Good News Club

For most of the time Jim was in the Solomon Islands,  I helped my sister Ginny (pictured above) with a children's outreach ministry in Mattawa, WA which is about an hour drive from where we are now living in Pasco.  This is where our family lived from 2005 until we returned to the Solomons in 2007.  She has run an after-school club for 2nd- 4th graders in the local elementary schoool for several years.

.   There is a time for snacks, games, songs, a Bible lesson, and a missionary story for anyone with parental permission.  This year we had a consistent group of about 30 kids come every Tuesday afternoon.  Many of the children were really interested in learning more about the Bible.  The boy in the photo below got to play the game of throwing the ball into the egg carton for points by enthusiatically answering the review game question of where the Bible verse for that week was found by saying "palms!"   He had learned the reference from reading it and not understanding the pronunciation of Psalms. 

 My part was to tell the missionary story and help with snacks.

The story this year was about a World War II prisoner of war in Japan who came to know Christ by reading the Bible.  When he obeyed the commands of Christ, his hate for his enemies turned into love.  His desire for them to know the forgivness of God led him to return to Japan with his family as a missionary.  

These children are also surrounded by the hate and violence of gangs in their community. The final day I passed out crosses with the Japanese word for love to help them to remember the death and resurrection of Christ  brings forgiveness and strength to love and forgive.                                                                            Pray with me for these young children to remember the command from Jesus in Mattew 5:44. 

  Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you.