you do not receive our updates and would like to hear more, please send me an email.)

Windy City

We have three great churches in the Windy City that have been behind us in our ministry. This past Sunday Vern had the opportunity to speak at one of them, Windy City Community Church. (It was very special for us that all of our children were able to join us for the service. ) We had a very good time with the folks at WCCC. After the service the missions committee along with others from the church treated us to a great pizza buffet. There were about 35 of us and it was so good to enjoy the fellowship of old friends and new.

Awana Kickoff

Last night was our first night of Cubbies for the new school year. I am once again heading up the Cubbies program. We have an addition to our team. Titus is now finished with the Awana program so he is a helper and we sure appreciated his help. Ruth is a leader again this year and she does a fantastic job. Teresa is also a leader again this year although last night she was sick and couldn't make it. We had 13 Cubbies and we have four children on the waiting list to get in. We will need another leader before we can take more children in our group. It looks like it will be another good year and the children were excited for club to be starting up. I got saved through the Awana program and so it is some thing I am really enjoy being involved in as I know what a difference it made in my life.

Kids Connection

During the summer I usually take a break from the children's ministries at church. Today was the first week of the new school year for our children's ministry. I had been teaching the second grade class for a couple of years, and last year I did fourth grade. This year I am teaching the third grade class. I had ten third graders show up this morning. I have a nice Sunday school room however, ten children and a teacher pretty much packs out the room. A few of my students I know from when I was working in the Awana Sparks program, however, quite a few of the students I don't know at all. I am looking forward to getting to know them better and helping them to get to know our Lord and Savior and developing a relationship with Him.

Flash Light Night

This past Thursday night for Cubbies we decided to make it a special event night so we had "Flashlight Night". We tried to do as much of the evening as possible in the dark so the Cubbies could use their flashlights. I went out to the dollar store and bought glow in the dark necklaces for all the Cubbies and leaders. So as each child came in we gave them a glow in the dark necklace. They really enjoyed singing "This Little Light of Mine" with all the lights turned off and as they shined their flashlights around the room as they sang. I also bought a couple of packages of glow in the dark stars. When Ruth and I got there we hid the glow in the dark stars all over the church. Our Cubbies room is decorated in a jungle theme so there are stuffed animal snakes, gorillas, monkeys and other animals. So for our game time we went on a safari (in the dark of course) looking for animals we could put in our zoo. And we also went star gazing and collected all the stars we could find. Then we ended the night with all the lights off and played a game of "I Spy with My Little Eye". The night was a success and I would not have been surprised if some of the kids went to bed holding their flashlights. (smile)

FORGIVEN!

This morning we went to the Good Friday service at our church. It was such a meaningful service. What an awesome time celebrating the Christ of the cross. When we walked in about half of us were given nails for the service. There was a BIG wooden cross set up on the platform. Our pastor shared on Isaiah 53. Then as a congregation we just called out different sins, pride, jealousy, greed, gossip, and the list went on. One of our other pastors was in the front writing down everything people called out on a big piece of paper. He then ripped the paper off and nailed it to the cross. It was very powerful and moving to once again realize just what Christ did for us. We then shared Communion together. We ended the service by witnessing four people following the Lord in baptism. It was so awesome to hear their testimonies. What a thrill to see how their lives have been changed. YEA, GOD!

We are Awana Cubbies

Every Thursday, Ruth, Titus and I head to a youth program at our church called Awana. This is a program that is very close to my heart since I was saved through the Awana program. I have worked in Awana as a leader several years before we went to the mission field, on furloughs, and now for the past four years. I have two great leaders working with me, one is my daughter Ruth and another one is a dear lady, Theresa. The program we are working with is called: Cubbies and the children are 3-5 year olds. We have a lot of fun with our Cubbie each week. It is such a privilege to work with these children and to be a part of laying a foundation of who God is. During our Bible time I have been teaching through a book called "The Lamb" by John Cross. It lays out the gospel story in such a beautiful way. It has been so neat to see these precious little ones begin to grasp Biblical truths. How thankful I am for those people in my life who came along side me and were a part of directing me to Christ!