The "Southeast Asia CI" Blog: Growing and Growing (in God!)

Although the days seemed to be getting shorter and shorter as CI’s Malaysia week reached its midpoint, the relationships built had grown stronger and deeper and it suddenly felt like the time we had in Malaysia was running out!

Earlier that morning…

After grabbing a quick bite for breakfast, we headed down to the lobby and off to the office where we would have our devotions and teacher training. For devotions, we focused on how God is the ultimate truth and how the realization of that affects us. Brilliant were shared and we were given good, wholesome food for thought.

As this was my first time teaching in CI, I found it extremely helpful that we were shown examples of how we could teach the lessons during the teacher training. The principle for the night was Responsibility and the character quality was Self-Control. We would also be learning how Jesus is the Door (John 10:9).

Shortly after splitting up to plan the lessons and crafts with our teams, we had lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant. We then walked back to the hotel and were welcomed by a pleasant announcement: we had more than one hour to rest and recharge before heading off to the church!

We had almost 3 hours to prepare for our craft materials, plan our lessons, and have dinner before the children arrived. While it may sound rather dull and boring, I actually found it to be quite therapeutic.

Later that evening…

The children were really responsive and attentive during the lessons and it was a great joy watching them enjoy themselves during the games. They were thoroughly entertained by the funny skits and seemed to enjoy making the crafts (especially the clothespin “monster”). However, I pray that that they won’t just understand the lessons, but that they will remember them and apply them to their daily lives.

It’s amazing how God can teach you through different, unexpected things in your life. For instance, God used the children in my group to teach me patience and obedience on a whole different level from a fresh perspective.