Strategies
28/06/21 07:50
I continually told pastors they need to give more importance to teaching kids. Now I’m practicing what I was preaching, and gaining some practice so I can talk from experience.
I assume everyone has their own style. What’s working for me is telling stories, and having the kids illustrate them. The following photo is an experiment to illustrate Revelation 4, since we were talking about thrones and kingdoms. Using the Zoom white board, I assigned each child a part in this drawing, which is Jesus on the heavenly throne, surrounded by other thrones and a rainbow, with thunder and lightning. They drew all their parts in less than 3 minutes. Then I share the photo with them on Whatsapp so they can have a copy. Works for me at least.
In Person Beats ZOOM
23/06/21 13:23
We made a quick trip to Riobamba to check on our apartment and take care of some details. I had never personally met this family, but I've been seeing them on Zoom for several months now. They live in Riobamba (cousins of one family in Quito). So I had to stop by to say Hi. They live in some rented rooms on the terrace of a home. At one time they lived in Quito, but their business went broke and they moved to Riobamba, which is closer to their community, Capulispungo. I enjoyed seeing them (and their mom) in person. They did too!
The Quichua's Future
17/06/21 18:26
Segundo Manuel Puculpala, who lives far up in the Andes mountains, is a Christian leader among several Quichua communities, and whom the group from Fourth Pres visited and helped with a VBS a couple of years ago, calls me, “I’m coming to Quito. Can you pick me up at the bus stop?” (It’s about a six hour trip.) “Sure. What are you coming for?” He didn’t say right away, but we soon learned that he wanted to get a passport. Obviously, the only reason someone wants a passport is to travel to another country. (At least he wants to go legally.)
We picked him up around 5:30 and he stayed with us overnight. The next day he acquired a passport in less than an hour. So we had time to talk and ask what he plans to do with the passport. Turns out, some engineer wants to take rural folk to Spain for agricultural work. All Segundo needs is a passport.
Which brings up the issue: why do the rural Quichua want to migrate? For work. In my opinion, the grass always looks greener on the other side. Yet the reality is that the rural Quichua has no future in subsistence farming. Most will migrate sooner or later, looking for work in the city.
Another contact, Vinicio, who lives in Latacunga, has been calling me once in a while. Many of his relatives are migrating illegally to the US via Mexico. I keep telling him that he’s better off here since he has a university degree and a government job (which may not last long). So far I’ve convinced him to stay. In the last phone call he said that he had talked with a friend who has migrated and is now working in the US. He friend said that in the US you “work, sleep, work, sleep, and work.” Vinicio understood that you can make money in the US, but the lifestyle is very different from Ecuador.
May God give us all wisdom for the future. Proverbs 3:5-6 Matthew 6:33
Learning together 2
07/06/21 10:10
So I didn't get much response from last week's homework. Not sure why. Maybe it was too hard, or maybe lack of interest. This week I practiced with them online, and gave them a similar assignment for next week. Meanwhile, I tried another idea: use the ZOOM whiteboard and have them draw the scene of the Jesus healing the paralytic with the Pharisees watching. I assigned a figure to each child. They were drawing exceedingly well when I made the mistake of cancelling the whiteboard, and we lost our drawing. I was taking a photo of our work (which is recorded) when I hit the wrong button. So we're all still learning! The ZOOM meetings continue to challenge me, but I think the kids appreciate someone taking the time to spend an hour with them.