Sunday School Teacher Training #2

Last weekend (Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8) was a whirlwind of excitement, encouragement, education, and exhaustion!  It was our second Sunday School Teacher training - first in 2015!

It was a wonderful time of fellowship, sharing, and learning.  20 teachers were in attendance representing eight of the eleven Evangelical Methodist Churches in El Salvador.  The theme of this training was “The Adventure of Moses.”

“These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, by which they came out from the land of Egypt by their armies, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses recorded their starting places according to their journeys by the command of the LORD, and these are their journeys according to their starting places.”  Numbers 32:1-2

Original shot of front cover photo - These are children who attend Sunday School at La Providencia Methodist Church.  The photo was taken in front of the church after Sunday School.  Moses is in the center and his "sheep" are grazing!

 

 

 

It’s one of our favorite stories.  A baby saved by the help of a basket, chosen to be grandson of the King, and called to lead God’s people to freedom from slavery.  It’s a story that you have probably heard many times.  But how much of the REAL story do you REALLY know?  

These lessons invite teachers and students to dig deep into God’s beautiful images of salvation as He leads Moses and the Israelites to the very edge of the Promised Land.  This unit begins where “The Family of God” unit ends…with the death of Joseph and a new Pharaoh who knows absolutely nothing about Joseph or his family…and especially nothing about the God of Joseph’s family.  

“The Journey of Moses” unit is packed with 10 lessons for students of all ages.  Each lesson includes a memory verse, Bible story, and suggested activities to help students plant seeds of God’s Word into their hearts and live it out in their lives.

Book of Lessons and Packet of Materials

Each teacher in attendance received a copy of the book and each church in attendance received a packet of resources (construction paper, scissors, paint, foamie, tape, a dry-erase board,….) to help with activities that support the lessons.

Similar to the first training, we read through the lessons, practiced some of the activities and made some of the crafts.  We also made a map of the Exodus that teachers can use as they teach the lessons to help students visualize the location of the stories and to help with reviewing the stories.

 

With sincere prayers, I hope that the teachers and students using these materials will enjoy learning the real story of Moses.  I also pray that through these lessons they will encounter the God of Moses, the great I AM.  It is my hope and desire that they will come to know this great I AM as the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the very same God of today.  The God of you and me.  A God who is firm and loving and desires to bring His Kingdom and Salvation to ALL PEOPLE.

This was a real learning experience for me!  I have been in awe of God as He is using me as a vessel through which to pour out these lessons.  He is continuing to develop skills in me that enable the development of this process.  This time around I learned a lot about the importance of PLANNING AHEAD.  Preparation for this training was incredibly stressful as the lessons weren’t completely ready for printing until the day before.  (Needless to say, I freaked out a little!)

So, this time around...I’m working from a timeline.  The next training is scheduled for the last weekend of May – so I have printed a calendar of each month in between now and then.  March, April, and May.  And I’ve mapped out exactly what needs to be completed by when.  And I’m actually a day ahead of schedule!  WHAT?! 

For those of you who know me well – who’ve either lived with me or worked beside me – know that this is a major accomplishment for me.  I am a happy procrastinator.  I usually work best under the pressure of the last minute.  Which means I have moaned to friends about how “next time, I’m gonna start sooner.”  And when next time comes, it’s the same race to the finish.

I can do that when everything is happening in my first language of English – but when I’m having to function in my second (not fully developed) language of Spanish ---- the last minute is just toooooooo stressful.

But, no matter the sum of all of my short-comings – God’s work never comes back void!  He works in spite of me.  I imagine He has rolled his eyes at me a few times!  But, He still gets the job done.  And thanks be to God, 10 lessons were written, translated, edited, printed, and distributed.  Now comes the fun part – seeing the lessons in action!  

Here I am earlier in the day - all smiles!  Spanish muscles in full force!

Oh - And I almost forgot to tell you - I did this training all by myself, without a translator!  All (well, mostly all) in Spanish!  A few of the attendees are fluent in English, so they helped me when I got stuck.  We even made a sign of one word that was difficult for me to say.  So, for the next training, we're going to make signs all over the room and build my vocabulary as we go through the training!

 

Here's a little later in the day when I'm pulling from my Spanish reserves!

I shared with the teachers in our training that it makes me so excited to think about how God is going to advance these lessons even more now that they are in the teachers' hands.  As they read each lesson in preparation to teach it, God is going to give them new ideas just for them and their students.  The words on paper will take on new life through the efforts of the teachers teaching them.

All this is a work that cannot be completed alone.  A big thanks goes to Fernando who patiently translated each lesson.  Many thanks to Jonathan who designed the front and back covers and who carefully edited the contents.  A thousand thanks to the students who contributed artwork.  AND many, many more thanks to the teachers of the ministry of Sunday School in the Evangelical Methodist Church in El Salvador – YOU continue to pass our faith in Jesus to many generations ahead.  Your work is of eternal value and I pray that one day you will hear the precious words, “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

The next unit is still in the very early stages of development.  It will begin with the story of Joshua.  I am still discerning if there will be some other stories involved, or if Joshua has enough to  Please pray that I keep on track with my work time-line, that I receive discernment from the Holy Spirit about the content of these next lessons – but most importantly, please pray for the teachers and students as they get to play with the Moses lessons.  I know God will do great things through these lessons and their obedience to serve Him through the ministry of teaching!

say for 10 more lessons.

Sunday School Teacher Training - The Family of God Lessons

It was a special joy to lead a two-day training for Sunday School teachers.   It was my first time leading a training since being officially sent to El Salvador as missionary in the area of Christian Education.  Needless to say, I was very nervous. 

How many teachers would attend?   

Would they be able to understand my Spanish?  

Would I understand theirs?  Would I have enough supplies?  

Would they like the lessons I had created for them?  I had so many worries.

 

But, as I’m learning to expect with full confidence, God showed up in a mighty way!

We met at the Methodist Mission Residence Saturday, December 20 through Sunday, December 21. 31 teachers attended – some with many years of experience in teaching and some with no experience teaching and some in the middle, but all came with hearts committed to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with their students.

 

 8 of the 11 Methodist Churches were represented. 

We spent our time discussing what it takes to be a committed Sunday School Teacher.  We learned about multiple learning styles, how to incorporate multiple learning styles in our teaching methods, and we also explored the new curriculum that I am developing for the upcoming year.  

Jonathan was there to help with translation, but we were both surprised at how well my Spanish had grown and found that not as much translating was needed as we had originally expected!

Teachers received a book of 9 original lessons that I have written specifically for the Evangelical Methodist Church in El Salvador.  (A HUGE thanks to Fernando and Jonathan who help translate these lessons from English to Spanish!)  Teachers also received supplies to help them teach the lessons, including an interactive family tree of the Family of God, mapping the connection of Jesus to the nation God promised to build from Abraham's descendants.  These lessons will be taught in the months of January and February 2015.

The theme of the lessons is “Family of God” and begins with the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah and closes with the death of Jacob after his is reunited with his lost son, Joseph in Egypt.  The purpose of these lessons is to teach children the stories of the Patriarchs of our faith as well as to help them understand how we are each invited into this family of faith through the love and free gift of Jesus Christ.

I incorporated an element of “make-and-take”.  Teachers made tic-tac-toe boards with Velcro Xs and Os that they can use to help their students review each lesson.  

All in all, it was a great way to bring a close to 2014 and look forward to 2015. 

A God-Designed Afternoon

Have you ever wondered what a real life angel looks like?  Have you seen one with your own eyes? 

Well, today I can say I have been in the presence of an angel.  Her name is Fidelina (fee –day-lee-nah), or as some of the kids call her, Hermana Fi (Sister Fee.)  

This woman has a sincere heart for the Lord, and a mission to share His love with the children of her community.  She walks with the joy of the Lord each day and I am so very thankful to call her my friend and my sister in Christ.  

Today was different than other times that I have walked with Fidelina.  Today we only picked up one family of kids.  Well, we actually didn’t pick them up.  The rain changed our plans into a visit.  Actually, I believe God changed our plans to pick-up kids into a visit with their family.  Which was surely His plan all along!  

This family is so precious!  Three of the kids come to the children’s ministry every, I mean EVERY afternoon since they started coming.  Their uncle (who is 15) joins them occasionally and they have a younger brother (1 year and 3 months) old who isn’t quite old enough to join them each afternoon.

These children have stolen my heart.  They are so innocent and so sweet.  I spend a lot of time playing the game Memory with the two boys and a lot of time playing dolls with their younger sister.  She’s a hoot!  And she’s taken a liking to sitting in my lap…I often can’t get her out of it!  Which is just fine with me.

Last Friday, I was chatting with one of the boys.  He was asking me questions about my house and I was asking him questions about his.  He asked me where I lived and then asked if my house had light or electricity.  I told him yes.  He told me that his house didn’t, but it would get it soon.  I asked him if he had candles and he proudly replied “yes.”  

The kids had hamburgers for snack on that day.  Our conversation while while he was eating.  He looked down at his hamburger bun and said, “we never have food like this in my house.”  I said, “you don’t?  Well, what do you eat at your house.”  “We eat tortillas and beans.”  I replied, “Delicious!  I love tortillas and beans!  Do you like them?”  He smiled real big and responded with “yes!”

He described to me where he house is and I knew the exact area of the neighborhood he was describing.  Well, I thought I did until I went there with Fidelina today.  In times past when I’ve walked with Fidalina to pick up the kids (before this family began coming with us) I learned well a particular part of the road that has been completely washed out by the rain.  It looks like a gigantic drainage ditch.  Today when we reached this spot, Fidelina began to turn and walk towards what I viewed as a ditch.  She looked back at me and explained that their house was down that “road” and we would need to walk with care.  It would take time to get there, she explained.  I was already making a plan to stay and wait for her to return with the kids when their grandmother walked up from behind us.  She greeted us and motioned for us to visit her home, ensuring me that she would help me get there.

So these two, sweet ladies, each at least half my size, took each of my hands and guided me down into the “ditch.”  One in front of me and one behind me the whole way, helping me with each step.  It was precious and very humbling all at the same time.  I didn’t think we would, but we made it to the house.  And just as soon as we got settled in some comfy chairs, the bottom fell out of the clouds and rain began pouring.  And the road-ditch that we just traveled down became a roaring river.

The ladies explained to me that we would need to wait for the rain to stop and for the water to clear before heading to the church.  No problem for me!  I got to visit with the sweet family.  The grandmother, the mother, and five kids.  My lap was full with a little girl while we chatted.  

This family has a story that is fairly typical in my experience in El Salvador.  The mother and her children have recently moved in with the children’s grandmother and  15-year-old uncle because their father recently passed away, leaving behind a single mother and four children.  I don’t know the exact illness, but it was described to me as very rare, and very fast, and that towards the end of his life he was unable to move much.  Their whole life was uprooted in order to move in with family that would help them.  The children had to change schools in the last quarter of the school year.  

I imagine it’s a pretty difficult time for this family.  Thanks to God, they have supportive relatives who have welcomed them home.  And the mother has temporary (6 months) work through a government program that provides jobs for women.

The smiles that illuminated from the faces of each family member told me that this family is full of the joy of the Lord.  Joy that illuminates no matter what circumstances are present. 

Well, it turned out that we didn’t go to the church after all.  Norma, the other teacher who helps each day in the children’s ministry called Fidalina to ask if she was coming with children.  When she explained we were waiting out the rain, a decision was made to wait to have class tomorrow.  That’s when the crying began.  The little girl of three years, was very, very disappointed.  She loves going to class at church each day.  She was so disappointed that she really didn’t talk to me anymore.  Hopefully, by tomorrow I will be back in her good graces!!!

On our walk home, I told Fidelina that I was thankful that God allowed me to have that visit and to see that place.  Even though I went with different plans, God’s plans were a beautiful, adventurous surprise!

Afternoons like this are so important to the work I am called here to do.  It would be so easy for me to remain in the comfort and safety of my home writing lessons at my computer.  I could simply go visit churches on Sundays and write lessons Monday through Friday.  But spending afternoons like this helps me understand the context in which many of the children who will receive these lessons live.  God loves them personally and wants to help me speak to their specific situations.  I praise God that He gifted me with this beautiful afternoon!

Wherever you go I will go,
    wherever you lodge I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people
    and your God, my God.

Ruth 1:16