I feel like I have not blogged in forever. My apologies, I did not have internet for a week, and to be honest, I think that might have been a good thing. This past week was phenomenal. If I were to be brutally honest, it is not very often that when I reflect on teaching that I can tangibly reflect on the fact that God not only blew away my expectations of ministry, but also of who He is personally. He was so awesome throughout this week.

As most of you probably know, I have this slight propensity to get lost. I had been so proud of myself for my writing out the directions prior to leaving (shout out to Google Maps), and most of the way I did very well. However, there was one point where I had to turn at a Junction, and according to the directions that said Google gave me, I had a couple of turns that I needed to make, but according to Google there was some distance between each turn. In practice, this was not the case… HOWEVER, I did not know this, and so I turned right onto this gravel road – this roadway was treacherous, unstable, and I was getting pretty scared of the roll over possibility, BUT I was sincerely believing that God would bring me to Thorhild on this terrible road. To cut an incredibly long story short (and a couple of phone calls to my billet for directions later), I stopped and parked in Egremont, where my billet had to drive me to the location. It was a moment that truly reminded me of this verse:

“ For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12)

I’ll try and do a collective summary of how both of my clubs went this week:

Thorhild: I taught this club during the morning of a camp. It was crazy, it was hectic, and it seemed like bandaids were being used like they were going out of style, haha. But it was awesome, because He is awesome. I don’t have the correct number of statistics, but I do know there was a mailbox club decision! 🙂 For most of the week, I felt so ineffective in my efforts as a teacher, but I had a great awareness of two things:

1). When the enemy robs me of my joy, I am a less effective servant.

2). As a Summer Missionary, and a believer, there are two different ways that the  gospel is preached: through our words, and through our actions.

I was so determined to teach my lessons the way that I had intended for them to be, but God greatly humbled me in my approach to His work. As the week progressed, I realized that these kids (that seemed tough to teach on Monday), are such precious, gems to a good Father. After talking with my host, and billet about this club, I learned that more than half of the children were unchurched. As the week progressed, I felt this urgent burden for the children to know the reality of the gospel. Since during the week, I taught the Extra Story to the whole group, after I finished on Friday, I explained the Good News to them. Later on, I had brought out some chalk, and during the lunch period I spent time with the kids while they drew pictures. Earlier I had drawn a picture of a red heart on the ground. One of the boys began coloring over it with black chalk, and sarcastically I protested his coloring over my picture. This boy preceded to explain how he was completing the picture because my heart is indeed dark with sin. As we joked about the heart (and as I desperately looked for the white chalk), I was so encouraged in hearing these words from these kids because even though church, and the things of God were a new concept to them, they had learnt something about the greatest story every told. 🙂

Boyle: I knew I was in for a good week when on the first day, one of the boys explained to me that he knew how to herd sheep – and that he could herd 100 sheep at a time. I restrained myself from making Biblical jokes, and continued with club, and man were these kids fun! They were all churched, and I know our intention is to reach the unsaved child as well, but I felt so encouraged by the opportunity to encourage, and edify children in House. While I was explaining how Noah was 500 years old at the time that he began building the ark, one of the kids explained, “That’s as old as my grandma!” Haha! Afterwards, it was neat to see the children’s excitement in seeing the facts about the story from the Bible directly. It was refreshing and encouraging. What a fun week with energetic kids! On the Friday, I was heading out from Thorhild to Boyle, and as I was packing up, I locked my keys in the van. And to add to it, the spare keys were in Edmonton… with Gwyneth. Up until this moment, I had not seen this many men entertained by my struggle, haha. Nonetheless, I am very grateful for the country hospitality they showed me, by breaking into my car, and retrieving my keys for me. Finally, I arrived 45 minutes late, and fortunately the host and the kids were extremely gracious to me, and we had club.

This week was exhausting, and draining in every sense, but my soul was so refreshed by Him.

Prayer Requests:

– For Thorhild. Working with the children and families in this area is like a brand new mission field. Pray that the church members, and leadership team would continue His ministry.

– For Boyle, that these kids would continue to seek, and hunger in their discoveries of Him.

Grace Sichangwa

Hi! My name is Grace, and this is my 6th summer teaching 5 day clubs. I feel so humbled, and honored to be involved with this ministry again this year. I'm excited to see how God not only transforms the lives of those that I meet, but the work that He will do within myself. Prayer Requests: 1. For my heart - that it would be so focused on Jesus. 2. For discipline - that I would take the time for daily prayer, and devotion. 3. For His voice - that His voice would be clear to me, as I minister.