Christmas—God is Love

We enjoyed our Christmas celebration on the 21^st. We had invited at least 6 new families, but only one came. Chi Ming has been one of my therapy patients for many years. He is still wheelchair-bound, and lost his eyesight about a year ago, but he is very talkative and sociable so enjoyed himself in spite of not being able to participate fully in all the activities. We did cast him in the role of Joseph for the Christmas story. So instead of the typical Joseph-leads-the-donkey-on-which-Mary-sits, we ended up with Mary pushing Joseph to Bethlehem in his wheelchair! It worked fine! Here's the story:

Many years ago there was a man named Joseph	introduce boy as Joseph
He was engaged to a girl named Mary	introduce girl as Mary
One day, Joseph's neighbor came to him and said, "Psst—did you hear—Mary is pregnant!"	boy comes to Joseph & whispers in his ear, then leaves
Joseph was very sad. He thought Mary loved him! He decided to break their engagement.	Joseph cries. Goes to bed (towel & pillow on floor)
But that night and angel appeared to him and said, "Don't be afraid to marry her. She has not been unfaithful to you. But the Holy Spirit has come to her, and her baby will be the Son of God, the Savior the whole world has been waiting for."	Angel with halo
Strange, but not as strange as believing that Mary had done something wrong. So, they got married.	Joseph with bow tie, Mary in TP veil.
Not long after that, Joseph had to go to Bethlehem for a census. He took Mary with him. She was already very big!	Mary with pillow padding. J & M walk around room.
When they got to Bethlehem, they tried to get a room at an inn, but it was already full.	boy standing behind table in corner; J knocks, boy says no room (puts up sign)
Mary said, "We'd better find somewhere quick! I'm about to have the baby! So they went into the only shelter they could find: a stable	second table with pictures of horses & a cow. Box with straw. They spread a towel on floor.
Pretty soon, she had her baby, Jesus. No crib, no pillow; she had to put him in the feed box.	Mary goes behind table, comes out with baby doll instead of padding.
all sing: Away in a Manger
That night, outside of the city, some shepherds were guarding their sheep.	2-3 boys with towels on heads. Sheep picture.
All of a sudden they heard a noise. They were scared—was it a wolf coming to eat the sheep? No—it was—angels!	Look scared. 2-3 angel with halos
all sing: Hark the Herald Angels Sing
One of the angels explains that the Savior has been born. That they would recognize him because he was lying in a feed box	Angels point the way & then leave
The shepherds discuss it among themselves and decide they better go and see.	shepherds huddle
all sing: O Come all Ye Faithful
So they go and see, and sure enough, there he is. So they knew what the angel was saying was true, and they knelt down and worshipped the baby Jesus	Shepherds kneel down.
Everyone was happy because they had waited for many years for this day. Now they knew that God really loved them, because He had sent Jesus to save them.	Shepherds, M & J, and angels all high-five
all sing: Joy to the World

Someone as important as Jesus shouldn't have been relegated to a stable, right? He should have been welcomed with a red carpet! So for our game we did a "red carpet walk" – the kids had to keep their feet on the floor so that the two squares of red "carpet" (paper) could stay with them all the way across the room. For Chi Ming, we did a variation in which each square had to be picked up from behind him and placed in front of him so he could travel on red carpet the whole way. It was neat to watch the kids wanting to help make it happen—one child pushing the chair, one child helping rotate the carpet squares.
Our craft consisted of pasting figures from a crèche scene to match a pattern scene—everyone did it extremely well; I didn't watch to see who did it themselves and who needed parents' help though.Bible study was John 3:16-17. Afterward we had a potluck.
I was very pleased with how well our three shepherd boys cooperated in wearing their headdresses!

God is a Jealous God

This was a bit of a complicated story, but it turned out well. We used a very paraphrased version of Ezekiel 16, as follows:

Through His prophet Ezekiel, God told this story to Israel	Start with boy and girl holding (dirty) baby doll
"When I chose you, you were like a baby that had been rejected by its parents.	they throw the doll on the floor
I picked you up, and washed you	have one child wash the baby in a pan of water
I gave you clothes to wear	another child dresses it
and took care of you until you grew up.	exchange the baby doll for a (naked) Barbie doll
Since I'd always loved you, I took you as my wife.	one child dresses Barbie in a wedding outfit
I gave you beautiful jewelry,	another child puts necklace and bracelets made of foil on Barbie
and satisfied you with abundant food.	another gives her a basket of food
We had children together	and brings the baby doll back out
We had a wonderful life, didn't we?	(ask all)
We should have, but how did you treat me? You took the jewelry I gave you, and used it to make idols for yourselves.	one child takes off the jewelry and gives it to another, who sets up a foil-wrapped doll ("idol") in return
You took the food I provided it, and offered it to your idols.	another takes the basket of food and puts it in front of the idol
You even offered them the children we had together!	another puts the baby in front of the idol
Was it right of you to treat me like that?	(ask all)
I treated you as my own daughter, and as my wife, but you didn't love me; you went after other gods instead. How could I help but be jealous?!
Well, if you don't want me, then you don't have to have me, I said. When your enemies attack you, I won't bother you with my help.	one child takes a sword and "beats" Barbie
So your enemies did attack. They beat you and stripped off your clothes and left you just as badly off as the first time I ever saw you.	another takes off Barbie's dress and throws her on the floor
But, you know—if I didn't love you in the first place, I wouldn't have been jealous, would I?	(ask all)
And so, after you had been through all this, and were willing to call to me again, I took you back, and restored to you all that was yours—clothing, jewels, food & wine.	one child puts new clothes on Barbie, another puts some new jewelry on and presents a second basket of food.
I hope you will never forget that I really love you. And I also hope you will remember that all I want is for you to love me back."	one child cuddles the Barbie and comforts it.

I think this worked because we didn't try and act it out; one
person read the story while another helped the children do the various activities. It slowed things down and got the kids doing practical tasks. Si Wa Hon was chosen to bathe the baby and he apparently thought it was about the most fun things he'd ever done!

For our game, we "dressed babies" in teams. Bruce (my husband) and I were the babies, complete with towel diapers.

For a craft, since God gave His people so many gifts, we wrapped gifts—Christmas gifts for them to give their siblings.

Bible study was from Proverbs 6:32-35, about how terrible adultery is, and how jealous it makes a husband. The point was to discuss how God wants to be married to us. If we are not, then it isn't shameful to be "married" to idols—even if it does mean you don't get any of the benefits of being married to God. (Such as forgiveness of sin & eternal life). It was good to be able to make this point, that we are not trying to criticize our unbelievers for worshipping their idols. We only want to offer them something better. It seemed to go well, thank the Lord.

God is our Provider

I didn't write anything last week, because we didn't have our regular service. Not much to tell. We joined the mother church's outdoor service and picnic. I was amazed at how well the boys sat still and behaved during the program!! I think being outside helped a lot. Or am I not giving them enough credit?

I don't think we'll experiment with having long sit-down services ourselves just yet. The kids have come to associate coming to Merciful Love with time for a lot of movement and activity. It would be a huge adjustment for them—and I think for our parents as well. But it's something to keep under our hats for the future, perhaps.

In the meantime, we resume our usual program. This past Sunday, we learned about God as provider, from I Kings 17. Here's how it went:

Today we meet the prophet Elijah again. (boy in mantle). He says to King Ahab (boy in crown) , "because you have been such a wicked king, in that you've not only sinned against God yourself but influenced all Israel to sin, God hereby says to you, it is not going to rain for three years!

Now, lets think about this. (give cups to Elijah & Ahab, have them put name stickers on cups). Okay, both Elijah and Ahab live in Israel. Let's say this basin(place basin on stool) represents Israel. (have someone place name tag on basin)
(have E & A both place their cups in basin.) Okay, if it rains in Israel (have child help pour water from watering can into basin & cups), who has water to drink? (ask kids, show both cups having water) (have child help dump out water) So, if it doesn't rain? Who has no water? (show cups,ask kids)

Now, in our last story we saw that God is…(point out "just" on chart). But if this wicked king Ahab and this faithful prophet Elijah both go thirsty, does that seem very just? (ask all) Today we will see how God is not only truly just, He is also…(have child put up "provider" on chart). We will see how God provided Elijah's needs.

God says to Elijah: (angel with halo reads from scroll): "Go to Zarephath in Sidon, for I have arranged for a widow to take care of your needs." So Elijah goes to Zarephath. (walks around room, carrying his cup). When he gets there, he sees a woman gathering sticks. (girl picks up sticks from floor) He says to her, please give me a drink of water. (gives her his cup. she starts to walk away) But as she is leaving, he calls after her, while you're at it, could you please give me some bread? I'm really hungry! (have Elijah pantomime his hunger) Well, the widow says to him, you want me to give you bread? I don't have any bread to give you! Listen, come home with me and I'll show you! But first, they properly introduce themselves they shake hands & exchange names, then Elijah. follows girl around room; she chooses one boy & introduces him as her son) The widow then says, okay, look, this here is all the meal I have (shows Elijah jar partially full of crushed cereal); and this is all the oil I have (shows bottle half full of oil) When you saw me collecting sticks, I was preparing to use this to prepare one last meal for myself and my son, and then we were going to die of starvation!

Elijah says to her, don't worry! (pats her shoulder) If you honor God, He will provide your needs. Listen, first prepare a little cake of meal for me, and then you can make one for yourselfyou're your son. Because I hereby promise you in the name of the Lord, this jar of meal, (holds up jar) and this bottle of oil (holds up bottle), will not run out until God again sends rain. The widow says, okay, I'll try it! (girl puts sticks on table; sprinkles "fire" paper on sticks, places wok containing crackers on fire. pretends to pour in grain & oil," fries", and presents cracker to E. Repeat cooking "cake" for son & then herself.) It really hasn't used up! How long will it last? (continues "cooking;" has son pass out crackers to all in attendance, one by one) Wow, this God really is the provider for those who serve Him!

    

    So that was the story. Very conveniently, the word used in Chinese for "cake" is the same as for "cracker," so that flowed well. Not quite as perfect in English!

For our game, I made something resembling a childhood game I once had, called "Kerplunk". The kids kept pulling the skewers out of this cardboard tower until the heap of stones poured into the top fell through; each no-fall turn earned the player a piece of cereal. The idea was, the cereal didn't quit coming until the "rain" fell.

    And as we know, rain eventually did fall, so our craft was little paper umbrellas (with the "Kerplunk" skewers as handles)

    Bible study was on Matthew 6:25-33. Nice to have a more straightforward passage this time!

 

 

 

 

God is Just

Chinese again. Mr. Lei led the story and did it very well. We used Genesis 18-19. First, Abraham asking God if He would destroy the righteous with the wicked, then the destruction of Sodom and the rescue of Lot. We skipped the bit about Lot's daughters!

 

亞伯拉罕初初來加南地﹐他的姪兒羅得陪他	介紹兩個男子
他和羅得分開﹔羅得去所多瑪城住	羅得坐低
有一天﹐神和兩個天使來見亞伯拉罕﹐給他知道他會盡快生兒子	三個男子﹐戴環﹐恭喜亞伯拉罕
神對亞伯拉罕說﹐他在天堂聽見所多瑪城充滿罪惡。我叫這兩位天使去看看﹐若真如此﹐我要毀滅全城。	兩個天使坐低
亞伯拉罕的姪兒住在所多瑪﹗他因為關心姪兒﹐所以問神說﹕我知道你是一位完全公義的神。假如所多瑪城裏有...50個義人﹐你會否一切毀滅義人和惡人﹖	亞伯拉罕把5個人﹐每一個貼 [10] ﹐代表10人
神答他說﹕我不會	神作 [No,No] 的交叉
亞伯拉罕就問﹕若爭5個呢﹖若有45個義人﹖	把一個人的 [10] 字﹐換 [5] 字
神答﹕不會	又交叉
亞伯拉罕說﹕再想問﹐若得40個﹖神回答說﹕不會	貼 [5] 字那個坐低。神又交叉
他繼續問神﹕若得30個﹖回答﹕不會	一個貼 [10] 字的坐低。 神又交叉
20個﹖不會	又有一個坐低。 又交叉
最後一次﹐大膽的問神﹐若得10個義人﹐會否照計毀滅﹖	另外一個坐低
神應承亞伯拉罕﹐若所多瑪城裏找到10個義人﹐就為他們不毀滅	神和亞伯拉罕扼手。坐低

 

那兩位天使就去到所多瑪城。他們准備在街頭睡覺	兩個把毛巾放在地
但羅得勸他們不好在街睡覺﹔叫他們在他家裏過夜	羅得拉他們行開
羅得有一個太太﹐兩個女兒。大家一齊吃飯	介紹三個女人。六個坐凳﹐有快子﹐碗
吃飯的時﹐所多瑪市民圍著房子﹐敲門﹐說﹕要把那兩個客人出來﹐給我們搞死他們。	所有人圍著
羅得出門口﹐想叫他們走﹐不好害他的客人。但大家開始打他。	羅得對著大家。被人打
那兩個天使拉羅得入房﹐救他	天使拉羅得來。
就對市民說﹕奉主耶和華的名﹐你們今晚看不清﹗	大家摸不到們口﹐漸漸放棄坐低
天使就數數--所多瑪城原來得幾多個義人﹖	數那四個人
得4個﹐神會不會毀滅所多瑪城﹖	問大家
天使向他們說﹐神會今晚毀滅所多瑪城。你們要盡快走﹐救自己的命。羅得一家開始執行李。	慢慢把衣服放在袋裏
但天使很焦急﹐知道危險﹐不要等。要拉他們走	每個天使拉兩個人的手﹐跑開
真的--他們一出城市﹐從天上有火下降﹐毀滅所多瑪城﹐和所有壞人。	把大張橙色紙﹐週圍放

The game worked well—we had exactly 15 people, so it was easy to have groups of three. Everybody drew numbers out of a jar & then we called three at a time, so the groups were random. Each group then had to choose one person to be "Lot" and two to be "angels" (complete with tinsel haloes). The angels then "pulled Lot to safety" by dragging him/her on a bedsheet from one end of the room to the other. We went through the whole group twice so more people got to both pull & be pulled. (61-year-old Grandma Si being pulled along while sitting regally on the sheet was TOO fun.)

For craft time, we explained that it was possible that the fire & brimstone rained down on Sodom was from a volcano. We made little volcanoes out of clay and then spooned in baking soda & then eye-droppers of vinegar to watch them foam over. I had planned to color the vinegar to see if we could get more fiery-looking foam, but I forgot to do that.

Bruce led the Bible study from I Peter 2:22-25.

Next week we'll join the mother church for their outdoor service. I'm glad for the break as I've come to the end of all pre-preparation—have topics but no stories, games, or crafts even thought up yet. Yikes!

 

 

 

God is Holy

This is another one of those times when the story was a little bit of a stretch. Achan's story is meant to bring out the point that God's holiness means we can't be casual in our obedience to Him. (Anybody have a better story idea?)

I'm slow with posting because it is actually more work for me to post in English than in Chinese! If it's in Chinese characters, it's because I wrote it that way in the first place, for one of the Chinese to lead it, so it's all ready to post. But if I lead the story myself, like I did this past Sunday, then it's written in phonetic Chinese spelling, which nobody but missionaries and language teachers can read. So I have to rewrite it in order to post. Okay, done that. Here it is:

We remember that it was Moses who brought Israel out of Egypt, but he died before they got into the promised land. The job of bringing Israel in fell on Joshua's shoulders.	Introduce Joshua
First they had to cross the Jordan river. Once they were in the land, they encountered the city of Jericho, which had a high and thick wall.	all cross blue line held 6" high. Pull out sofa to center of room, label it Jericho, have several adults sitting on it & "goodie bag" in one corner.
But Joshua was not afraid. God had already promised him that if the army marched around the city every day for seven days, & seven times the last day, then when he blew the trumpet, the wall would fall down. Then they could go in and destroy it. But God commanded them saying, be sure you destroy everything in it. Don't let anyone get greedy and keep any of it. Okay, now it is the 7th day…	give horn to Joshua, swords to soldiers. March seven times around sofa. J. blows horn, soldiers "kill" adults on sofa. Throw orange & yellow paper shreds over to "burn" city.
Success! But there was this guy Achan. While he was in the city, he saw some precious things that he just couldn't destroy: a beautiful cloth, 20 silver coins, and a gold bar.	introduce Achan. He takes mantle, silver coins, and gold bar out of goodie bag.
He took these things and hid them under the floor of his tent.	opens storeroom, uses large spatula to "dig up" floor, places goodies inside.
Before long, Israel needed to go up against another city, called Ai.	push sofa back against wall, change name to Ai
Joshau figured this city was going to be a lot easier to take than Ai. But when the army went up against it, they were routed! And many of their soldiers were killed!	Joshua & soldiers attack "Ai"; adults suddenly have swords and start chasing them
Joshau didn't know what to do. He knelt before the Lord and wept, asking the Lord to explain what was wrong, why He hadn't given them victory.	Joshua kneels, cries.
God said to him, why blame me? It's Israel that has done the wrong! Someone in the camp has stolen things I commanded to be destroyed. Don't you know I am a holy God? You can't serve me just any old way you feel like!	angel flies in, naauhs Joshua, drags him up & pushes him away.
Joshua calls all Israel together to see who has sinned against God and their fellow Israelites. He writes all their names down, and asks God to show him which name is that guilty party's.	Joshua asks each child his/her name. Acts out writing each name & dropping paper into bag. Finally takes out one paper & says: "A-Gon"!
Joshua tells Acan to be honest. He admits that he took the things, and that they are under the floor of his tent. Joshua sends some people to look—and there they are.	Achan steps forward, pulls ears. J. sends 1-2 boys to "dig" in floor of storeroom; they come back with goodies.
Joshua praises Achan for admitting his sin, but says that in order to restore Israel's relationship with God, they had to punish him. So they stoned him.	Everyone throws paper wads at Achan.
This time when Israil attacked Ai, they won.	kids take swords, go back to sofa & fight unresisting adults.

Game: finding buried treasure. For each child (they were supposed to wait in line and take turns), we buried a piece of cloth, a silver coin, and a piece of gold-wrapped chocolate in a basin full of shredded newspaper. One example of each of these was posted on a card to tell the kids what they had to find. When they found all three things, they could eat the chocolate. I thought this was going to be too easy, but it was HARD. Especially finding the cloth, which didn't sink to the bottom and, blended in too well with the printed paper. If we play this game again, we should use maybe a plain, bright-red cloth for it to stand out better.

Craft: we made our own beautiful cloths by sewing some pretty ribbon along one edge of a washcloth, so it looked like a fancy guest towel.

Bible study was on Ezekiel 36:18-36. It was tough and too deep, I'm afraid, but I just couldn't find a better passage. Most of what I found in my search for a study passage on God's holiness emphasized not offending His holiness by worshipping idols. The idol worshippers in our midst, however, do not yet know the true God like Israel was supposed to. I felt they needed to understand God's holiness more than they needed to be told not to offend it. I liked the Ezekiel passage because it looked at God's holiness from a couple of different angles. First, it mentions the Israelites offending His holiness by their sin. Then, it talks about how the nations got a wrong impression of God when they saw the punishment, offending His holiness by their assumption that Israel was in exile because their God wasn't great enough to protect them. So God vindicated His holiness by restoring the people to their land after their punishment was complete. I closed by a reference (I John 2:1-2) to the way God vindicates His holiness by punishing our sin in Christ so He is free to forgive us. It went over the parents' heads, I'm afraid.

Part of the problem was that Bruce was gone that morning, preaching and leading communion at the mother church. Somehow, things go better when he is there, even when he isn't directly leading anything. Both the kids and the adults show him more respect, I think totally unconsciously. I'm too "fun." Sigh.

God is Omnipotent

It sounds like Kevin did a great job with this topic on the 2^nd. He was assigned the story of Jesus' raising Jairus' daughter, but he went ahead and told it in context, interwoven with the story of the hemorrhaging woman. Not a problem. If I am following his game rules properly, everyone stood bunched together except for one child as "Jairus' daughter", and one as "Jesus" on the other side of the bunch. "Jesus" had to push his way through the crowd without getting tagged (having a label stuck on) by a blindfolded person in the crowd, in order to "win" the game by getting to the sick girl before she died. For a craft, they made "Jesus' garment of power" by coloring paper in any design, folding it over & cutting a hole for a collar, & attaching tassels on the bottom. Bible study was on Acts 4:10-12

This past Sunday, we had a picnic at a local park. Sang several of our songs, & played some "old" games with brief review of the stories the games were representing. Then ate & played on the playground equipment. Not our most effective evangelistic endeavor (we were disappointed that no one invited any new friends—I myself tried but failed on our half-day back in Macau Saturday afternoon), but everyone seemed to enjoy the morning & we're glad for that. It was so very nice for me not to have to worry about any kind of preparations while we were vacationing. I confess I did a teeny-weeny bit of planning ahead for the next unit, which will be a short one on the "I ams" of Jesus.

Looking forward to being back in the routine this coming Sunday, with the story of Achan on the topic of "God is Holy."

God is Omnipresent

After three rather dismal Sundays attendance-wise, things were cooking again today with seven families attending. Mrs. Chu led the Bible story for the first time and did a good job. It's HARD for me to keep my fingers out of the pie, though. I want to "help" by having the props ready, and then if the story-teller doesn't remember them right away I jump in and "interfere." This "training leaders" stuff isn't as easy as it sounds! I hope I can learn to keep my hands off & just encourage.

Once again, I did need to write the story in Chinese, as below. From I Kings 20, it tells about how King Ben-Hadad thought that they had failed in the siege of Samaria because "their God is a god of the hills, and if we fight them on the plain, then we will win." Wrong, Ben-Hadad!

以色列歷史上一個國王叫亞哈。他不是很好的王﹐但神往往祝福他。	戴冠冕
他住在以色列首都撒馬利亞﹔首都有城牆	兩張臺﹔亞哈和幾個以色列人後面
亞哈的時代﹐亞蘭的國王叫便哈達。他很惡﹐也很驕傲。	戴冠冕
便哈達的軍隊已經有段時間圍攻撒馬利亞。有一天﹐他差使者到城裏﹐對亞哈說﹕明天便哈達會差幾位臣僕來搜查你的家﹔他們喜歡甚麼﹐你要讓他們取甚麼。	戴白色旗到城﹐開書卷來讀。 說完就走。
亞哈覺得無奈。但有一個先對他說﹐不要懼怕。神應承你﹐他會把便哈達的軍隊交給你手。但不要等到明天﹔要現在出去。	穿紅色外衣
那時候﹐便哈達的自信心大到他在自己棚裏休息﹐飲酒。	用酒瓶扮飲酒
亞哈的軍隊出來的時﹐一位使者給便哈達知﹐但便哈達不了解﹐說﹕不方便見他們﹐不如問他們是甚麼事。	使者去見便哈達﹔便哈達趕他走
原來他們出來打破亞蘭軍隊﹗他們打死很多人﹐但便哈達騎馬逃走。	2-3個軍人用檢打人﹔便哈達騎馬逃走
那位先知再次見亞哈﹐說﹕因為便哈達還未死﹐你要準備﹐出年春天必要再打仗。	先知再來見亞哈
便哈達和他的謀士在蘭現在計劃怎樣打破以色列。便哈達說﹕我知道我們為甚麼失敗。即是因為我們在撒馬利亞打仗。以色列的神在那裏幫助他們﹔他管理山區。我們的神乃是管理沙漠和平地。所以﹐我們只需要在平地打仗﹐就必得勝﹗哈﹗哈﹗	便哈達和2-3個人一齊坐 他說完計劃﹐個個一齊歡呼
現在就是春天。	帶花入來
便哈達和他的新軍隊開始在近亞蘭的以色列鄉村打仗﹐以色列軍隊要出來。	一齊用檢打不近亞哈的人。他們哎救命。以色列軍隊也帶檢出來
便哈達很開心﹐以為現在必得勝。但﹐有沒有﹖	問大家
沒有。以色列打破亞蘭軍隊﹐用鐵鏈綁著便哈達帶他回撒馬利亞。	所有亞蘭人坐低。以色列軍人綁便哈達﹐帶他去撒馬利亞。
便哈達不得勝﹐因為耶和華是神﹐不但在以色列國﹐乃是 {無所不在} 的神	指示{無所不在}﹔大家一齊讀。

The moral of the story was "No matter where you go, God is there." So for our game, we had a magnetic fishpond game, with the parallel statement, "No matter which fish you catch, you still get a prize." I took pictures of all the plastic fish & put them on a poster with the names of different fruits next to each one. So as each child caught a fish, he/she then had to compare it with the poster & determine what snack they got—from one of six different jars of cut-up fruit. We played several rounds & I think some of the kids would have been happy to play all morning. But we had to move on to craft time, sorry! Here I cheated big time. I really didn't want to get into how Ahab had blown it by letting Ben-Hadad go, after all this. So while I didn't re-write history to the point of having Ben-Hadad killed, I had him brought to Samaria in chains. I crocheted a "chain" out of gray yarn for the prop, and so craft time involved teaching the kids to crochet a simple chain. I was surprised and pleased by how one of our more belligerent boys really concentrated on this—apparently he's been taught it before at his sheltered workshop but still needs some help, so he was going to see if he could master it this time. He did pretty well. A fun twist on the craft time was having one mom and one grandma demonstrate two different ways of "chaining" using only their fingers; no hooks! And their chains looked more like chains than mine did! Wish I'd known before preparing for the story, ha!

Bible study was on Psalm 139:7-12. Mr. Lei led & I was out with the kids so didn't hear how it went, but he was pleased with the discussion. Including two exciting "testimonies" from one mother who has not yet declared herself a believer. In fact, last time we specifically talked to her about it, she said it was all just interesting stories to her. But lately she has been bringing her elderly mother back and forth to a hospital in Hong Kong for cancer treatments. She shared about her mother being in a room with a mentally handicapped person whose Christian family was visiting constantly and showing a lot of love and care for her. "Only Christians have that much love for their handicapped family members," she said. (This in spite of her own rather good example of care for her son…!) She also reported that she had asked her mother if worshipping her idols all these years had done her any good now that she's sick. Mr. Lei didn't report the grandmother's answer, but that Mrs. Liu would dare to challenge her mother on this point is amazing enough! She is obviously really thinking about where the truth lies.

Bruce and I leave for vacation tomorrow, and we are looking forward to the break. Not from the kids—I was just thinking this morning, I've heard of some schoolteachers who don't want to teach children's Sunday School after teaching all week. And I can understand that, and yet, my thoughts this morning while walking to church were, "I am so lucky! I not only get to work with these kids all week, I get to work with them on Sunday too!" But I won't miss the pressure of preparing the lessons for a couple of weeks. Kevin Hui is now a student at Macau Bible Institute, and is assigned to visit various churches this quarter, but was able to arrange to be at Merciful Love next Sunday so he will be preparing & leading "God is Omnipotent" all on his own. We will be back in time for the following Sunday, but for that day we will just have an all-church picnic in a local park. We'll sing our most familiar songs and play some favorite games from the past two years at Merciful Love. We will be able to bring in the gospel by reminding everyone what Bible story/spiritual truth each game relates to. Hopefully the relaxed atmosphere & environment where the kids can run around freely, will give us a better chance for individual conversations with some of the adults. Mrs. Liu especially. Please, Lord, let the weather cooperate!

God is all-knowing

Our story today was from I Samuel 16. Here it is:

The first king of Israel was named Saul (boy with crown). Was he a good or a bad king? (ask all) At that time, there was a prophet called Samuel (boy in mantle). One day, God had a message for him (angel in halo flies in): "I chose Saul to be king of Israel. Even though he is very disobedient, he can continue to be king. I, Jehovah, am (point to "unchanging" on growing list of God's attributes on poster, have all read aloud); I don't say one day he can be king and the next day say he can't. The word of God is true, isn't that right? (ask Samuel, then ask all). But Saul should be punished, shouldn't he? (ask Samuel, then ask all). So, I have already decided that Saul's descendants will not be king after him. Instead, I have chosen someone with a purer heart to be the next king." God tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem, and bring his anointing oil (angel gives fancy jar containing fragrant beads) in order to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as the next king. (angel pushes Samuel away. Samuel walks several times around room, stops before boy chosen as Jesse) Samuel invites Jesse to eat with him (sit at table with bowls and chopsticks) Samuel asks Jesse to introduce his family. Do you have any sons? Jesse says yes, here is my oldest son Eliab. (put #1 label on boy who comes & shakes Samuel's hand). Samuel says to himself, wow, what a handsome young man! (Ask all: isn't he handsome?) Are you also a smart boy? (ask Eliab) Surely this is the Lord's chosen one! (angel flies in, makes sign for "wrong!") Angel says: "You are only judging according to his outward appearance. But God knows everything and is able to look into people's hearts. So He has not chosen this son." Samuel asks Jesse if he has any other sons (our poor Jesse kept answering "no" in all honesty, and kept getting corrected.)
#2 label placed on boy introduced to Samuel as Abinadab. (angel makes sign for "wrong") Any more sons? #3—Shammah (wrong)
(etc. for sons #4-7) Jesse says to Samuel, am I not blessed with wonderful sons? Samuel says, yes, but don't you have any more? Jesse says, well, there's the youngest, but he's just a kid; we left him to watch the sheep while we came to eat with you. Samuel says, I want to see him. So his youngest son, named David, is introduced to Jesse. (angel makes thumbs-up sign). God says, this is My chosen one, a man after My own heart. So Samuel gets up and anoints him (pours fragrant beads on head) and blesses him (makes sign of cross). Then Samuel leaves. Sure enough, after Saul dies, David becomes a king who is pleasing to God. God is truly a (add "all-knowing" to poster, have all read) God, knowing a person's future and the secrets of his heart.

Game: God is all-knowing; how much do YOU know? We placed different colored, different shaped construction paper in a row on the floor. On each was a different letter of the English alphabet, a different number, a different English word, and a different Chinese word. As kids "landed" on different shapes they would be asked either the shape, color, letter, number, Chinese or English word. Correct answers got gold stars.

Craft: David was not only a king, he was a musician. So we made "lyres" out of tagboard and rubber bands. One of the few crafts the kids were interested in taking home!

Bible study: Psalm 139:1-4

In the afternoon, several of us took an hour's bus ride to a village up in China to visit the former caregiver of one of our kids. Enjoyed that outing together very much, and we think Auntie Hing did too! But the boy she used to take care of wasn't able to come this time, so we'll have to make another visit some time before too long!

God is all-wise

Another slow day at MLFF, with only three families in attendance. There was a Special Olympics event going on, that is understandably, though disappointingly, a bigger draw than church for our unbelieving families. But we did go ahead with our regular program this time.

Our story was from I Kings 3:

Israel's most famous king was named David (crown one boy). But today we aren't going to talk about David. After he dies, his son Solomon became king (first boy sits, second boy crowned) Now, Solomon was still young, and concerned about whether or not he would be completely accepted as king. One night, when he was sleeping (lies down on mat), he has a dream. (angel with halo flies in, S. sits up) God says to him, whatever you ask Me, I will give you. S. says, please give me wisdom and understanding to be a good king for Your people. God says, you have asked well. You did not selfishly ask for riches or honor or long life or revenge on your enemies. So I will give you the wisdom you want, wisdom greater than any king before or after you, but I will also give you riches, honor, and long life. (angel leaves, S. gets up)

One day after this, Solomon was on his throne when two women came to see him. (S. sits on fancy chair, two girls come to him, one holding doll). Girl 1 (holding doll) says, the two of us live together. Recently we both had baby boys. Last night when we were sleeping, she rolled over on her boy and killed him. But then she took the dead baby and put him in bed with me, and took my baby to bed with her. So this morning I thought my baby was dead, but then when I looked more closely, I saw that the dead baby was hers. Girl 2 says, she's lying; her baby is dead! This baby is mine! (grabs doll) They continue yelling no, it's mine, (grab doll back and forth)

Solomon says, okay, okay, quit fighting! You say it's yours, she says it's hers…give the baby to me. (give doll to S.) S. calls a soldier over (boy with sword) and says, take this baby and cut it in two. Each woman can have half. (Soldier raises sword over head) Girl 2 kneels down and says don't kill the baby! Let her have it! But Girl 1 says, no, the king has the right idea; half for each of us. S. tells the soldier to stop & says, give the baby to girl #2. She is its real mother. (soldier puts down sword, gives baby to Girl 2)

***

Our Solomon did not quite get the idea of sitting up in bed; he wanted to either sit up or lie down. It took him three tries, but he finally got it right. Everything else went very well.

For a game, I had covered a large foam die with fabric on which I had written the characters for wisdom, understanding, riches, honor, revenge, and long life. Each child (or adult) would throw the die and read the character. For the "selfish requests", they would receive a piece of cereal from a small cup with the same label. But if they threw wisdom or understanding, they got a piece of cereal from each of the six cups. Very popular game!

For our craft, we had stickers of animals (made from computer clip art) which, unlike the baby, had been cut in half. The rear half of each animal was already stuck to a piece of paper, & the kids had to find the proper front ends to match & stick on. (I possibly could have left some sets completely "unstuck" for the kids to find the pairs, but I was afraid it would be too frustrating for some)

For Bible study, we looked at James 1:5-8 & 3:17. The verse from chapter three was to help us not doubt God's wisdom, by helping us recognize it through its characteristics.

Well, God knew I needed a break from the constant push of preparing new material every week. Heavy rain this morning kept a few of our families away; others were unable to come for various reasons. Only our core family, the Leis, and one boy whose caregiver leaves once the Leis arrive (the caregiver speaks no Cantonese, and takes Sundays off, so the Leis have agreed to "adopt" Man Chun on Sunday mornings).
So rather than do our usual routine, we just sang and then had sharing and prayer. Oh, and we did play what will now be next week's game--Ka Hei and Man Chun will definitely not mind playing this one again. (It involves food!)
Today was the Leis' 20th wedding anniversary! Congratulations!

God is Unchanging

Our story this week is/was about a very famous Bible character we've heard about before: Abraham (introduce boy as A.) He is not famous because he was a perfect example, but because of what God did in his life to show His own faithfulness.

One of Abraham's famous ancestors was Noah. (introduce boy as N) Do you remember who Noah was? (ask all) (give N. picture of ark as a hint) Did N. know God? (ask all) Yes, he did, but his descendants gradually forgot Him and started worshipping other gods. A's family was like that. But when A. was 75 years old (tape #75 on front of A's shirt), God told him to leave his family and go to a land He would show him. (angel with halo flies in to tell him to go). God promises him that in that land, He would make A. into a great nation. So, A and his wife Sarah (introduce girl as S.) get ready to travel (both don backpacks). A's nephew Lot wanted to go to (introduce boy as L), so they brought him along (dons backpack). (The three walk together to large sheet of green paper on one side of room & take off backpacks). The first thing A does is build an altar and make an offering to God (stool, sticks, picture of sheep he tears up & puts on sticks, pours shredded yellow & orange tissue paper on for fire) He says, starting today, we are God's people in this land.

But before too long, the weather isn't good and there isn't enough grass for all the sheep. What should A do? (ask all) Instead of praying and asking God's help, he decides they should all go down to Egypt! (put on packs again, walk to large sheet of brown paper on the other side of room). Things go pretty well there for a while, and both A's and L's flocks increase (give each pictures of multiple sheep & goats). They have almost forgotten God's plan! But God hasn't changed His plan. Eventually A. and the king of Egypt (introduce boy with crown) have an argument, and the king of Egypt tells him to leave (pushes A away). (all walk back to green paper) Well, when they get back there, they soon decide it isn't very convenient for A & L to live near each other because of all their sheep needing more grass. So finally, L. leaves (sits down)

By this time A. is over 80 years old (change number to 80+). God again appears to him and says, I am definitely going to make you into a great nation here in this land. (angel flies in, congratulates A). A says, well, but I'm already over 80 years old and I don't have any children yet. Even my nephew doesn't live with me any more! How can I even become a LITTLE nation? But God says, trust me. I have not changed my mind, and I will bring it about. (angel leaves) Not long after this, S. says to A, I have this great idea. Since I am too old to give you children, why don't you have children with my maid, Hagar? (introduce girl as H) Was this a good idea? (ask all) But does he do it? (ask all). Yes, and so when he was 86 years old (change number), H had a son, named Ishmael (give doll to H) A was quite pleased with himself for coming up with this great solution, and celebrated. (passes out red eggs to all adults present—a Chinese tradition when a baby is one month old) Everything seems to be just fine, God isn't punishing him or anything.

But when he gets to be 99 years old (change number), God appears to him again and says, A! I haven't changed my plans for you! I am going to make you into a great nation! A says, yes, thank you, do bless my son Ishmael. But: (angel does sign for "wrong!") God says, you know, when I first created man, I said that a man was supposed to cleave to his wife, and I haven't changed my mind about that either! My plan has always been to bless you AND YOUR WIFE with descendants. A. says, but we're SO OLD! But is God still God? (ask A) Can God do anything? (ask A) Does God lie? (ask A) Well, then! (angel flies away) And sure enough, when A. is 100 years old (change number), Sarah has a son, named Isaac. (give doll to S.) When God first gave this promise to Abraham, how old was he? (ask all, hold up #75 next to number on A's shirt) How many years before he saw the proof of it? (ask all) But did God keep His promise? (ask all) But did A. have to be perfectly obedient for God to keep His promises? (ask all)

**So, that was the story. For our game, I put out the same number of letters in a large circle on the floor as we had kids. Each child got a corresponding letter label on his shirt. The object of the game was, like God, no matter how many other things changed, was to get back to the original thing. Each child, in order, kept throwing our large die and moving that number of letters around the floor. When a child landed on his or her letter, he had "won" and was out of the game. We never finished playing the whole game though. We had eight kids, so it was taking forever for them to get back to their places and they were getting a bit antsy. Though I always prepare for extra, I had only been expecting five kids—I think it would have worked a lot better with the smaller number. So, if anyone out there has a better game idea for this concept of God's unchanging nature, please give suggestions!

The craft was easy & cute. Each child got a single-serving size Pringle's potato chip can with a section (maybe a third of the can) already cut out from top to bottom. Their job was to paste wrapping paper on the outside & ends of the can, line it with cotton batting, stuff a cotton ball in the gap behind the face of a "baby" (these great person-shaped plastic spring clips I'd found at an educational store in the US), lay it in the cradle & cover it with a little piece of cloth for a blanket. When the kids had completed the craft, they received the chips from their can, which I'd reserved in little plastic bags (SO glad I'd prepared just enough cans!!) Boy was THAT a hit! The kids have never been that totally well-behaved during the free time, munching happily & then enjoying playing on full tummies.

For Bible study with the adults, Bruce focused on Numbers 23:19