Shamus Westra
Hi! I'm Shamus, and I like warm hugs! I'm from Edmonton, just finished grade 12, will be going to University of Calgary in the fall, and am teaching my 4th summer! I'd appreciate prayer that God would give me confidence, and that none of this would be done on my own strength, but only through God's strength.
Well, my week was off to a crazy start before it even began!
As you may know, I went on a trip last week to Seattle and Victoria. As we were waiting for the ferry back from Victoria, our group of five teenagers decided to play tag at the park. I was running barefoot (because running in flip flops is so inconvenient) and when I went to turn quickly mid-run (some of you may want to not read the rest of this paragraph) I ended up landing oddly on my right big toe. As a result, my toe looked quite broken, and I ended up breaking skin. We naturally went to the hospital, where I learned that my toe had not been broken, but dislocated! This meant that I would still be able to function normally this week (albeit with some pain), and the only medical attention I required was seven stitches! This was an answer to prayer for me, as it meant that I could still teach this week!
So, I got home late Saturday night, and began teaching on Monday. I would leave home around 6:45-7:00, pick up Gwyneth, drop her off at a church in Edmonton, and then get to a VBS in Calmar around 8:30. This club had 26 kids come all week, and they were a great group. They listened well during stories, and said lots of memory verses. They would go through almost a pack of Pass it On Cards every day! Most of these kids went to church, but a few of them didn’t really know much about Jesus at all. One of the helpers was worried that the way I presented the invitation to salvation was very effective, and none of them really showed interest in making a decision, so please pray that God would continue to work in their hearts!
After I picked Gwyneth up, we would go to a club in south Edmonton. This club ended up having 24 kids, and a few of them had come to a club before. This group was a bit younger, and as a result sometimes had difficulty focussing. Some of them raised their hands when we asked if they wanted to invite Jesus into their hearts, but either had already done so, or would back out. Once again, pray that God would continue to work in the hearts of these kids.
One Monday, we went home after this club, but found out we were supposed to go to another club at 4:00 that had not been on the itinerary. So we went to this club starting on Tuesday, and ended up having 14 kids come. One of them had raised his hand when we asked if anyone wanted to ask Jesus into their heart, but had already done so before. Pray that this boy would continue to be strengthened in his faith!
Our final club was an evening VBS in a park in Edmonton. This club had no kids on Monday and Friday, but had 6 kids come all week. They were all churched kids, some of whom were quite young, and the rest of whom seemed to have a really strong foundation for their faith.
All in all, I was grateful to get through this week, as I was feeling pretty tired and had lots of teaching to do. it was slightly discouraging not to see any decisions, but I know that God will still work in these kids. Thanks to all of you who prayed for me this week (in particular to my CG, Ryan Jeffery, for all the praying you have done even when I didn’t hurt myself).
Hi! Sorry I’ve been a little lax on the blogging, it’s been a really full week for me. Fortunately, God has continued to give me the strength and energy to keep up with the clubs.
My first club is in Sturgeon County, which is very close to my house, and is being hosted by some people from my church (Nick Dohms’ parents, actually). They run a couple of group homes, and other than their three year old grandson, the boys from the group home have been the only attendees. They are all 11-14, and some have been super involved, but a few have mostly just sat there. I think they’ve all heard a lot of the stuff that I have to say before, so I’m hoping it serves as a reminder for them. One of these boys forgot to do his lesson, but after club today he went back home, finished the lesson, and brought it back before I had even left.
After that club, I drive into Edmonton to Gwyneth’s club. Since we have a lot of time to kill, we’ve played a couple different games with those kids after she finishes teaching. Then, we head over to our VBS. This club has grown steadily each day, and these kids really easily get distracted. It has been a bit of a challenge for Gwyneth and I, but we have seemed to work better with these kids as the week has gone on. One boy’s mom told us on the first day that he had some brain damage as a result of his birth parents doing drugs, so he has been a bit of a unique challenge, but we have been able to develop a better relationship with him. I don’t know how much of what we have been teaching he’s picked up, but hopefully God is planting a seed in this boy’s heart. Several of these kids are unchurched, so pray that they would be able to hear the gospel and fully understand it.
Our final club is an evening club in a park. This club only had 2 kids on the first day who have come every day, and had 2 new kids each day, but we couldn’t seem to get much continuity going. Then today, we decided to play grounders with the kids who were at the park for the first half hour, then invited them to come and hear the Bible story for the last half hour and get a prize(we called this the Levi technique, after one Levi Durston). We ended up getting 10 new kids today, with 2 of them accepting Jesus! Gwyneth gave Gospels of John to those who didn’t have Bibles, including the girls who made decisions, so please pray that they would read them and that God would grow the seeds that have been planted.
The past 2 weeks have been a fair bit of driving for me, so I’m grateful that God has given me strength to get through it. He has also increased my boldness, which has helped grow our clubs. Even today, when I was leading the two girls to Jesus, I could tell that He was giving me the words to say.
Tomorrow afternoon I leave for a weeklong trip to Seattle, so no clubs for me next week. See you all after that!
Hello again!
So, this week felt pretty long to me, but God helped me get through it! He gave me the strength to make it through, and more importantly, he provided the kids in the clubs.
Our first club had all four girls who had come throughout the week return, and they were much more talkative. Fortunately, they didn’t get distracted, and two more of them received Jesus! On Thursday, Grace prayed with the girl who made a decision, so yesterday I prayed with them. I was a little nervous, as I do not have much experience leading people to Jesus, but they definitely understood what they were doing! None of those girls go to church, so pray that they would continue to have Christian influences. We also gave each of them a Bible, thanks to some help from our hostess, so hopefully they will read them!
Our second club, unfortunately, despite Grace and I going through the entire neighbourhood, did not have any kids come. There did not seem to be much interest from the people we talked to, which was too bad. Our third club only had 2 kids come for about 20 minutes, so we just did a song and a story with them. All of the kids who came were unchurched, and none of them accepted Jesus, so please pray that we have planted some seeds that God will grow.
The last club had 7 kids Thursday, and 8 yesterday, and these kids remained fun to teach. They knew all of the stories except for the story of the Ethiopian, so teaching the extra story was a little bit more fun. One boy who came the last two days was a mini Gideon Mentie doppelgänger, which was kinda cool! He was even from Ethiopia, which is where Gideon’s parents are from. I told him that he looked like Gideon right before the story of the Ethiopian, and when I asked what they wanted to call him, this boy piped up “Gideon!” All of the kids who were there on Friday did at least lesson 1, with 5 of them completing all 7. One of the girls who completed her lessons also did all 6 verses. She was the hostess’ daughter, and was going into grade 6, so I told her mother about quizzing, just in case they were interested.
Next week I’ve got one club in Sturgeon County, then another few in Edmonton, so I’ll be doing more driving, so please pray that I will be able to stay alert and safe. Thanks!
(I really hope my titles draw you in instead of weirding you out, haha)
Anyways, this week, I get to become really familiar with the Edmonton roads. I have the privilege of teaching with one Grace Konrad, but alas, we live about an hour apart (she lives in southwest Edmonton, I live 30 mins northeast of Edmonton). So, I have had plenty of time to shamelessly rock out in my car to all of my radio jams. I have also had to get up fairly early (unless I sleep in, like I did this morning. Forcing yourself to get ready in 15 minutes is not Shamus-recommended), but God has given me the strength to be wide awake and energetic in all of our clubs.
Our first club is near Grace`s house (which I am eternally grateful for, as it saves me from driving and lets me sleep a little later), and the hostess` only child is about one and a half. So, too young for clubs. There are lots of kids in the area, but apparently most of them sleep past 9, so we could not round up any kids on the first day. Later that day, we went advertising, and we found one girl who was interested in coming, as long as we came and walked her to the club in the morning. We had no problem with that, and she came on Tuesday (the day when I thought a squirrel sitting in a nearby tree was going to attack me while I was telling a story) and Wednesday. This morning, when we went to pick her up, we found out she was unavailable. Fortunately, she had told us about a house where some of her friends lived, and they came this morning. One of these girls accepted Jesus, which was super exciting. She seemed to get distracted while Grace was walking her through it, but there was no doubt that she wanted to pray and accept Him.
Our second club, unfortunately, has had no kids. We have handed out many invitations, tried the nearby parks, knocked on several doors, but sadly, no takers. Some people still seemed interested, so please pray that they would be able to come. There are kids in the area, they just have not come…… yet.
Our third club has had a bit of an odd week. The first day, we had four kids, and on Tuesday, they brought 5 of their friends. But on Wednesday, 8 of these kids went camping, and the other 1 was not at home. So we went advertising, again, but could not drum up any interest. Then today, the one girl who had not gone camping came back, brought a friend, and then we had three kids come whom we had given invitations to. Now the club is up to 13 registered kids. I was glad (as I imagine Grace was as well) that our advertising had paid off. All of these kids have been unchurched, so the club could have a real impact on the neighbourhood.
Due to the four hour break between our third and fourth clubs, and the fact that Grace lives on the west end of Edmonton and the fourth club is in Sherwood Park (which is east of Edmonton), we agreed that it would be easiest for me to drive Grace home and then teach the last club solo (by the way, shout out to Grace and Gwenyth for recruiting Grace to help teach their VBS, you guys saved me a lot of driving (and CEF a lot on gas)). This club has been the polar opposite of our other clubs, because they have all been unchurched kids, whereas this one has had 9 churched kids. These kids have been fantastic to teach, as they are really involved in the club. They know the Bible stories really well (even the story of Mephibosheth, which I had not heard until about a month ago), so the extra story has been fun to teach them. I promised them yesterday that they could pie me if they get to 25 kids, which they seemed really eager to do, but they have to grow a lot over the next 2 days.
This week has been a bit of a struggle for Grace and I, partially because of the slightly inconsistent attendance in our clubs, which has caused us to have to be creative with what we decide to teach, but primarily because of the amount of advertising we have had to do. Neither of us feel very comfortable going up to strangers and talking to them, nor do we feel great about going door to door, and we feel especially awkward going to the park to find kids. Fortunately, God has been good by providing the kids, and he has helped us to feel more and more confident.
Sorry for the novel, but thanks for reading to the end!
Hello again!
So, our clubs finished super well! Our first ended up finishing with 14 kids, and this was a super fun group. They were super attentive when we were talking(even if they were easily distracted), and it was lots of fun to hang out with them after we finished teaching. I was super grateful for the nearby park, because it let them burn off some steam when we were done. One girl in this club was super sassy, and there was another one who asked if there were unicorns on the ark. They were all great kids.
Our second club ended up getting no new kids after the first day, but we were still able to have lots of fun with this group. The hostess has had this club for a few years now, and all the same kids keep coming back, so it’s good to see that they’re enjoying it!
Our third club ended up growing to 11 kids by the end of the week. These kids were pretty quiet at first, but it ended up being a really fun club!
We had lots of churched kids this week, and even the unchurched kids seemed to already be saved, so we didn’t get any decisions this week, but we both knew that God still did some work through us. I felt exhausted all week, but Will and I both noticed that we didn’t feel tired while we were teaching, so praise God for that! Finally, I would appreciate some prayer, I have seasonal allergies, and even if I took my medicine I still seemed to sneeze a lot this week.
Thanks!
Hello All!
So, I got back from Internationals on Sunday night, met Will, and within about 12 hours we were teaching. Needless to say, the past couple of days have been a bit of a whirlwind. I’m pretty grateful to be teaching around home this week, because driving any sizeable distance on Sunday night would have been difficult.
Our first club is a VBS in Fort Saskatchewan. This club had 7 kids yesterday, and today that grew to 10. The kids have a lot of energy, but they all pay attention really well. I was glad that we could use the park outside today (yesterday was rainy and overcast) and let them burn off some steam after we finished teaching. Will invited some kids from a daycare to come tomorrow, so prayer for them would be appreciated.
Our second club had the same 8 neighbourhood kids both days. These kids are a little quieter, but lots of them have done their verses and lessons. These kids are mostly unchurched, but they all seem to at least have a good understanding of the gospel. It’s kind of difficult to discern whether they need saving or discipling, so please pray that God would guide our words so that they hear what they need to. We’ve also had lots of traffic pass by during this club, so pray that they wouldn’t get distracted.
Our Bon Accord club had 6 kids yesterday, and three today (one of whom was a newcomer). Most of the kids here are churched, so they’ve heard a lot of this before. The boy who lives there is apparently very eager to welcome lots of kids there, so that’s encouraging. I’ve seen a few kids walk by during the first two days, and would appreciate prayer that I would have confidence to welcome them.
Will and I have similar teaching styles, which has made the clubs easier to teach so far. He sounds a lot like Levi(hence the title), which really freaks me out sometimes. I would appreciate prayer that I would be able to be alert during the clubs, as I’ve felt really tired so far.
Thanks!
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