A girl chasing God!: ...........Update N- 1

Where to start? So much to tell!

My last post was from Friday Night, when I usually prepare my children's class for Saturday. Somehow, I couldn't think of anything normal, I couldn't prepare my "usual" class. Oh well, I decided to make this "contest" for the afternoon service with the kids. So in the morning, we had a great class, we had over 30 kids in the same room trying to pay attention in class (to me, actually), I have to say that I was starting to get really tired after the first 20 minutes. But they learned so much. So, it was more than worth it.

After I finished with my class, I had to practice with them the songs we're singing for Lord's supper next Sunday (SO FREAKING EXCITED FOR THAT BTW), and we sang those songs like a million times, I'm rehearsing them... so, my voice was so tired. After rehearsal, we had lunch up in the crater with my mom and my nephews & niece. We were literally having chicken soup like 100 steps from the crater (full view), weather was nice and I love that place so much.

What I really want to blog about was the MESS of that contest I decided to make. Actually, I had NO IDEA that that was gonna go so far from my hands and that they would have been SO competitive between each other. There were 2 groups, the "Green Group" and the "Blue Group". Each group had a leader and they were suppose to do all kinds of "tests" throughout the day. Like, make a logo, wear something of their own color, collect things (to make a babel tower afterwards, that was the point of the class), and they had to STUDY Genesis Chapter 11 (Babel Tower Chapter), and learn it because we were gonna have a contest of Questions and Answers to win points.

It all looked so pretty and fun. BUT, in the middle of the afternoon, right before our class began, they had this HUGE fight between each group and one group ended up destroying all the things that the other group had done in all day. They said bad things to each other, fighting and hurting themselves with words :( :(, it was so sad to see, specially when I came into the room to ask what had happened. I was in SHOCK when I saw them YELLING at me as if I was their sister or something. One of them was soooo angry, that he ended up having a fit and destroyed his own work. He left church and went back to his home and the rest of his group were fighting and arguing with everyone. IT WAS A M-E-S-S-. I didn't know what to say or do, I was so angry-frustrated-sad-disappointed at all of them.

This was kind of their faces.

I truly didn't know what to do, I was at loss. Then the class had to start, I spoke with confidence (and I admitt it, very angry at them), and I told them how disappointed I was of them, how bad I felt and how shocking it was for me to see all that I saw, their attitude, their actions and even the way things changed from being a "fun activity" to a disastrous afternoon. I punished them, told the little ones to go out to their class and I stayed with the big ones (the messy ones). I told them that I was gonna cancel every activity for the day.

Ok, I still don't know if I did right by doing this, but I have to admit that I just didn't want to be there, listen to them or even worse, give them a class. I was SO MAD. And so, I made them copy two full pages of that chapter, they spent like 45 writing it. I didn't let any one say a word all afternoon. And after they finished, I took all the sheets and asked them if they had a hard time writing all of it. They said yes (they still have a hard time writing too much, they're not that big), and so I took all of the sheets and I CUT them... all of them, right in front of their eyes. They were SHOCKED.

I said: you know, I love the Lord, I love working for him, and I do all things for him, I go to bed really late on Fridays to prepare your class, I do my best effort to make a great class for you guys, I study, I think, I write, I do things that are not that easy and on top of that, I have a million other things to do, but I still do it because of the love I have for God's work, but I ALSO do it for you!, I do it so you can learn something while you are still kids, I do it so you can look back when you are grown ups and say "I learned so much in children's class", I'm preparing you to be the next generation of Church's youth. I do it because I love you. And just like you felt bad by seeing me thorn your papers, that's how I FELT when I saw all that you did today, how you take the work I do and put it in the trash because you just don't care about the consequences of what you do with your actions. I'm very sad, and this is just so discouraging for me to see.

A kid stood up, came up to me, gave me a hug and said: I'm sorry, could you forgive me, please?

Another kid stood up and gave me another hug. One by one, they came to me and hugged me and said they were sorry. Tears were running down from my cheeks. It was a big moment for me.

And then, you know what happened? They gave each other hugs and all of them reconciled, said they were sorry and they all cried!. Oh what a moment. I will always cherish it. It was quite a lesson for all of us.

And so, for next Saturday, I will do my best to prepare their class, I will take my best effort so they can learn and fall in love with the Lord everyday of their lives.

Sunday :)

Completely different scene. Granny's 72th Birthday!!

Ok, one thing first:

When my family says "Birthday Lunch", is actually a synonymous of "Don't eat for 24 hours before lunch to have room for ALL that food".

We had Beef, Burgers, Chicken, Chorizos, Potatoes, Chives, Rice, Chimol, avocado, Chessee, Tortillas, this special gelato ice cream cake made by my uncle. Coffee, sodas, water, and more food. Yep, that's what we eat when we get together, healthy? DON'T THINK SO.

We had SO much fun!, we had Piñatas, Mariachis, good conversations, great pics, great company and of course, great family quality time. So, to not bore you, here are some pics :)