Janessa Robertson
Hi, I'm Janessa Robertson! I'm 19, from Regina, and this is my third summer teaching clubs! In the fall I will be going into my second year of university to get my education degree. I am so excited to see what God is going to do in the lives of the kids and workers this summer!
Three main prayer requests: (1) Safety on the roads as I'm not very comfortable on gravel (2) Health and energy throughout the summer (3) The hearts of the kids to be softened and open to the Gospel
UPDATE!
So last week (August 10-14) was awesome because I got to teach in Regina which meant I got to sleep in my own bed for a WEEK. It was also pretty awesome because 9 kids gave their lives to Christ in my two clubs and VBS. The VBS was actually at my home church, which was also pretty cool to get the opportunity to teach. The kids in the VBS were so attentive and interactive- I really enjoyed being able to teach it 🙂
This week I’m teaching in Calgary! I have family in Calgary so I get to stay with them. This week I’m teaching 2 clubs and a VBS.
My first club is kind of crazy… it has 30 kids aged 2-7. The majority of the kids sit and listen but there are a handful of 2-4 year olds who are little less interested. I would really appreciate prayer that they would listen (even if it doesn’t look like their listening).
On Monday, my second club had the hostesses 2 kids (who were age 12 and 13) and then one boy who was 10 who really didn’t want to be there. Today when I got to their house the hostesses decided that the club should be cancelled because of lack of interest.
In the late afternoon I have a VBS and I absolutely love it. The kids are so sweet and funny- it’s definitely an awesome club to end the day with. One kid actually cried when I didn’t finish the Little Rascal story… He was very worried about if the blood poisoning will get to Tony’s heart or not. Another awesome thing about this club is that today 2 sweet little girls gave their lives to Jesus!!!
I’m pretty tired and almost looking forward to being able to sleep (I can’t even remember the last day i slept in haha), but through my devotions this week God has really been emphasizing that He isn’t done working through me, so I need to finish strong. And really, that my work isn’t done as soon as Friday night hits. My job of reaching the lost extends into my regular life, too. Evangelizing and reaching God’s children isn’t a 9-5 job. So I’m looking forward to reaching out to the people God brings across my path as I head into my 2nd year of university.
PRAYER:
- Energy
- That my large 1st club will listen and sit nicely
- That the children who have come to Christ this summer will grow in their faith
- That God will continue to soften the hearts of the children and parents
PRAISE:
- I have had the opportunity to lead 41 children to Christ this summer
- I have had safety on all of the roads and highways (and there’s been basically no gravel roads)
“Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” Colossians 3:23-24
Thank you all so much for your prayers, especially to my CG who has been praying faithfully for me every day this summer!
God Bless,
Janessa
I wish I could say that my faith is always strong and that my trust in Him is limitless… but I can’t. My faith and trust fail more than I care to admit- even on the mission field.
Last week I was teaching in Yorkton and Canora. On Friday as I was on my way to my second last club, I was praying. As I was giving the club to the Lord I was about to ask Him for the chance to help lead one more kid to Him that week… but I changed my mind. The club I was headed to was an older club (age 10-12) all of which seemed very disinterested in the club. I didn’t think any of the kids would want to follow Christ and I didn’t want to ask for something that I didn’t think could happen.
But God is answering prayers and working even when my faith and trust is small or nonexistent. He led one girl to Himself in that club.
I am so thankful that God’s power isn’t limited to the size of my faith.
In total, six kids did a 180 with Jesus in Yorkton and Canora this week 🙂
“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.” Ephesians 6:19
Janessa
To sum up last week:
-There was a really intense tornado in the area I was in (it was on the ground for 2 and a half hours) BUT God is good and He protected the towns I was in. Plus there don’t seem to be any reported injuries from it!
-Despite the crazy weather, 9 kids came to Christ! And many seeds were planted as I had mostly kids who had zero background knowledge of anything religious or spiritual.
This week I’m teaching in Yorkton and Canora and I’m really looking forward to it! Although, I am already really tired and the week hasn’t even started yet. This weekend took a lot out of me as there have been a few major things going on in my personal life which have been emotionally and spiritually exhausting.
The enemy is definitely trying to use these situations to weaken my impact in these clubs this week so I would really appreciate your prayers for strength.
Prayer:
- Energy and rest so that I can give it 110% in each of my clubs
- Soften hearts for both kids and parents
- Peace and strength in my own heart concerning the situations going on in my life.
- Safety on the roads
Thank you for all of your prayers! And a special thanks for the encouragements and prayers from my CG- May God bless you for the work you are doing for the ministry behind the scenes.
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
Janessa
Something different I’ve been doing this summer is praying before each club and giving it to God. Asking Him to give me the words that He knows the kids need to hear, because He knows their hearts. So today as I was driving to my second club I was doing this, just giving the club into God’s hands and I prayed for 3 more kids to accept Christ this week in my clubs. I don’t typically pray for specific numbers, but for some reason I decided to ask Him for 3 more decisions before the week ends.
In that next VBS, after I told the Bible story 3 kids stayed back and asked Jesus into their hearts.
God answers prayers.
There have been 6 kids who have decided to follow Jesus this week and even more seeds have been planted!
Two of my clubs are full of kids who started the week with absolutely no background knowledge of anything that has to do with God, Jesus, Sin, Heaven, etc.. so it has been so cool to be the first one to start planting those seeds in their hearts.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- That God would continue to speak through me and work in the hearts of these kids
- That the kids who have accepted Christ will grow in their faith
PRAISE:
- 6 kids have made decisions to follow Christ this week!!!
- The weather has improved significantly and the clubs have ALL grown despite harsh weather
- I have had safety on the roads even with driving 2.5+ hours on the highways each day
- I haven’t had to drive on any gravel highways. (Cool story about this: I’ve been worried about having to drive on gravel, and I expected to have lots of gravel this week… but just a few weeks ago, the highway to one of clubs with the longest driving time was changed from a gravel road to a freshly paved road!)
Thank you for reading and for your prayers! We serve a good God. 🙂
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new each morning; great is Your faithfulness” Lamentations 3:22-23
Janessa
To sum up last week, I was in the Weyburn area and taught 3 clubs and God was definitely working in many little hearts that week!! 7 decisions to follow Christ were made and many more seeds were planted (6 Bibles given away and 4 gospels of John given away).
This week I’m in Oxbow, Lampman, and Carnduff! (which are small towns in south-eastern saskatchewan near Estevan)
There’s a decent amount of driving this week for me but i really enjoy the peace and quiet of a long drive before getting to a club. 🙂 My clubs have all been small (2 kids in Lampman, 4 kids at the VBS in Carnduff, and 5 kids in Oxbow) but they have all been really great kids! All of the kids have been super engaged and eager to listen and have a good time, which makes my job even more fun!
Prayer Requests:
- For God to be softening the hearts of the kids and parents and working through them as I teach (and for God to be speaking through me)
- Energy and continued health for myself
- Today there was a tornado warning, so that the weather will improve. Or at least that the weather won’t hinder any kids from coming!
- Safety on the roads as I’m putting on a lot of kilometers this week… also, there’s a really steep valley I need to drive up each day and it’s really hard on my little car.
- That the children who accept Christ this summer will grow and flourish in their faith. 🙂
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and pray!
Blessings,
Janessa
God is so good. All the time. When we see the impact we are making and when we don’t.
Yesterday I asked for prayer for a little boy in my first club who raised his hand but left before I could talk to him about asking Jesus into his heart. WELL. Today he accepted Christ! And two others in that club did too!
In my next club, yesterday I had no kids. Today I had 1! He comes from a rough home and knows nothing about God or anything. He thought that “God” and “Jesus” were just swears. So being one on one with him was the best thing for him because I got to go into a lot of detail about all of his questions (and he had a LOT of questions. God knew what that boy needed and was looking out for him. He said he wanted to accept Christ but when I got talking to him about it he really didn’t understand. He had a lot of fun so he plans to come back tomorrow! Please be praying that as the week goes I will be able to explain everything well so that he can understand.
In my third club I had 3 decisions!! All three of them went to a club that Lauren taught the week before (also at Nickel Lake) but hadn’t become Christians. But when I gave the invitation all 3 wanted accept Jesus! Just another example of how you don’t know how much of an impact you are having. Those three didn’t accept Christ in Lauren’s club last week, but the seed was planted. And then this week they made decisions! God is just so good.
So today 6 kids decided to do a 180 with Jesus 🙂
Praise:
- The boy from yesterday accepted Christ
- 6 kids came to Christ
- There was a kid at my second club
Prayer:
- God to continue to soften the hearts of the kids and parents
- That the kids who come to Christ this summer (all across Alberta and Sask) will continue to grow spiritually after the clubs end. And that they get plugged into churches!
Thank you for your prayers, we serve a God who hears and answers.
Janessa
So I got lost going to my first club today. Well, actually… I ended up at the house that my itinerary said buuuuut that wasn’t the hostesses house. Awkward, I know. But it wasn’t too bad because the people at the house I showed up at weren’t home. Their dog wasn’t too impressed, though. I ended up calling the hostess and figuring out where to go, and I was only 5 minutes late. It was a fun little adventure to start out my day.
At my first club, one boy raised his hand (when I gave the invitation) but ended up going inside the house after the club and didn’t come out. I was pretty bummed that he left without me being able to talk to him, but since he’s the hostesses kid he will be back tomorrow, so I will be able to talk to him!
My second club was at Nickel Lake (at the campground) but there were no kids!! 🙁 So me and my billet’s kids (my billets are also hosting this club) went around and tried to advertise. Where are all the kids??? Not at Nickel Lake… We decided to move the club to the evening in hopes of having more success.
My third club was in Weyburn! But there were no kids. So back to advertising! I am hoping and praying that some kids will come tomorrow.
Nickel Lake Round 2! So, as I said, we moved the Nickel Lake club from 2:30-3:30 to 6:30-7:30. This was a good move because we had two girls (plus 3 of my billet’s kids)! We also have two or three boys who want to come tomorrow, so pray that their mom lets them!
I can’t believe it’s only Monday… I’m way too tired for it to be only Monday! But it was a fun, adventure-filled day 🙂
Prayer Requests:
- That I will be able to talk to the boy from my 1st club about asking Jesus into his heart. (And if it was fear/ doubt/ etc that made him leave that God would be working in his heart)
- That kids will come to my club in Weyburn
- That more kids will come to the Nickel Lake Club (and that the girls who came today would come back)
- ENERGY! Tomorrow shouldn’t be as busy as today was, which is good. But if you could pray for energy for me I would greatly appreciate it! 🙂
- Boldness. (see what I did there… 😉 ) I want to be a light outside of my clubs and talk to people God puts on my heart about the Gospel… so I would appreciate prayer for bravery as it is scary to approach someone you don’t know and boldly tell them the Good News.
Peace, Blessings, and all that good stuff,
Janessa.
It was such a fun week full of learning curves! A huge plus to teaching a preschool club is how you don’t need to use the song visuals, as none of the kids can read. With how fast the songs are this year I was really happy to be able to toss aside the visuals.
The kids this week were so awesome, I love getting “flowers” aka dandelions and notes from them! At the start of the week the kids were really shy and super quiet, but by the end of the week as soon as I would pull into the farm I would hear “SHE’S HERE!!!” and then see a stampede of kids running towards my car! 🙂
On Thursday, one little girl tapped my leg and said she wanted to tell me something, so I bent down to get on her level. She just stared at me for a solid 10 seconds with a straight face and then a HUGE smile came on her face and she said “Teacher… I had fun today!!” This is one of the little girls who asked Jesus into her heart this week! In total I had 6 decisions- Praise the Lord!
I’m going to miss these sweethearts so much, but I am really excited for the new bunch of clubs coming next week!
Praise:
- 6 Kids accepted Jesus this week!!
- No car/ travel troubles
- The kids all sat so nicely and listened really well (especially for only being 2-6 years old!)
- I was able to book 4 new clubs this week!
Prayer:
- More willing club hostesses
- I’m starting to get sick, so that this weekend will be restful so that I can stay healthy
- For God to be softening the hearts of the parents and kids who will be coming to my clubs in the Weyburn area next week!
Blessings,
Janessa
Thank you so much for praying for me as I teach a crazy preschool club this week! I love preschool clubs although this is the first one I’ve taught on my own.
Anyways, as I said in my last blog post, I left the club on Monday feeling quite discouraged. I felt like the stories were awful, I did a terrible job teaching the verse, and that I bombed the invitation because the kids that raised their hands ran away so I couldn’t talk to them or pray with them. I woke up early on Tuesday so that I could spend some time in prayer before the club and just give the day to God. Tuesday ended going really smoothly and the kids were all engaging and having a great time. God definitely answered my prayers.
Today went even better. I have a 40 minute drive from dropping off Anja at her VBS to my club, so I spent that time hanging out with God and asking Him to speak through me and gave the club into His hands. When I pulled up to the farm I saw two kids just booking it towards my car so excited to give me their lessons. One of the kids also gave me a picture that he drew. On the front was a picture of Jesus on the cross and on the back he wrote: “Thank you for teaching us to follow God.” That was definitely a great way to start the club.
After the Bible story I told the kids to close their eyes, and if anyone wants to ask Jesus into their hearts to hold up their hands. Immediately 4 kids shoot their hands up. After I handed out prizes I went through the wordless book with those 4 kids and prayed with them. All of their moms were watching (which added some pressure) and they were all so excited to see their kids want to follow Jesus.
I can say without a doubt that this was all God because, in my opinion, the Bible story was told horribly. My words and actions are empty without Him. All the glory goes to God who uses broken, inadequate people to reach out to His children.
I love this ministry and am so honored and humbled to be a part of it!
Praise!!
- 4 kids asked Jesus into their hearts!!
- There’s been a porcupine dead in the middle of the road all week and I almost hit it on Monday. BUT today it was gone! So that’s one less road hazard. 🙂
- By giving each day to God, the discouragement is gone and I’m not stressed about the outcomes of the club.
- I was able to book 3 new clubs this week- one of which is on a reserve!
Prayer Requests
- One girl (Let’s call her Hannah) didn’t come back today. She’s from a non-Christian home and it seems like she is close to a decision. I talked to her mom a bit on Monday and it seems like her heart is very soft towards God. Please pray that she comes back and that, as her mom talks to the hostess during the club, they will get connected to a church
- Continued safety on the roads!
- That the kids who accepted Christ today will grow closer to Him.
- More open doors and willing hostesses to host clubs this summer!
Adios,
Janessa
Hey everyone!
After not teaching for a year I am excited but also nervous to be back at it for my 3rd summer! I will try to blog as often as possible! This week I am teaching a club on a farm outside of Yorkton. I’m teaching alone but billeted with Anja who has a VBS in Ebenezer.
My club has 16 kids so far (and it’s only Monday) and the ages are 2-6 so it’s a pretty crazy club! To be honest I left the club feeling kind of discouraged because it was hard to keep their attention, I don’t know how much they were getting from my stories, the memory verse was rough because they can’t read, no one was singing the songs, et cetera. After I gave the invitation to ask Jesus into their hearts 4 kids put up their hands although they ran off after the club so I couldn’t talk to them. I would really appreciate your prayers for this club this week.
Also all of the parents (7 moms) watched the club which always adds some added pressure!
Prayer Requests:
- That those 4 kids to come back tomorrow so that I can talk to them and hopefully pray with them
- That I won’t be discouraged (and will be reminded that God works in ways that I can’t always see or understand)
- That God speaks through me… My words are nothing without Him speaking through me. Pray that when I tell the stories the Spirit will be at work in their hearts and the things I say will make sense to them.
- Soft hearts for the parents who are listening and that the non-Christian moms will be curious and ask questions before/during/after the club to either the hostess or to myself.
- Safety on the roads! I have about 2 hours of driving each day… and today I almost hit a porcupine that was already roadkill in the middle of the highway… (but i didn’t hit it so it’s all good)
Thank you SO much to everyone praying for myself and the other workers. I also want to send a HUGE thank you to my CeeGee, Dorothy Christopher, for committing to pray for me daily. I appreciate your prayers so much- God bless you!
Thanks for reading,
Janessa
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