Our combined Kids Club and Teen Time students enacted the nativity for an audience of 80 apartment residents and volunteers on December 17. Christmas carols were sung and the gospel and invitation to receive Christ was given. Christmas treat food bags were given door-to-door at every residence, hot chocolate and cookies were served at the performance, over 60 door prizes were given out and Bibles were available to anyone who desired one. New students were registered by their parents to join Kids Club in the spring and several interested adults signed up for Bible study and ESL classes. Thank you so much for providing the finances and gifts for this wonderful Christmas celebration! All glory and honor to God our Father! After the wonderful evening with our students and their families I received testimonies from two of our school volunteers about “God moments” they experienced the last two days of school before Christmas break. I know you will be blessed by their words:
Testimony #1: I had a really “positive” and exciting experience at Colonial Hills Elementary today!
I offered to read Mrs. Tondre’s class some Christmas stories when they were getting restless with the “secular” Christmas movies she was showing. So I went to the library and “happened” to pick up 2 books about Christmas—one was What Is Christmas? and the other, Christmas in Mexico. I had no idea what the books were going to say—it was ALL GOD! The first book talked about the real meaning of Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem!!!! It explained the angels, shepherds, and 3 wise men and all the symbols of Christmas including the star on top of the tree to remind us of the Star of Bethlehem that led the shepherds and the wise men to the baby Jesus. And it talked about how the idea of Santa came from a real man named St. Nicholas who gave gifts to poor children! (It was at that point one of the students in the class asked me—so Santa is really St. Nicholas?) I didn’t want to blow their minds with explaining Santa (not my place to do that), but I did say that St. Nicholas was a real man who died and what he did is what people think Santa does now. (It was a little tricky)—but the beautiful thing was when I started reading the 2nd book about Christmas in Mexico—it started with the same story about Jesus and Mary and the baby Jesus and how there was no room for them in the inn….2 books saying the same things and that in Mexico they believe that “kings” bring gifts to children on Feb. 2 (their “Christmas” holiday), not Santa. I said they got this from when kings came to bring Jesus gifts when he was a child and that he must have been pretty special for kings to travel great distances to bring him gifts. God just gave me all the words I needed to spread the true meaning of Christmas to these precious children. It was a sacred moment!
Then one of the little immigrant students from Afghanistan piped up and said they don’t celebrate Christmas in their country, but they have a time of celebration later in the year where they wear fancy dresses and go to parties like we do at Christmas. I said—“Yes, that’s right, it’s called Eid, right?” (I work with Afghan women teaching English so am learning all about their holidays!) I then said, “Isn’t it interesting how different countries celebrate special holidays? We can learn a lot from each other.” And I said, “How wonderful that so many countries are represented in this classroom (Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Mexico, USA) and we can all appreciate each other.”
Again…another beautiful teaching opportunity God gave me. I had prayed for that before I went to the school this morning—that Mrs. Tondre would give me an opportunity to read to the children—she did—and she didn’t stop me when it was all about JESUS!! PTL!!!!
I was blessed by God today. My heart is full!
Celebrating the true meaning of our holidays, Patty
Testimony #2: WOW, that’s excellent!
On Thurs, a girl from that class was hanging out with me on the playground & started asking me questions about Christmas... like REAL questions.
• How did Christmas start? (Shared John 3:16)
• Did God have other kids, too? (John 3:16 again – only son)
• Was Jesus a regular kid? (Yes, but he didn’t sin.)
• Who made the world? (Shared Gen 1:1. Both of these verses are in the Bible.)
• What’s the Bible? (God used many people over hundreds of years to record 66 parts to make the Bible to help us know Him.)
Thurs. night at Awana, I told the Sparkies (K-2nd gr) about that conversation. A couple of the kids’ mouths dropped open when I said she didn’t know what the Bible was. I told them to give their parents big hugs, thanking them for helping them know God through His word.
YES, God is working! Kay Ann Kyler