Hiya!
So yesterday I was on the bus from 8 until about 3. It was a very long day with a lot of ups and downs. I'm not even sure how to describe it. The first class was wonderful, the middle two were hard, then the last were absolutely amazing. It's just that those middle two were with the older kids, and they were so apathetic! They kept laughing at the struggles of the characters, complaining, and purposefully distracting those around them.
Honestly, the battle seemed far more spiritual than physical. Kids will be kids, yes, but the more I prayed the harder the class became. My joy just immediately disappeared it seemed, and I had to fight to smile. Which, for anyone who knows me, is an anomaly. I love smiling. The atmosphere was just so dark! Then the next class was just as awful. For instance, I was explaining the character's problems and this one kid just busted out laughing when I was in mid sentence. I didn't handle it as I should. No, I didn't yell, but it would have been much more beneficial to say something like "Why are you laughing?" instead of "Don't laugh. This is serious" in my angry-mommy tone. After that the darkness seemed to lift, as if the spiritual forces at work had done their duty. Which was just incredibly saddening. So, after praying, I tried to get myself back up into joy. It was so very hard. That class was also a bit antagonistic in the tone of their questions (How do you prove God? and something about how in Australia someone is claiming to be Jesus).
However, after that was lunch break so I got to sit down and be still before the Lord which was wonderful. Then all of these year 7s just kept climbing onto the bus to talk to us! This one little boy even came with questions to ask me: Is God real? Does everyone go to heaven? Is there proof? And he was so wide-eyed and just willing to listen! I got to share bits and pieces of the gospel with him, but before we could continue our conversation 15 girls just piled in the bus. We got to show them part of the program and share parts of the gospel with them. It was such a good break time.
Please pray for that boy. I don't know his name. But my hope is that he finds a church to be a part of. I asked him to come to the event last night so we could talk, but he didn't show up. But pray that the spirit will be protecting him and guiding him to life.
After break we had another class of year 7s which were just wonderful. They didn't have any questions about Jesus or Christianity, but they had lots of questions about America. So I got to build some connections and, hopefully, they'll be interested in coming to the church (one of the little boys asked where I go to church, so maybe he'll come see us on sunday!). I'm supposed to remember Dylan and Jordan and Reese, but I'm not sure if I'll see them again. But if I do, I'm going to remember their names.
Kid's club followed that, and we had 25ish kids come and be with us! It was just wonderful! We were playing and having a grand old time and Raf spoke to the kids about unity which was good. I'm starting to remember the kids' names, but I keep called Shannon Sharon. I should probably remember that for next week. Raf and I had to run off to the G-SUS live end event, so I didn't get to stay and talk with the children.
And guess what? Only one kid showed up to the event, just like last week. It was really disheartening, I think especially for the adults. The kid's name was Sam and he, Kelsey (another American intern who is working through Global), Luke (part of the praise team for the night) and I had a nerf gun war. It was pretty awesome; I got a few head shots! Then we played giant jenga which was pretty fun. I had a blast the whole night, really!
I'm not sure how to make those end events work or even if they will. This place is just so in need of relationships that nobody really goes to anything unless they have a friend going. And while we got some dialogue from the youth, we only got to talk with them for 10-20 minutes. So pray diligently for us, that we might not be discouraged but find a way to build a relationship with these schools and these kids.
The sad part is is that Gateway doesn't have a church building, so most of our events are located at people's houses. It would be near impossible to invite any of the kids to any of the youth events simply because the place to meet changes weekly. I don't think it bothers the church, but it seems problematic to me just for that. However, God works how he wills. Pray for us that we might not be discouraged!
Thank you for your support in prayer. I'm still feeling rather sick in my head, so pray that it might not worsen.
Ta-Ta!
So yesterday I was on the bus from 8 until about 3. It was a very long day with a lot of ups and downs. I'm not even sure how to describe it. The first class was wonderful, the middle two were hard, then the last were absolutely amazing. It's just that those middle two were with the older kids, and they were so apathetic! They kept laughing at the struggles of the characters, complaining, and purposefully distracting those around them.
Honestly, the battle seemed far more spiritual than physical. Kids will be kids, yes, but the more I prayed the harder the class became. My joy just immediately disappeared it seemed, and I had to fight to smile. Which, for anyone who knows me, is an anomaly. I love smiling. The atmosphere was just so dark! Then the next class was just as awful. For instance, I was explaining the character's problems and this one kid just busted out laughing when I was in mid sentence. I didn't handle it as I should. No, I didn't yell, but it would have been much more beneficial to say something like "Why are you laughing?" instead of "Don't laugh. This is serious" in my angry-mommy tone. After that the darkness seemed to lift, as if the spiritual forces at work had done their duty. Which was just incredibly saddening. So, after praying, I tried to get myself back up into joy. It was so very hard. That class was also a bit antagonistic in the tone of their questions (How do you prove God? and something about how in Australia someone is claiming to be Jesus).
However, after that was lunch break so I got to sit down and be still before the Lord which was wonderful. Then all of these year 7s just kept climbing onto the bus to talk to us! This one little boy even came with questions to ask me: Is God real? Does everyone go to heaven? Is there proof? And he was so wide-eyed and just willing to listen! I got to share bits and pieces of the gospel with him, but before we could continue our conversation 15 girls just piled in the bus. We got to show them part of the program and share parts of the gospel with them. It was such a good break time.
Please pray for that boy. I don't know his name. But my hope is that he finds a church to be a part of. I asked him to come to the event last night so we could talk, but he didn't show up. But pray that the spirit will be protecting him and guiding him to life.
After break we had another class of year 7s which were just wonderful. They didn't have any questions about Jesus or Christianity, but they had lots of questions about America. So I got to build some connections and, hopefully, they'll be interested in coming to the church (one of the little boys asked where I go to church, so maybe he'll come see us on sunday!). I'm supposed to remember Dylan and Jordan and Reese, but I'm not sure if I'll see them again. But if I do, I'm going to remember their names.
Kid's club followed that, and we had 25ish kids come and be with us! It was just wonderful! We were playing and having a grand old time and Raf spoke to the kids about unity which was good. I'm starting to remember the kids' names, but I keep called Shannon Sharon. I should probably remember that for next week. Raf and I had to run off to the G-SUS live end event, so I didn't get to stay and talk with the children.
And guess what? Only one kid showed up to the event, just like last week. It was really disheartening, I think especially for the adults. The kid's name was Sam and he, Kelsey (another American intern who is working through Global), Luke (part of the praise team for the night) and I had a nerf gun war. It was pretty awesome; I got a few head shots! Then we played giant jenga which was pretty fun. I had a blast the whole night, really!
I'm not sure how to make those end events work or even if they will. This place is just so in need of relationships that nobody really goes to anything unless they have a friend going. And while we got some dialogue from the youth, we only got to talk with them for 10-20 minutes. So pray diligently for us, that we might not be discouraged but find a way to build a relationship with these schools and these kids.
The sad part is is that Gateway doesn't have a church building, so most of our events are located at people's houses. It would be near impossible to invite any of the kids to any of the youth events simply because the place to meet changes weekly. I don't think it bothers the church, but it seems problematic to me just for that. However, God works how he wills. Pray for us that we might not be discouraged!
Thank you for your support in prayer. I'm still feeling rather sick in my head, so pray that it might not worsen.
Ta-Ta!
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