Wednesday, October 7, 2015

A New Season

The VBS that we had end of July had the greatest number of children participating during the week and the greatest number of parents attending the finale on Sunday afternoon with their children.  During the finale, Abraham offered the parents ten Bible classes in their home if they wished.  A few families agreed that they wanted the classes, but so far we have only been able to schedule visits with one family.

sisters working on their comparisons of Jacob and Esau
Abish loves playing with the kids
coloring Jacob and Esau
The family that we began Bible studies with has six young children and another child who is actually the uncle of the six.  Abraham holds Bible class with the parents, one grandmother, and sometimes some adult uncles while I teach Bible stories to the kids, including our two.  It can be very chaotic, since the kids are used to running around, wrestling, climbing everything, and in general expending their exuberant energy all over the place.  

However, for now we offer small prizes for the children who listen attentively and do their review craft.  That works, and hopefully soon I can stop with the prizes and still have the kids´ attention.

This is a season of transition, because we have not had any children coming for tutoring.  The three who studied with us for a few months entered school and no longer come.  Also, we have had very low attendance in the Huellas de Cristo kids´ club on Sunday afternoons, including some Sundays with no kids.  We decided to create a short interview and go to the homes of various children who used to attend Huellas de Cristo.  In the interview, we will ask the parents if they saw benefit for their children when they came on Sundays.  We will then ask if the parents want us to continue studies in their homes.

In two houses where Abraham has on-going Bible studies with adults, I will be starting Bible studies similar to those I do with the six kids.  We are adjusting our outreach to taking the Gospel to others´ homes rather than having people come to our house.  Please pray that this adjustment will be effective in spreading light in this dark place.

Pray for our safety and health.  Abish has continued in a pattern of being healthy for a few days and then contracting various colds and coughs, some with fevers.  Looking online at the symptoms he had a few months ago, I think he had strep twice, although the doctor did not give us a name for the illness.  He received effective treatment and recovered, but then came down with a cold that lasted for awhile.  Thank God that he has been healthy since Thursday.