Highlights of Family Campaign--June 2017, Part 3

We spent Monday morning sharing at a public school in San Salvador.  Tuesday morning we went to a public vocational school in Apopa and shared in two different classes.  The lesson we taught was "Redeeming the Time," which came from the life of Samson.  The director of the school was so happy with the presentation that she invited us to return on Wednesday morning to share the lesson with the 7-8th grade students.  Since the school originally scheduled on Wednesday had not confirmed our visit, we were happy to return to the school in Apopa.

Thursday morning we went to the central park in Santa Tecla and shared one-on-one.  Obviously, the parks are quite a different environment from the schools, so the parents had to keep a close eye on their kids.  I was privileged to translate for the Batton family and both of their children.  Adam shared the gospel using his soccer ball and Ana, aged 6, shared the gospel with the evangel cube.  She was so matter-of-fact with her presentation, "This part of the cube represents that you need to make a decision.  Do you want to reject Jesus and spend eternity in hell or do you want to accept Jesus and spend eternity with him in heaven."  As adults, we could do well to share the gospel like a child and not try to over complicate it.  

 

Friday morning we traveled to Aguilares and shared with a rural school.  Not only did the group share the lesson and gospel, they brought each child a new backpack filled with school supplies and at least 2-3 pieces of clothing.  The children were so excited--the smiles on their faces tell the story!

Highlights--El Salvador Campaign, Part 2

Monday through Wednesday morning we were in schools in Lourdes and on Thursday morning we were in a school in Apopa.  The value lesson for the week was about "Kindness."  Here is an assortment of pictures from the week.

 

Final El Salvador Campaign, 2016, Part 2

Here in El Salvador the school year wraps up at the end of October/beginning of November, so Guillermo was concerned that he wouldn't be able to go to schools during the campaign.  God had other plans and he was able to find schools for four of the five days during the week.  The team shared the lesson on respect--something that the kids here need to learn.  Here are some pictures of our week:

Costa Rica Trip--Wrap Up

If the trip ended almost two weeks ago, it's definitely time to finish up the blog entries.  

During the week, we had the opportunity to share the "Forgiveness" lesson in two high schools.The lesson has several great illustrations, including the use of a backpack and three or four large rocks.  Adding rocks to the backpack one of the students is wearing illustrates what lack of forgiveness feels like over time.  The burden can manifest itself as bitterness or pride and it gets progressively heavier as we refuse to ask for forgiveness or forgive others.  When we are forgiven or offer forgiveness the load we've been carrying disappears.  This is a very visual illustration for the kids and before the lesson is over there are almost always some students who are crying.  The most exciting result is that they begin to understand that Jesus offers them forgiveness, no matter what they have done up to this point in their life.  The come to understand that all they need to do is admit their sins, believe Jesus died and rose from the dead and confess their sins and ask forgiveness.  He is faithful to forgive them.  Praise the Lord, there were 150 professions of faith in the schools in Costa Rica.

   

June Campaign, Sharing in the Schools

We were able to share in five different schools during the week.  Some of the schools were quite small, while others were large.  Four of the five were public K-11 schools, while one was a public vocational school.

The 30 people on the team were divided in to 8 groups.  The value lesson for the week was "Forgiveness."  There were close to 600 professions of faith across the five schools.  

Tuesday was a special day in the school, Canton Las Tunas.  This rural Aguilares schooll has only 190 students; half of them come in the morning and half in the afternoon.  Guillermo, Manuel, Hayden and I visited the school the previous week to see if we could schedule a visit.  The director was very excited to have us and invited all of the students and their parents to come during the morning.  It's always a special privilege to be able to share with the student's parents.  At the conclusion of the classes, we were able to distribute a gift bag full of clothes, school supplies and hygiene items.  The kids and the parents were so excited to receive the gift bags.