Bible Club Week 4

Before going to Bible Club we had to get a treat for the clubbers. We happened to be on the other side of Kingsport so used the Thomas' Wal-mart as I call it. Mrs. Thomas lives near that Wal-mart & when I am trying to distinguish between our regular one & that one, that is how I refer to it. We purchased a large pack of snack sized Skittles - approximately 40 packs.

Upon arriving at Girls Inc., we got set up, the figures ready & I was able to pray for each seat. Since it was a dreary drizzling at times, raining at times kind of day, the girls were all playing in the gym. I could hear them talking excitedly about the coach. Finally we heard the activities director announce that it was time to clean up the gym & line up on their lines. The girls did so & then a quiet descended upon the gym as the activities director made the announcements. This week is the beginning of a new time schedule. From M-Th, Girls Inc. is open until 7pm. But on Friday they close at 6:30pm. They also are now charging $3/minute/child for however long they have to stay after the closing time. That was one announcement made this afternoon. Followed by "please make sure your parents are here to get you by 6:30. That's a lot of money if they're not." The girls were all agreeing. They also learned that in 2 Fridays they would have their Halloween party & the Thursday before that they would be allowed (if they had behaved & completed all homework) to go trick-or-treating at one of the assisted living places. The girls were excited about that. Next week is the last chapter of this Sunday School Charlie story so we may just not go the week of Halloween. They'll be eager to go get their candy from the "old people" as they call them so there won't be that many on that day.

Finally those that wanted to go to Bible Club were dismissed to our room. We ended up with 14 girls. 2 little girls told me they would be in club as soon as they proved they had done their homework. Only 1 of the 2 came. I guess the other 1 had not finished. I asked the girls their names (I do know quite a few of them) and also asked them to tell me what their favorite thing about school. Most of them said science & history. One girl said math & a few said recess. Only one said lunch...her reasoning for that was that was the only time she could talk with her friends.

We then went into chapter 4 of Missionary to Slocum Alley. Charlie sits in the missionary conference & is excited to see the native items that the missionary speakers have brought to show. The missionary who is giving the sermon that day tells the boys & girls that God wants YOU to serve. I put a pentagon on the board with the word YOU on it. Then I put a triangle on each side of the pentagon. Each triangle named something we can use to serve God - heart, time, wealth, love & body (our feet to take us to someone, our hands to serve, etc.). The speaker pointed out that the triangles on each side of the pentagon now made a star. He also said that our lights are to shine. The girls (at club) really liked that. Charlie goes home & as he's in bed trying to sleep, he keeps thinking how can I tell Red about Jesus. The next morning, Charlie takes the $2.13 out of his piggy bank, gets on his bike & rides to Slocum Alley to see Red. Red is not home & Charlie learns he is at the river. Charlie rides to the river & discovers Red has fallen into the river at "The Bend". Red can't swim so Charlie dives in after him. We left Charlie hanging to a very thin shrub (losing his grip) and Red is digging his sharp fingernails into Charlie's ankles. The girls were VERY disappointed.

John came up & led them in "Wide, Wide as the Ocean", "I'm a Missionary's Helper", "Stop & Go" & "Untold Millions". Then we played the ice cream game (Meltdown) again. I have a few more made up but took this one. After we ended the game, we sang "The B-I-B-L-E" while John added up the scores. After that John gave them 2 of the snack-sized Skittles packs. We dismissed them & then went to purchase groceries for this weekend.

John is responsible for the menus for Teen Retreat. So instead of having hamburgers, we're having lasagne - Aunt BJ's recipe as we call it. For breakfast we're going to serve biscuits & gravy for the teens. We have done that one other teen retreat & they like it. We, as staff, also like it. Lunch will be the teens favorite meal - taco salad. We did buy some bread so we can serve pb&j sandwiches in case none of the other food is acceptable to these teens. You know how picky eaters are.