Sunday, July 15th, the day's beginning

Seeing that mischievous nephew of mine walk through the doors this morning I thought, “Even if no other kids show up today for Children’s Church, I’d better plan a quick lesson. There is no way I want to handle that 10 year old in the nursery again this week.” Truth is, I could tell him to stay with the adults, but his parents wouldn’t do anything to keep an eye on him and with me in Ky’s room with the other kids, that would mean he would be wandering around my house, unsupervised for the hour to hour and a half message. So, about 7 minutes before church started, I went into the office and gathered a few materials to keep two boys entertained and teach them a Bible story during church. I had thought yesterday to prepare a lesson and put more time into it, but after a crazy morning, neighborhood kids outreach on top of it, and putting my house back in order, I just didn’t have any “umph” left to pour over putting together a kids lesson. The service started, and another boy came, so I was relieved that had put something together. Sarah would run the nursery, and I would always do children’s church, since she always teaches kids outreach lesson. It sprinkled or rained all morning, so we couldn’t go out back for children’s church, but since Nelton invested in a speaker for the adults this week, I figured we could sit around our small kitchen table for the lesson. Four boys, nice number, enough chairs, and easy to keep them all rounded, even if two were nephews who are rather unruly when their father’s eye isn’t resting upon them. We started with introductions and then played a nice round of “jenga” for an ice breaker (time passer). As we finished the first round, Nelton paraded nine more kids down the hall to join us (I should mention, we have a peruvian partner couple that work with us. Llerlin alternates with Nelton for preaching, so Nelton wasn’t preaching today). Suddenly, my kitchen was very small and with the 23 adults in service (not to mention the 8-10 kids in nursery) we were running short on chairs. We did another round of introductions and one more game of jenga, standing around the table as Nelton scurried around the house finding or creating enough chairs for all the kids. When he got back I pulled the table to one end of the kitchen and made them all gather in congested rows on the other end and our lesson on “God’s Provision” began. This time the distraction came in kids “sneakingly” peeking into the fridge to see what a gringa eats, or just pulling at magnets that hang on the fridge. Oh, and the rain came in stronger, sprinkling the kids from behind as our kitchen window doesn’t close and has no screen. This wouldn’t be such a big deal in the States, but Peruvians have a fear or rain and getting wet associated with getting sick quick. So we had to shuffle around a few times. Our activity was to cut pictures our of magazine and create a college entitled, “God Takes Care of Us.” I only had three pairs of scissors and four magazines, so they had to take turns coming to the table to cut out their selected picture and paste it to the page. This was the most chaotic part. Turns out the kids LOVED the idea and they all wanted to gather around the table at once. I don’t know what it’s like in the classroom here, but I would imagine the teachers don’t have much order, as every week is a battle at Kid’s Outreach (thankfully, Sarah is doing a wonderful job and we are starting to see results there!). But now we have to start at scratch with the new church kids. 
 I don’t know how many times I had to tell kids, “you won’t get a turn until you are called, and you won’t be called until you are sitting, so sit down and draw your picture.” Some would be standing by the table waiting to be called, and I kept reminding them they had to sit. When they finally would figure out I was serious, they would sit down. I was thankful to God for this idea, which would only be mediocre to kids in the States, but was met with all the excitement of a two year old being given a triple-scoop ice cream cone here today. It was funny how kids would show me what they wanted to cut out, almost asking me for permission to chop up my magazines. I would respond with something like, “Wow! You found a SHARK! That’s SOO COOL! Yeah, cut that out!!” And they would get the biggest grins and start delicately chopping away at their selected art. It was very entertaining. When service was over, the house was relatively stressful. I quickly threw my baked cookies onto a tray and began serving. I thought I’d have enough for everyone to have a couple, but so many people came today, we almost ran short. But the stressful thing is that people were everywhere! A line formed outside our bathroom (which is right in the hall), kids were back in Ky’s room, some were peeking into the offering basket, in the kitchen, in the living room, thankfully, the other rooms they stayed out of (to my knowledge). It is fun though. I am glad the church is growing. But also wondering what it will be like in the 5 1/2 months that we aren’t here, but the church is still meeting in our home. At the after church leadership meeting we talked about it. I have to train in a sectary, Children’s Church teacher, and treasurer before we go. I’m most concerned about the second, for discipline and keeping order can be hard if one does not properly handle it... and the kids will be in my kitchen. Today God brought the verse to my mind, “Some plant, some water, but God causes the growth.” Please pray for all the people that need to be comfortable in their roles and that God will continue to grow Genesis church while we are in the States! (don’t have time to edit, sorry)

Sunday, July 15th, the day's beginning

Seeing that mischievous nephew of mine walk through the doors this morning I thought, “Even if no other kids show up today for Children’s Church, I’d better plan a quick lesson. There is no way I want to handle that 10 year old in the nursery again this week.” Truth is, I could tell him to stay with the adults, but his parents wouldn’t do anything to keep an eye on him and with me in Ky’s room with the other kids, that would mean he would be wandering around my house, unsupervised for the hour to hour and a half message. So, about 7 minutes before church started, I went into the office and gathered a few materials to keep two boys entertained and teach them a Bible story during church. I had thought yesterday to prepare a lesson and put more time into it, but after a crazy morning, neighborhood kids outreach on top of it, and putting my house back in order, I just didn’t have any “umph” left to pour over putting together a kids lesson. The service started, and another boy came, so I was relieved that had put something together. Sarah would run the nursery, and I would always do children’s church, since she always teaches kids outreach lesson. It sprinkled or rained all morning, so we couldn’t go out back for children’s church, but since Nelton invested in a speaker for the adults this week, I figured we could sit around our small kitchen table for the lesson. Four boys, nice number, enough chairs, and easy to keep them all rounded, even if two were nephews who are rather unruly when their father’s eye isn’t resting upon them. We started with introductions and then played a nice round of “jenga” for an ice breaker (time passer). As we finished the first round, Nelton paraded nine more kids down the hall to join us (I should mention, we have a peruvian partner couple that work with us. Llerlin alternates with Nelton for preaching, so Nelton wasn’t preaching today). Suddenly, my kitchen was very small and with the 23 adults in service (not to mention the 8-10 kids in nursery) we were running short on chairs. We did another round of introductions and one more game of jenga, standing around the table as Nelton scurried around the house finding or creating enough chairs for all the kids. When he got back I pulled the table to one end of the kitchen and made them all gather in congested rows on the other end and our lesson on “God’s Provision” began. This time the distraction came in kids “sneakingly” peeking into the fridge to see what a gringa eats, or just pulling at magnets that hang on the fridge. Oh, and the rain came in stronger, sprinkling the kids from behind as our kitchen window doesn’t close and has no screen. This wouldn’t be such a big deal in the States, but Peruvians have a fear or rain and getting wet associated with getting sick quick. So we had to shuffle around a few times. Our activity was to cut pictures our of magazine and create a college entitled, “God Takes Care of Us.” I only had three pairs of scissors and four magazines, so they had to take turns coming to the table to cut out their selected picture and paste it to the page. This was the most chaotic part. Turns out the kids LOVED the idea and they all wanted to gather around the table at once. I don’t know what it’s like in the classroom here, but I would imagine the teachers don’t have much order, as every week is a battle at Kid’s Outreach (thankfully, Sarah is doing a wonderful job and we are starting to see results there!). But now we have to start at scratch with the new church kids. 
 I don’t know how many times I had to tell kids, “you won’t get a turn until you are called, and you won’t be called until you are sitting, so sit down and draw your picture.” Some would be standing by the table waiting to be called, and I kept reminding them they had to sit. When they finally would figure out I was serious, they would sit down. I was thankful to God for this idea, which would only be mediocre to kids in the States, but was met with all the excitement of a two year old being given a triple-scoop ice cream cone here today. It was funny how kids would show me what they wanted to cut out, almost asking me for permission to chop up my magazines. I would respond with something like, “Wow! You found a SHARK! That’s SOO COOL! Yeah, cut that out!!” And they would get the biggest grins and start delicately chopping away at their selected art. It was very entertaining. When service was over, the house was relatively stressful. I quickly threw my baked cookies onto a tray and began serving. I thought I’d have enough for everyone to have a couple, but so many people came today, we almost ran short. But the stressful thing is that people were everywhere! A line formed outside our bathroom (which is right in the hall), kids were back in Ky’s room, some were peeking into the offering basket, in the kitchen, in the living room, thankfully, the other rooms they stayed out of (to my knowledge). It is fun though. I am glad the church is growing. But also wondering what it will be like in the 5 1/2 months that we aren’t here, but the church is still meeting in our home. At the after church leadership meeting we talked about it. I have to train in a sectary, Children’s Church teacher, and treasurer before we go. I’m most concerned about the second, for discipline and keeping order can be hard if one does not properly handle it... and the kids will be in my kitchen. Today God brought the verse to my mind, “Some plant, some water, but God causes the growth.” Please pray for all the people that need to be comfortable in their roles and that God will continue to grow Genesis church while we are in the States! (don’t have time to edit, sorry)

Sunday, July 15th, the day's beginning

Seeing that mischievous nephew of mine walk through the doors this morning I thought, “Even if no other kids show up today for Children’s Church, I’d better plan a quick lesson. There is no way I want to handle that 10 year old in the nursery again this week.” Truth is, I could tell him to stay with the adults, but his parents wouldn’t do anything to keep an eye on him and with me in Ky’s room with the other kids, that would mean he would be wandering around my house, unsupervised for the hour to hour and a half message. So, about 7 minutes before church started, I went into the office and gathered a few materials to keep two boys entertained and teach them a Bible story during church. I had thought yesterday to prepare a lesson and put more time into it, but after a crazy morning, neighborhood kids outreach on top of it, and putting my house back in order, I just didn’t have any “umph” left to pour over putting together a kids lesson. The service started, and another boy came, so I was relieved that had put something together. Sarah would run the nursery, and I would always do children’s church, since she always teaches kids outreach lesson. It sprinkled or rained all morning, so we couldn’t go out back for children’s church, but since Nelton invested in a speaker for the adults this week, I figured we could sit around our small kitchen table for the lesson. Four boys, nice number, enough chairs, and easy to keep them all rounded, even if two were nephews who are rather unruly when their father’s eye isn’t resting upon them. We started with introductions and then played a nice round of “jenga” for an ice breaker (time passer). As we finished the first round, Nelton paraded nine more kids down the hall to join us (I should mention, we have a peruvian partner couple that work with us. Llerlin alternates with Nelton for preaching, so Nelton wasn’t preaching today). Suddenly, my kitchen was very small and with the 23 adults in service (not to mention the 8-10 kids in nursery) we were running short on chairs. We did another round of introductions and one more game of jenga, standing around the table as Nelton scurried around the house finding or creating enough chairs for all the kids. When he got back I pulled the table to one end of the kitchen and made them all gather in congested rows on the other end and our lesson on “God’s Provision” began. This time the distraction came in kids “sneakingly” peeking into the fridge to see what a gringa eats, or just pulling at magnets that hang on the fridge. Oh, and the rain came in stronger, sprinkling the kids from behind as our kitchen window doesn’t close and has no screen. This wouldn’t be such a big deal in the States, but Peruvians have a fear or rain and getting wet associated with getting sick quick. So we had to shuffle around a few times. Our activity was to cut pictures our of magazine and create a college entitled, “God Takes Care of Us.” I only had three pairs of scissors and four magazines, so they had to take turns coming to the table to cut out their selected picture and paste it to the page. This was the most chaotic part. Turns out the kids LOVED the idea and they all wanted to gather around the table at once. I don’t know what it’s like in the classroom here, but I would imagine the teachers don’t have much order, as every week is a battle at Kid’s Outreach (thankfully, Sarah is doing a wonderful job and we are starting to see results there!). But now we have to start at scratch with the new church kids. 
 I don’t know how many times I had to tell kids, “you won’t get a turn until you are called, and you won’t be called until you are sitting, so sit down and draw your picture.” Some would be standing by the table waiting to be called, and I kept reminding them they had to sit. When they finally would figure out I was serious, they would sit down. I was thankful to God for this idea, which would only be mediocre to kids in the States, but was met with all the excitement of a two year old being given a triple-scoop ice cream cone here today. It was funny how kids would show me what they wanted to cut out, almost asking me for permission to chop up my magazines. I would respond with something like, “Wow! You found a SHARK! That’s SOO COOL! Yeah, cut that out!!” And they would get the biggest grins and start delicately chopping away at their selected art. It was very entertaining. When service was over, the house was relatively stressful. I quickly threw my baked cookies onto a tray and began serving. I thought I’d have enough for everyone to have a couple, but so many people came today, we almost ran short. But the stressful thing is that people were everywhere! A line formed outside our bathroom (which is right in the hall), kids were back in Ky’s room, some were peeking into the offering basket, in the kitchen, in the living room, thankfully, the other rooms they stayed out of (to my knowledge). It is fun though. I am glad the church is growing. But also wondering what it will be like in the 5 1/2 months that we aren’t here, but the church is still meeting in our home. At the after church leadership meeting we talked about it. I have to train in a sectary, Children’s Church teacher, and treasurer before we go. I’m most concerned about the second, for discipline and keeping order can be hard if one does not properly handle it... and the kids will be in my kitchen. Today God brought the verse to my mind, “Some plant, some water, but God causes the growth.” Please pray for all the people that need to be comfortable in their roles and that God will continue to grow Genesis church while we are in the States! (don’t have time to edit, sorry)

Sunday, July 15th, the day's beginning

Seeing that mischievous nephew of mine walk through the doors this morning I thought, “Even if no other kids show up today for Children’s Church, I’d better plan a quick lesson. There is no way I want to handle that 10 year old in the nursery again this week.” Truth is, I could tell him to stay with the adults, but his parents wouldn’t do anything to keep an eye on him and with me in Ky’s room with the other kids, that would mean he would be wandering around my house, unsupervised for the hour to hour and a half message. So, about 7 minutes before church started, I went into the office and gathered a few materials to keep two boys entertained and teach them a Bible story during church. I had thought yesterday to prepare a lesson and put more time into it, but after a crazy morning, neighborhood kids outreach on top of it, and putting my house back in order, I just didn’t have any “umph” left to pour over putting together a kids lesson. The service started, and another boy came, so I was relieved that had put something together. Sarah would run the nursery, and I would always do children’s church, since she always teaches kids outreach lesson. It sprinkled or rained all morning, so we couldn’t go out back for children’s church, but since Nelton invested in a speaker for the adults this week, I figured we could sit around our small kitchen table for the lesson. Four boys, nice number, enough chairs, and easy to keep them all rounded, even if two were nephews who are rather unruly when their father’s eye isn’t resting upon them. We started with introductions and then played a nice round of “jenga” for an ice breaker (time passer). As we finished the first round, Nelton paraded nine more kids down the hall to join us (I should mention, we have a peruvian partner couple that work with us. Llerlin alternates with Nelton for preaching, so Nelton wasn’t preaching today). Suddenly, my kitchen was very small and with the 23 adults in service (not to mention the 8-10 kids in nursery) we were running short on chairs. We did another round of introductions and one more game of jenga, standing around the table as Nelton scurried around the house finding or creating enough chairs for all the kids. When he got back I pulled the table to one end of the kitchen and made them all gather in congested rows on the other end and our lesson on “God’s Provision” began. This time the distraction came in kids “sneakingly” peeking into the fridge to see what a gringa eats, or just pulling at magnets that hang on the fridge. Oh, and the rain came in stronger, sprinkling the kids from behind as our kitchen window doesn’t close and has no screen. This wouldn’t be such a big deal in the States, but Peruvians have a fear or rain and getting wet associated with getting sick quick. So we had to shuffle around a few times. Our activity was to cut pictures our of magazine and create a college entitled, “God Takes Care of Us.” I only had three pairs of scissors and four magazines, so they had to take turns coming to the table to cut out their selected picture and paste it to the page. This was the most chaotic part. Turns out the kids LOVED the idea and they all wanted to gather around the table at once. I don’t know what it’s like in the classroom here, but I would imagine the teachers don’t have much order, as every week is a battle at Kid’s Outreach (thankfully, Sarah is doing a wonderful job and we are starting to see results there!). But now we have to start at scratch with the new church kids. 
 I don’t know how many times I had to tell kids, “you won’t get a turn until you are called, and you won’t be called until you are sitting, so sit down and draw your picture.” Some would be standing by the table waiting to be called, and I kept reminding them they had to sit. When they finally would figure out I was serious, they would sit down. I was thankful to God for this idea, which would only be mediocre to kids in the States, but was met with all the excitement of a two year old being given a triple-scoop ice cream cone here today. It was funny how kids would show me what they wanted to cut out, almost asking me for permission to chop up my magazines. I would respond with something like, “Wow! You found a SHARK! That’s SOO COOL! Yeah, cut that out!!” And they would get the biggest grins and start delicately chopping away at their selected art. It was very entertaining. When service was over, the house was relatively stressful. I quickly threw my baked cookies onto a tray and began serving. I thought I’d have enough for everyone to have a couple, but so many people came today, we almost ran short. But the stressful thing is that people were everywhere! A line formed outside our bathroom (which is right in the hall), kids were back in Ky’s room, some were peeking into the offering basket, in the kitchen, in the living room, thankfully, the other rooms they stayed out of (to my knowledge). It is fun though. I am glad the church is growing. But also wondering what it will be like in the 5 1/2 months that we aren’t here, but the church is still meeting in our home. At the after church leadership meeting we talked about it. I have to train in a sectary, Children’s Church teacher, and treasurer before we go. I’m most concerned about the second, for discipline and keeping order can be hard if one does not properly handle it... and the kids will be in my kitchen. Today God brought the verse to my mind, “Some plant, some water, but God causes the growth.” Please pray for all the people that need to be comfortable in their roles and that God will continue to grow Genesis church while we are in the States! (don’t have time to edit, sorry)

When Kids Learn to Talk...

Kyliana and starting to form more and more sentences on a daily basis. About a month ago, I was calling her name, trying to get her attention to do something. I had put on a pair of pajama pants that I rarely use, because it´s usually too hot to wear pj pants, but because of rain, it´s been cooler here than normal. I was still adjusting them as I walked into the livingroom, still calling her name. She looked up and me and says to me (with the same voice I use to praise her clothes or hair when I am trying to convince her that she doesn´t need to change)¨Cccccccccccccccuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeee mama.¨ I started laughing so hard, I couldn´t even remember what I was calling her to do. She is quite the clever one when it comes to getting herself out of trouble too. Sometimes she gets her hands around things she should not, such as the baby powder or something. I will say, ¨Ky, give it to me!¨ And she will maybe start to throw a little tantrum shouting ¨noooo¨ and showing obvious disapproval. At that point, I start my three count and before I reach two she surrenders it with a voice that practically sings ¨toma, mama¨ (take it mom). She does know how to melt us both. Sometimes it´s hard to carry though on discipline because Nelton and I are both trying soo hard to surpress laughter. She does have two year old whit for detouring our attention from her mistakes. I always tell Nelton she is Biblical proof of the Proverbs, ¨A soft answer turns away wrath.¨ What will the next months bring forth from her lips?

To get to the net

Internet. *sigh,* something we desperately rely on, but rarely know if it will be reliable! There are two internet cafes within walking distance from my house. I don´t know how many times or how much money I have given them to support keeping their doors open, with no service provided to me. What do I mean by that? I have gone, and sat on the internet for minutes at a time and the pages I need to get to, won´t even open. When I leave, I still have to pay!! Paying to waste precious time! What a concept? So to get to the internet that is USUALLY reliable, is quite a trip. I either have to pay a little over a dollar and taxi a motorcar in, or Nelton drops me off and takes the girls to the local plaza. But to get here isn´t as easy as it sounds! Currently, the new mayor has signed a project to redo all the sewage in Iquitos so that it will be processed before being dumped back into the Amazon. While I am excited about this project, I couldn´t be less thrilled with their system of doing it. There is no rymthe or reason to how they are tearing up the roads. There are a lot of one ways in this city and it feels like they pick any number of roads at random to tear up and close down. Then when the work is done, they could take forever to pave and open it up again! Yesterday, we came to the net one way, and on the way home a road we came in on was torn up and we had to be detoured again. To make things more interesting, there are no signs indicating what is torn up or where to be detoured to. You could detour one way, only to get to the end of that road and find that it´s closed too. It is frustrating. Sometimes there are signs, but they aren´t true! And the dust and dirt. You can´t go out without coming home to take a shower to wash the filth off. Because our vehiles are open (motorcycle or motorcar) popping out of a leasure stroll or even shopping trip is anything buy relaxing. If you forget eye protection, your eyes will be dried out quickly from the dust. So then, you get to the ¨good net¨ and spend the money to get your ticket for wifi... sometimes it doesn´t even work. Yesterday, I paid for my hour, but then got knocked off and spent the hour without even having connection. Sometimes you think you sent and e-mail and after a week or so without a response, you send a follow-up e-mail only to find that your message never went through! Same with blogging, I sometimes invest time to write it, and when I go to post I get a message that says there is an unknown error! Indeed, internet is anything but relaxing here. Time flies, money spent, then I hear a little girl running to the back of the cafe to find me (that´s where wifi is set up), ¨MOMMY!!!!¨ Nelton is back, kids are done playing and they are ready to go. Sometimes it´s a relief, had a good connection, got work done, and I can pack it up and go home. Other times, it´s a bummer, cause I spent the time and money and have nothing to show for it. Either way, we make our way back to the dusty streets and start the maze home. And that´s what it take to check e-mail. I won´t take the time to edit this, just post it, cause I´m hoping I will have enough bars to post before that baby girl comes running to find me. And this is what has come up-- ¨An error occurred while trying to save or publish your post. Please try again. Ignore warning ¨ Here´s to trying again! I just remembered why I don´t blog much! (But I´m making an effort to do better)

The Reason for Not Blogging as Much as I Should

Well, I guess the first reason is that I don't have internet at home and have to come downtown to do it. Second, is that I am a mom of two kids two and under. And third, I realized it's because I've never taken the time to get to know this blogger site. So that's one of my goals for while I'm in the States. Thanks for keeping up with us, I will do my best to do better! Bethany j.