by Joy Casey in Ethiopia
written on 4-29-17
I had so much fun today! For weeks I had been looking forward to spending time with the kindergarten children at our Mana Gammachuu kindergarten. The lake baptisms of new converts was on Friday, so we let school out for the day and asked the teacher and children to come back Saturday morning for a special time.
Simply the Story (STS) is an oral story telling method that incorporates an oral inductive Bible study. It is extremely effective with adults and children alike. I chose the passage from Luke of Jesus calming the wind and the waves to share with the children. Pastor Zerihun was my interpreter, and he was wonderful interpreting everything with animation into Orominya. They observed that only God could still the wind and waves. So who might Jesus be? The children were encouraged to be like the disciples and call on Jesus when they were in need. Jesus would always hear them.
I brought crayons with me and after the story asked them to draw a picture of the story. With names proudly printed at the top of the page, they hung their pictures on the wall of their classroom with evident pride.
After recess and snack I taught them a simple song with hand motions… “God is good to me. God is good to me. He holds my hand and helps me stand. God is good to me.” They were so sweet singing the lyrics in Oromo that Zerihun had taught them.
In the last progress report, the teacher noted several children had no shoes at all, so rubber shoes/sandals were purchased for the whole class.
A generous donor gave to purchase children’s Bibles (thank you!!) so I bought some in Addis to bring to the kindergarten children.
Seven of the kindergarten children had made a confession of faith with their teacher this school year. They each were given Bibles and the rest were left with the teacher to use to reinforce faith with other children and to use in the Sunday school. What a wonderful day it was!