Esther and Children's Worship!

ERIKA is HOME!! Please continue praying for her!

This morning went well! The little kids were really cute! We told the story of Esther today! We had 4 of the kids wearing names tags for the main people in the story! Vitoria knew the story REALLY well! She could have told it by herself, she has seen the movie of Esther. We ended up working on "Every Move I Make" with the little kids, hopefully to show it to the church some day. Pastor Eudes wife also had a song for the kids to practice, but we were unable to get it to work on the CD player. (They came back later to work on it)

The preteens were there early as usual, I had to yell at them at one point because they were getting too loud for the little kids to hear and it didn't help that it was raining too.

Instead of just telling the preteens the story of Esther, we tried to have them act it out! We gave them A LOT of time, but some of the groups ended up saying they didn't even read it! We were confused, how did they waste all that time?!?!?! Two groups actually did act their parts out, but Jordan, Elo, Laura and I ended up telling most of the story! And had to summarize it in the end because they were getting confused. But the kids were able to answer the questions we had. God's control was seen throughout the situation, even though the Bible didn't say "God controlled this..." or "God did this..." God controls both the big and the little things in our lives, sometimes when we don't even realize it!

After the lesson, we had our snack and ended up playing Duck, Duck, Goose! We only had 30 minutes left and because of the rain, we didn't want to chance anyone getting hurt on the court! These kids enjoyed it...although this game can get pretty dangerous too!

After preteens we ate some beans, rice and sausage. And then took some much needed naps! I didn't plan on napping, but it felt REALLY good!

With the teens we talked about God's control with Noah and the Ark and the time Jesus was on the boat with His disciples when the storm occurred. I think that most of them can see God's control in the stories, but are afraid to admit if God really has control of their lives. But Jordan asked them some awesome questions that hopefully will get them thinking!

We also started working on a skit with the Teens! It is based off of Matthew 7:21-23, when Jesus is talking about how not everyone who says and does things for Christ will go to Heaven, you have to have a RELATIONSHIP with Christ! He has to be Lord of your life! The teens threw out ideas of what a Christian looks like and what they do: Don't do bad things, Obey their parents, Go to Church, Read their Bible, Know the Bible Stories... and we tried our best to remind them that while these are important to further their walk with Jesus and deepen their relationship, just doing these things will not save you!

Well, our actors have their parts. A few people were ready to volunteer, while others were picked to help out! Edwardo raised his hand as fast as he could when we asked who wanted to be the last person in line who actually has the relationship with Christ and makes it into Heaven! I thought that was neat! Patrick is playing Jesus. Renan actually has two parts, we are going to let him "sneak" back in line, it was their idea and he is really wanting to be a part of the skit! So we are trying to make it theirs as much as possible without going overboard!

We did a dry run through. It was interesting. Some haven't taken it seriously yet, but I reminded them that their are some people who believe that Going to church is good enough, so this could hit some people pretty deep! I was hoping that they could make their own lines, I feel that sometimes it makes them take more ownership in their work, but they want it written out, so I will be working on that soon.

After Teens, we had a little bit of time to relax and run to the store to make more copies before Children's Worship Hour! We ended up getting to the Worship Hour late, but Sula had things in order! And Jordan and I had some good laughs in the car...Bill joined in too...the others were confused...(Jordan with her head in the door, living in trunks, getting a few coffins - but then again there is a bridge...these are some long stories...so don't worry about it!)

Things went pretty well with the kids, it isn't ever the same without Erika, but knowing her she will be out their in no time!

After Worship we ended up playing hand slapping games and other games outside the house. And then ate Pizza for dinner! YUMM!!

Jordan and I are pretty sure that we have figured out Sula's method of cleaning and putting things away! We are trying pretty hard! We wrote out our own to do list for Sula, that way to make sure she knows that we appreciate all that she does! And to give her a good laugh, we put the dishes away wrong the other day and she made fun of us!

Well, it is getting late! The Shower and then the Bed are calling my name! Hopefully we are heading to VQ tomorrow, but it also depends on how well Erika is feeling! Jordan and I are prepared either way! FLEXIBILITY is the word for the summer!!!