At Philippi—attempts 1 & 2

On the 19^th of July, we had a #3 typhoon signal up. Those who managed to come anyway were so late that we decided to dispense with the regular program. We did play the game, though, and everyone seemed to really enjoy that. Since we were talking about Paul & Silas in prison, we played a game called "escape from prison." Passed around a "bomb" (a covered plastic bowl with a digital timer inside, set & reset for 30 seconds); whoever had the bomb when it went off had just blasted himself/herself an escape tunnel. That person (kids and adults all participated) had to crawl under a table & then at the other side, climb on a stool to reach a paper key that matched his/her "cell number" (label pasted on shirt). Played until everyone was out of prison.

Because we had so much time just sitting around waiting for people to show up, I was able to share a simple gospel presentation one-on-one with a-Wai. I asked him if he had received Christ as his Savior and he grunted. I had to ask, sorry, I don't know if that meant yes or no! So he grunted again, but with a tiny nod at the same time. Well then, I said, let's give thanks to the Lord! I meant we should pray and give thanks. But instead he jumped up with a big smile on his face and gave me a "secret handshake" (I asked mom about it and she said it meant we were good friends. Way cool.)

So, it was Sunday the 26^th before we got around to the story of Paul & Silas in Philippi. Here it is in Chinese:

最近我們跟哪兩個主角﹖	(問大家) 介紹保羅和巴拿巴
有一天﹐保羅對巴拿巴說﹐我們不如回去我們建立教會的地方﹐知道他們如何。巴拿巴說﹐好﹐又想叫他的表弟與他們一齊去。	巴拿巴揀選一個作表弟
但保羅不同意。他說﹐這位馬可﹐上次不夠負責﹐我不信任他。	保羅推馬可﹐想叫他走
但巴拿巴很想給馬可多機會。所以﹐保羅和巴拿巴要分開。巴拿巴帶馬可回去塞浦路斯﹔	巴拿巴和馬可坐凳子搖船﹐就可以坐低
保羅揀選西拉﹐他們一齊出發	保羅和西拉又坐船
他們先回去已經去過的地方。但坐那裏﹐有一晚:	他們鋪毛巾而睡覺
保羅夢見一個人顯然﹐對他說﹕請你到馬其頓來幫助我們。	一個人起身﹐對他們這樣說
第二天﹐他們一早出去馬其頓	又坐船
他們去到一個城市叫腓立比。在那裏有一個被鬼附的使女。她用法術﹐叫他的主人多得錢。	介紹一個女子﹐戴特帽
保羅和西拉傳道的時候﹐她跟他們﹐大聲說﹐[這兩位是至高神的僕人﹐教人怎能得救]	保羅和西拉行一個圈﹐女子跟他們這樣說。
好不好的事﹖	(問大家)
其實不是太好﹔她真是騷擾他們﹐直至到人想聽怎能得救就聽不見﹗保羅心中厭煩﹐對那鬼說﹕我奉耶穌基督的名吩咐你在她身上出來喇﹗	保羅指著女子﹐說﹕要出來﹗
鬼真是出了去。現在﹐女子不繼續騷擾他們﹐但一樣作不到法術﹔她的主人不再得益﹗他們怎樣呢﹖	(問大家)
他們拉保羅和西拉﹐用木棍打他們	用毛巾棍來打他們
就要他們坐監﹐看監的人的腳上了木狗。	他們要坐在[內監] ﹐一個男子叫他 們戴木狗
他們非常辛苦﹗他們坐在監裏﹐知不知作甚麼﹖	(問大家)
他們討論今天見到神的大能﹐又得榮幸為主受苦﹐就唱詩歌讚美神﹗	他們一齊唱 [主你的慈愛]
未唱完﹐突然有大的地震﹗所有監門自己開﹔木狗又開。	一個人大聲打鼓。要打開木狗。
看監的人見到監門全開﹐就拔刀要自殺	看監的遞高刀檢
但保羅說﹐不好害自己喇﹗我們沒有走﹗	保羅說﹕不要死﹗我們沒有走﹗
看監的很感動﹐欣賞保羅和西拉的態度。他先把水洗他們的傷口﹐然後求他們用水給他受洗禮。	看監的把毛巾子抹保羅和西拉的背 --保羅就把藍色紙倒在他頭上
第二天早上﹐差人來說﹐他們可以出監	男子戴證章拉他們起身推他們走

A definite highlight of the story was having the boys put in stocks:

We did the repeat of the prison escape game, and it went just as well the second time around.

For a craft, we chose a Chinese character meaning "joy," and drew it large but lightly on pieces of red card stock. Each child got a length of yarn, a pair of scissors, a small dish of glue, and a Q-tip, to create the character in yellow yarn on the red paper. Very pretty.

Bible study was from Philippians 4:1-9, on three secrets for enjoying peace and joy.

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.

Paul’s First Missionary Journey

Here I am, way behind again. I hope I can remember our highlights! I was disappointed that our visiting boy didn't return. We had a new visitor, a six-year-old neurotypical girl who fit right in and enjoyed herself. I thought mom did too—and was sorry they didn't come back the following week, either. Sigh. It would be nice to understand exactly what we're doing wrong.

Anyway, here's the story:

Last time we saw that after Peter got out of prison, he needed to get out of Jerusalem because Herod wanted to kill him. Now, not long ago, we heard about another man who had had to get out of Israel for a time; what was his name?	(ask all)
Yes, Saul, but because he is always encountering Greeks and Romans, he has quit using his Hebrew name and goes by the name Paul.	Introduce Paul
Now, it's been quite a few years since Paul left. He is living in Antioch, where there is by now a large and mature church.	(find on map)
Under the Holy Spirit's leading, the Antioch church sends Paul and Barnabas out to preach the gospel in surrounding nations.	Introduce Barnabas; he & Paul kneel, others lay hands on them & one says: "Sahn jukfuk neih dik sihfuhng"
Barnabas is from Cyprus, so they go there first.	(find on map)
What kind of place is it? How would you get there?	(ask all)
Barnabas decides to bring along his cousin Mark	introduce smaller boy as (John)Mark
They take a boat to Cyprus	Sit on line of stools, row together
They go around the island preaching the gospel.	Boys walk around room repeating: "Yehsou sih jyu"
Finally they arrive at Paphos. There is an official there called Sergius, who invites them to come and see him.	Introduce Sergius (Paulus), wearing gold medallion.
He's quite interested in the gospel, because he has a Jewish friend named Elymas, who has told him about Israel's God Yahweh. But it fact, this Elymas is not a good person. He has taken God's word and twisted it in order to make it more pleasing to Sergius, so that he will keep listening to him.	Introduce Elymas, wearing star of David
So when he sees Paul looking at the Scriptures with Sergius, he is nervous! If he comes to understand the Scripture for himself, he will know that Elymas has been bending the truth.	Paul sits next to Sergius & they look at Bible together
So he keeps finding ways to keep Sergius from listening.	Instruct Elymas to find ways to interrupt Sergius' concentration
Paul is getting frustrated! He stands up and points to Elymas, saying, Shame on you! You, a Jew, should understand these truths about God, but you are spiritually blind! And so, in order that you will understand your spiritual blindness, you will be physically blind for a time.	Paul stands up, points at Elymas, and repeats, "Neih yiu satmihng"
Whoa! Immediately, he is blind! He needs people to lead him out of the room.	Put blacked-out glasses on Elymas, two volunteers lead him away.
Now that Sergius has no one interrupting him, he quickly understands and believes the gospel, and is baptized.	Sergius says: "Ngoh mihng!" Paul baptizes him.

You might notice I shorted the names of John Mark and Sergius Paulus. Just to make them easier to keep track of. I personally find the Chinese names hard to remember!

Our Elymas did a good job at interrupting the two looking at the Bible together. He has had experience! (smile)

Our game & craft were about blindness. I made some thick numbers, 1-6. Each player would throw our big foam die and then put one hand into our "incubator style" cardboard box and try to feel for the correct number. For most of the kids, we just slipped one or two extra numbers into a slot on the back of the box to make it a little easier. Most of them still cheated, by pulling the numbers slightly out of the slot and checking. Sigh.

Our craft was learning some Braille writing. Each child got a Braille alphabet "cheat sheet" plus a worksheet with some English words from the story (with Chinese translation; mostly they know their alphabet and I couldn't find out anything in time about Chinese Braille). They were supposed to write the Braille above each of the letters, in the boxes provided. Then at the bottom, there was a string of Braille they were supposed to "decode" into the English alphabet, which worked out to be that child's name.

Our Bible study was from I John 2:9-11, on one symptom of spiritual blindness.

Peter rescued from prison

Hurray, we had a new visitor this Sunday! A very well-behaved 11-year old who jumped up to help every time someone started putting things away. I like this kid! (True, I like them all…)

Our story:

First, introduce King Herod	Boy with crown
Several years ago, he had a part in letting Jesus be sentenced to death. Now he is quite against the believers, and is happy to have them killed as well. He's already put one of the leaders, named James, to death.	King takes one boy, kills with sword.
A lot of the Jewish leaders were pleased by that, so now he arrests the most prominent leader of all, named:	(ask all: Peter) King takes Peter.
But right now it's just before a holiday, so he decides to keep Peter in prison until after the holiday, & kill him then.	Sit in upside-down wooden table.
He is guarded in his cell by two soldiers	Two boys with swords. Tie wrists to soldiers' wrists.
There are two more soldiers standing guard out at the main prison gate.	Two more boys with swords, in front of "fence" of upside-down stools
Okay, now the holidays are over, and Herod is going to take Peter out and kill him tomorrow. What do you suppose the believers are doing?	Ask all: praying
And Peter?	Ask all
He's sleeping! He is really experiencing the kind of peace that Jesus gives!	Give him pillow to lean on
Suddenly, a light shines in the cell	Turn on flashlight or lamp
And an angel appears.	Angel with halo.
He wakes Peter up	Shakes Peter awake
He tells him to get up & put on his cloak.	Angel cuts "chains," Peter puts on shoes and jacket or shawl
The guards stay fast asleep!	Guards snore
The angel brings Peter out through the front gate of the prison. The gate opens by itself—and the guards there are also sleeping soundly.	Fence of stools opens up. (guards snore)
Peter and the angel walk a few blocks, and then the angel leaves him.	They walk around & then angel sits down.
Up to now, Peter thought maybe he was just dreaming. But now he realizes, he really is out of prison! Quickly, he goes to the gathering place of the believers, and knocks on the door.	Have helper bring him out to bedroom & keep him there knocking on door.
Everyone inside is busy praying, so a young servant girl goes to see who is at the door. She is a little scared—is it soldiers coming to arrest them? So she doesn't open the door but asks who is there.	Girl goes to door and asks who it is. Peter answers, Peter.
Peter! Wow—they were just praying for his release, and here he is! She is so excited, she forgets to open the door & just runs & tells everyone that Peter has come.	She runs and tells the others Peter is at the door.
The believers think she's crazy.	They laugh at her
If it's really Peter, then where is he? Oops! She'd better let him in!	Rhoda runs back and opens the door & lets Peter in.
Everyone celebrates.	Everyone celebrates, hugs, high-fives.
But then Peter needs to get out of the city, because Herod will certainly be searching for him. So we won't hear from Peter again for a while.	Peter shakes everyone's hand & then leaves.

Everything went pretty well except that one of our prison guards got too into his role (ha) and was kicking the prisoner. So we had to make a substitution. We run a humane prison here! (smile) Trying to keep Peter knocking at the door & not just walking in was hard too. Our helper had to make like a door chain & keep it from opening far enough to let him through.

Our game was about "escaping" from entanglement—a game where everyone makes a tight circle and joins hands with any two different people somewhere in the circle. Lots of criss-crossing of hands. Then everyone has to cooperate by weaving over & under until we become one big open circle. I don't know what you call this game, but it's fun.

Craft: we said that very possibly the prison was in the dungeon of Herod's castle, so we did these castle pictures I found in a craft book. Except the craft book called for making the "bricks" with Chex cereal. I can't get Chex here but I could get Life. Unfortunately, this was a little too big for the diagram in the book, so it didn't look right. Plus, it was hugely messy to keep dipping the cereal in the glue. Our kids would be wanting to wash their hands every few seconds! So instead I issued them all with grey color-crayoned square labels of almost the right size (a little too small, but better than too big). They looked nice—I'll have to add a photo later.

For adult Bible study, we talked about how God can do great things even when our faith is as tiny as a mustard seed (or a sesame seed—Bruce passed around a sesame-seed bun and had everyone take a seed as a visual focus)

May God do great things at Merciful Love even when my faith gets overwhelmed by the seemingly hard hearts!!

The First Gentiles

It was a disappointing turnout this morning; just three families. Barely enough to tell our story; we had to recruit every single person!

Last week we saw Peter in Joppa.	Introduce Peter. Have him locate Joppa on map.
In a little while we will see what he is doing there, but first we will go to another city, called Caesarea, and meet another person named Cornelius.	Peter can sit down. Introduce Cornelius. Have him locate Caesarea on map.
Even though Cornelius was a Gentile, that is, not an Israelite, in his heart he believed in Yahweh the God of Israel, and worshipped and prayed to him alone.	Kneels down.
One day, while he was praying, an angel appeared to him.	Angel with halo comes & stands in front of him.
He was very frightened, but the angel reassured him, saying, God has heard your prayers and seen your good deeds, and He wants to bless you!	Angel "gunghei's" (congratulates) him.
The angel told him to send some servants to the house of Simon the tanner in Joppa, and look for a man staying there, called Peter. They should bring Peter back with them, and he would tell Cornelius how to receive God's blessing.	Cornelius chooses 2-3 to go. They put on backpacks. (we had to pare this down to one servant)
They had to travel for two days.	They walk one round of room, then take towels out of packs, "sleep"; get up, start walking again
The second day, as they were just about to arrive…let's see what Peter is doing.	Travelers can sit down. Set up table in front of storeroom transom; helper gets in position in storeroom with sheet , then bring Peter up.

 

What time was it?	Show clock set at 12:00 & ask
It's time for lunch, but lunch isn't ready yet. Peter is getting hungry! He decides to use the time while he is waiting, to pray.	Peter rubs his tummy, then kneels down (facing table in front of transom).
As he was praying, he saw a strange vision. Something like a big sheet was coming down from heaven!	Sheet starts lowering onto table
When it opened up, inside were all sorts of animals.	Sheet opens up, narrator picks up each animal & asks different kids what they are.
Every animal in the sheet was one that was considered "unclean" according to the law of Israel. Peter thought it was a disgusting sight! But then he heard a loud voice:	Helper on ladder says: "Beidak! Heiloih! Joi la, sihk la!" (Peter, get up, kill, and eat!)
Peter said, no way! Never in my life have I eaten unclean food!	Peter does "no, no"!
But the voice said:	"Sahn jihgei soh gitjihng ge yeh, neih mjeun donghaih batgitjihng ge." (If God cleanses something, you are not to say it is unclean)
While Peter is scratching his head and wondering what this was supposed to mean, the whole vision repeated itself.	Peter scratches head. Sheet closes up, then opens again, repeat highlighted section
And again a third time!	Repeat highlighted section
Finally, the sheet was taken back up into heaven.	Sheet is hauled back up. Peter can get up.

 

Now Cornelius' servants arrive. Because they are Gentiles, they know they might not be welcome in the house, so they stand on the street and yell: Is Peter there?	Servants stand several feet away from Peter. They all yell: Beidak haimhaidouh?
Peter hears the Holy Spirit in his heart saying, I myself have commanded these men to come, so whatever they ask you to do, do it.	Peter looks up to heaven and does "Yes, Sir!"
The servangs tell him that an angel has told them to bring Peter to see Cornelius in Caesarea. So he goes with them.	Peter puts on backpack and goes with them. (I skipped having them stay overnight. Also skipped Peter's companions—not enough people—or backpacks!)
Again, it took them two days.	All take out their towels and "sleep" again.
On the second day, they came to Cornelius' home. While he was waiting, he had invited friends and relatives over so they could hear what Peter was going to tell him.	Cornelius picks 2-3 & all stand up together.
Peter says to them, now you know that usually Israelites don't visit the homes of Gentiles. But God recently told me that I shouldn't automatically consider any person unclean, so I came when asked. So what is it you want from me?
Cornelius describes how the angel had told him that Peter had an important message of blessing from God for him.
Peter thought this was amazing. It was the first time he had thought that God might want the Gentiles to be able to hear the gospel of Jesus! So, he started to tell them about how Jesus had died for sinners, and rose on the third day…
Suddenly, the Holy Spirit came down on all the Gentiles who were listening to him, just like He had come on the birthday of the church!	Sprinkle orange/yellow paper scraps on Gentiles' heads
They all started praising God in different languages!	Have different Gentiles repeat "Jesus is Lord" in Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and Spanish
When Peter heard this, he praised God. How great is God's mercy, that He wants the whole world, not just Israel, to be saved! God's love is truly infinite! So he welcomed all to receive baptism and become part of the new, international church!	Baptizes the Gentiles with blue scraps. Everyone shakes hands with everyone else, then gather & sing "Hingdaih jimuih" (Brothers & sisters)

God wants people of all races and colors to be able to go to heaven! So each child received a different color of balloon to blow up and then kick soccer-style into a cardboard "heaven's door"

For our craft, we made paper-chain snakes.

Bible study was mainly from Ephesians 2:12-14, about how Christ broke down the wall of hostility between Israel and the Gentiles, and how the kind of humility it takes to admit your sins and receive Christ can also help break down walls in other kinds of relationships.

Raising of Dorcas

I got a new computer last Monday and it took me a significant chunk of time to get all my stuff up and running. Which meant I was behind in preparations for Sunday, which meant posting to the blog was not high priority! So now I'm behind, so once again I won't bother with translating our story, which went like this:

我們上次見到以前逼迫信徒的掃羅子己都信耶穌	介紹掃羅
但很多人懷疑他的改善﹐怕是詭詐的。不想接受他和他們一齊崇拜。	掃羅向大家行﹐大家走去第二道﹔掃羅跟他們﹐大家又走開
後來有一個信徒﹐叫巴拿巴﹐	介紹巴拿巴
去找他﹐領他見信徒領袖﹐解釋他怎樣認識耶穌。他們就接受他﹐知道不要怕。	巴拿巴與掃羅握手﹐一齊去見大家﹐掃羅與大家握手。
所有信徒開心﹗但哪些人不開心呢﹖	問大家
猶太教的領袖想殺死他﹐如同殺死耶穌和施提反一樣﹐所以信徒領他到該撒利亞海口﹐叫他上船﹐回自己家鄉大數﹐等到過了危險。	幾個人與掃羅行一個圈﹐叫掃羅坐凳子﹐ [搖櫓] 。大家向他 [bye-bye]

 

所以﹐我們暫時不知道掃羅作甚麼﹐就會看看彼得的經歷。	介紹彼得 (就可以坐低)
在以色列的約帕城﹐有一位女信徒﹐叫多加。 她很好人﹐很有愛心﹐作很多善事。	介紹多加
但她患病了﹐就死了。	她仆低
其他信徒抬她上去樓上﹐	兩個男子抬起多加﹐放在快板上 (先放板在兩張凳上)
幾位姐妹把屍體洗淨。	幾位女人用毛巾子抹她身
當時有信徒去找彼得﹐叫他來安慰多加的朋友	那兩位男子帶彼得來
彼得來看多加﹐週圍的女人一面哭﹐一面說開多加所作的善事﹐給他看多加為窮人造的衣服	女人一面哭﹐一面將幾件衣服給彼得看
彼得心痛﹐叫女人出方。就關門﹐歸低﹐禱告。	女人行開﹐彼得歸低
禱告之後﹐向多加說﹕多加﹐起來﹗	彼得起身﹐對著多加說﹕多加﹐起來
多加真是打開眼睛﹐見到彼得就坐起身﹗	多加坐起身
彼得申手扶她起身﹐就叫她的朋友回來	那幾位女人來見她﹐擁抱她
這件事情很快傳遍約帕城﹐許多人所以信主

You may note the story was in two sections. In order to explain why we were jumping from Saul's conversion to a story about Peter, we first did a little blurb about how at first the believers didn't trust Saul, until Barnabas took his part, but then he was being hunted by the authorities & so his new friends shipped him off to Tarsus until things calmed down. So in the meantime we would see what Peter was up to.

I was quite pleased with our "troublemaker" (I'm going to have to quit calling him that!) a-Wai. He had picked up a magazine and was browsing, when I asked him to play the part of Barnabas. He said no, but then I said, but we need you, because the only other boy we can ask is a-Si, and "Saul" is afraid of him! So he put down his magazine and did his part. Yay!

Wing Tung is a little ham and did a great job of dramatically dying.

Dorcas had been praised in the story for the garments she made for the poor. So our game incorporated garments. We had a relay in which each child drew a number tile & matched it to a picture of a t-shirt. He/she then had to go to the pile of shirts, find the right one, put it on, & run back to the team.

Going with the garment theme, our "craft" time consisted of learning (or reviewing) how to neatly fold the t-shirts.

Bible study was from Philippians 1:21-25, trying to bring out that while God does not always protect Christians from death, dying is not a thing we need to fear.

An Unlikely Convert

Everyone was so good today! What fun. We did the story of Saul's conversion, as follows:

The last time we saw Saul, he was in Jerusalem dragging believers off to jail.	asks if people believe, if yes, hauls them off
So a lot of believers left Jerusalem; some even left Israel!	everyone runs around room
One large foreign city that a lot of people fled to was called Damascus.	find on map
Saul went to the High Priest to get official permission to go to Damascus and bring the believers there back for trial.	produces letter saying high priest authorizes him to arrest Christians. Priest chops it, puts in envelope, seals.
He & a few others went together.	Saul + 2 others don backpacks & start walking around room
Suddenly a bright light from heaven shone around Saul, making his eyes hurt so bad that he fell to the ground. He couldn't see a thing!	Shine flashlight in Saul's face. He covers his eyes & falls. Put on sleep mask.
A voice came from nowhere: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?	recorded voice?
The people traveling with Saul were terrified, because they heard a voice but couldn't see anyone. Saul couldn't see anyone anyway! So he asked, who are you?	Saul looks around, asks, who are you
The voice replied: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up, and go to Damascus and wait for my messenger to come and tell you what you must do.
Saul got up, still unable to see. His friends had to take him by the hand and lead him into the city.	His two companions lead him by hands to sit in chair.
He waited three days, fasting and praying, wondering what Jesus would do to him after all he had done.	folds hands
At that time there was a believer in Damascus called Ananias. While Saul was praying, an angel appeared to Ananias.	introduce Ananias. Angel with halo confronts him.
The angel said: you must go to the house of Judas on Straight Street. There is a man named Saul there who is waiting for you to come and have you lay your hands on him and restore his sight.	angel shows map with Straight Street & Judas' house marked
Ananias was very afraid! He knows that Saul's purpose in coming to Damascus was to haul believers off to jail in Jerusalem!	Ananias shakes his head
But the angel says, don't worry, he already knows he has been wrong. And I have chosen him to be my servant to take the gospel to the Gentiles.	pats A. on shoulder, pushes him to go
Ananias thought this was really strange! If there was anyone Saul hated as much as he hated believers, it would have to be Gentiles! But he obeyed the angel and went.	A. shakes his head again, but goes knocks on table, someone lets him in and introduces him to Saul
Ananias introduces himself & says that Jesus has sent him to heal his blindness.	Saul kneels down. A. places hands on head & says: yehsou yihou neih!
Immediately Saul could see again. He has Ananias baptize him right away, and from that day onward, he served the Lord Jesus.	A. baptizes him with blue scraps, hugs him.

Notes: we didn't use a recorded voice because our tape recorder doesn't work anymore. Oh well. "Chopping" a letter means to put a stamp on it, like an official seal. No official correspondence here is complete without a "chop." A-Si came in that morning with his eyes closed—he often does this; I don't know why. But that made me decide to choose him as Saul—he might not object to not being able to see. And he didn't! I couldn't find a sleep mask, so I just covered an old pair of glasses with black paper. It was neat that he was willing to keep them on.

We did craft time ahead of game time this week. For our craft, we said, when God had a message to give to Saul, he made light shine from heaven, and sent an angel and another believer. When we want to get messages to people, we usually use some other methods. Such as "air mail!" Each child had to write "Saul, Saul!" on a sheet of paper & then follow instructions for folding it into a paper airplane. I found a great one on "Alex's Paper Airplanes" website, called "Nick's plane," I think it was. Flies great. Especially since I had brought the instructions to work with me one morning and was trying them out while waiting for my first appointment of the day. When she got there, I was ready to try flying it, so I did. It flew well but veered off to the left. My client's mom said, "Open the wing more on the right and press the one on the left down a little & then try again." It worked! How nice to have encountered a paper airplane expert on that particular day!

For our game, then, we put a picture of Saul up on a wall and "sent him our messages." Not sure who enjoyed this more, our kids or a couple of the parents!

Bible study was from I Timothy 1:15-16, emphasizing that anybody (including our parents) can become a Christian, no matter how unlikely it seems.

The kids have their free/supervised playtime during the adult Bible study. A-Wai, the boy who had been so difficult two weeks before, likes to spend this time working through 1^st-2^nd grade math workbooks. Mostly he does this on his own, but occasionally he asks me for some help. He had already asked me once, but then I was out of the room when he got stuck again. Mrs. Lei couldn't believe it when she saw him ask A-Si, who was sitting at the same table coloring, for help! A-Si responded by starting to do the math himself, but then A-Wai indicated he wanted the book back, and A-Si gave it to him. And the examples were enough to get A-Wai going. It's so rare to see two of our kids independently seeking, and succeeding at, interaction with each other! And these are our two kids most prone to violent outbursts, even! God is working!!!