We had a great weekend in the beginning of May, bringing the kids through an “Encounter with Jesus” retreat.  It was physically hard being with kids an entire weekend, even during breaks you are “on duty” because kids destroy things, or jump off balconies, when left alone J.  I was wore out on Monday, but it was well worth it to see how God worked in their lives during this weekend.  On this weekend, we taught the children about sin and repentance and about the Cross where Jesus paid the price for our sin.  We shared with them the importance of feeding on the Word of God, how they are fearfully and wonderfully made, and we had a session on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

 

We had several kids this retreat who had never been in the church and may have for the first time heard that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins.  It was really amazing to see kids so hungry for God and receiving from Him.  The subject I taught was  “fearfully and wonderfully made” Psalms 139, for the kids we call it “you are special”.  I shared with them how I came from a big family and that I was usually known as someone’s sister, or just thoms because they couldn’t keep all of our names straight, and this made it hard for me to realize that I was special and unique.  It changed my life when I realized that God loved me and created me for a special purpose.  Honestly, I don’t know how the kids received it, but several of the leaders really enjoyed the message!

 

It was really a great weekend, and it was a delight to the kids lives changed by the power of the Cross!

Day 3 of our conference I left the adult world and brought our kid’s ministry to Africa!  The kids have been having their own conference, with a different ministry team teaching them about “The Kingdom Culture”, different cultures around the world and the culture of the Kingdom of God.  Day 1 was in Lebanon and the Middle East, Day 2 in Brazil, and now on Day 3 were are taking them to Africa.  This is a great joy for me because Africa holds a special place in my heart.  I spent 2 weeks in Africa, and much more time studying the culture and history of the region of the world.  Had the Lord not sent me to the Middle East I would have gladly served Him in Africa. 

 

We started our morning with worship African style - dancing around the church with drums and other African instruments, and with the leaders in African attire.  The children had lots of fun, and it wore them out so that they wouldn’t have enough energy to misbehave J (only problem is that I wore me out too!).  We then showed the children PowerPoints and videos that taught them about African culture and showed them some of the problems African children are facing: hunger, poverty, AIDS.  Our children were really shocked to see some of the photos, they were filed with compassion to help Africa and learned to appreciate the lives they have in Lebanon.  We also taught the children about tribes in Africa and then divided them into groups and gave them “tribal markings”.  Through games and videos, the children were able to learn a lot about Africa.

 

The highlight of our day in Africa was having Steve Mills speak to the children.  Having lived in Africa for over 20 years, he was able to give the kids a first hand account of life in Africa and tell them how exciting it is to serve God as a missionary.  He then asked anyone who had a desire to be a missionary to come for prayer.  10 out of around 40 kids went to the front!  These children may be young, but I believe that God will begin, now, to put desires in their heart for the plans that He has for them.  It is an honor to be a part of planting seeds in these children that will one day bear fruit around the world!

Mat 21:9  And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

Wow!  Palm Sunday is very exciting at Abundant Life Church.  We gathered at the church at 10 am and then headed off to the streets.  We marched through the streets of Bourj Hammoud, Beirut declaring the triumphal entry of our King!!!  We sang “Hosanna in the Highest” and other songs lifting up the name of Jesus throughout the neighborhoods around the church.  Many people came out of their homes and shops are were taking pictures.  It was an amazing experience to be able to sing and shout praises to our King and proclaim Him Lord over our city!

After eating too much, we headed back to church for the evening service.  I was helping with the kids this weekend.  We taught them a dance to perform in front of the church for Palm Sunday.  The song was "Better than Life",  and danced their hearts out while singing "I can't stop falling in love with You!"  The kids had a great time and the church really enjoyed seeing them dance for Jesus!

This was my first weekend with the kids since I returned from Kuwait, so it's been two months.  It was so great to see their smiling faces.  It gave me much joy has they practiced their English with me (most of them are learning english), and the same for them as I practiced my Arabic.  I love to be with the kids and be able to show them the love of Jesus with hugs and high-fives, letting them know that they are valuable to me and they are valuable to God. 

Two days after Christmas, there was a speacial community outreach for the children.  It was amazing as over 400 children filled the sanctuary of Abundant Life Church.  There were even children from the families of the Shiite muslims that the church reached out to during the war last summer.  The atmosphere was electric, as you can imagine from the craziness of having so many kids running around.  It was so fun watching the children singing songs and dancing for Jesus.  The story of Christ's birth was shared with them.  The message of salvation was given through the "Wordless Book"  where colors are used to explain that our lives were dark with sin and it is the blood of Jesus that makes us white as snow.  It was a wonderful opportunity to sow God's Word in so many young hearts.

I had a great time eating and spending time with friends who are family to me, but the highlight of my first Thanksgiving in Lebanon was being with the kids.  The weekend after Thanksgiving was my rotation for the children's ministry, so the ministry staff thought it would be great if I taught them about this holiday we have in America.  As I said in the previous blog, the Lebanese don't celebrate Thanksgiving but they know about it from movies and watching t.v. shows.

I was excited, but at the same time a little concerned about how to get children in Lebanon interested in something that happened in America hundreds of years ago.  I decided to focus on what we can learn from the Pilgrims.  We sat the kids on the floor, turned out all the lights except for some Christmas lights we had strung up.  This got their attention, I think I could have talked about anything and they would have a been interested.  I told them the Thanksgiving story and emphasized how they Pilgrims had to trust God to take of their needs and that He did by sending them the Indians to help, and that the Thanksgiving holiday commemorates the first feast that the Pilgrims & the Indians held to thank God for their harvest.  The children were very interested in the hearing about this (they didn't want to leave our huddle on the floor when teaching was over).  We spent the rest of the evening teaching them about being thankful.

That was Friday night, on Sunday night I asked them a few review questions about the Thanksgiving story, and what we can learn from the Pilgrims.  They remembered what I taught them and answered the questions correctly.  Mission accomplished!  We showed them pictures of Pilgrim men, women and children (the room was filled with laughter) and the homes they lived in, and the same for the Indians.  We finished the weekend by having the kids make Thanksgiving Turkeys with the outline of their hand.  I think every American kid has done this, so I could not let the Lebanese children miss out.  They loved it, even though turkeys are not common in Lebanon.  I had them write 5 things that they were thankful for on the fingers that made the feathers for the turkey.  After we were finished, the children were showing off their turkeys and telling everyone the five things they were thankful for.

 It was a very fun and fulfilling Thanksgiving weekend with the children.