The rest of the journey

Mrs. Chu led the story this time, and she did a fantastic job! She had the balance just right of keeping the pace going, but also being aware of when the kids were getting distracted and needing to be put back into their roles. She also was the one to notice during game time, when all the kids had to write their names on their "passports," that the only boy who couldn't write his name on his own was the boy who has a Filipina maid who can't write Chinese either. So she jumped right in and helped him. She has definite teaching gifts!

Well, because she led the story, it was written in Chinese, so here it is:

上次我們見到保羅﹐巴拿巴﹐和巴拿巴的表弟馬可在塞浦路斯傳福音	介紹這三個人(巴拿巴最大隻)
保羅和巴拿巴決定往亞洲區去﹐但馬可想回家去	保羅和巴拿巴坐凳遙遙﹔馬可走
他們一上岸﹐就在別加市。	有人遞起[別加] 牌
在別加過不多時間﹐就行去彼西底的安提阿	行一個圈﹐就有[彼西底安提阿] 牌
他們先去猶太教的會堂。初時幾受歡迎	與坐在一邊的人握手
後來覺得他們所傳的道不適合﹐就叫他們走	所有與他們握手的人推他們走
保羅說﹐好你們不肯聽﹐就傳給外幫人啦﹗	與坐對面的人握手
他們很受歡迎﹔很多人信耶穌。但猶太人一聽就不開心﹐要趕他們走	坐在第一邊的人起身推他們走
所以他們去另外一個城市叫以哥念	行一個圈﹐就有[以哥念] 牌
在那裏又有很多人信耶穌﹔他們就留了多日	他們可以坐低
但有一天﹐保羅聽到不好消息	有人把一封信交給保羅。寫著﹕[某些人計劃打死你們]
不如繼續行不同的城市啦﹗就出去。	行一個圈﹐就有[路司] 牌
他們在路司傳福音的時候﹐見一個人很留心聽。這個人出世是瘸腿的。保羅很欣賞他的信心﹐就叫他起身﹐行走。他真是起身﹐有得行﹗	保羅揀選一個人﹐拉他起身
週圍的人覺得很出奇﹗他們沒有留意他們所傳的耶穌﹔彼此對說﹕我們所拜的神降臨了﹗
他們當巴拿巴等於最大的神[宙斯] 因為他大隻 又當保羅等於[希耳米] 因為希耳米說得多
就說﹐我們的神降臨﹐就要向他們獻祭﹗所以要牽一隻牛來﹐戴著花圈。就準備殺它	一個戴牛角﹐又戴花圈。另外一個把刀子。
保羅和巴拿把很激氣﹗說﹕不好﹐不好﹗ 我們不是神﹔乃是普通人﹗	保羅和巴拿巴取刀子﹐就作﹕ [NO,NO!]
過了不多時間﹐有些以哥念的有太人來﹐挑唆路司人﹐用石頭打他們。	把報紙的[石頭] 扔向他們
他們逃走﹐去特庇市傳福音	行一個圈﹐就有[特庇] 牌
他們又在那裏傳福音。最後要回去那幾個城市﹐堅固信徒的心。	保羅和巴拿巴慢慢拍每個人的肩﹐有牌子的人慢慢換牌。
最後﹐他們要再坐船回安提阿的母會	坐凳子﹐遙遙。就起身﹐所有人開開心心接他們回來。

The most memorable part of the story was when they got to Lystra and the people thought Paul and Barnabas were Hermes and Zeus, and were going to sacrifice a bull to them. But that wasn't a long enough story in itself, so we added short little bursts in the various other towns first. Our good reader was in charge of holding up a sign with the name of each new city as they "arrived."

Ka Ho made a cute sacrificial cow.

I thought the game was going to work well, but it seemed to fall flat. We numbered off six cities: Perga, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, and back to Syrian Antioch & posted those signs behind various chairs. Five kids (four kids and one adult volunteer; we were short on kids!) sat in the first five chairs while the sixth rolled the die to determine which city he/she would go to to "encourage the believers". At each stop they would get a "visa sticker" for their "passport." Not that most of them know what that's all about, but they all like stickers! Once a child rolled a six, he/she went back home to Antioch, got a treat, and was out of the game. I'm not sure if it was just too complicated to be fun, or if the "unlucky" throws of the die causing too many repeats of just a few of the kids was the problem. Sigh.

For our craft, I was going to have each child make a "flower garland" by folding & cutting origami paper flowers (extremely simple ones) and gluing them to a newspaper "garland." It was clear right away that almost none of the kids would be able to fold enough flowers for a whole garland without somebody melting down first! So we ended up just cooperating to make one garland.

Isn't it pretty?

Bible study was from Matthew 10:28-31, talking about how knowing God's care for them made Paul & Barnabas (and can help us) have the courage to keep going in spite of all the opposition they faced in various cities.