I can barely believe that it is already Week 6. This summer has been hard, and filled with hard work, but God has been good. It has been so encouraging to rest in Him, knowing that He supplies all that is necessary for His work… Today was rather eventful. Here goes… (And yes, I posted 2 blogs tonight in order to make up for my lack of internet last week).

Club 1: I had taught in this neighbourhood earlier this summer, so Gwyneth and I decided to be prepared for repeat kids. We had gone advertising with out hostess the night before, and it seemed fairly promising. The kids came gradually as the club progressed. We initially began with three kids, and thinking I was so clever, I brought the Do What’s Right visual. In the middle of explaining the song, half of the visual comically fell out of the book… To be honest, I wasn’t too sure if it was a sign of what was to come for the rest of the day, haha. The total attendance for this club was 6.

ChangChang Adventure: While we were waiting for the next club, we decided to wait in a parking lot. I tried to park into the tight lot, and I underestimated the amount of room that I need to turn. As a result I technically had my first collision 🙁 I scraped the back end of the car 🙁 As I have learned from my vehicle issues in the past, I immediately called Mr. D, unsure of what to do. I began to write a handwritten note with my number on it, and I saw the owners of the car come. I spoke to them, and showed them where I had impacted their car. Clearly in this situation God was at work, because after I explained to them, I could not believe their reaction! They looked at it for a bit, said it was okay, and told me to have a good day! Ha! God is awesome, clearly even when I am not. After this, we headed to the next club…

Club 2: Gwyneth had taught a few of the children in this club earlier, and these kids were a blast! They were full of energy, but as a result, time seemed to constantly run out. It was encouraging to hear Gwyneth share about the different things that she had seen God do in the lives of the kids in the past – it is awesome to get to watch what God is doing in these young hearts. Out total attendance is 10.

Club 3: After a real time squeeze in arriving on time, Gwyneth and I ended up making it to this club (Side note: Praise the Lord for Google Maps for Smartphones!)…. and man, I have experienced tough clubs, but this one was tough. The brokenness that I could sense from some of these kids, was crazy. I knew it was going to be a tough club, but it was realized fairly soon. When I mentioned a Bible, and showed it to the kids, most of them had never seen or heard of a Bible before…. This club was tough. It was a real learning curve. But at the end, one of the kids explained, “Club was fun. It was kind of boring at times, but pretty fun.”  I’ll take that review, haha! Our total attendance is 7.

Club 4: This club was out in Sherwood  Park, in a park near our host’s home. We arrived, and for the longest time, it seemed as though the only people visiting the park were dog walkers. At one point, I noticed a boy playing at the playground, but since I had no invitations, I thought it might be weird to this child if I tried to invite the child (especially since no parent was in sight). With about 20 minutes to go, a boy walks into the park, and asks if we are having a 5 Day Club, and that same boy on the playground… well, apparently they were brothers. It was encouraging to have club with these boys. Our attendance for this club is 2.

Prayer Requests:

– Praise the Lord that my mistake while driving worked out well. However, I could use prayer for concentration and focus while driving – I know I’ve covered at least 6K since training began.

– For the kids in Club 1 & 2 that have attended prior. That they would be continue to learn more about the Father throughout club this week, and that the Holy Spirit would give Gwyneth and I wisdom in how we can facilitate that.

– Club 3; overall we just need wisdom in how to teach, and run this club effectively. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open the Spiritual eyes, and ears of these little children. Many of them have never heard about God before.

– I had been suffering from some head pain, and irritation since my accident, haha. Prayer would be appreciated that the Lord would give me protection, and healing.

– Overall energy, passion, compassion, and Holy Spirit awareness as we finish off this summer.

Praise be to Him! The One who alone refreshes, and sustains!

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!

I apologize for not blogging yesterday, but I’m hoping that you will extend me…. GRACE! (badum, ching! Don’t worry, there’s plenty more where that came from).

So the title of my blog comes from a song that I have been listening to lately, and I love the chorus:

“For we trust in our God, and through His unfailing love, we will not be shaken.”

I have come to realize that holding onto any part of myself, and to my own comfortability is such a hindrance in allowing God to work through me. Throughout this morning, I just continued to sing this chorus, and I came to realize something in the process – when I lack in trust, I do indeed feel shaken. It’s crazy to think that when I allow myself to trust, in spite of my own anxieties and vulnerabilities, His power is perfect. Ironically enough, it is in those moments when I feel the most shaken, but choose none the less for His will to be done, that I feel the most secure, and at peace. What a Saviour!

I feel like Gwyneth has really summarized everything beautifully (so feel free to check hers out 🙂 ) But I did want to talk about Club 3 & 4.

Club 3: There are very few moments in my 5 years of teaching where I have been at the point of tears, but today was that. One of the children, who had raised her hand for the invitation daily, had written in her Mailbox club lesson that she had accepted Christ. Gwyneth and I were able to follow up with her on that, and the pure childlike joy that she had about accepting Christ nearly brought me to tears! I was so glad that in this moment we had the opportunity to rejoice with those who rejoice! Instead of crying, I explained to her how the angels in Heaven were rejoicing too because she was now a child of God, and the smile that she had on her face… It truly put into perspective the importance of having a childlike faith, she was full of pure, undeterred joy.

I’m excited for this club. And we might even get pied tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes.

Club 4: I had arrived at this club yesterday, and I felt such a joy in spending time with these kids. However, I really struggled today with teaching. I don’t know if it was the rain or being indoors, but everything was such a distraction. Fun fact, one of my greatest fears is spiders – I cannot stand them. And conveniently what do I see crawling on a wall during my story? You guessed it, and as a result even I began to lose my focus. I could really appreciate prayer for this club that God would give me wisdom in how to effectively love these kids, but also go through the lesson as well.

Prayer Requests:

– Attitude – that I would love all of the kids that I teach authentically

– That I would have a strong awareness of His voice throughout my ministry. I feel constantly distracted.

At the end of the day I can sincerely say that God is good, and I am eternally grateful that it is not my ministry that will transform the lives of these children – it is solely Jesus.

To the One who was and is to come.

Well, my goal for this summer was to blog everyday that I teach so, oops! Haha.

I picked bread crumbs as a part of the title for my blog because as I was reflecting, and journalling last night, I sincerely asked myself the question, “Will my meager crumbs ever be good enough to present to a King?” In all actuality, everything that I do is so futile if not rooted, and sourced from Christ Himself. I am starting to realize, even already, that God loves people who only have bread crumbs. It’s His grace that is made sufficient in my weakness, and that will transform the hearts and minds of those that I minister to. Even if all I have is bread crumbs to lay before His feet, He can do more amazing things with them than what my best could ever offer.

I know that today is only the second day of teaching, but I have been in so many situations that demonstrate to me: 1) Satan is not a fan of this ministry, and 2) God is tremendous! I cannot believe the many ways that He has totally exceeded my expectations, and shown up on my behalf.

Club 1: We had no kids 🙁 We are hoping to try at a park nearby tomorrow, in hopes of finding the kids.

Club 2: I have had the awesome privilege of teaching this club for the past couple of summers, and it was exciting to see that one of the children had brought a friend! This club is so much fun to teach, and I am always pleasantly surprised by what God teaches me about Himself whenever I am here. Our total is 6 kids.

Club 3: We had a mailbox club decision!! 🙂 I was so excited when I read it through the lessons, and it was so encouraging to see all of the kids return, and bring new friends with them. If I were to be perfectly honest, I was tempted to teach a 10 minute club today, because the kids got to have chariot races after Gwyneth and I left. Our total is 9 kids.

Club 4: I teach this one by myself, and if I were to be perfectly honest, driving to this club my heart was not in the right place. In general I was experiencing frustration, and to add to my irritations not only was there a train (at 2:30, in Edmonton), but said train stopped in the middle of the tracks for some time, and slowly backed away, resulting in myself being late. However, during this time, I had a few moments to pause and spend time with my Heavenly Father – it was really powerful, and helped me in putting my focus on Him, not myself. Also, as a side bonus, the AC that was very much broken, started working during this time!

I show up at this club, and I had no kids yesterday. 🙁 My hostess suggested that I check the local park, and I honestly did not have high hopes that I would find any children. As I’m walking to the park, I begin to pray, “God, if you want children to be at this club, may there be kids in this park, and may You give me the words to say.” Lo and behold, there is a woman and a girl (who appeared too young to be club aged), sitting in the park. I started to walk past them, thinking to myself that maybe God was wrong, and I could leave, but a feeling crept into my heart, and I couldn’t shake it. I did not want to have any responsibility in this family not knowing the gospel, due to my uncomfortability. To make a long story short, I speak to the mother, and minutes later two of her children come to club! And they are hoping to bring more friends tomorrow. The total for this club is 2 kids.

And since Gwyneth started the ChangChang Adventures, here is mine for the day: I was supposed to pick up Gwyneth from her club (which according to my gps was 13 minutes away), and let’s just say I drove quite the scenic route through Southern Edmonton. But praise the Lord that an hour later, I picked her up, haha!

Prayer Requests:

– For my voice – it isn’t fully back, and the summer will be long without it.

– For wisdom in regards to follow up

– For our Club 1, which had no kids

– This might be a random one, but for our Muslim brothers and sisters, that as they desire to draw closer to God, that they would encounter Jesus.

To Him be the power, and the glory forever!