Emma is a 5-Day Club teacher, having gone through CYIA for three years. She graciously has shared her first 5-Day Club experience of the summer with us. Emma writes:
“On the three minute ride to 5-day-club, I felt nothing but exhaustion and discouragement. The previous day’s club had been, well, not exactly ideal. The children had seemed to have a moral objection to raising their hands [A way of indicating that they are interested in knowing more about the Way of Salvation] and had possessed far more energy than they could contain. And now, as we began to set up for club, dark, ominous clouds enveloped the sky. A gentle drizzle progressed into a torrent of rain.
Our club, full of bouncy, energized children, was uprooted from the yard and replanted in a little room in the basement. Yet these energetic kids paid attention, even with thunder rattling the windows and little to no room to move. After my Bible lesson, as I gave the invitation, Jonathon, a twelve-year-old boy, stood up and followed me to the back of the room.
And that was when my mind went blank. All of the hours I had poured into studying what to do and say, every practicum I had struggled through, left me. There were a myriad of distractions.The basement had begun to flood. The host was a mere three feet away mopping up the sopping floor. My teammate was teaching missions loudly and enthusiastically just behind me. Humanly speaking, this was the day when everything went wrong. All I can distinctly remember praying was, ‘God, please help me!’ And thanks be to God that He is gracious and does not expect us to lean on our own understanding.
When I asked Jonathon why he had come back to talk to me, he said, ‘Something inside of me told me I needed to come back here and talk to God.’ There were tears in his eyes as he told me that there was so much wrong with the world. There was so much sin. I asked Jonathon if he had ever sinned. He began to break down in tears, admitting to the time he had brought a water bottle into class when he knew it wasn’t allowed. As we continued to talk, Jonathon told me he wanted to trust Jesus as his savior. When he bowed his head to pray, there was silence. He looked up at me. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Tell God what you told me,’ I urged.
He prayed, confessing about the time he had disobeyed his teacher, and telling God that he believed Jesus had died on the cross and risen again to take the punishment for his sins. When he finished, he had to wipe his glasses on his shirt to clear the mist that had gathered. I had the privilege to give Jonathon his first Bible, and he carried it proudly back to club every day. That rainy Tuesday, God took everything that had gone so very wrong in my eyes, and used it for His honor and glory.”
Tomorrow continues the summer ministry that began at CYIA. This year has seen a myriad of Spiritual warfare in many different fronts. Will you pray and ask God to do mighty things through Emma and the other 30 CYIAers who will be teaching this summer? Will you also pray that more 5-Day Club host families will step up and allow these gifted teens to help them reach their neighborhood with the Gospel? Thank you for your prayers and support!
