This month, we have been teaching at local schools and also hosting an English Club at our church.
English Club looks a little different every day but typically we have somewhere around 8-20 kids, always more boys than girls (sometimes it is only boys), from the ages of 10-16. We do presentations, play games, (some that are just silly, some that are actually educational) and try to get to know the kids. We usually pick a topic for each day which sometimes works out but sometimes just gets thrown out the window depending on activities and the number of kids. Needless to say, “English Club” has transformed into all sorts of different things- some intentional, some not so much but they’re all fun.
“Ninja Club”
So this was unintentional but the kids LOVE to play Ninja so we play it at least four times a day (absolutely no exaggeration on that, we really do). Our friend Tolik, who is also our translator, is a master at Ninja so the kids always try to beat him. Let’s just say the Americans don’t ever win.
“Workout Club”
Also somewhat unintentional but we play a game called 100 where you sit in a circle, everyone gets a piece of paper, and there is one pen and two die in the circle. Everyone gets to roll and they are trying to get doubles. If you get doubles, you grab the pen and start writing numbers from 1-100 as quickly as possible. Everyone else keeps rolling and when someone else gets doubles, they rip the pen out of your hand and start writing their own numbers. Anyway, this keeps going until someone gets 100- but it’s not over yet. You then have to subtract whatever number you got to from 100 and then you have to do that many squats… I once got zero and had to do 100 squats- I’m still upset about it.
We also play a lot of games that involve running around so yes, our kids are definitely getting their daily exercise in at Workout/English Club.
“Jesus Club”
This has been, by far, our favorite part of English club- getting to share the gospel with the kids. Some of the kids are from our church and we get to see them on Sundays but some of the kids come from the schools where we teach. It is always a sweet opportunity to help them make friends with one another. It also gives kids an opportunity to have a positive experience in a church that they may not have experienced previously. The entire goal of English Club is to help the church reach out to more kids in the area and share the gospel with them so getting to be a part of that is really special.
We made Kingdom bracelets to share the gospel. We had a movie night where we watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (which is basically the Easter story) and talked briefly with the kids about the sacrifice that Jesus made for each of them. We played a game called Noah’s Ark all about pairs of animals. We try to bring up Jesus and the Bible as often as possible and seize every opportunity to show the kids God’s love.
Ultimately, English Club is planting seeds- seeds from which we may never get to see the fruit. But, what we can see are the connections being made. We see the new friendships developing between the kids. We see the kids feeling more comfortable being in a church. We see them meeting the pastor and youth leader of the church so that if they come back, they will be known immediately.
God is using us to plant seeds and then hand over the task of caring for the seedlings to our church here in Ukraine. We have to put aside our desires to see results and simply do what the Lord is calling us to do.
One day, when we can all celebrate together in Heaven, it will be worth every second.
