Joanna's Journal: Kids Club

Wow, getting behind 9 days while in Puno really is hard to catch up! Especially when our days were so packed! Sunday afternoon after church and lunch, we headed out to invite kids to club. We did a 5 day club from Sunday afternoon – Thursday afternoon from 3-5… and it was a packed 2 hours. That afternoon we took some girls from the church and walked around to different houses with invitations to club. There were a few girls, Vanessa, Carmen, Joseline, and Cathy, that came with us. No one spoke English, so I was really trying to use my Spanish.

We were out in the little side section beside the church for club. We would take out some benches from church, but the Revelation class used some of them so we only got a few. Before hand game time the benches made a great volleyball net! The kids really liked that and they used a big, light, plastic ball for it. The kids were packed on there, and then the rest sat on the ground. Many days, the kids just kept on coming so we sat them on the ground too. We were facing a bunch of fields so you could see the kids coming and we would wave them in. The pastor said to prepare for 30 before the trip when we were talking to him, so we prepared for 50. One day, God sent us 76 kids! Wow! Only our God can do that! This was one tiny town!

Sunday Elena taught on heaven. Gold (oro) is the color we started with in the wordless book. We ended up having about 28 kids… a far cry from the 9 we had in SS that morning! Little did we know how God would multiply that number! The verse was John 3:16 and I could say most of the whole verse of each verse by the end of the day in Spanish. (It will be a happy day when I can fully understand and speak Spanish!) They craft for that day was a memory help for John 3:16. It had a world, Jesus face, and heart, and if you attach them a certain way you can tell John 3:16. That went well, but I’m very glad that we only had to explain that to 28 kids! The days we had the hardest crafts, we had a smaller number of kids so it was a bit more manageable.

Each day we started with songs. Raúl played the guitar and Elena mainly led them. I helped a lot with the songs because I can sing and do hand motions and hold the words with the best of them. We had the words printed out and put into page protectors tied together with ribbons. They worked well! We probably had 10 songs and used various ones throughout the week. We ended up leaving them there at the church in Cacorco so that they can use them with the kids. Juan did a lot with the hand motions, and I think that the songs went well. We did one about Jonah, Obedience, Jesus Loves Me, one about the 5 wordless book colors, My God is so Great, I Have a Friend who Loves Me, one about wanting God to use you, and one on God using all of you (fingers, feet, etc. Good for the little kids to get wiggles out) I enjoyed helping with the songs a lot!

Raúl taught the missionary story of Ti Fam, a girl in Haiti, and did a really great job! He has a way with kids and really can keep their attention! I think that the kids really looked forward to that each day! Each day was kinda similar… I wasn’t really talking one on one with kids or getting to know them. I was helping in any way I could: holding verses, songs, or visuals, telling kids to sit down and listen, unwrapping 150 cookies, facilitating games as a team leader, teaching a verse, teaching a craft, etc.

Monday was crazy packed! We got back late from visitation and immediately left for the school to hand out fliers about kids club. We walked there, and stood by the door so when they came out we could give them a flier. Some of the girls from the church went there, so we saw them and they were inviting their friends etc. There is pretty much one primary school so it was a great place to get the kids! That afternoon 58 showed up! After we handed out the invites, we headed back to the church. We all were REALLY hungry by the time we got back from the school. Ready for lunch!

Juan taught the lesson on sin using the story of Adam and Eve and how they sinned in the very beginning. He did well, and the verse was Romans 3:23, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For the craft they colored a sheet with a bitten piece of fruit and their memory verse. It was a bit hectic trying to get every kid the color of crayon that they wanted. (brown, yellow, green, or red) Many times they would be holding out their crayon to me asking for a different color (which was the one the kid next to him was holding out). They didn’t get the concept of trading or sharing crayons. (Sigh) It was a cake walk compared to the next day though.

On a really random aside… We had devotions every day at 6:50 in the car. We got up early and got ready for the day and cleaned up the room a bit. (which mainly included keeping all your stuff in one pile and keeping your sleeping bag on your bed.) We would get our Bibles and Gira notebooks, get all bundled up in our blanket skirts, hat, scarf, and jacket, and head to the car. It was really a good time to hear about the visits from the day before, discuss the club from the previous day, and think of ways we could do things better. We were going through 2 Peter, and since Pat was teaching it mainly, it was at least partly in English. We all read some of the questions or verses in Spanish. If the words are written out, I can usually sound out the Spanish pronunciation so it’s ok.

Tuesday was our biggest day with 76 kids. They just kept coming and coming! Rachel was talking to the pastor one day, and was like… You lied to Hna. Wendy. (and he is like… Huh? What? I would never!) You said that there would be 30 kids, and there is 76! He then said… I have no idea WHERE they are all coming from! God brought them in. Elena taught on red, which stands for the blood of Jesus. The verse was 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, how that Christ died, was buried, and rose again according to the scriptures.

That day we split into 2 groups for game time, the older and younger. They both did game time at the same time, we just split the little field into 2 parts. It was small, but it worked so much better that way. I helped with the youngest, and was in charge of that team. We split them up like we do in Oansa with blue, green, yellow, and red. Yelling verde at the top of your lungs and re-explaining the rules in Spanish when a kid does it wrong, or trying to keep them in the same order of line makes for a very interesting and exhausting afternoon!

Craft time was the hardest though. It was a color sheet with either verses or something to go with a little picture with each color. I don’t exactly remember. All I remember was trying to hand out the color of crayon that each kid wanted to about 38 kids. Later, after it was NOT working, I got Juan to come over too. We had to keep telling them that if they weren’t sitting, then they wouldn’t get the crayon or something. We managed to get through that, but later when we were talking about that, Juan and I kinda looked at each other and were like… yeah, that was rough. But, they all got their sheet colored and everything even if it was a bit hectic on our part!

Usually every day part way through club it would start getting cold for the evening and I would run back for a jacket, hat, and scarf to go with the 2 shirts, sweater, and sweatshirt I already had on. Wednesday it was just cold all day! During visitation that morning it looked like it was going to rain, and just gray and windy! It was SO cold that afternoon; I had on all the layers I had at the BEGINNING of club! (plus my blanket skirt – which couldn’t pass in the states, but was great here!)The cold was definitely the reason for the lack of kids! What mom is going to send her 5 year old kid to sit outside for 2 hours? We ended up with 48, which still was great! Wednesday was white, or corazón limpio (clean heart) and Juan taught again. Man was it cold!

That day for craft, I was in charge of explaining and doing and all. We split up into the 2 groups and then I stayed in craft for the whole time. I explained the significance of the red, black, and white hearts, and then explained how to do it. The white heart had the shape printed onto it, so they had to cut out the hearts then take the staple out. Next they had fold all the hearts in half and put glue on the back. Then you stick all of them together and you’re done! Not hard, but when you are trying to explain that to kids, it can get a bit challenging! Thank God for the right words (at least I tried) and I think that it all went relatively smoothly.

After everyone left that afternoon, thanks to Wendy we had a little cookie break. And they tasted amazing! I don’t eat oreo type cookies in the states, but here that is the most common type. The keylime tasting ones or the coconut ones are my favorites. We still had a long time to go before we could hit the sack… church was that night. It was great, but we seemed to be getting tired at about 6:40 every single night. It got dark and cold, and we got up so early so we got tired early too!

Thursday was our last day of club and God blessed us with 71 kids! We decided in the van that morning that Elena should teach a smaller class for some of the older girls that came or were around. She has a burden for those girls, and God really worked through her. One night we were eating in the kitchen (warmest place) and she was telling the girls in there about doing what God wants for your life and everything. They were just listening to every word. The day before, I don’t know what about, but Elena talked to Cynthia for a long time. Elena’s girls lesson went great, and 4 young ladies accepted Christ! Praise the Lord!

Roxana taught the kids on green (crecer – to grow). After her lesson on Timothy, Raul explained the gospel and summarized the colors one last time and gave the kids a chance to respond. 7 did, and 7 children accepted Christ that afternoon! Wow! Roxana, Juan, and Raul took out the children, and Elena, Wendy, Ariel, and I did some songs and reviewed the memory verses with the other kids. If they could say ALL 5 verses from club that next Sunday in Sunday school, then they would get a New Testament, and a gift bag!

After reviewing the verses for a bit, once the other kids had come back out, it was time to learn the last verse, 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. I thought of hand motions for the 5 ways Roxana taught about in her lesson, and I think that the hand motions helped the kids remember. (I was having problems remembering without them) The 5 were, reading your Bible, praying, witnessing, clean heart… like confessing sin, and going to church. I think that went well, and verse time was short but I think they understood it better because of what I tried to do. (what God did through me!)

That afternoon, the craft was cutting and gluing these 5 pictures of ways to grow onto a little hand shape on a paper. I had done enough crafts the last few days, so I helped with the games. I was team azul that afternoon, so I had to keep them in line and in the right order, making sure they understood the rules, yelling azul 100% to keep the kids excited, and everything else. Also I blew up balloons with gloves on. That is a talent I had not perfected yet. Don’t do that in Florida every day! We had a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed that!

When they got their 5 cookies and were leaving, we reminded them that if they came back on Sunday with their verses memorized, then they would get that Bible and prize! (on my Sunday post, I’ll tell what happened)

Altogether during the week 19 people that we know of, and possibly many more accepted Christ as their Savior! 2 did the very first Sunday, 2 ladies came into the Revelation class and a guy from the church started talking to them and they got saved, 1 was saved with Raul and Juan on visitation, 4 girls with Elena, 7 kids with Roxana, Raul, and Juan, and 2 wanted to get saved Wednesday but had to ask their dad and husband. They came back the next Sunday with permission, and brought an older daughter that got saved too. It was so neat to see God work in different ways through the lives of the pastor, and each member of our group! Each one of us has different talents, but when we are available for His use, He can do amazing things!