Friday Night Children and Ladies Bible Study

The Friday night ladies group is rolling again. We have prayed about it and understood that for the neighborhood group to grow and continue for a long time we need to have a children’s class. Grace has graciously opened her home for the ladies group and her basement for the children’s class. The basement walls and floor are covered with smooth white tile, so it resembled an empty fish tank when we started. GaoYan ordered some little tables and chairs and Grace covered the floor with interlocking foam mats. SaSha, from our student studies, helped stick colorful alphabet stickers on the wall. For me it is kind of like the ultimate children’s Bible class challenge. I have little experience teaching children, yet another area where my Chinese is weak, and ages range from one to eight. However, we have good help. Grace watches her one year old son and XiLe (one year old) MaMa encourages the older kids to sit down and listen. For Creation we used a box and cut a circle hole in one side. We used a flashlight to shine into the hole, “Let there be light.” In the box a zip lock bag of toilet paper was the sky and a zip lock bag of water for day two. And so on, the kids learned the order of God creating our world. The second week Jane and her two girls, ChongChong and GuoGuo, ordered a nice big cardboard Noah’s Ark. The third week was Moses and crossing the sea. CoCo MaMa brought the bed sheets to ripple resembling the walls of water, one pink and one a green flower print. We are encouraged by our neighbor’s excitement to contribute to the study. Upstairs they are studying lessons from the Sermon on the Mount, treasures in heaven and do not worry. Linda taught a lesson on the beatitudes. XiLe MaMa leads a few songs to begin each week. GaoYan said she only feared for my life in the basement one night. That was the night we were crossing the sea. A new boy named Promise and his MaMa came for the first time. GaoYan noticed how Promise’s MaMa teaches and disciplines her three year old son in the neighborhood and invited them to the study. Also, Jane’s husband has come two times. Pray for better organization of the children so they can understand God’s message from the Bible. Pray that God will use our group to change lives and change families.