Thursday, April 8, 2010

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.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

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.