Sonnie Fellwock
Hello my name is Sonnie Fellwock. I am 22 years old and live in Moose Jaw Sask. I am a student at Saskatchewan polytechnic in Sasaktoon taking the Combined Laboratory and X-Ray technology course. This is my fourth year teaching 5 day clubs. I am looking forward to the summer ahead.
3 prayer requests for the summer:
-that I would have enough energy to teach the kids this summer
-that God would keep the workers safe this year
-that God has opened the doors he wants and we are able to reach as many kids as possible.
Good morning Internet! It’s currently 1:33am and I cannot sleep so I thought I would post one last blog in conclusion of this amazing summer!
If God has taught me anything, it’s appreciate the small moments. Those little pockets of happiness that make you smile, or wish you could stay there forever. I have had many of those this summer. Even multiple pocket moments per day, and as much as I’d love to sit there in that one moment forever, I know another one is just around the corner!
My Meyronne club today was great! Now all the kidlets are young gaffers under the age of eight… So as you can probably imagine sitting still is not quite a mastered skill yet. But we worked with it and got through the club! The kids were so good with their verses! They were able to practice with parents, with grandma, and with me throughout each day! I was so proud of them!
My Woodrow club was quite enlightening this week. Having older boys who don’t want to sing songs poses a slight problem when time needs filling. Thankfully they are chatty and have lots of interesting stories to share! Today I learned all about how many different sounds turkeys make! Those guys certainly brightened my day with their wit and good attitudes! I believe we learned a lot from each other! As they schooled me on farm knowledge I was able to share insight into the Bible!
The La Fleche club was rather small today compared to its normal crowd. But what we lacked in numbers we made up for in curiosity! Haha it amazed me all the questions I was asked this week. The kids were just fountains of queries and it was adorable!
I am so thankful for everyone that I met this summer and relationships I was able to develop further from past years. Today I was sitting with one of the kids after club and he was enthused to show me his rock collection. He chatted about it for a few minutes before and his face lit up when we arrived at it! He explained where he found all the rocks, and why some were the shapes they were. He pointed out the his most favourite rocks and explained why they were the best! It was truly fantastic the amount of happiness he was sharing with me. And to make it even better he gave me one of his beloved rocks! I couldn’t believe that he would part with something that was obviously so dear to him! I wish I was able to treat the Gospel the way this boy treated his rocks. With the same amount of enthusiasm and joy, with the willingness to share. What a lesson to learn from a five year old! He doesn’t even know that he taught me such a valuable lesson today! This job is quite a blessing! It’s teaches me new lessons each year I return.
To the people who read my blog (my parents, and my wonderful CeeGee) and maybe the odd random person who stumbles across this page… I thank you for taking the time to read my stories and I hope that you were able to come on some adventures with me, or learn some lessons as I did!
God is truly an amazing being! There is so much to learn from Him and I am thankful for the lessons and opportunities I was given this summer.
Well all three of my clubs had kids today! Praise the Lord!!!
My first club is at my billets house and we jumped from 6 kids to 9 today. Its pretty great. The kids are quite young but are doing well at the memory verses. It probably helps that they are my billets grand kids and that they live so close. They hangout here a lot and so we can practice the memory verse in our free time!
My second club that contained 0 kids, and 3 adults for a bit yesterday, had 4 boys and 0 adults today. The boys are all within the ages of 10-14 so we skipped the songs today. They were real good though. I was a little nervous when I pulled up and noticed I would have an older club. I thought it was going to be hard to relate to them but they were great. It was a little awkward but I do hope they come again tomorrow!
So my lunches are spent with the Pastor in Woodrow and his wife. Yesterday we ate a meatloaf with moose meat. I had never had it before and it was surprisingly quite good! Well today to keep the ball rolling of exotic food we had duck eggs! Also something I had not eaten before and I really enjoyed them! SO many new experiences this summer!
My third club had 13 kids in it today! It was great. I had a roaring headache all through the day so my 3rd club hostess was able to spare so Tylenol. I was grateful as our club was inside and the kids were quite loud. I would love to be able to have club outside this week but the mosquitoes are dreadful. You have to run from your car to the house, and if you have club supplies you just try to walk as fast as possible. But mosquitoes and headache aside we were able to get through the club rather well.
I have greatly enjoyed this summer and cannot wait to see what this next year brings, but I am pretty sad to have the summer done already. I love being able to travel around and meet people. I have met so many interesting people throughout the summer whether it was at clubs during the week, or just around town. I love the people God places in my path daily. I am so thankful for this summer. It has been challenging with my being tired so often but I am glad I was able to sneak in naps and extra sleep where needed as well. And I have had understanding billets all summer which was fantastic! So thankful for each person that allowed me to stay in their home this summer. Everyone has been such a blessing.
Well that’s all for now. Tomorrow is another day!
Hello, so i figure I should sum up the end of last week and then dive into the first day of this week.
So by then end of last week I had 49 kids on my attendance sheet in Mossbank, and 7 on my Assiniboia one! It was such a great week! I was able to stay with a billet I have stayed with previously and was able to meet some of her family. I was able to teach a small club in Assiniboia that I grew to love dearly! We had a fun time battling mosquitoes, and then battling the distractions that inside seemed to pose. My Mossbank club had 23 kids on Friday who were eager to each shove a plate of whipped cream into my face! This was my fourth year teaching at Mossbank and I have loved every minute of it!
This week I am in Meyronne, Woodrow, and Lafleche. I stayed with this billet a few weeks ago so its nice to be back in familiar territory. As soon as I arrived last night we were off and running. Haha it feels so normal to just jump into whatever my billet is doing when I am here! So many adventures! Well this morning at my billets place we had 6 kids. It was great! We had a fun time singing. I even ventured to sing Garbage in, Garbage out. Most of this kids are younger and not amazing at reading yet, and they already know GIGO so I thought it would be fun to wing it!
My club in Woodrow did not have any kids. The Pastor worked so hard polling people to see when they would be around and trying to arrange the perfect week. I really want there to be kids this week! I was praying and reading my bible whilst waiting for kids when the Pastor came to visit. We chatted for a while and then his sister dropped in with a friend, so we toured the church, and they made me teach them a song! Then we all went to his place and had dinner. I had a lot of fun.
The Lafleche club had 13 kids today! We were all inside because the mosquitoes are awful! But the kids were great! Even though there are some older boys they still sing the songs… probably because their moms sit in on the club and make them! I am excited to see where this week goes. But also sad because its the last week…
Prayer requests:
~That the Woodrow club would have kids.
!And that the Mosquitoes go away.
Well what a week it has been! I have been bewteen Assiniboia and Mossbank this week and I have greatly enjoyed it!
My Assiniboia club is pretty small, only about three kids daily. But they are such a joy! I am so glad they are joyful because the Mosquitos were biting something fierce! The little girl in the club told me she wished she could get rid of all those Mosquitos “in a jippy” haha it was adorable. I didn’t have the heart to tell her she meant “in a jiffy…” One of the boys asked if God had sinned. I said that he hadn’t, and he piped up that “well he sent the flood and washes everyone away…” To which the little girl responds, “No! God washed away all the bad stuff!!!” I was so pleased that she understood so well and was able to explain it so simply to the youngster!
It’s my fourth year in Mossbank and I am greatly enjoying it! I told the kids that if they could get 40 kids on my attendance by the end of the week they could shove plates of whipped cream into my face on Friday. Well the first day we had 22 kids, day two brought 27, and I think today was about 31. But my attendance cheer has over 40 between the three days so it looks inevitable that I will be pied! Well I can’t wait to see what the end of the week brings! God is so good and has shown me so much grace this week!
Hello, it feels like ages since I have blogged! What has happened this week?
I was in Kindersley this week and I had a blast. So I only had one VBS but I was able to rest a lot this week, and hang out with my billets a lot as well!
I drove to Kindersley Tuesday morning, which meant I left around 7am. I arrived in Swift Current about an hour and a half later to grab another coffee and some sunflower seeds. While in the gas station grabbing some seeds and a map, the attendant asked me some questions about my job and then give me the nickname “Preacher.” Haha he was so kind for having to work so early and was so enthusiastic about my work!
I rolled into Kindersley around 11:45 and met the Pastor inside the church. We chatted a bit and I got set up. He wasn’t sure how many kids were going to show up. The first three days had 9 kids! and today we had 13 I believe. Over the week I was able to lead one little girl to Christ! It was so great. The kids had so much energy and I loved getting to know each and every one of them as much or as little as I did!
I promised the kids that if they could get 15 names on my attendance sheet they could soak me with water balloons and if they got 20 names I would allow them to pie me with whip cream! Well we had a total of 16 kids on the attendance which was great! So during the craft time I ran around town trying to find water balloons! I was finally successful but alas when I got back to the Church I could not for the life of me figure out the water balloon pump worked. I was so disappointed… The kids had worked so hard to bring friends and I knew how excited they were to soak me. Backup plan was red solo cups. The kids still had a blast dumping their cups on me so I am glad there was still a chance to give them that sense of enjoyment!
I had a great time hanging out with my billets. Because I am such a city kid they made sure to give me the whole farm experience. I drove on dirt roads (dry and quite muddy) which was fun, I rode in a gator and we rode through sand hills, went to a bullarama which i essentially a night of watching bull riding. And i was able to just hangout with their kids and enjoy watching movies and receiving wonderful drawn pictures each morning when I woke up!
I am excited for the week ahead, but miss all the weeks that have already passed.
Hello. Wow what a day it has been! I had 2 kids at my first club! Haha so the little guy that accepted Christ the other day indeed had a sibling. Now his little sister is only 4 so he thought she was too young to come to club. He even tried paying her off with tic tacs. And it nearly worked but with the insistence of his Oma and I we convinced him to let his sister join us. I asked why he didn’t want her and he thought he would have to do all her lessons for her. I told him that I would only send her home with one and if he felt like helping her he could, but he could also ask his Oma to help her as well. Then he paid me for the Bible I gave him yesterday. With a tic tac and a dime! Haha his logic is fantastic. I adore this kid. My hostess and I then went out for lunch and then I began my trek to Wood Mountain.
On my way to Wood Mountain, I got a headache. A pretty intense one that surrounded my eyes yet still felt like I was also being stabbed in the back of the head. So I pulled over in a town on the way and found a small store. I grabbed some powerade, tylenol, and oreos because I thought that would adequately dissipate or distract from my headache. Then I prayed for strength and concentration for my drive and the subsequent club. Now I travel on some pretty narrow highways. There is generally no shoulder on the side; just a bunch off long grass and then a ditch. I became quite familiar with a section of this ditch today. So as I said the highways are narrow. And who should I meet by a wide load lead vehicle. With the driver frantically waving his hands. And looking rather frightened. So not knowing what I would face as I neared the hill I did the only thing I could think of. Pull into the ditch. Then I awkwardly waited in the ditch as the hopper bottom of a grain bin was towed down the road. I thought it would be rather easy to get back on the highway. It would have been had there been shorter grass bordering the highway. I thought I was going to be late for my club. Last week i did everything I could to avoid the ditch (and damaged my vehicle in the process) and this week I still ended up in the ditch… But God is good and he cleared my mind enough to think my way out of the ditch. It was a little damp still from the massive amounts of rain we received this week. I did in fact make it to club early, all by God’s grace! Also my headache had subsided quite a bit. The breaker had blown in the shelter we were using for the club so we had to sing a capella. Honestly I have never had the energy I had today while telling the stories. I mean I nearly needed my inhaler because I was almost out of breath. I was just so excited telling the stories. When I asked God for strength and concentration he certainly did not gyp me on the either. After such an interesting afternoon, I still had to head over to Thomson Lake.
When I arrived at Thomson the gazebo I generally use for club was boarded up. And everyone was at the pool. It was a beautiful afternoon that I ended up spending alone once again. But I spent time just reading God’s word and resting in the sunshine. I met up with my billet and her grandson and we shared some fries before we headed over to a family barbeque. I can’t believe this week is nearly done. It feels like it has just flown by!
God has been so good to me this summer! I am so thankful I am able to see kids I had last year. As well as staying with billets I already had. I have been so exhausted this year but God is providing little opportune naps for me when I need them, and understanding billets. This summer is half done and I wish it would last longer than three more weeks.
Hello! So yesterday my clubs were cancelled… Over a day and a half of rain resulted in about 6 inches of water, plus the wind was gusting pretty intensely. I called my one billet and she and I agreed it was probably not the safest day to travel, and my other billet texted me and told me that there would be no kids so I shouldn’t drive the hour it takes to get there. So I spent the day reading, sleeping, and visiting with my neighbours who happen to be my billets kids and their families. So there was a lot of coffee involved, a colouring contest, long hours of chatting, and a movie to end the night.
Today when I began my drive there was not a cloud in the sky! Hallelujah! And the roads were dry and there was no wind! So I made it out to Mankota for my first club. There was just one little fella, who became a brother in Christ. I was so excited to tell him we were now siblings (i don’t think he has any siblings of his own…) He is just such a smart kid. And for not being churched or owning a Bible he sure knows an awful lot! I was so glad to have the one on one time with him! And I gave him his very own Bible! He was so excited! He honestly brings so much joy to my mornings.
I went for lunch with my morning hostess, and then went on my way. I was running low on fuel so I made a bit of a detour and found a co-op. Although it was a cardlock they assisted me in getting some gas. I am so glad i was able to find fuel I was having a bit of a panic attack because I forgot to fuel up yesterday. But God is good and provides!
I then drove to my second club in Wood Mountain Regional Park. I must say the drive to Wood Mountain is quite fun. The road twists and turns with a lot of hills! It a bit of a jaunt from my other clubs but it is sure an exciting drive! My Club had 8 kids, although one left five minutes in… to go swimming… because it was IMPORTANT. I tried convincing him to stay because club is also important, but to no avail. In his defense he is the only boy so he might have been overwhelmed. I really hope he chooses to stay tomorrow though. As I was telling the Noah story all the kids were asking so many questions like: “where did the fishes go?” “oh did the fishes stay in the water?” “what about the dinosaurs?” “did the dinosaurs die 1 million years ago?” “No, did the dinosaurs die 100 days ago?” and on and on the questions went. Haha i tried to answer the best I could.
My third club did not have any kids at it again. I am not sure what to do with this one. For being in a campground that looks rather populated it feels like a ghost town whenever I go there. I sat around for about 45 minutes reading my Bible and praying that if it was God’s will someone, anyone would show up. My only takers were the ants that repeatedly littered their fallen comrades on the pages of my Bible… So I decided to head back to my billets. I am hoping someone shows up to the Thomson Lake one tomorrow, but I am leaving it in God’s hands.
Well that about sums up my last two days of adventures. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as I am enjoying mine!
Well what a day it has been! It has been raining most of the day and it doesn’t look like its going to stop any time soon. I am staying in Meyronne and am teaching in Mankota, Wood Mountain, and Thomson Lake.
My first club started with just one little gaffer in Mankota. He was waiting for me with the hostess. I remember him form last year so its nice to see a familiar face. At he beginning we spent a few minutes searching for an outlet in the park we were in. There wasn’t one, so the poor kid had to deal with just me singing. About half way through the club three more girls showed up!
My second club was in Wood Mountain Regional Park. There were 10 kids! but then one ran away halfway through the club. They were a good group of kids! So engaged in the stories and full of questions. And even the adults there were getting into the songs!
My third club is in Thomson Lake Regional Park. And no kids showed up. It was pretty chilly and rainy and no one was even wandering around the park. I am not sure what to do with that club. I am hoping tomorrow is nicer and I can at least see people to tell them about it!
Overall it was a good day. I am pretty tuckered out from the driving so I had quite the nap this evening. I am looking forward to this week though.
I can honestly say I have not felt so mentally drained as I have today… I felt like the entire day was a series of gongshows. Just one after the other. I honestly don’t even know how capable I was at teaching the gospel. I pray that by God’s grace the kids were able to learn something because today I felt that I was supremely inadequate. But God is good. All the time. And He can use anyone to reach kids.
ALL 5 of my clubs had kids today! I nearly cancelled one due to no kids the first three days but there was kids at all 5! I was so glad. My first club had 17 kids at it, and one kid really wanted Tony to be a dinosaur. I told him that a dinosaur would not be very good at running a store and he seemed to agree with me. I must admit 3 year old logic is the best kind of logic most days.
My second club finally had kids! One of the girls had been at my first club the day before when we informed her there was actually a club in her own town. So she brought a friend today. But I had a lot of catch up to do in the Tony story.
My third club was great. The three littlest boys always have so much energy. I also have kids in it that have heard all the stories before and are not wanting to participate in the songs or memory verses. I am not entirely sure why they return if they don’t want to do anything, unless its only to look smart for knowing everything already. I really hope its because they like the stories and that God is working on their hearts. But all their dissension is relayed to the three younger ones, who then also want to rebel. But this has been going on all week so I just have to tell them to not give away the stories and really encourage them to participate. I told them they are not allowed to say “no” to songs or memory verses if they come to club.
Club four was good. There were 5 girls. It was a little chaotic but a lot of fun. They informed me that one of the pages makes it look like Tony is selling decapitated heads along with all his oranges. The heads belong to people who are shopping in Tony’s store, but their body’s are hidden behind a shelf that is tall enough to just show their heads… I can’t disagree that there are just floating heads that kind of look like they are sitting on shelves. Haha but we got through the club alright.
My fifth club had three boys, but what we lacked in numbers we made up for in nonsense and energy. Haha all the boys are the same age and are all related or super close friends. I cannot even put into words how amazingly crazy this club was. I actually really enjoyed just being their friend. They didn’t treat me like a teacher most of the club but they treated me like one of them. Which was a little hard to adjust to while also trying to gain their respect as a teacher. But we survived. Probably just barely. I honestly hope that they can at least learn from the lessons!
I have just loved these kids this week. Although today was riddled with distractions and chaos everyone got out alive and stories were told. I just hope that God was able to use me in a way i can’t see because I do not feel confident in anything I did today.
Surprisingly unexpected… This is actually the slogan of Moose Jaw. Now I think it is a little redundant and unnecessary for the slogan of a city, but I think it thoroughly describes my feelings of today. I was surprised by a multitude of occurrences. I will admit that not all of the surprises were good surprises, but surprises none the less.
This morning I woke up and lazily checked Facebook as I was trying to adjust to the light of a new day. First surprise. Not a good surprise. I am friends with the pastor from Mossbank on Facebook as I have been at that VBS three years already. He shared a post regarding a lady from that community had passed away this week in an accident. This is a lady that helped every year at VBS. I knew this lady. I was very devastated. But I am confident she is with the Lord now.
Second surprise, and this one is a good one! I showed up to my club in Rosenhof and was welcomed with a few new faces! Our attendance has 19 names on it!!! Now all of those 19 were not there today. Some due to their parents not wanting them there… So I hope that they will be able to attend again this week at some point!
I went to my club in Waldeck again today with no kids showing up. But I learned that a girl at the Rosenhof club is actually from Waldeck. Her mum said that she would try and bring her and some more friends tomorrow. I hope she does or else I fear I will have to cancel this club.
My third club is in Swift Current. And some of my repeaters from last week did not return. This surprised me. They have been so eager all week to return everyday again, and then they just didn’t show up. But the rest of the kids worked on their memory verses with me and were able to get some pass it on cards. This one little fella was so stoked to have picked the lady bug one. He showed it off to me, his grandma, his aunt, the other kids. The joy he had on his face after struggling so hard to memorise his verse was priceless!
My fourth club is also in Swift Current, and probably had the greatest surprise of all. I had just started teaching the Noah story when one of the girls asked if we were almost done. Well I said I had the whole bible story to get through. She stated, rather insistently, that we had to get to the part where I ask if anyone wants to invite Jesus into their heart. I told her we could do it then and there. She was so excited! We prayed together, and then we finished the bible story.
Another great surprise. My last club has had pretty small numbers of about 2 all week. Well today we had 8 kids! I was so excited. They were a bit rowdy but we got through it all. Also all the kids (who were all acting pretty cool in the club) were super stoked to get lessons at the end! I am so encouraged by these kids.
I have greatly enjoyed my time in Swift Current again this year! I will be sad to say goodbye to all these kids on Friday!
|
