Awanas

These pictures are from Awanas Wed night. The kids were all pretty wild and active. For the last 20 minutes we had them watch a movie. They were all sitting so quietly that I had to take some pictures. Aren't they cute?

Children's Church

These pictures are from last Sunday at Children's church. Stephen and I teach 1-2 times each month. There are other people who take turns as well as many volunteers. The adults in the picture were helping us out this week. They are also the two people that teach Awanas with us. The older 3 kids in the picture were there as helpers.
We have been having about 20 kids (ages 3 and up) each week. The first thing that we do is have snacks. I think that is a highlight for many of the kids.
For the lessons, we are using God's Big Picture by Gospel Light. It goes through a time line of the Bible. The teacher draws a simple sketch on the board, and the kids copy it. This helps keep them involved and reinforces what they are learning. For the younger kids we have the sketches started, so that they just have to add to it. This is where having a lot of helpers is nice. The younger kids (3-4 yr olds) need help with the drawings.
After that we usually do a song or a game. In these pictures the kids are doing a game where they are supposed to "be watchful." They each have a piece of paper taped to their back. The goal is to take as many papers as you can without losing your own paper. They had a great time with that.
After the game the younger kids colored and played, while the older kids did a worksheet that went along with the lesson.
Sundays are always a lot of work, but they are fun.

Back in the Swing of Things

We are pretty much back to normal now. At least as close to normal as we get. (he-he) The boxes are unpacked, and things are reorganized. We have more space now that we have down-sized somewhat.
A couple of weeks ago, we started back to Awanas. It was fun to see all of the kids again and the other workers. We don't have much time to talk on Wednesday nights, but I enjoy the people who work at Awanas. They are a great bunch, really dedicated to what they do. The children enjoy them all so much.
The pictures are from Awanas last night. I almost forgot that I had the camera with me, so I just got pictures at the very end.
This past Sunday we did children's church again. We had turned to whole thing over to someone else when we left, but it was too overwhelming to her. Now that we are back we need to reconsider trying to get someone to take over. We have been having lots of kids, and not enough volunteers. We average around 20 kids, which is overwhelming for many people. We could possibly split them up by ages if we could get enough teachers. Anyway, we are going to miss a quite a few Sundays visiting other churches. We hope to build on our few faithful volunteers, and have things going smoothly by the time that we leave. It has been a learning experience for both Stephen and myself. We need to work on how we transition as we leave. This will be good experience for the mission field. Our purpose is not just to go and minister to the people there. We want to be able to train people in the church as well as the hospital to be able to do things on their own, and not be reliant on us always.
This has turned rather long, and I hope that it makes sense. I have to go play dolls now!