May 2022

Mission Church 

We have been preparing for our Summer Outreach Festival (LetFest) at Mission Church.  Mission Church and Youth Group joined forces one Sunday in team-building and preparation.  Some of the youth students found they like being a part of the Sunday morning programs and came again the following week!  It was wonderful to see everyone come together and the excitement for summer and all the leadership potential.  

Our Mission Church also has a tradition in the spring to designate one Sunday for a group hike.  We brought packed lunches and picnicked on the top of a beautiful hill with a stunning view, just enjoying God's creation.  Though my favorite part of the day was hanging out with the little kids in my hammock!  They'd giggle and swing and "hide" in the hammock cocoon.  

English Class - Level 1

The students have been really enjoying this theme about the Fairytale Kingdom and adding new characters to their castle pictures.  They've been practicing more practical words with the theme too, like "rich" and "poor," but the fun new words like "unicorn" and "dragon" have proven to be also regularly used in the young children's vocabulary!  Now that the weather is nice, the kids and I have been enjoying games on the terrace outside.  We are loving the running the singing games!

We recently started reading Pigeon Books after finishing a long list of Elephant and Piggie books.  In the books, the kids are responsible for taking care of Pigeon.  The students love Pigeon, but in many times they have to tell Pigeon "NO!"  However, Pigeon is a very persuasive bird!  In one book, Pigeon wants to drive the bus, and tells the students that he will "be their best friend" if they let him drive the bus.  That's where I lost half the class.  Half of my group wanted to be best friends with Pigeon.  I lost the other half of the class on the next page when Pigeon bribed them with $5.  They were all very proud of their "I Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" awards... though we have been slowly getting better at saying "NO!" to Pigeon.  

The next week, Pigeon wanted to stay up late, and the students had the task to again say "NO!"  They were all doing great until Pigeon said, "You know... we never talk anymore.  Tell me about your day."  And every single one of the kids elaborated on their day.  It took us another 5 minutes to get back to the book!  My translator and I looked at the students and said, "Well, Pigeon won that round."  It was then that the kids realized how Pigeon had tricked them!

In the next book, the students needed to convince Pigeon to share his hotdog with Duckling.  Duckling is a very chatter-some character and Pigeon just wants to eat his hotdog by himself in peace, but it seems he cannot have both.  Near the end of the book, I asked the students "What should Pigeon do?" and one student quickly answered, "Oh, glue Duckling's mouth shut!"  

Let's just say... we're still working on effectively taking care of Pigeon.

 

English Class - Level 2 

The older students have been working on Time the past few weeks.  We have practiced story sequencing, clocks, months & days of the week, and relative time of day.  This group is incredibly clever and they boost each other to learn more.  Recently, they have been asking "how many more weeks until summer?"  When I tell them the count of how many English Lessons we have left, it is often followed by protests of "But I don't want English Class to end!", "We will start right again in September right?", and "Why does this hour always go too fast... I don't even want to wait another week for English, how am I supposed to wait all summer?" But, I am sure they will love their summer holidays and come back all ready for more! 

Chalk Clocks and using our arms as the "clock hands" to practice time in English.

Little Linguists

The spring weather has brought in more young mothers and toddlers to Little's Class.  A couple of the moms have said that since we won't have Little Linguists in the summer, they want to come as often as they can for the activities before summer holiday.  This last Tuesday that meant there were 14 (yes, 14!) toddlers!  Our "Hello" song when we greet each child by name took double the time!  The toddlers are making new friends, trying new activities, and they absolutely love singing and dancing each week.

"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

(1) Bubble Boats! (2) Little Mouse in the House

(1) The Wheels on the Bus... all through the town. (2) Stomping Dinosaurs in Play-doh

Some of the Littles who know the Little Linguist routine will often come up to me and say "la la la!" and do a little dance, and that means, "Time to start Hello song!"  

Kid's Club - Letovice

We have had a group of new boys coming regularly to club, which has been wonderful for bringing some of the active games regularly back to club, like Dodgeball and Spikeball!  We've also tried some new games with the kids as one new helper at ELIM is completing hours for school practicum and has some great new game ideas!  Of course, we have had Foosball tournaments and lots of Ping-Pong too.

Playing games with a parachute!

A friend of ours at ELIM had connections with a group bringing supplies to the Ukrainian Frontlines and asked if we'd want to write postcards to Ukrainian soldiers with our kids.  Some of our club kids took part of their free-time to write an encouragement note to a soldier and try copying Cyrillic words. 

Kid's Club - Velke Opatovice

Our Kid's Club in Velke Opatovice is at the castle in the city, which means that there are some great little trails around the castle garden.  The girls and I have found that we enjoy some short walks around the castle, chatting together.  I really love to hear about their lives, their dreams, plans, aspirations, and the struggles.  I really enjoy seeing how close they are as friends and the ways they encourage each other.

Some days at club are like this - school was long that day, the week is coming to a close... and a soft couch, a friend, and funny videos is all you really need. 

Youth Group 

We have been enjoying our time at youth group with topics about leadership/LetFest and relationships.  I am really excited about this group of youth.  They work well together and have great friendships.  It has been fun seeing them ask more questions and make connections in their lives with Scripture. 

Sunsets on the walk home

Sumo Wrestling

Leadership Academy

This past year, we have been working with a group of youth through a program we called ELIM Leadership Academy.  We are looking at Jesus's example of leadership and applying it to our lives in different practical ways.  It is really exciting for me to see all the students getting excited about finding their talents in leadership.

Group Time

Discipleship Team