Life of late

Thank you so much for praying for healing of my sore throat! I felt really bad on Wednesday, so I opted not to go to club. Staying at our host home and resting up seemed to be the best plan. Tamara stepped up to the plate in an amazing way and ended up teaching both of the clubs by herself (another lady went with her to the clubs but Tamara did all of the teaching). I was grateful for her willingness to do that. Thankfully, I felt MUCH better yesterday, and except for a slight "frog in my throat" I seem to be on the mend. YAY!

We had our last clubs in the two housing developments yesterday. The first club went very well, with all of the kids being extremely attentive during all aspects of the club. One of the girls, Julen, has attended club each day this week and it is amazing how thoroughly she can answer questions during our Review Game. You would suspect that she had taught the Bible lesson! Tamara taught her how to use the Gospel Flipper Flapper (a tool that uses the same colors as the Wordless Book) so that she could share the gospel with her friends. Julen seems to have a lot of head knowledge about salvation, and Tamara and I are praying that this head knowledge is also heart knowledge.

Two funny comments were made by kids at the first club. Tamara was sharing John 3:16 and one of the little girls (Kayla) raised her hand and said, "Hey! I know what you're talking about! 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only forgotten Son....'" It was a good opportunity to correct her misunderstanding, and I definitely chuckled inwardly. We also had a new little boy named Darrell who was extremely inquisitive (and also adorable). During counseling, he asked me what God looked like. I explained that the Bible says that God is surrounded in light and no one has actually seen Him. "But," I continued, "The Bible also says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, so when people looked at Jesus they were 'seeing' God. What do you think God looks like?"

He thought for a minute and then smiled and said, "I think God would be Haitian!" :-)

We finished our first club just as a thunderstorm decided to pass over. It only rained for a little bit, for which we were very grateful. At our second club, the children were exceptionally rowdy. They insisted on talking during the teaching and exhibiting absolutely no control over behavior. It was quite challenging and several times we had to stop the club and say that we were going to leave if things didn't improve. The redeeming factor about that club was that a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl came to the club and, surprisingly, stayed for the entire hour. They kept making indications that it wasn't "cool" for them to be there, but they stayed nevertheless! During the Bible lesson, several of the kids began asking deep questions about the Trinity, virgin birth, and the role of Mary. It was so neat to be able to share with them what the Bible says about each of these topics and to clear up confusion. I wish we could have had more time to spend on just answering questions. There is such a need for long-term discipleship. It's hard to be with these kids for a short period of time and then move on to another location.

It's also hard to interact with these children and realize in just a short time how intelligent they are, and then look around at their living environment and wonder what kind of people they will grow up to be? Will they be able to get out of the vicious cycle of dysfunctional homes, a fearful atmosphere and a seemingly hopeless existence? I hope and pray that they will.

Tamara and I are off to the Arabic Church conference this afternoon. It will be an intense weekend of teaching but I'm really looking foward to it. I hope I don't lose my voice! :-) Please pray for safety while travelling (it's 45-minute drive to the conference) and for endurance as we teach these kids.

I know this may sound like a slightly silly prayer request, but Tamara and I are hoping to go to the massive 4th of July celebration in Boston next week and it would be best if we could go with somebody who knows what they are doing (it's such a bother to be young and single sometimes!). Please pray that those details can be worked out!

Okay, this is quite long enough for today. Toodle pip!