Hong Kong Day 6 (2012)

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well.  We had some good news waking up this morning.  It was downgraded to a typhoon one, so today could have all age groups present!  The great thing was this was the day we presented the plan of salvation, so we were really happy that they could make it.  We ended up having (can't remember the exact number) another record-breaking day with either 109 or 115 students!  It was crazy, but it worked out.

I made some adjustments to my class.  One of the adjustments that was made was made during class.  It came to me that these kids were only speaking chinese to each other and were not getting what I was saying right away.  Luckily, one of my co-teachers speaks chinese.  I had to translate the Bible story which was SO much better.  We're going to end up doing that for the remaining time.  It just never occured to me but over the years we have come to find that the younger the kids are, the more need there is for translation.  I have worked with preteens the past several years and forgot this fact.  That also explains a lot of the "behavior" difficulties that I encountered.  We are still VERY uneven when it comes to the boys and girls ratio, but that's okay.  The other groups from what I hear are going really well.  It is a bigger adjustment for me personally with the group I have this year.  This is also my first year not teaching with Courtney, and I really didn't take that into account going into it.  So, a lot of learning experiences for me this year!  Even though I've been doing it almost as long as anybody :-)

The story did go very well today.  I ended up going clear to the beginning of the Bible where God created the earth to talking about sin, the mess we are in, God sending Jesus, and the related response.  I ended up drawing pictures and using diagrams while Winnie translated for me.  They seemed to have understood.  On my end, I think I presented it as clearly as I could, so God will just work how he will.  I had some kids signed that they wanted to talk about the decision, so Zach or the pastor will take those kids individually and discuss that.  Hopefully that will open the door for their decision.  Just please pray for the kids and for me.  I think we both are trying to figure out what works!

After the VBS, we went to Jordan to eat lunch and visit the ICM.  I have posted about this ministry before, so I won't go into much detail (you can find these in my old blog posts).  More than before though, this ministry really reminds me of George Müller and his ministry.  Completely by faith, and God takes care of the rest.  Jennifer has been doing an outstanding job with her role there.  I am very excited to see what God does in her life as she goes to Seminary this fall.

Today is Hannah's birthday, so we are going to celebrate the American way and get some pizza (I don't care who you are, that's funny right there!)  I hope that everyone is doing well and have a great rest of the day!

-Scott

P.S.  Things to pray for
-Decisions from today (we haven't had any individual talks with kids yet)
-Weather (still rainy)
-ICM
-Strength for Team
-Patience
-My Group and figuring out what works and what doesn't