Ministry Outreach
Early this month, I was invited to northern Minnesota as a guest speaker for Mission's Chapel at camp! Camp Grindstone on Grindstone Lake has a wonderful, long-standing tradition of inviting non-profits and missionaries to speak and share on one of the morning chapels during the week of camp. A college friend, who is newly the director of the camp this summer, and his staff invited me to come and share about the Czech mission trip I am helping lead this September. The kids at camp had many questions and they were engaged during the whole presentation as they learned about kids the same age as them in another country. I shared with the group about our Rekindle Mission Trip as we will go to help ELIM Ministries in Letovice kick-off the start of their school year with school visits, youth clubs, and a huge celebration at the end of the week. The students at camp are able to partner with the missions that are shared by pledging a few of their canteen funds to the mission. For Rekindle Mission, when the pledges arrive from camp, they will be used for the special birthday gifts we get the Czech children to share the gospel. As I finished speaking, one young girl came running up to me saying, "I would give a billion dollars to this mission if I could! But I have only $10 in my canteen fund, so I wanted to pledge the mission with $7." I love seeing the hearts of kids and their generosity towards missions! I know these moments can impact a child in so many ways as they learn about their world and how to pray for lost people in other countries. My heart warmed at the giving hearts and eagerness of the students to learn more and connect with the stories I shared. I had to stop the questions to let them out of chapel on time!
Student Link
As summer is coming to a close and vacations wrapping up, I've been glad to spend more time with these ladies studying the Bible together. It is so fun to see them growing in their faith walks and jumping into new serving opportunities. They all said yes to helping us launch the Student Link Disciple Building program to the youth students in the fall. They have seen how it has impacted their lives and want to share that experience with their peers. It is such a joy to see how invested they are with each others' journeys too. One of the girls has been very intentional about sharing Jesus with one of her friends at school. We all come to out meetings excited to hear about the next piece of the story and the ways God is opening up conversations! My co-leader for this group recently left for college, and we are all missing her and so excited for all she is learning and doing at school. We love how she still connects with this group in messages and prayers.
Youth Group
These 6th Graders will bring joy to anyone's week! I am always so blessed by their energy, smiles, and love. We finished our summer series on Proverbs and are gearing up to the new school year. The youth group is all excited for our upcoming Fall Retreat in October. It is a highlight of the year, and we are thrilled to be joining this year with the theme "The Eternal Kingdom" as we learn about Heaven and what eternity looks like with Jesus on Earth and for eternity. I am beyond excited for the year with these girls and looking forward to how God will grow in them and through them!
New carpeting going in the youth room, so they let us sign the floor. I (easily) convinced the 6th grade girls we should play a prank on the next carpet guys... so we drew spiders on the floor!
Mini-golf adventures with these girls at a middle school summer youth event! (Picture 1: "Show me your reaction when I feed you to the alligator!")
Offsite youth group picnic dinner
Baptisms
There were many baptisms this summer at the lake, but a couple stood out special this month! One of the 6th graders in my group was baptized along with her sister! It was so fun to see these girls who I've gotten to know over the summer publicly display their faith and share their stories. Additionally, one of the girls I disciple in Student Link was also baptized that day, saying in her testimony that her faith really grew through these discipleship meetings! It has been so fun to see God moving in these girls and through the church!
Toddler Tuesdays
The toddlers and preschoolers met twice this month, so as their moms were in a Bible Study, we continued in learning Bible stories on our own too. The previous month, we had learned the story of the Lost Sheep and how the shepherd when to find the lost sheep, leaving the 99. As the kids recalled the story from the previous week, I shared that Jesus tells two more stories about lost things after the story of the lost sheep - a lost coin and a lost son. They were excited to learn about both! I shared the story of the lost coin and then sent them on a scavenger hunt in the room to look for a lost "gold star" (in place of a coin). I learned that these toddlers and preschoolers have a really hard time not peeking! One even said as he tried to hold his eyes shut as tight as he could, "I want to keep my eyes shut, but they just want to peek!" Patience and honest play was also practiced in this lesson.
After learning about the Lost Coin, we moved to the story of the Lost Boy - the Prodigal Son. I told the story first with a flannel graph (old school fun!); then, the kids recreated the story on a storyboard with stickers; and finally, the kids all acted out a part of the story with the toys I had set out to recreate the prodigal son story. I loved hearing them retell the story saying, "Hey Daddy, I want to go to the city." "...If you want to you can... but come back here. Here's the money." And interjections of, "I want to be the piggy! I want to be the piggy!"
The following week, we talked about Jesus being the light and what that means. I asked the kids if the sun was still up when they went to bed last night. They all said, "No! It was dark outside!"
I asked, "Well, how did you see inside your house?"
"We turned on the light!"
"And what happened to the darkness?"
"It went away!"
"What would happen if you didn't have a light?"
One boy answered, "I'd probably run into the wall!"
I shared with them how Jesus describes Himself as the light and how He shows us which way is the right way because there is no darkness in Jesus. We made some lanterns and then made fun glow-in-the-dark scratch off art to remember this! It was a fun lesson, and the kids especially enjoyed creating their glowing art. They were so focused on their art, one saying, "This is my favorite day ever!"
