Friday, June 24, 2011

Meet Maile



Exuberant, energy filled, and eager to learn about Jesus!  Out of the girls that I am discipling, she might just be the most excited! They are all excited, but she is ecstatic! Tuesday she blessed our food and included in her prayer…. “ Dear God thank you for the food and please please please make Aunty Kelly stay in Hawaii.  That was her prayer request Tuesday too! She went out of town yesterday, so she was not here when we met today. I took the girls to Pizza Hut (They were besides themselves. When the check came, they didn’t know what it was. They also wanted to take their drink glasses home with them. )   Back to Maile, she was riding on the bus home and saw it at Pizza Hut. We waved and stated that she was going to be sad that she missed it. Meanwhile, Maile is getting off and the next bus stop and making her way to Pizza Hut to join us. (Just one way life in Hawaii is different from on the mainland.)  Today we reviewed our lesson from Tuesday. Tuesday I used the storying concept with them to talk about to talk about assurance of salvation using the story of Jesus when he was telling the Jews about how we are like sheep in John 10.  After discussing how I am teaching them the true stories of the Bible  so they I can teach them to others, I asked if  any of them wanted to re-tell the story.  Maile’s hand shot up and she exclaimed, “ Jesus is the Shepherd. Christians are his sheep and will not perish. God gave the sheep to Jesus. No one can snatch us out of God’s hand or Jesus’s hand. God is all powerful and God and Jesus are one! “ She definitely understood the main point that is conveyed in John 10:22-39. We also talked about prayer and looked at the Lord’s prayer as an example.  She wanted to close us in prayer and was careful to include praise to God, asking for His will, for God to provide for our needs, forgiveness for her sin, and help for her to forgive those who hurt her.  She is a true doer of the Word  (James 1:22) and an encouragement to me and my walk with the Lord. Pray that precious Maile will continue to grow in Christ and stand steadfast in the truth!

Throughout my conversations this week with youth and kids alike, I have noticed how over and over again the divisions between the different people groups have come up. I have heard how the Chuukese youth are picked on at school. I have heard which groups fight which groups, but today broke my heart the most. One of my little girls had a Chuukese skirt which I was complimenting because they are very beautiful and unique. When she found out that we were going out to eat, she commented on how she shouldn’t have worn the skirt. When I asked her why, she said it is because other kids make fun of the Chuukese and would make fun of her if she was wearing the skirt.  Upon arriving at the restaurant, she was no longer wearing the beautiful skirt.  There is a great division here between the different cultures here in Waianae and it is really sad to hear the kids talk about it.

Much love to all of you!!  To those of you who are going to camp next week, I will miss you and be praying for God to move mountains in these preteens lives. 

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