Caring...

Every week in LIT we spend an afternoon learning about a character trait based a story from the Bible.  This past Wednesday we were talking about ways that we could be caring.  We studied the story from 1 Kings 17 where Elijah asks the widow at Zarephath to share with him bread and water.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Elijah, ⁹ “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”¹² But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”¹³ But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”¹⁵ So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days.¹⁶ There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.

1 Kings 17:8-16 (NLT)

The widow cared for Elijah, and because of her caring the Lord sustained and provided for her.  What a beautiful message, and how often we forget it.

I didn't expect to be so profoundly moved by teaching a kids lesson.   I didn't realized how blind I had become to the ways the Lord shows he cares for me.  How he shows His love through other people around me.

Today alone He cared for me through my family, and the chance to have brunch with them.  He provided for me through my friends the Pokwals, with an amazing Neplai dinner, and lots of laughter thanks to their youngest daughter.  He provided for me  dancing, hugs and tons of smiles last night at the barbecue at the Rai house.   He provides for my physical needs through my ministry supporters on an ongoing basis.  He has shown how much he cares for me by providing an amazing house, with great roommates and wonderful neighbors.  I am thankful for Him showing me how much He cares for me through the friends that have become my family here in KCK.

I want to challenge you to take a second and think of the ways that the Lord has shown you His love for you, the ways He has taken care of you.

And because no blog post would be complete without some pictures....

Cook out with our friend Yanelis!

Sabbath hangout with my Nephews.  Love Deanna Rose.

Our friend Bill came to visit and share with us.

Happy Birthday Ashmita!

A week at LIT

LIT is so much fun!  Each week is an adventure just waiting to begin!  The format of everyday is different, so I wanted to take a second and share with you how the different days run.

Monday:  Mondays we meet at my house.  I know crazy.  13 kids, 8 of them boys along with 6 or 7 adults in one house for an afternoon.  It is cozy to say the least, but tons of fun.  We spend time on homework first.  After that one group talks about the story we studied in Kids Club the previous Tuesday, while the other group prepares a snack for us to share. 

After the snack is ready we come together and everyone takes a seat at the table, where we share snack.  We practice things like using manners, asking for dishes to be passed, and waiting for everyone to be seated to start eating.  

After we finish eating the group that had cooked, goes to talk about the story.  While they are meeting the other group washes all of the dishes (we don't use paper products), cleans up the kitchen and puts away extra chairs. 

The groups are divided boys and girls.  The boys are loving learning to cook, though when it is their week to clean they don't enjoy it quite as much.

Tuesdays:  We don't meet with LIT on Tuesdays because we gather for Kids Club starting at about 6:00, which wouldn't leave us much time for LIT, and would leave all of us exhausted by the end of the night. 

Wednesday:  In our school district the kids get out of school 2 hours early every Wednesday.  We take full advantage of that, and get the LIT kids extra early.  We start with homework, then do a character trait study based on a character from the Bible.  

Wednesdays are super fun because we share the building with the 13 Latino Leaders in Training.  We gather together with them for lunch and game time on Wednesday.  Moms from both programs provide lunch for us, so on any given week you could have tacos, daal baat, spaghetti or chow mien!  

After we finish lunch we have rotations.  

One center is an art center.  In that center the kids learn a concept though art!  The first week we talked about photosynthesis and last week we discussed the color wheel and or Nepali color words.   

The second center is a Nepali Language lesson.  A teacher from the community comes in and teaches Nepali language skills.  It is such a beautiful thing to watch.  The kids are having a great time discovering more and more of their language and culture!

Thursdays:  On Thursdays we explore!  Thursdays are set up to expose the kids to things and subjects that they may not have time to learn about during a normal school day!  Tomorrow we are starting a unit on Inventions and Inventors!  These past few weeks we have been learning about each other, and careers that we might want to pursue! 

Hopefully this paints a picture for you of what we do in a normal week of LIT!  If you are interested we could still use a few more friends on Wednesdays to help with art, and a few more friends to prepare exploration lessons for Thursdays.  Shoot me an email, or leave a comment if you might be interested!  

Science City and Zonkers

In LIT we have a point system.  The kids earn points by keeping the three cards in their name tags (at Kids Club and LIT), filling out their planner, and acting like a leader!  Each trimester we have two reward trips that the kids have to earn points to participate in.  The 1st trip of every trimester is a smaller one, and the second trip is an over night one.

Today we took a trip to Science City in the morning, then had pizza and played at Zonkers in the afternoon. We had a whole lot of fun, and it was educational!  Both halves of the LIT program had a great time hanging out together!

Busy, Busy Fall

So this trimester has been crazy busy, and doesn't look like it is slowing down any time soon!  Just a little update on what has been happening in KCK....

Our friend Janelle is getting married in about a month, so Holly and I hosted a shower for her with a bunch of women from our community.  We had a great time celebrating her!

Then we oriented our new volunteers and welcomed back our returning ones!  They are so much fun and it is  such a blessing to get to serve with these folks!

And we launched Kids Club, here are a few of the precious 70+ kids we get to love each week.

We also launched our Leaders in Training program, with these 11 kids! Look for a blog post in the next few days about what a week at LIT looks like!

I got to celebrate this guys 4th birthday!  It is hard to believe he is that old!

And I got to dress up and hangout with my Mom and Granny!

 

The dudes also got to have their party points party!  We got to go to the Royals game!  It was the first time many of them had ever been to a baseball game.  Big thanks to those who provided the tickets, and the OPCofC PACT Sunday School class for providing the money for the pizza!

It has been so fun and so busy!  I'm feeling beyond blessed to have the chance to live, love and serve in this community!