Bonaparte

The second week of July started off with filling in for the pastor at Marengo United Methodist to talk about Change a Child's Story. For being a church of roughly fifty people, I was very impressed with how much they are movers and shakers. The lay people are very active in ministry, and church service blended with meeting as they talked about their ideas for getting involved with reading in their community. 

 

The next day, I was off to Bonaparte, where there's always a wonderful crew of kids who help me unload. The kids kept coming, and we had 31 the first day (many of them preschoolers.) Most of the taller people were occupied with the very shortest, so it was a very good thing that the upper elementary kids were so…almost aggressively helpful, haha. I'd better explain what I mean by that. 

Case in point, from my journal that Wednesday:  

So when I get there this morning, there aren’t a lot of adults there yet. In the middle of my trying to troubleshoot yesterday’s video problems, the kids are coming up to me every five seconds. “Can I talk to you? My brother keeps sitting by me and I don’t like it.” “Allison, we have a problem!” “How do we make this work?” “Can I be the science teacher today?” “When should I take the offering?” “Allison, can I take the offering?” “Allison, can I be the science teacher today?” “Can I help her take the offering?” “Allison, can I run the computer instead of doing the science today?” “Allison? Can I HELP her do the puppet?” “Can I help?” “Can I?” “Allison, can I HELP her be the science teacher today?” We are ten minutes past our start time and the natives are growing restless. My mind begins to think unmissionary-like thoughts, like how if I hear my name again I might just scream. But right in the middle of that, right as I’m about to start, one little boy (who happened to be playing the Spirit in that day's Bible story skit) comes up to me and said, “Allison? You are like a grandmother to me,” and he gives me this wonderful hug. He fits right under my chin, so he cannot see the huge laugh I am holding back. I thank him whole-heartedly. I swallow the laugh and it fills me with strength, and in this way we started Bible school today. 

 

More wisdom from small humans:

I was casting a Bible story skit and asked one boy, “Would you be Jesus for me this morning?” He replied with far more than his nine years. I wish I could remember his exact words, but it was something like “Of course. It would be an honor to be Jesus this morning.” I was struck by what we had just said: I think everybody we come into contact with asks us, “Would you be Jesus for me this morning?” Rarely do they use those words, but the request is real and you can see it in their eyes. May I always respond as gracefully as this little boy did. 

"Why are you talking about God?"

Illustrating the Bible story of the day

We had a small group at first at Weldon, but it grew steadily throughout the week to somewhere around fifteen. We started out with two shy girls who turned very energetic when a few of their friends showed up. After checking out each room of the church, investigating the secret corners of the puppet stand, and finally consenting to slow down enough to sit at the table, they tried to read my shirt, which read “Surf Shack- Catch the Wave of God’s Amazing Love.” Whether from actual opinion or from six year old silliness, I don’t know, but they said, slightly disgusted, “Why are you talking about God?” When I told them that’s what we were all doing here this week, they said (jokingly?) that they were going home.  But half an hour and a couple hot dogs later, they were smiling and singing with the rest of us- “My God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do. Hoo-hoo.” I’m guessing that they, like most of us, had their own notions about what it would be like to sit in church and talk about God- but it turned out better than they expected.

Pastor Rick and Snappy's surfing moves

Music was fun here. Last week I think I overwhelmed my computer by asking it to play music, show words, and play the video. This week, for just the three days we had VBS, we did camp songs and ukulele. With the sounds of the ukulele and the warmth of June, it was a lot easier to imagine we were transported to Hawaii to the Surf Shack.  We got a little creative in singing as well- “We are marching in the light of God” didn’t take long to become “We are surfing in the light of God.” 

You're never too old for recess.

 For a congregation its size, this church always impresses me with how many people come to help. We even had some folks who came to enjoy the opening and closing times with us, which made this feel like more of a church-wide community event instead of a project that only a few people  are responsible for.

While I was in the area, I also helped with Pastor Rosa’s Osceola youth group from El Pueblo de Dios. There were around fifteen kids ranging from kindergarteners to teenagers, and the older ones impressed me so much with how helpful they were to the little ones. After a get-to-know-you game, I split them up into different stations which each had a creative way to pray. We wrote letters to God, doodled our prayers, did lectio divina, and used our hands to remember people to pray for. Our hour flew by, and I wished I could stay with them longer! I did get the chance to talk to the older ones about camp. 

We take forty younger kids and around a dozen older kids we’ve found at our Bible schools throughout the summer to JOY camp. Normally by this point in the summer, we have almost everyone signed up. I was really surprised when the list from the camp registrar only had about half our normal amount. I didn’t have long to be confused, though- in my favorite God moment of the week, Pastor Rosa emailed to ask me if we had room for fourteen kids of hers. Why yes, yes we did. :)

The fish stick! Get it? Fish stick? At least the kids thought it was funny...