Last week I spent most of my days in Termini Imerese, a small town about 30 minutes from Palermo. I was there to help out with Settimana Felice (Happy Week-equivalent of Vacation Bible School). I worked with a few of the people from the church at Termini to organize and run this week as smoothly as possible. This was the team I worked with.
That's me on the left, then Tuula, a Finnish lady that lives in Palermo as well. She drove us from Palermo to Termini every morning and one day she even taught the kids how to make a Finnish pastry that they loved!
Next to her is Marilena, she is the Termini pastor's wife. Marilena coordinated the snacks every day and kept us on track with the time if we took too long just for one activity.
Then there's Anna in red. She ran the rehearsals for the sketches of the final show. She came up with most of them herself and chose the songs. She also coordinated the crafts for most of the days, as well as leading the songs in playing guitar with me.
All the way on the right, there's Ivana. She is also Marilena's sister. Ivana was in charge of preparing all the Bible lessons and teaching everyday. The theme this year was the Chronicles of Narnia, and she did an excellent job in relating the story to the Bible in a way the kids could all understand.
All in all it was a great week. It got tiring, and at times too hot to be in the small room without AC and 25 kids, but there's nothing more rewarding that seeing how much they enjoy it. At the end of the week, I had a lot of the kids ask me if I was going to be back again next year for this week and it saddened me to tell them that I wouldn't be able to. They looked somewhat disappointed too. I think part of the reason was that since I was the only guy, and also the youngest one in the group, I was put in charge of the games. So there's no doubt I was their favorite since I always had them running around playing!
...and of course, we just HAD to play some soccer!!!!
During this month there is also the European soccer championship going on. Unfortunately Italy is already eliminated but it was fun while it lasted. For every Italy game a bunch of us got together at the church and watched it on the wall with the projector. It was a lot of fun getting to be all loud and cheering together. This was last sunday when Italy got eliminated by Spain in penalty kicks.
I have this week back in Palermo and then I leave on Friday for Bari to help out with the Settimana Felice there all of next week. Keep me in your prayers as I travel back and forth and I try to keep up the energy all week to hang out with little kids!
That's me on the left, then Tuula, a Finnish lady that lives in Palermo as well. She drove us from Palermo to Termini every morning and one day she even taught the kids how to make a Finnish pastry that they loved!
Next to her is Marilena, she is the Termini pastor's wife. Marilena coordinated the snacks every day and kept us on track with the time if we took too long just for one activity.
Then there's Anna in red. She ran the rehearsals for the sketches of the final show. She came up with most of them herself and chose the songs. She also coordinated the crafts for most of the days, as well as leading the songs in playing guitar with me.
All the way on the right, there's Ivana. She is also Marilena's sister. Ivana was in charge of preparing all the Bible lessons and teaching everyday. The theme this year was the Chronicles of Narnia, and she did an excellent job in relating the story to the Bible in a way the kids could all understand.
All in all it was a great week. It got tiring, and at times too hot to be in the small room without AC and 25 kids, but there's nothing more rewarding that seeing how much they enjoy it. At the end of the week, I had a lot of the kids ask me if I was going to be back again next year for this week and it saddened me to tell them that I wouldn't be able to. They looked somewhat disappointed too. I think part of the reason was that since I was the only guy, and also the youngest one in the group, I was put in charge of the games. So there's no doubt I was their favorite since I always had them running around playing!
...and of course, we just HAD to play some soccer!!!!
During this month there is also the European soccer championship going on. Unfortunately Italy is already eliminated but it was fun while it lasted. For every Italy game a bunch of us got together at the church and watched it on the wall with the projector. It was a lot of fun getting to be all loud and cheering together. This was last sunday when Italy got eliminated by Spain in penalty kicks.
I have this week back in Palermo and then I leave on Friday for Bari to help out with the Settimana Felice there all of next week. Keep me in your prayers as I travel back and forth and I try to keep up the energy all week to hang out with little kids!
