The last post of quotes :)

T: What was Cain's punishment?
C: He wouldn't have a home and when he planted a seed it would have less on it.

C: Sin is when you do something not respecting God.

T: How can you help teachers in India?
C (who wasn't paying attention): By listening very carefully.

C: Deceiving means not doing something you're supposed to do.

C (after hearing how Jesus died): Hey, that reminds me of Narnia, when Aslan died for that boy Edmund.

(Later we realized that an altar - like in our Bible story - was like the Stone Table. So cool how the kids put it together.)

T: You know what a quiet time is?
C: When you're asleep.

One boy's prayer request: "That we'll see each other again"

T: What's heaven like?
C: A big place with lots of angels in it!

T: What did Hannah name her baby?
C: Jesus?

************************************************************************

STOP a second

It was a Monday, I believe, when Sammi was at club.
She was almost junior high age, so she was a little older than some of the other kids. But she and her siblings had a lot of fun playing games with us. For one game I had all the kids line up and as I read a "right heart attitude", they could take a giant step forward. For each "wrong heart attitude", they had to stay where they were. If someone moved when they weren't supposed to, we would send them back to the starting line.
The game may not sound very exciting, but the kids liked it - maybe because it was easy to tell which was a right attitude and which was a wrong one!
But Sammi surprised me when the group of kids got close to the finish line.
I read, "I talk to God every day, every chance I get," and all the other kids took a big step forward.
But Sammi stayed back.
"Sammi," I said in surprise. "Why didn't you take a big step?"
"Because," said Sammi, "I don't do that all the time."
I explained that, while the attitudes I was reading were good, the kids didn't have to step forward only if they had those attitudes. Sammi said, "Ohh," and stepped up to the other kids.
That was all.

But Sammi's attitude got me thinking.

It took guts to stop when everyone else kept moving forward. It took even more guts to speak up and say, "I don't do that all the time." So I think maybe we had it backwards all summer. The kids are the teachers... and we teenagers just show up to learn from them.

Sammi's actions taught me to stop and think about the true nature of my relationship with God; not to just move forward with things. Sometimes I assume everyone else must have a word from God I don't; surely they're all moving in the right direction!

But maybe God just wants me to stop.

The college I'm attending this fall has a motto based on what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10; "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Everyone else may be "worried... about many things", but you and I need to stop and say "there is something I'm not doing, and it's what I need to do. I need to get closer to God."

That's what won't be taken away from us at the finish line.

MORE Kids Quotes

This blog has become all about the kids quotes! But uh, I'm not sure I can remember anything else from this week. :) It went by so fast! We taught 3 clubs a day so the days were full and sticky (juice on the parachute in 90-degree weather, anyone?).

The quotes might be the most telling...
________________________________________________________

"Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way. Jesus is the only way at club today!"
- a kid at our park club who loved rhymes.

Teacher:"Why where the Christians praying? Maybe something bad had happened..."
Child:"Maybe hamburgers fell from the sky!"

Teacher:"What has God given to you?"
Child:"My Star Wars video games and lightsaber!"

Teacher:"How can you come to God with a right heart attitude?"
Child:"Talk to him nicely."

Teacher:"What is a missionary?"
Child:"Someone who tells anybody about Jesus!"

Host's child when his dad came in: "Daddy, this is 5-day club!"

T:"What do you think they had at the feast?"
C:"Chicken!"
C:"Ribs!"
C:"Cow tongue!"
Teachers:"Cow tongue?!"

Sometimes it's the teachers that get a little... odd.

Teacher:"He probably had a lot of doctors but none of them knew anything! So..."

Teacher:"Wow! That was awesome! Style points!"
Kid:"Yay! We get more points!"
Teacher:"...Oops."

An amazing joke from this week's teacher:
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Broken pencil!
Broken pencil who?
Never mind; it's pointless. :D

Children know

Sometimes kids are right on!

Like at 5-day club last week - a little girl was asked how Jesus came to earth. She replied, "He came down from heaven and he was a baby, and his parents birthed him."

An eight-year-old boy explained Cain's punishment as "he had to walk away from God and others."

And a little girl who accepted Jesus as her Savior was positive that she was "part of God's family."

Other times, kids' thinking is just a little mixed up.

- "Jesus gave us our blood when he died."
- "Jesus shared his blood on the cross" (explaining Hebrews 9:22).
- "Adam and Eve left the garden 'cause they ate them pears and sinned."

Kids can be very confused: one little girl announced at club, "you won't sin when you're a mom!"

Another girl said "I thought Joseph was Jesus' father", when Jesus was called God's son.

It's an honor to teach kids the truth about Jesus... but it's fun to hear what they think you said about him too. :)

Quotes from the Clubhouse

Quotes from kids at the fair trailer:

Missionary (showing the Wordless Book): How is this book different from other books?...

There are no words, are there?

Child: Did someone pull them off??

Missionary: What are some things God created?

Child: He made the Ferris wheel!

Child to missionary: I remember you from 5-day club last year!!!

Child (complimenting us on the Wordless Book presentation): It was all good... except for the blood.

Child: Did God make drugs?

Missionary: How can you be cleaned up from your sin?

Child: By being baptized?

Missionary: What's the punishment for your sin?

Child: God has to spread apart from you

Celebrate!

Good news (and this besides the Gospel)!

This past week my teaching buddy and I were privileged to lead over three children to Christ!

Praise God!

It's harder to tell when a large group of children is praying with you, to know whether they understand and accept it or not. But we got to talk to a few individually, so that's why I say "over three." Most likely there were kids in the large groups that truly meant their prayer of response. And perhaps some of those personally counseled three haven't truly accepted it!

But that's OK... we've done our part, and God did the rest.

Hurray for God! Hurray for teaching buddies! And hurray for having a voice at the end of a long week of teaching!

Actually, I went to Mauston for a host meeting today, and was able to do the presentation in an almost normal voice. I say that with a huge smile, because my voice never ever heals this quickly from a cold.

Whoo, there's still so much scheduling to do - host meetings or mailings that need to take place - and more than a few calls and emails. Please pray I will rely on God and do my best...

*Cough Cough*

Hey everyone!

Or maybe I should say, hey everyone.
My voice is going, going... shortly, gone!

The only really bad part about this - besides that I get so bored when I can't talk! - is that I'm teaching backyard Bible club tomorrow.

:/

Yes, I do not feel good about this. My teaching partner Jojo and I both felt very brain dead after today's clubs, but God came through, and Jojo was able to lead a little boy to Christ!
If He used us, two worn out off-the-wall girls, don't you think He can use my voice?

(I guess I think so :) )

Christian Youth in Action

For the last two weeks, the team has been at training camp, learning how to teach 5-day clubs!

It was an amazing time of relationship building (as we're so fond of saying, not relationships between the genders - not those kind of relationships), a lot of mental and spiritual learning, and some fighting in the spiritual realms.

I really believe there were demons fighting us this year - whether it was trouble focusing or injuries and sickness, the kids were struggling to complete their learning... it was kind of abnormal. But... we had people asking God on our behalf back home and we spent some time each day asking Him ourselves. He blessed those two weeks of camp more than I can say!

During the second week as we taught practice clubs in the area, 22 children accepted Christ as their savior. 22 more received counseling for salvation assurance. It was awesome!

I was a 1/2 team leader - 1/2 student, which made life interesting at camp. But I'm really enjoying being an intern.

It's cool to see how the CEF leaders come to decisions and what they have to work through during CYIA training. It's also cool to see how they begin each day with prayer, and pray each time they meet together, usually sharing scripture too. I want to have a life like that, that is so full of Christ that in every circumstance His power is the first outlet I plug into! *

Grad!!

I'm so excited!!

Only three days until my graduation.

Until recently I thought it was ridiculous how much attention was given to graduating. "Why focus on my graduation," I sniffed. "It's a small step comparatively... It's not like I won the Nobel Prize - yet - or got married - yet."

But now... I'm excited! Maybe part of the reason is that I'm not worrying about what I'm doing after high school anymore. God not only tells me not to worry for my own sake; He says it's a sin to worry! It's such a relief to accept that His future belongs to Him and not me.

It should be a fun life after graduation.

I mean, it's been good up to this point, right? :D

Trust

Here's something I came across in my Bible today...

Isaiah 26:3-4

You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.

(A Good News Club verse -->) Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD,
is the Rock eternal.

Trust is never misplaced when it's placed in His power.

Youth With Vision

I'm so excited! Today five young ladies came over to my house (including my little sister, who I thought would NEVER be willing to learn the Wordless Book), and they all left with the instruction to give the Gospel!

If you're a reader of the blog, you know that I had to cancel the Gospel seminar last month because no one could come, and I had a horrible migraine. This week, thank God, no migraine. But there was a misunderstanding. I didn't put on the invitations that we'd learn the Wordless Book over two days. So the families planned to come on Saturday instead of Friday. I waited on Friday, and no one showed (obviously if I'd had my head on straight I would have called to make sure they were coming)! So after getting that straightened out, we agreed to do the whole thing on Saturday. "Learn the Wordless Book in one day?" I asked myself. "Can it be done?"

Well, these young people are a lot sharper than I am, and frankly a lot more willing to listen. They understood the Wordless Book and presented it to each other wonderfully. I was in awe of them and God.

Afterwards one of the girls asked if I could "make something up" to teach them, because she wanted to do this again. "I could teach you guys anything," I answered, and I believe it would be possible. These girls are sharp! I can't wait to hear about their adventures sharing the Gospel with other kids. :)

Orientation 2!!

As you can possibly see from the pictures...

O2 was fun. :)

That's my arm in the picture below, holding up "Adelia" the puppet. Adelia was mostly a model puppet... but she and "Hank" needed some help from wise Mrs. Weibel to become truly excellent puppets.

This second orientation was held at the camp where training will be this June, and was the first chance some teens had to see the place they'll be training at for two weeks! It was also the first change for many to learn the games they'll be teaching kids over the summer. Some of the games involved parachutes (see above and below) while others were variations of Ships Across the Ocean and Crows and Cranes.

It's a good thing these teenagers have good attitudes - and wanted to be there. In my experience, teens get bored much quicker than children!

It's harder to keep their attention. :)

It's cool to think that God will use these young adults
to bring others to Himself. If He wanted to, He could use someone else,
but He chose people like us. People who make mistakes
and don't always obey Him, but people He loves and
always forgives. Thank you, God!! Thank you for calling these teens!!

Good News Clubhouse

Hey peeps!

This July at the La Crosse Interstate Fair, CEF will have the Good News Clubhouse up and running. The Good News Clubhouse is a trailer that's painted in all kinds of fun colors, with the inside painted like night and day. Kids can come through and hear the Wordless Book (the Gospel), and get their faces painted.
The trained teen teachers (ttt... I love saying that) will be sharing the Wordless Book. We can have other teens, like our friends, paint faces and we need an adult present whenever we're working. The adult volunteer will often talk to the parents outside the trailer, or talk to adults and kids as they walk by.

It's a lot of work - about ten hours a day for four days in a sweaty trailer- but it's worth it! Last year we reached over 800 kids just through the fair trailer ministry!

If you want to learn more about it or you'd like to do a five-hour shift, please email me at nenya1910@gmail.com!

Graph

Here's a funny little graph that shows how far my support has come. :)

There are so many wonderful people supporting me this summer! I'm so thankful that God supplies every need for everyone He calls. He never leaves us on our own, wondering what to do.

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer (http://nationaldayofprayer.org/).

Who and what are you praying for?

Jesus said that prayer was very powerful (Matthew 21:22, Mark 9:14-29, Luke 18:1, John 16:24), but sometimes Christians feel awkward about it. We can send emails and talk on the phone with friends that we can't see... we can talk out loud to ourselves... but it's hard to talk to someone who's present that we totally can't see!

But if the power of God is "unleashed" by prayer - that's not the right word; I hope you know what I mean - shouldn't Christians be constantly in prayer?

Paul said we should. He said he prayed for his fellow believers whenever he thought of them (Romans 1:9-10, 1 Thess. 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:3). How often do I just think of others and forget to pray?

God can work without our prayers - that's what I mean about "unleashed" being the wrong word - but often He chooses to wait until we seek His face and ask.

I got to share the ministry with one of my youth leaders today. :) We had a nice long talk, and she prayed for me. Her encouragement meant a lot to me, but her prayer was even more powerful. She can help me - and has more than she probably realized - but God can help me so much more. Aren't prayers the greatest encouragement of all??

"I urge you, brothers... to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me" - Romans 15:30.

And please, let me join with you in your ministries and trials through prayer!!

A Reminder ;)

"Every element of self-reliance must be slain by the power of God. Complete weakness and dependence will always be the occasion for the Spirit of God to manifest His power"

- Oswald Chambers.

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

- Philippians 4:19

To Do's

So tomorrow, I have a lot of things I have to do... and I'm having to put off "work stuff" again. :[

It's making me nervous to put off my CEF work for so long - I want to have it done in good time and not have to worry about it when things get really crazy; i.e., in June. So now's the time to finish the skits and organizer and learn the stories... but right now I'm caught up with school!

Oh, please pray that I won't waste my time; that I will do what needs to be done and I won't get "cut off" in the race!

and...
Soli Deo Gloria

CYIA video

Check out the promo video for Christian Youth in Action, Wisconsin style!

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=3cc8d8d2b261e81e96a2

And tell me what you think, with a comment on the post!

The video is a few years old... but CYIA training camp is the same - a lot of work and a lot of challenge!

Gruff but lovable dwarf on a spring day

As I read my last post I thought, "hmm. I sounded a little grumpy there."

When your body and mind are upset with you, the result is grumpy. And I could "philosophize" about my turbulent state last weekend, trying to find other reasons for my disturbance... but I won't.

It was a plain, no-good, very bad weekend.

But today...

today is a b e a u t i f u l day.

Have you walked down the street lately? Even if you live in the center of town like I do, you'll see eruptions of color - from the crabapple trees to those white ones that aren't cherry trees, to the pale green leaves high above your head.

And even if you're experiencing residual grumpiness (as I am - I hope you CAN'T tell in this post!), you will find wonders that bring rest to your soul.

James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights (I love that!), who does not change like the shifting shadows.

His beautiful creation is proof that He can make this creation (me) beautiful inside, too. :)

Gospel seminar

Tomorrow was going to be a day for upper elementary kids to learn the Wordless Book over at my house... however, I never heard back from the kids I invited, except one who wouldn't have been able to make it. :(

I feel kind of let down. I really thought this would work out, but when I started throwing up today it was apparent that the seminar wouldn't get off the ground.

Hmm.

I really thought I was meant to do this... but maybe not now. Maybe sometime in the future when God brings kids into my life who would really benefit by this. Maybe none of the kids I talked to need help sharing their faith!

I just don't know.

Anyway, the migraine's mostly gone. Just a little queasiness left.

Today I had to cancel a meeting with someone to share about the internship; I hope that gets off the ground too! It was a pretty miserable day, but the shots I got helped. Now if they'll just knock me out for a few hours. I can barely type! :)

TWLOHA Day

If you see people around you with "LOVE" on their arms, it's probably because today is National "To Write Love on Her Arms" day.

TWLOHA is an organization that helps people escape the traps of self-injury and self-hate, because God never created us to hurt ourselves or despise the beauty He's created. Today is a day to remind the hurting people that God loves them and we are praying for them!

And today, I wrote love on my arm, to remember that God made me and loves me more than I can imagine.

Remember that today!

First letter, first support

Wow.

I am in utter aMAZEment!

I've only sent out my initial support letter. There will be at least two more sent out during the summer, but after only one support letter...

almost half of my support money is covered! Over $1,000!! Plus I know of several people who will be praying for God's will over the next few months. A lot more people than I expected.

And I completely didn't expect God to work in this way... never mind that fast!!

Shame on me for thinking that God's people wouldn't give to help me to this ministry! I have a lot to learn.

...will that be a theme this summer?

Orientation 1

It was a loong ride there and back... but worth it to see everyone!

Today was Orientation 1, when the summer missionaries get their support letters ready to send, and everyone receives their orientation manual.

That is, they get homework. :)

For the 5 day clubs this summer we have 5 missionary stories and 5 Bible lessons we'll have to learn at camp. But before we go, we're prepared; by reading the Bible passages and the story from India!

I can't wait for this summer; it's always exciting to see what God does through the missionaries. But this year I'm in a more "observing" position; I'm coordinating clubs, locations and times, and not doing as much actual teaching.

(But whenever a missionary can't teach or needs a partner, I'll be around.)

Please pray for the teens as they study for the summer! The work has only begun!