We checked again on Monday morning before we left to see if the government inspection that they had anticipated (and would have prevented us from coming) had been scheduled. No inspection was scheduled so we were free to come and minister as planned! Thanks for your prayers for that as I had been concerned over the last few weeks of being able to even come to this ministry site.
Monday was great as we got to meet the kids! At about 3:30pm we began by having a snack time with the kids. We had purchased juice, small rolled torts, and traditional layered cakes. Meta, one of the long time workers at Child in Danger whispered to me with a smile and said, “Banquet?” which inferred that this was much more than they usually had as their afternoon meal. The kids were please and were anxious to dig in. After we introduced ourselves and prayed, the kids dove in and I began to go around the room and get the kids to introduce themselves. They laughed at my Russian and some of them did their best to introduce themselves in English! It was fun getting to know them.
The kids enjoyed getting to paint with watercolor
set that we had brought. Our theme for painting was obeying the rules and working together. Of course, that didn’t set-in too much when it was time to play one of our balloon games! We’ll keep working on it!
Dasha is leading the Bible Study and Sergey is leading the craft activities. I help get their attention as they know I’m an American
and they are anxious to please me at times. I even showed them a silly puzzle to figure out through the game called “Chinese Numbers”. It drives them nuts trying to figure out what I’m doing and laugh at the simplicity of it all when I reveal the secret! It’s fun for them and helps get the kids focused for Bible Study.
On Tuesday, we had three new kids that had been brought to Child in Danger the night before. So we have an active group! All the kids began by begging for us to give them balloons. Even simple gifts like balloons are entertaining to all the kids. We began today with
Bible Study on how light pushes away darkness as comparing the light of Jesus to the darkness of a life without Him. Dasha is leading this directly in Russian so that there is no delay in translation from me. Dasha has done this with group before and I can see her experience as she leads. While Dasha was leading the Bible Study, Sergey is quietly setting up the craft activity. As you can see in the pictures, they are coloring velvet crosses. Sergey explained to them about how the colored parts of the cross represents a likeness of a stained glass window where the light of Jesus passes through the cross. These are all simple messages to introduce them to Christianity and a relationship with Christ.
After a wild game of “BloB” ( a tag type game), the kids sat down to paint bucket hats with fabric paint!
With this many kids and two crowded tables, this is a recipe for a mess and arguments. I explained the rules to this and attempted to keep paint on the hats and on the table instead of each other. Mostly that occurred, but I was ready with a roll of paper towels just in case!
We ended with the kids quietly sitting in a circle as we ended in prayer. Now you ask, how does John get the kids to sit quietly in a circle? Well, all you have to do is tell them that they will all get a balloon if they sit quietly! In Russia, we call that a bribe! OK, I know, we do that in America too! But it works with kids. The kids respond and they have been great! I’m looking forward to tomorrow!
Monday was great as we got to meet the kids! At about 3:30pm we began by having a snack time with the kids. We had purchased juice, small rolled torts, and traditional layered cakes. Meta, one of the long time workers at Child in Danger whispered to me with a smile and said, “Banquet?” which inferred that this was much more than they usually had as their afternoon meal. The kids were please and were anxious to dig in. After we introduced ourselves and prayed, the kids dove in and I began to go around the room and get the kids to introduce themselves. They laughed at my Russian and some of them did their best to introduce themselves in English! It was fun getting to know them.
The kids enjoyed getting to paint with watercolor
set that we had brought. Our theme for painting was obeying the rules and working together. Of course, that didn’t set-in too much when it was time to play one of our balloon games! We’ll keep working on it!Dasha is leading the Bible Study and Sergey is leading the craft activities. I help get their attention as they know I’m an American
and they are anxious to please me at times. I even showed them a silly puzzle to figure out through the game called “Chinese Numbers”. It drives them nuts trying to figure out what I’m doing and laugh at the simplicity of it all when I reveal the secret! It’s fun for them and helps get the kids focused for Bible Study.On Tuesday, we had three new kids that had been brought to Child in Danger the night before. So we have an active group! All the kids began by begging for us to give them balloons. Even simple gifts like balloons are entertaining to all the kids. We began today with
Bible Study on how light pushes away darkness as comparing the light of Jesus to the darkness of a life without Him. Dasha is leading this directly in Russian so that there is no delay in translation from me. Dasha has done this with group before and I can see her experience as she leads. While Dasha was leading the Bible Study, Sergey is quietly setting up the craft activity. As you can see in the pictures, they are coloring velvet crosses. Sergey explained to them about how the colored parts of the cross represents a likeness of a stained glass window where the light of Jesus passes through the cross. These are all simple messages to introduce them to Christianity and a relationship with Christ.After a wild game of “BloB” ( a tag type game), the kids sat down to paint bucket hats with fabric paint!
With this many kids and two crowded tables, this is a recipe for a mess and arguments. I explained the rules to this and attempted to keep paint on the hats and on the table instead of each other. Mostly that occurred, but I was ready with a roll of paper towels just in case!We ended with the kids quietly sitting in a circle as we ended in prayer. Now you ask, how does John get the kids to sit quietly in a circle? Well, all you have to do is tell them that they will all get a balloon if they sit quietly! In Russia, we call that a bribe! OK, I know, we do that in America too! But it works with kids. The kids respond and they have been great! I’m looking forward to tomorrow!
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