Welcome to kid’s church!

I know I posted a blog like three days ago, but I’m going to post again for this past week! I feel like not that much happened this week, so I’m going to double up with my prep for children’s church on Sunday and share my thoughts on the passage I taught from. Two birds with one stone, am I right? 😂

Back to (pre)school

We went back to help at the preschool this week on Wednesday and Thursday, which was overall uneventful. They did discover that my hair is really fun to play with, which turned out to be a lot more fun for them than it was for me, but it lessened the state of mass chaos, so I was good with it. I did have to have Aliya and Maya help detangle my hair on Thursday night, so I’m thankful for their help with that.

On Friday we also worked at the preschool, but without the students there. So instead of teaching, we helped set up for the Christmas show that night. It was pretty chill with just setting up chairs and decorating a little bit.

Then in the evening we got to go to the Christmas party and watch all our students perform their little dances. My class did their dance to “Angels We Have Heard on High” and dressed up as little angels. They were so cute! ☺️

The preschool teachers wanted us to also dress festive, so I got to borrow a red dress. It was kinda fun to dress up for the night.

For dinner they got us chicken fingers and French fries, which was awesome. I love Wanida’s cooking, but a little more familiar food here and there is nice. There were also donuts, and we took most of a box home with us, which was nice that we could share with the kids at the children’s home.

I don’t think we did anything else this week. I already told you guys about our Chiang Mai day trip. I am so hype for debrief and spending Christmas with the whole squad. It’s going to be awesome! Christmas is still Christmas in Thailand. I have to keep reminding myself that. Homesickness is hard. So I’m looking forward to the people I will see to distract from the people I’m missing at home.

Look at Jesus

First, scripture:

“Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”” –Matthew‬ ‭14‬:‭22‬-‭33‬

Peter is great. I love that he sees Jesus, and he wants Jesus to prove Himself by asking him to risk his life and get out of the boat into a stormy sea. That takes some guts. He just goes for it based on initial faith. And it works! He just starts walking on the water strictly by faith. That’s awesome.

And then he stops looking at Jesus. He gets distracted by how scary his circumstances are and loses faith. Notice how looking away from Jesus is what causes him to start sinking?

Even though he doubted, Peter still turned to Jesus and called out for help. He knew the stormy seas were too much for him on his own, so he called out to the only one who wasn’t shaken by the weather.

Jesus was right there to help Peter when he called out for help! That means that even when I mess up and stop looking at Jesus and life goes south, He’s still going to be there to bring me back to Himself. God is so good like that!

So the moral of the story is that Jesus is the answer every single time. Looking at Him helps us to do really hard things. Trusting Him makes the impossible possible. And even when our faith isn’t big enough, just the little bit it takes to call out to Him is enough.

That’s really all I got this week. I’m super ready for a break. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Prayer requests

• Pray for the squad to love each other well over Christmas.
• Pray for safe travels for our squad mentor and coaches as they travel to be with us for debrief.
• Pray for rest for my squad.
• Pray for our hearts to be prepared for another season of serving in Albania.