"Let the little children come to me . . ."

Nearly 10 years ago, God added to my (Jenni) call to ministry. I had known since I was ten years old that I was called to full-time ministry. At that point, I felt called specifically to be a missionary. In 2002-2004, I really struggled with my call. I knew that God had called me/us, but what was taking Him so long to get us into ministry? So, in 2004, God whacked me upside the head (He has to do that to me from time to time), and showed me that He could use me right then and there if I was willing. Then He opened doors into children's ministries. I had always enjoyed helping out at VBS and being a camp counselor, but I had no idea the joy that would come from being a Children's Pastor. It was through children's ministries that I received the call to become ordained. It was through children's ministries that I learned about all of the strengths that God had given me. It was through children's ministries that I developed a passion for discipleship of all ages. Over the years, my involvement in children's ministries has varied dependent on where we've been and what the needs were. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that I'm already involved in children's ministries here in not one, but two churches! And it shouldn't surprise anyone that I absolutely love the days when it's my turn to teach!

On Wednesday evenings, I'm teaching the elementary class at Dumas Naz once a month. We've been using a VBS curriculum and I get the memory verse and games night. Right up my alley! I've absolutely loved teaching this class and getting to know the kids at Dumas Naz.

Ms. Rena and Ms. Jackie helping some kids with their memory verse activity.

Isn't she a cutie?

My two little monsters working on their memory verse.

And then there is Cactus Iglesia del Nazareno. I've agreed to teach children's church every Sunday evening that we're in town. So far its only worked out for me to teach twice, but we should be around for me to teach the rest of the year. The first week I taught, I only had Olivia, Eli, and a 3-year old little girl who only spoke Spanish. Thank goodness I had Iris, my teenage helper, there! She was a big help with the 3-year old. I can get along okay in Spanish, but I'm quite rusty and little kids are so hard to understand in another language. Still, it was a great class!

Iris and the kids at children's church

Then there was tonight . . . I was very excited about the lesson I had prepared from the EPIC curriculum (GREAT curriculum from www.nph.com!!). But, oh boy, was it difficult! We had 8 kids ranging from age 2 years through 4th grade. 4 spoke only Spanish, 3 were bilingual, and 1 spoke only English. Iris took the two youngest into the nursery. I asked Vito to come help me so I could teach in English and he could translate for those who spoke Spanish. I had games, crafts, Bible story, questions . . . all prepared and ready for a great class. It didn't go quite as well as planned . . . culture barriers and language barriers abounded. Let's just say that I need to get a bit more creative! Thankfully I had play doh in my bag and that seemed to do the trick!

Play doh reaches all cultures and languages!

Working on creating their favorite thing that God created. We had tigers, vegetables, and trees!

"Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14