A Long Overdue Update

I'm so sorry that I haven't updated this. It's too hard to keep this going as well as my monthly newsletters. So if you would like to follow what is happening with my ministry work, please send me your email or snail mail address to receive my monthly newsletters. I am also going to try to upload my past newsletters on this blog over the next week. So, send along your information to kaitie.merker@gmail.com if you would like to stay notified of prayer requests and stories from my work. :)

Thank you and God bless!
~Kaitie

CYIA camp (Quick update)

Camp was an amazing experience! I don't have time to write a long entry right now, but know that one is coming. Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers all this last week. God is so good!

Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) Camp

Memorial day was fantastic! Thank you so much for your prayers! The weekend was so much fun for me as well as the other 3 girls who taught with me. It was an awesome experience and the kids were adorable. We didn't want to leave them after just 3 days! The 4 of us had an amazing time!














And now I am getting ready for another amazing opportunity. Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) camp for Washington state starts this Friday at Lake Retreat. It is an intense 9 days of learning, teaching, spiritual growth and serving God! I will be supervising a group of junior highers at camp and they will be teaching elementary aged children from the 21-25. This week we will be teaching at 27 different 5 day clubs and will be presenting the gospel and building relationships with kids from all over the Renton/Kent/Covington area.

Please pray for all of the students, supervisors and children this coming week. Everyone attending camp was given a list to pass along to family and friends so they could pray for specific needs. Here is a copy of the one I received. I cannot tell you how much your prayers are needed and appreciated!

Friday June 18:
~Prayer for safety in travel to camp.
~Pray that I can develop good relationships with the adults and teens at camp.
~Pray that the Holy Spirit would speak to me during the opening chapel service.

Saturday June 19:
~Pray for mental alertness as today is a heavy classroom day.
~Pray that I can help my trainees successfully complete their assignments.
~Pray for good results as the trainees start to prepare for club.

Sunday June 20:
~Pray that I would have wisdom and understanding while evaluating the trainees on their teaching.
~Pray for me to have a good nights rest.
~Pray that God will send many children to attend our club tomorrow.

Monday June 21:
~Pray that the trainees will not be too nervous today as club begins.
~Pray that the trainees and I will listen as God is speaking to us.
~Pray that the trainees will learn to put God first in every area of their lives.

Tuesday June 22:
~Pray for the trainees that they clearly present the gospel today.
~Pray that the children attending the club will be well behaved.
~Pray that the saved children will be discipled today at club.

Wednesday June 23:
~Pray that the trainees won't grow weary in their preparations.
~Pray that the children will receive Jesus as their Savior today.
~Pray for physical strength and rest.

Thursday June 24:
~Pray for the trainees as the junior high trainees join 5-Day Club teaching teams today.
~Pray that there will be good friendship between the junior and senior trainees.
~Pray for the children's and trainee's home environments. Many are difficult.

Friday June 25:
~Pray that God will help me to be effective as I help the trainees today.
~Pray that the local churches will conduct effective follow-up of the non-churched children.
~Pray that God will speak to me at the communion service tonight and I will obey.

Saturday June 26:
~Pray for a safe trip home.
~Pray that God will bless the 5-Day Club hostesses for opening their homes for clubs.
~Pray that I will remain spiritually strong when I return home.

Memorial Day Teaching

It's been a while since my last update. Things have been so busy. I've been preparing for this weekend since the beginning of the month and it has been a lot more work than I had originally thought. So what am I doing this weekend? Well, every so often, this Indonesian church in Seattle has a sort of family camp and they ask CEF to provide teachers for their kids for it. I've helped out with their camps 3 times before and it is always a blast and a blessing! So tomorrow morning (at 6am!) myself and 3 other girls will be driving down to Yelm together to tell these kids about how we all have different gifts and talents and we can use them for God. This event has been so much work, because I have been in charge of all the organization of my teachers and our curriculum. But I know it's going to be a great weekend!

-Please pray for our safety on the way down and back.
-Pray that we will be prepared in our teaching. 2 of our teachers' only experience with CEF teaching was when they attended InterSCession.

Teaching on the Weekends

Intercession is over, but I'll hopefully still be updating fairly frequently. I am still teaching and I can always use prayer. Since the beginning of January, I've been teaching "Sunday school" weekly during a Saturday night service at Gracepoint Community Church in Southcenter. This is a tough class, because it's only a few kids (about 2-6 regulars) and they come from low-income and broken homes, mostly. It has certainly been a trial trying to answer some of the questions they come up with. I just finished a 12 week series on David, but just about every week, some other topic would come up out of nowhere, halfway through the class and we would just forget about the lesson to talk about the issue. One week, I was teaching about David and Mephibosheth and the last 20 minutes of class was spent discussing various religions and what their beliefs are. These kids have a lot of great questions and hardly any Biblical knowledge (They had never heard of Goliath before!) It's so different than any club I've ever taught. It is definitely a challenge, but I think it is helping me a lot in my ability to answer these questions. I'll be teaching with them until the end of May, when Summer responsibilities become more overwhelming.

-Please pray for these kids. They have so much experience in things I cannot relate to.
-Pray for wisdom and guidance for me as I try to answer their questions in a loving and knowledgeable way.

Tomorrow also starts my first week teaching a new Good News Club in Bellevue. I have helped out at this club before, but have never taught at it. The kids are a little on the energetic side and are hard to control at times. But I'm glad I already have met them, and they like me so I'm hoping this club will be a fun experience for them as well as me. For those unfamiliar with "CEF-speak", a Good News Club (GNC) is like a 5-day club, but instead of being 5 consecutive days, it is once a week and usually runs during the school year. This one will be running until the end of May. Since I'm teaching these classes Friday and Saturday weekly, I'm going to be using the same lessons for both of them.

-Please pray for my preparedness for this club. And pray that I would know how to discipline the kids.
-Please pray for the kids, that they would be ready to learn about God and be attentive during the teaching time and involved during the game and song times.

Intercession - Friday

Sorry about the delay in updating. The Spring quarter at Bellevue college started up on Monday, so I'm back to the ol' grind and already busy with classes.

Intercession ended beautifully! I was so impressed by how the students changed over only 5 days. I really saw so much improvement in teaching and attitudes. It was really encouraging to see that what we were teaching wasn't falling on deaf ears, even though it felt like that some of the time. I was originally going to leave before the clubs on Friday, but ended up being able to stay for the entire day and I am so happy I did! I was so sorry to leave those elementary kids. One boy, Joshua, was very clingy to me the whole week. When I told the kids that it was the last day, he asked if he would ever see me again and I told him that I didn't know for sure. He thought about it and then looked up at me with the sweetest smile and said, "Well, maybe when I'm in first grade!" Oh, that face! It's fun getting to meet so many kids when I teach, but it is always heartbreaking to leave them at the end of the week.
Intercession was such an amazing experience and I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of it! It sounds like there is a chance of this happening again next year. I sure hope that I can be involved!

-Please pray for the students that we taught, that they would use these tools we have given them and be able to share God's love with many others.
-And pray for the children, that the seed we planted would continue to grow as they learn more about God.

Intercession - Thursday

Happy April Fool's day! Surprisingly, we made it through intercession today with very few pranks.
The long days are starting to take a visible toll on all the students and workers. But even so, they are all rising to the challenge and persevering well. While reviewing our songs from club, we also taught the students one of my favorite songs that we sing at our clubs during the summer. I love the way the high schoolers try to act all cool and smooth, but in the end, they really enjoy doing goofy hand motions to songs and playing silly games.
Today's clubs were a little different because a lot of the kids had basketball class during club time. Our room started out with just 3 kids and ended up with 6(a big change from Tuesday's and Wednesday's 11). Our club went really well though. These students are really starting to be more open with the kids and are trying so hard. I would love for them to work this summer with me. We're going to give them Christian Youth in Action(CYIA) camp brochures tomorrow and hopefully some of them will make the decision to come.
We have one more day to teach and I am relieved, but sad. I've had a great time getting to know these students and this experience, I know, has prepared me for more work with youth in the future. I'm going to miss the elementary kids in my club too. They are so adorable! I don't have to be reminded why I do what I do, but seeing those faces smiling up at you and feeling a tug on your sleeve from those little hands because they want to tell you something that is probably not very important to you, but is immensely important to them, makes me feel so blessed! These children are so dear, and they are so precious to God. It is such a joy to teach them and, this week, to train others to do the same.

-Please pray for the students, and us teachers, as we near the end of our time together that they would have renewed energy for their last day teaching.
-And Pray for the little ones we are teaching, that they would understand what they are hearing and that they would apply it to their lives.

Intercession - Wednesday

God works in amazing ways! Today, He reminded me that He has a perfect plan for everything. He is so good! Club went better today, much more smoothly. I have one specific prayer request for today and I have a story to go along with it:

This week at Intercession, two of the high school girls taking our class are Japanese exchange students. Ayaka and Saori have only been in the country for 3 months and are leaving for Japan in about 2 weeks. These girls told me today that they took English in junior high and don't really understand a lot of what's going on. They also have not found anyone in the school or area (besides the other 2 exchange students) who speak Japanese. I can imagine that things must be really hard for them. Yesterday, I made a point of going and talking to them, using a few phrases I remembered in Japanese. I took Japanese class for the last year at Bellevue College, but I'm a little rusty on it, since I haven't had a class since December. These girls obviously missed home a lot. Their faces lit up whenever I said a simple phrase or even just one word in Japanese. They sit alone together and are separated from the group a lot because of the language barrier, but they are incredibly sweet and friendly girls.
Last night I was trying to think of some way to help them understand the gospel message we've been teaching. I looked through my Japanese books and found one titled, "Conversational Japanese for the Christian Worker." I seemed to recall that my mom bought this book for me a while back and I had never read it. Thank you, God! I thought as I snatched it off the shelf and started copying down phrases that outlined the message of Salvation. Today, I told Deborah, one of our other leaders, what I had found and she prayed for me. At lunch time I sat down next to the girls and brought a wordless book. I started out by asking if it was confusing. Ayaka and Saori looked as if they somewhat understood. Muzukashii?(Difficult?) I asked. They both smiled and nodded their heads and, as most Japanese girls I've met, clapped their hands in excitement.
So for the next 30 minutes, I pointed to the colors and used the hand motions they had been learning the last few days, along with the Japanese phrases, to explain what it was exactly they were learning, and that we were teaching the kids. The book even had questions like, "Would you like to ask Jesus to be your savior?" And it outlined a simple salvation prayer. So, although I don't know where these girls stand in their relationship with God, I now know that at least they have heard the gospel. I saw real understanding in their faces. After I went through all my phrases Saori said that it wasn't so confusing and Ayaka nodded in agreement. I sat with them for the last 20 minutes of lunch time and we had a mixed conversation of Japanese and English as we talked about our grades, ages, favorite Japanese movies, where they lived in Japan, etc... It was so great to be able to make them feel welcome and just be a friend to them. It really was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. God worked it out so well! I have a new readiness to take Japanese for another year starting in the Fall. I wasn't sure if I should take any more Japanese classes, because it wasn't very useful. Perhaps it's more useful than I had thought!

-Please pray for Ayaka and Saori that they would come to a saving knowledge of Christ, if they have not already received Him. And if they have, that they would be able to use what we have taught them, to share His love with others.
-Please pray that I would be able to reach out to them more this week and that vocab and grammar would come easily to my mind.
-And you can Praise the Lord that I took those language classes!
-Continue to pray for the clubs and the kids attending them.
-And pray for the students as they give their time and energy for God.

Intercession - Tuesday

It's a little difficult to get the hang of the schedule for these days, since the two we've had so far have been so different! In the morning, we evaluated the students on the Wordless Book and were somewhat surprised at some of the results. A lot of them had a hard time with explaining certain concepts and we got the feeling that many of these kids do not have a strong, grounded knowledge of their faith. We don't know for sure if all these kids are saved. I know that it's very easy to assume that kids in a program like this are born-again, but we never should.

-Please pray for us, as leaders to have answers to their questions, and for God to use us in the lives of these students, that they may come to saving knowledge of him, if they haven't believed.
-And if they have believed, that they would grow more in that knowledge.

Missions time went much more smoothly today. A new set of faces, the kids who taught as Club Coordinator(the songs and verse and such) during the club today. They seem to be getting the idea of what is expected of them, and most of them are rising to the challenge very well and with much enthusiasm! I am so impressed by their command of the materials in such a short time of training. I hope that some of them will consider attending CYIA (Christian Youth in Action) camp and/or teach in King County this summer.

My group for the clubs had some rocky places, but I only foresee them getting better and better as the week goes. Mostly, the reason they're not doing as well as they could is that they're not really putting a lot of time into it. I hope that today, they realized some of that. Now that they've actually taught some kids and seen what teaching the club is like, they can be better prepared.

-Pray that my fellow teachers and I would be able to clearly present these lessons to them, so that they can comprehend and be able to teach them to the children.
-Pray for the children that they would be open to our message tomorrow.
-Pray for the students to have a right heart attitude when approaching the teaching. That it wouldn't be a chore, but rather a joy.

Intercession - Monday

Thank you for your prayers! Today went very well. This experience was quite different than I expected, but as a whole, things went smoothly. It is an interesting thing to be teaching students who are only a few years younger than you. At first, I think they all thought I was in my mid-twenties, but then they found out I was just almost 19, and some of them had changed attitudes. We broke into groups after lunch, so each group could learn about their part of the 4-day club they were going to teach. I had the missionary story people. I was so intimidated going to the other classroom with 5 teenagers I had never met before. I had been in their shoes 3 times before, but not since 8th grade. We were running so far ahead of schedule that instead of the planned 1, I had them for almost 2 hours! 2 hours in which I was to explain what the missionary story was, the responsibilities connected to it, demonstrate what they would be teaching and the rest of the time was for them to study. I was pretty much done with my teaching in 30 minutes. Apparently, I didn't know that high school students don't like to sit and study for an hour and a half, after being in classes all day. Go figure, right?

-I will be in the same position tomorrow, with a different 5 students. Please pray for me to use the time wisely, and effectively.
-Pray for the students' comprehension. Again, this is tons of information. They'll be getting started on Wednesday's material before they even teach Tuesday's, tomorrow.
-Pray that I would be ready to answer any questions they may have for me.

And So, the Work Begins

My responsibilities as a Summer Missionary for Child Evangelism Fellowship(CEF) start tomorrow. Although really, my missions work hardly ever stops. Which is how it should be, in my mind.

Right now I am preparing to teach at Seattle Christian Schools this Monday-Friday. I will be working in a team, teaching around 20 high school students how to prepare lessons and teach children about God's love. During this week, the students will be teaching children at their school from Tuesday-Friday. I'm so excited for this week of teaching and learning! This is part of an awesome program at Seattle Christian called "Intercession", and the students have a wide choice of opportunities available to them. Our class is just one of many wonderful missions training that is going on this week through the school. As this is my spring break from Bellevue College, I can give Intercession my full attention; God worked it out so well!

-Please pray for the students at Seattle Christian, that they would have understanding and comprehension for these sessions. It will be a lot of information in a short amount of time.
-Pray for the children attending the club this week, that they would be open to the gospel we are presenting to them.
-And Pray for me and my fellow teachers, that we would be prepared, helpful, encouraging and knowledgable.


~Kaitie