The Sweet Taste of Visible Fruits

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog, so I want to take a few minutes to catch you up on how I see God at work in my entrusted ministry in El Salvador.  You probably know my work is in the area of developing Sunday School curriculum for the twelve Evangelical Methodist Churches in El Salvador as well as training and encouraging the teachers of each of those churches in using the curriculum.  If I’ve had any extensive conversation with you since moving to El Salvador, you also know that writing curriculum is not something I have ever imagined myself doing.  But I am so in awe of how God works and how He has woven together years of experiences into a beautiful design that has prepared and equipped me for this very task.

Writing curriculum is something that is a healthy challenge for me…keeping me interested in the work and continuously grateful for the ways God reveals himself to me through the task.  The last few weekends have been especially wonderful as I have visited area churches who are using the curriculum.  I have enjoyed seeing how God has gifted them in the work of teaching and want to share with you some of the things I’ve had the privilege to see while visiting.  

As a children’s minister in NC, I remember sharing with teachers on many occasions that the seeds we plant in the students we teach may be ones in which we never get the joy of seeing fully developed, but we can be assured that God will continue to grow those seeds and will see the harvest.  I am so thankful that for my encouragement in this task of developing curriculum, God has allowed me to “taste and see” some of the fruits of my labor thus far.  Reminding me of the scripture “taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”  Psalm 34:8

The current unit being used in each Sunday School Setting is a series of 9 lessons from the book of Joshua.  If you've studied Joshua, you know that this is a book full of many battles.  So, you understand that I struggled in writing these lessons for kids.  But I felt convicted that is was the direction in which God was leading.  And was happy with the way He helped me frame the lessons in ways that will hopefully be applicable for the kids.  But I was so done with Joshua once I finished writing.  Getting to see these lessons alive has brought renewed excitement and conviction for me in the assurance of God's direction in this unit!  God is sooooo incredibly good...all the time!

 

This picture is from Los Horcones Methodist Church.  They are doing a memory verse activity with 12 paper bag stones.  This goes along with the story of when Joshua and the Israelites crossed over the Jordan River into the promised land and God instructed them to collect 12 stones from the bottom of the river bed to serve as a reminder to all generations of the great works God had done, is doing, and will do.

Los Horcones - Preparing to cross the Jordan River.

Los Horcones - The activity was intended to help kids act out the Israelites crossing of the Jordan River with two jump ropes.  I love how this creative teacher added blue water in between the two ropes.  And it was cool to visit with them the following Sunday and hear the excitement the children retained from this lesson.

Los Horcones - a new faith community for the Methodist Church in El Salvador.  The kids are so excited about Sunday School.

Los Horcones

This is the preschool class at La Providencia Evangelical Methodist Church.

Both of these teachers are fairly new to teaching Sunday School.  The book she is teaching from is the curriculum I wrote and shared with the churches.  I love getting to be a first-hand witness of the teaching of these lessons and how the kids receive them.

La Providencia Preschool Class

This is the intermediate class at La Providencia.  And this teacher is very special to me because she was one of the first children God used in El Salvador to capture my heart and to place a call on me to serve here.  I am so happy to see her now teaching Sunday School and sharing what God has given here.  In this lesson about Rahab's faith, Wendy encouraged her students to grow in the faith so that they too could one day pass it along to younger generations through the ministry of teaching.

El Shaddai Evangelical Methodist Church - Crossing the River Jordan

Seasoned and professional teacher at El Shaddai, reviewing the lesson about the tabernacle, as special place for God, from the week before.  I loved how she used some pictures she had in her supplies from lessons she had taught many years before.

Preschool class at El Shaddai - this teacher is fairly new to teaching Sunday School, although she has been a faithful leader and servant in the Sunday School ministry for a few years now.  She did a great job of wrangling the attention of these wiggly preschoolers!

Los Horcones Methodist Church - I'm really proud of these two young ladies and the ministry they are building with their parents.  Their father has been sent out as the pastor of Los Horcones to grow a thriving ministry in this community.  They started as a family close to two months ago.  Dad and mom lead the adult study while the daughters teach the children.  In a matter of weeks, they have grown to  a very healthy size of 25-30 kids each Sunday. 

I was excited to see this activity in action.  It was a review game of the previous lessons in the book of Joshua.  The kids did a great job of placing the photos in the correct order. 

Los Horcones  - I was thrilled to see the teachers encouraging the older students to read from the Bible.  A teaching method I stress in training sessions as a way of encouraging students to have comfort in dwelling in God's word.

Las Chicas Lindas de Los Horcones - The joy of fellowship I witnessed in this new faith community was truly contagious.  The girl in the striped shirt and blue skirt was here for her second Sunday with her older sister who attended the adult class.  I had time to talk with her sister and she told me that they had been invited by the pastor and a group of North Americans who came to share a bag of food with her family.  She had not been attending a church before this, but was very hungry to be in the Word of God.  She expressed joy in feeling a part of the great, big family of God.  I wish I had a picture of her to share.  Christ shines through the beauty of her smile!

I will be visiting more churches in the upcoming weeks and will share with you more photos so you can get to know the Sunday School ministries of each of the twelve churches a little better.  I am currently developing lessons on the Fruits of the Spirit.  Please pray that I will be obedient as God leads me in writing these lessons.  And that I will be open for the Spirit to lead the way.