Gospel Week Day 1

Our day started with breakfast, followed by a team devotion led by Stan. He shared from 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, which was the perfect message for our first day of serving. It was a powerful reminder that our job is to be faithful servants who do the specific work God has given us. We were reminded that we can't and shouldn't worry about the results, because the "growth" is God's job alone. We really took that message to heart as we headed out for the day.

When we got to the school, we were met with such a warm welcome from the staff and all the kids. Kids are so cute and incredibly energetic!

Our first task was to sort all the craft materials that had been shipped. We quickly ran into our first challenge, a lot of the things we ordered were missing. We were definitely challenged to be flexible and creative. We had to change our original plans, but everyone pitched in. We started prepping the materials for the craft, using what we have, which meant cutting out 120 cardboard hearts. It was a great moment of teamwork. A big thanks to Margie for jumping in to help us get it all done!

The theme for this whole week is the Gospel, and our goal is to teach it using the Wordless Book. It’s a simple and powerful tool that uses five colors to share the story of God's love.

Each color has a special meaning:

• Gold: Represents God’s good plan for creation

• Black: Represents sin, which separates us from God.

• Red: Represents Jesus's blood, shed for our forgiveness.

• White: Represents a clean heart, washed free of sin.

• Green: Represents growing in our new life with Jesus.

Our plan is to teach one color each day. Today’s lesson was on gold, so the teachers taught the main lesson about God’s perfect creation and heaven. Our team's job was to help the kids put together the pages of their own Wordless Books. We split into pairs and went into the different classes to lead the craft time.

The kids seemed to have a great time making the book! It was definitely an adventure in the different classrooms. The first graders needed a lot of extra help; it was a bit chaotic, but they were troopers and pushed through to get it done. Meanwhile, the older students finished up much earlier than we expected, so Stan and Vathy had to get creative and play some games with them to fill the time!

It was a full, challenging, and fun first day at the school. It was truly a humbling experience. As we head into our next day, we would be so thankful for your prayers on these things:

Bonding with Teachers: We were a bit overwhelmed today and missed the chance to eat lunch with the local teachers. Please pray for wisdom and opportunities for us to connect and build relationships with them.

Tomorrow's Craft: The craft for our next lesson is a little more complex. Please pray that we have the wisdom to explain it clearly and that the message of the lesson will be easy for all the kids to understand.

Lastly, Thailand team arrived safely and please pray that everyone has a good rest and ready for day 2!