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)