Draga Mama

We were not able to post anything last night because the internet was out, so I (Jordan) will be catching you up on two days.

We spent the better part of the Thursday morning class helping the students write a "Dear Mom" or (Draga Mama) letter. This went very well. We worked individually with the groups of students, showing them, and our wonderful helpers from the church, how to insert pictures into the letters. Alissa had typed up a sample letter for the kids that they were able to use and change if they wished. Many of them did use that letter, making small edits and adding pictures, but other typed up their own.

During the chapel lesson used a cool demonstration to illustrate Jesus dying for us on the cross. The demonstration uses colored water to represent our sin. Mankind is represented by a penny. The penny is placed in the water and the water covers it, symbolizing the fact that we are covered by our sins. At this point, I lit a candle, representing Jesus, and placed it in the water. Then I took a translucent bottle and placed it over the top of the candle, telling the children to watch what happened. The candle burned away the oxygen in the bottle, lowering the pressure inside the bottle and sucking up water from the container in which it was placed and away from the coin. But once all the oxygen had burned away the candle went out. I told the children that this represented what Jesus did on the cross: He took away our sin, but in the process He also died. The I took the candle and re-lit it, telling the children that Jesus did not stay dead but rose from the grave.

The second class for the day was even fuller than in previous days. It was again split by age, with a group of elementary school kids and a group of teenagers. I spent most of my time working with the teens. As previously mentioned, there were a couple of teens in the group that were difficult at times, preferring to play games and be distracting, rather than follow along with the typing lessons. On Wednesday one of those teens miraculously decided to settle down at the end of class, and even decided to forgo playings games so that she could type. I spent much of my time on Thursday trying to help her. She stayed somewhat on task and definitely portrayed a much softer side of herself than she had during the previous days.

On Friday (today) we taught the kids in the first class how to use email and instant messaging. They enjoyed learning how to write emails, but when our email server software broke we decided to cut short that sections of the lesson and moved on to instant messaging. I think the kids enjoyed that much more. The instant messaging software was set up much like a chat room, with everyone sending messages that were visible to everyone else. They greatly enjoyed talking across the room on computers and playing with the emoticons.

The chapel lesson was focused on the need to do more than just know the story of Jesus and what He did for us. We need to trust Him and believe that He can actually take away our sins. This was illustrated with the story of a tightrope walker. The man walked across the tightrope with a wheel barrow without ever falling. After coming back, the man asked if someone was willing to get in the wheel barrow. No one wanted to. That is the difference between knowing and believing: belief requires that you take action that depends on and completely trusts the other party; knowing only requires that you can repeat facts.

Then we had a graduation ceremony for the kids. The parents were invited to the ceremony. Most of the kids had at least one parent present, making and already crowded room very cramped. As the parents entered, the children continued typing so that the parents could see our class in action. We welcomed them and explained what we taught the kids and even demonstrated a song. Then we passed out all of the graduation certificates and CDs. The CDs contain several games, several typing programs, an electronic Bible, and a few other programs.

The second village was much the same as it had been the days before. Again, I spent most of my time with the teens, helping them along. As with the children in the first class, we taught them how to used email and instant messaging. Our email server crashed again and we were forced to move on to instant messaging sooner than originally planned. But, once again, the students were highly entertained by the instant messaging setup.

Both of the more distracting teens were fairly cooperative, which was an amazing answer to prayer. We continue to pray that they will become soft-hearted towards the gospel. Even over the course of the week I can see how they have changed. Both began to participate far more than they ever have before and both had opened up significantly. Hopefully they will continue to grow and be drawn towards Christ.