God loves us.
We love God.
God loves others.
We love others.
By serving others,
we are the hands and feet of Jesus.
And, people see in us
how much God loves them.
Last week, 15 of our elementary children (plus three friends) memorized this motto, explored its meaning, and practiced being the hands and feet of Jesus in our community. During the four days of Camp Kairos, these 1st ā 4th graders amazed us with their understanding and their actions.
Each day began with a review and discussion of our Circle of Serving, a ābulls-eyeā graphic with God in the center, then Me, Family, Community, and World in expanding rings, that helps us understand our role as followers of Jesus. Through Bible study and a variety of experiences, we learned that we are each made in Godās image, with similarities, differences, gifts, and interests that make us special, not to brag about, but to use to serve God by serving others. Planting flowers in pots we decorated and visiting with some amazing animals (Have you every petted a chinchilla or a hedgehog?), helped us understand our responsibility to enjoy and care for the natural world.
Many of our Bible studies explored Jesusā instructions about and example of caring for others. As we learned about wants and needs and poverty and homelessness, we had the opportunity to visit CAC (Community Assistance Center) and experience their work helping people who are experiencing poverty have access to the basic needs of shelter, food, and clothing. The photo above shows all the campers crowded on the scale used to weigh donations – approximately 989 pounds of campers. We decorated and packed birthday bags for children whose families are served by CAC, and we packaged dogfood for those special family pets. We also packed snack bags, some which will be distributed by CAC and others to keep in our vehicles to share with neighbors we encounter who ask for assistance with food or money.
We ended the week ātravelingā to Haiti, learning about the culture and living conditions and āmeetingā some of the Haitian people while tasting Haitian foods. Campers whose families sponsor children through Kairos and Haiti Outreach Ministries (HOM) shared about their sponsored children. As we continued focus on our global neighbors, we learned about refugees and created beautiful cards to welcome refugee children to a new school year.
While Ms. Eli and I (and the children) found ourselves tired at the end of the week, our hearts and minds were filled with gratitude for the time and experiences with our campers as together we were able to JOIN Godās ongoing work in the world. Last week, many people in our community saw how much Jesus loves them through the words, smiles, laughter, and service of these young followers of Jesus.
Many thanks to the parents of these children for joining in this experience. Special thanks to Christy Coole, Rachel Dahm, Jessica Sykes, and Corrie Inman for being our parent helpers and to Jane Wilkinson and Jo Ditzel for leading our travel in Haiti.
– Jan