Kids Small Groups

Tuesday we geared up for a long day of serving and loving on the kids in the Santa Rosa, Laguna neighborhood of south Manila.  We were blessed with the opportunity to return to Learning Links (a private school) to share lessons on being CONFIDENT.  The children of the school were full of joy as Ashley, Noah, and Kaito shared the story of David and Goliath, created crafts together, and presented them with the magical box filled with the most important person in the world—they looked inside and saw their own reflection in the mirror — their reactions were absolutely precious! Aaron, Antonio, Lyndsey, and Paige led the children in worship.  The children had SO MUCH FUN as we danced, sang, and sweated together!  We invited them to join us at Saddleback at the Monochrome this upcoming Saturday for weekend services.  We can’t wait to see those sweet faces again this weekend! :)

Today was a much-needed and anticipated day full of KIDS.  The team was once again divided up into two as they returned to their CGF home churches in the morning or afternoon.  Here is the day's summary by "team:"

Team Busanza - Rosser, Prater-Telles, Marin, Thornton, Kearley & Uhrig Families

• Morning spent with 2 classrooms of 12 and 17 preschoolers from Four Square Church all about Daniel and the Lion's Den (singing, story, game, questions and craft).
• Afternoon returned to Busanza for a final VBS-style time focusing on the principle of serving.  Children walked away with the challenge to serve their neighbors with a simple staple of rice and beans.  And Pastor Gideon of the children's ministry was deeply touched by the team's generosity and love over the last few days.

The team had a great day full of serving opportunities. They are having a blast connecting with SK Manila volunteers and reaching out to the community. They went to a school named learning links which is where they taught leadership skills to the kids. They were teaching 3 different classes and after today was such a hit they now are spending all day their because so many teachers are a fan of what the kids get to learn. God is opening up great big doors for Christ to be shared and for Saddleback Kids to get connected to more people in the community. They also passed out flyers and promoted VBS to several communities so that kids will come in the next couple of days to their VBS camp. Please pray for health as they are very long days and everyone is adjusting still. We also ask God that the team continue to move as God leads and that we they are aware of what He is doing. Thanks for your support and prayers!!!

The focus of today was a cultural immersion experience.  We began with an orientation at the PEACE Plan Offices with sweet Mary.  Lots of great information and questions answered about all things Rwanda.  Then we headed to an anything but Rwandan feeling lunch; Chipotle was basically transplanted here through Meze Fresh.  Yummy!

And then the experiences continued as the team visited a large outdoor market, experiencing the daily bustling life of Rwandans.  Then it was on to the Genocide Memorial to understand the before, during and after of the 1994 genocide.  Hearts were broken as each team member grappled in his/her own way to digest what was seen and heard.  Great debrief time as a team later in the evening.

Finally, we wrapped up the day with two more sessions of Purpose Driven Children's Ministry with another crowd of about 35 church leaders.  Many new faces since we were at a different church at the end of  a work day.  Can't wait for our all-day training to be wrapped up and then applied on Wednesday as it is a national holiday with July 4th's Liberation Day upcoming.

Pray for continued strength, unity and peace amidst and through the team.  God has truly blessed us with a wonderful blend of gifts and talents.  Great things still to come!

Let's just say that these first two days of ministry have been action-packed such that the team was positive we have been in-country for much longer already.  Church in Rwanda is always an extra special experience.  The two teams from Saturday returned to their Kimironko and Busanza churches. Kevin, Jenna and Liza shared a sermon for the 9:00 am adult & children's Sunday School then spent the remaining 2 1/2 hours (yes, they do church long and deep in Rwanda) working with the 150 kiddos in CGFC's children's ministry.  The Busanza team similarly taught Sunday school with a KSG lesson for the children for an hour, gathered all together to worship and then returned for another 2 hours of children's ministry.  The morning was filled with worship, Bible stories, crafts, games and MORE.

After a long, relaxing lunch of Rwandan pizza, the first round of Purpose Driven Children's Ministry conference began.  Doug, Lexi, Sarah, Greg, Deana and Madelyn did an incredible job kicking things off with Session 1: Purpose.  There were 35 children's leaders from 8 different churches in Kigali.  They were challenged, inspired and eager to return for the remainder of the conference over the next few days.

Bottom line, the team is feeling great in spirit, mind and body.  Pray for their hearts as connections are already being formed.  Also, pray for their hearts to grow in compassion and hope with a "cultural" day tomorrow.  Pray for a few upset tummies/headaches that they will go away after a good night's sleep.