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).