Sharing Christ

The kids seem to be really connecting with us! It helps that we have a more normal schedule and the kids are anxious to be with us when they come back from school. This is what I had hoped for as I shared Christ with them.

After a craft, I was able to sit them down and talk quietly to them about salvation in Christ in simple terms. I related the caterpillar and the butterfly in its transformation as we are transformed through Christ. It’s hard to tell what they understood and if the translation of this analogy helped them understand. I sensed a little bit of confusion, but I continued to share and led them in prayer. If I went too long I would have bored them, so I chose to continue this discussion tomorrow to let them think about it.

On Thursday I shared again as this was the day we made “Edible Butterflies”. The kids really enjoyed this activity and loved the cheese wiz! We gave each of them a paper plate and gave them one straight pretzel and two curly pretzels. The curly pretzels were the wings and the straight one was the body of this edible butterfly. We topped it with Cheese Wiz to act as a mortar to cement the pieces together. Then we used Swizzlers for antenna and mini chocolate chips for eyes! When I said go, the kids ate!

This was a fun activity and the kids were anxious to listen as we sat in a circle. I explained the butterfly as it related to our transformation in Christ. However I still sensed confusion and had some interruptions.

Later that evening we were all invited to Valentina’s home for dinner. This was the apartment Sergey and I were staying in. It was a great and relaxing meal. It gave me time to think on how I could share better the next day.

Friday was our last day with the kids. It is the day we give out gifts for each child, take our last pictures and tell them goodbye. It was also my last opportunity to help them understand a relationship with Jesus.

We gave out gifts to the first group of toddlers in the morning. They were excited to receive the gifts. To keep control we had them close their eyes, but Patty had collected sleeping masks on the plane and we gave those to each of the kids to help hide their eyes! It was cute seeing them all in masks and seeing how many couldn’t resist lifting up the bottom to take a peek as to what we had sat in their laps! After the gift giving, I briefly shared with them about Jesus and His gift to us, but most were too young to really understand.

Later that afternoon we gave out gifts to the school-aged kids. This was more difficult and disruptive as we struggled to get the right size of t-shirts to the kids. It seems I can never predict the sizes of the kids and we are always too big or too small. So, some kids got t-shirts that didn’t fit which I hated, but one boy smiled at me and held up his Adult X-Large t-shirt and had a big smile! He wanted me to take his picture! I did, and realized that everything worked out as God wanted it to!

I sat them down in a circle as they squeezed to get close to me and talked about our week together and the free gifts they received as a reminder of the free gift God gives us of eternal life. You could have heard a pin drop. They were very attentive and open. I went through a complete Gospel presentation using the beads of the cross necklaces they had just made. The meaning of the colors of the beads will serve as a reminder to them. I led in prayer and told them I would pray, Masha would translate, and I would pause to let them repeat the portion of the prayer that had been translated as a prayer between them and God. It was quiet and as I paused, I could hear little whispers in Russian talking to God! As we finished I asked who had prayed a prayer like this before. Several did as they told me they did this with Pastor Slava, pastor of the Sosnovo Baptist Church who was there last year. I was happy to know that seven other kids who didn’t know Pastor Slava accepted the Lord that day! Praise God!

God worked all things out and in the end seven souls were added to the Book of Life this week! Thanks for your prayers for this because your prayers made this all come together! Thank you!