Mission Weekend
At the beginning of March, our church celebrated missions in their annual Mission Weekend. This event highlights many of the ministries and missionaries that are supported and connected with the church. Sharing about all God has done in my ministry this past year greatly encouraged me. I enjoyed looking back at the ways God has provided and all the people I have been able to share His love with through all the opportunities. As many people came to look at the board of the highlights of the ministry experiences I had this past year, I was especially encouraged by the young children who came to explore the discipleship and gospel-sharing tools at the booth! One young girl was deeply intrigued with a gospel-sharing tool that opened and folded to share the complete gospel. She continued to bring her friends and siblings over so she could show them, and she was naturally sharing the gospel with all her friends! After about the fourth time of her coming to the booth to look at the gospel-sharing tool, she asked, "Where can I get one of these?" I said, "This one is yours now. You are already using it to share Jesus with all your friends!" This young girl so naturally shared the gospel countless times that morning.
Our ministry organization (Global Link Partners) was invited to share on Saturday morning at a Mission Expo, and it was so encouraging to make many connections there and to share alongside my team a glimpse of what we have been able to do (collectively and individually) over this past year. On Wednesday night of Mission Week, we were also invited to share in the AWANA classes about missions! We enjoyed all three groups of young kids as we looked at what it means to be Global - around the world and in our own backyards, Linked - to connect together with others and Jesus, and Partners - to rely on your church community and Christians around the world to each do their part in sharing the gospel. For each of the pieces in our organization name, we had an activity that focused on those skills including locating places on a globe, linking together a verse with a team, and working together by only using one hand to pass a globe beachball without letting it fall. Reminding these young learners that they are already missionaries to their neighbors, classmates, and friends is one of my favorite ways to encourage them in knowing they each have an important role in the big mission of the church.
Student Link
As we are coming to a close on the school year, both of my Student Link Disciple-Making Groups are wrapping up with the material. There are just a handful of lessons and meetings left with these groups and the students are already talking about how they want to serve in helping lead next year's group or starting their own individual group with some friends. This is the goal of the program, to make disciples who make disciples. The bond these students have together is also super impactful. I am encouraged to see how they keep each other accountable and the ways they have already brought up wanting to continue meeting to encourage each other after we finish the Student Link book. I love seeing how God uses me to share all He has taught me and is still teaching me with them.
Toddler Bible Study
The preschoolers and toddlers have been busy! Most weeks, they are averaging 6-8 Littles in the group, but now that spring/summer activities have started, it could begin to fluctuate more. With the consistently sized group in the spring, it was fun to think of activities to tie the lesson all together. Their curious questions and playful spirits are always wonderful to see.
In a lesson on Jesus healing the lame man, we made MagnaTile houses and filled them with little people so they were crowded. Then, I told the students to smash the roof of their house to let the paralyzed man in! I used the trusty felt board to tell the story and leaned it up to the carpeted divider so we could place the characters on top of the board like they were on the roof of the house. The kids thought it was fun to see how crowded the felt board got as we retold the story!
We spent a few weeks on Easter as we celebrated Palm Sunday and Jesus entering Jerusalem and talked about the Resurrection a week later! When I asked the kids what happened to Jesus after he was crucified, one saw the picture of the cave tomb in the Children's Bible I was holding and said, "After dying on the cross, Jesus was placed into a cave with lions!" While she had inadvertently combined two biblical stories (the resurrection and Daniel), I thought, "That's a new conspiracy for the 'disappearance' of Jesus's body from the tomb that I haven't heard before!" Some of the older preschooler students were beginning to piece together how big of a sacrifice it was for Jesus to die for our sins and reacting to the crucifixion. It is great to see their engagement in these Easter lessons as they are realizing the impact this one story has on everything.
In our most recent lesson, we looked at the story of Noah's Ark! We made an ark out of MagnaTiles and filled it with animals, and then played outside on the playground as if it was the ark. One of the boys said, "Get in the ark! We have tigers and dinosaurs in here!" While that may have been intended as inviting, I imagined the ark as more of a Jurassic Park experience from this preschooler's description. Had he said there were lambs and bunnies on the ark, I would have jumped right on, but he reassured me they were nice dinosaurs and tigers.
Youth Group
While Wednesdays are currently my longest day of the week as I run from one regular event to the next, it always ends on such a good note with these 6th grade girls! We have been going through a series on the Fruit of the Spirit and talking through all those attributes we see in our life when we have the Spirit within us. The discussions have been deep and meaningful, and we are seeing the girls open up more and more. Since our group is regularly at 16 girls, we divide into smaller groups for discussion times. It's a Catch-22 in some ways because, as leaders, we want to be connecting with all the girls and rotating, but we also want to develop that trust in consistency for those deeper conversations. So far, it has been working out, and we are thrilled all the girls come regularly and continue to bring their friends!
While this game (9-Square) is typically played with one person in a square, these girls decided since they are all "one group" that they could be "one" in the game! I love their unity - and when up against high-school boys, there had to be some way of balancing the game!
Earlier in the year, after Fall Retreat, a couple of the girls had brought up how they would like to have more Bible memory throughout the year. Additionally, after Winter Retreat, a couple girls brought up how they would like to have more worship throughout the year. My co-leader made it possible. She talked with the youth pastor about having the girls lead one worship song for the middle school youth each week. She also gave out memory verses that go with the Fruit of the Spirit theme, and we provided incentives for those who completed those verses. Listening to these girls recite Bible verses and stand before their peers to praise God through worship encourages me in so many ways. I am so proud of them.
Earlier in the year, we had wanted to serve together as a small group but decided to wait until the spring. This past month, we all joined together to serve at our church's Second Harvest, which provides food to people in the community. It ended up being on one student's birthday, and she said she loved serving on her birthday surrounded by her friends! We had brownies and popsicles afterwards to celebrate. It was amazing seeing each of the girls serve in their own ways and how they paired up to help each other with different tasks!
Watching the 6th grade girls and the Student Link students and leaders participate in Youth Sunday was so fun! Once a year, the youth take over the service and participate in all the ways the congregation members would - on stage in worship, sharing testimonies, reading verses, serving coffee, handing out bulletins, welcoming, leading Sunday School, and communion/offering to name a few. This gives the youth an opportunity to practice serving and finding ways they can serve in the church. It was so fun seeing all these youth serving and trying out new areas to serve, and then, I also loved when they would say, "I will be serving at welcoming because I already regularly do that with my family," or "I'll serve at the coffee bar because I am already regularly helping there on Wednesday nights and know what to do." So many of these students have experiences serving at the church because their families have committed to serving together. It is such a great way to connect as a family and also reminds everyone that these youth aren't just the future church, they ARE the church now!
6th Grader Choir
All the Student Link students and leaders got new "LINK" shirts as we all joined together in serving on Sunday. It was fun to see all the different talents of the students as some were greeters, some servers, some speakers, and others organizers. After serving two services, we met from both campuses for sandwiches to have fellowship with one another and talk about all the areas where we served that morning.
Czech
As more time passes from when I had lived full-time as a missionary in Czech, I see glimpses of the ways God continues to remind me of the connections I made and the impact of serving there. At the beginning of March, I received a message sharing with me how one of the young adults in youth group shared her testimony of when she made a commitment to God. This young lady shared how I was at a youth event with them and talked with her about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. I was honored she recalled how God had used me in her own story!
Additionally, I was asked to come in to speak briefly with a Christian high school class about mission work in a post-communist country. I loved being able to share some of my experiences with them and encourage this group of teenagers in missions. During the talk, I called one of my young friends in Czech who has a powerful testimony of surrendering her life to God at a young age and remaining faithful through her teens even when some of her closest friends and family don't share the same belief. The students got to hear her story directly from her! I love seeing how God has given me the experiences I had in Czech to encourage teens in their journeys.
This past month, one of my dear friends in Czech came to Minnesota for a visit. I was very happy to get to spend some time with her and enjoyed catching up. I am also getting ready to return to Czech for a short mission trip in the fall! Our team is coming together, and we have just begun planning for this trip, but we are all excited to be going back and partnering again with the ministry I spent nearly a decade with!