Eight little girls in little plaid dresses...

Thursday was my last day to teach at the Government school. It was kinda sad...I probably won't ever see those little girls again! But I do know that they heard some good, solid Bible truths, and I hope that they can remember at least some of it for the future. The power of influence is great and far reaching- I hope I never forget that!

Every other time we taught inside, but as they were preparing for graduation, we taught out under the trees! My group usually had one other boy, but he was hiding!

They are sweet little girls...They always touch my heart!

:)

Here are some of the funny things they said through the course of the seven weeks I taught them:

"Ah miss, do you have children?"

"Miss, are you an actress?"

"Miss, you are real, real white!"

"Are you from England?"

"Miss, since you live in Trinidad, dat make you ah Trini!"

And that doesn't count the all the little snatches of conversation as they told me about their lives, siblings, dogs, cousins and neighbors! I love it! :) I'm going to miss it.

"Ah miss, I remember Eli! He de judge with de bad sons!"

Today marks 6 weeks of teaching the R/I (Religeous Instruction) class at a primary government school here in Trinidad. I teach about 6 girls, ages 9-11, my sister Anna teaches a similar number of 8-10 year olds and my sister Emily teaches a class of 5-7 year olds!

It has been such a good experience teaching these young children. There has been the challenge of culture, a little language, and disciplinary differences. But they are eager to learn the Bible and soak up the stories and truths like little sponges. Some listen well, other take a little more work!

When we moved we brought a few visual aids for teaching; space was limited but the few we brought are fairly versatile. Mom's felts are great! But even so, I needed something for the story of I Samuel 26- Saul chasing David, David sneaking into Saul's camp, sparing his life and stealing Saul's spear, to sum it up!

One rule I've found- Children don't have to have fancy stuff for the story to come alive to them!

So here is what I made- I used just a yellow card stock paper 8 1/2 by 11, white scrap paper, sharpies, coloured pencils and tape. I drew and cut out the pieces, rolled tape on the backs and carried them to class on the back of one of my other laminated visuals. I then taped them to the yellow paper as I told the story. The tape was just un-sticky(from all the handling) enough that the moving around part of the story worked ok. Ideally I would cover these in contact paper and make magnets so it could be used again. (I may do that still!) The children loved it and listened the best yet!

The Word of God is powerful even when teaching children. It's good to help the children really see and understand the Bible truths through tasteful visual aids. But they simply don't have to be productions. A little creativity, a little simple art and some work can go a long way, especailly if you live in a place where that's necessary. (Just a little note, if you're not good at art, then brush up on it! You would be surprised how much it would help in a number of ways!)

I'm sure there are lots of ideas and helpful sites online, plus there are several websites and stores within the brotherhood to help too. Let's take advantage of all our resources and instill in our children, and those we come in contact with the wonderful Word of God.

And that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. II Timothy 3:15