Planning makes perfect

If you have ever tried to pull off any event such as a birthday party, baby shower, etc without planning it, you know how crazy that can be!  We often find ourselves spending almost as much time planning the classes and activities we host as we spend actually teaching them! 

The September 30th National Child's Day event is no different.  We have already started planning, writing up an exciting new class, and started shopping for supplies.  Chrissy brought some jungle scenery with her from Texas which we plan to use to decorate the room.  In keeping with this jungle theme we decided to teach about Daniel and the Lions... but with a twist.  This time we will tell the story from the Lions' point of view!  A couple of weeks ago Chrissy, Yolanda, and I set off down the street in search of a "Lion costume" in the used clothing stores that are on every corner of San José Pinula.

a look down a typical SJP street

These stores are actually the front room of local homes where used clothes are sold for anywhere from 10 cents to a dollar.  As we walked into the first store we felt almost as if we were suffocating among the racks from ceiling to floor jammed full of dirty, musty used clothes hung in no particular order.  After making a quick search we abandoned the area.  At a little more than a dollar per item we felt the store was waaaay over priced!!!  The next few stores were similar (although cheaper).  The clothes were stacked in boxes on floor, hung on strings along the wall, and small children played with dirty toys or emptly glass bottles on the dirt floor.  Finally, among all of this, we found an orangish Liz Claiborne sweater type thing with ruffles around the collar!  Perfect for our Lion look!  We bought it for less than 50 cents and went back to the base very happy with our purchase.

Chrissy and Yolanda went to the center of the city (zone 1) to shop for other scenery ideas.  They found a few really great animal figures made out of styrofoam.  They also found bear shaped water bottles that we will give to each child. Lastly, Chrissy went shopping on her own with her own funds to find several used stuffed aniamls that fit in perfect with the jungle theme.  

Piñata at last year's National Child's Day event

girls enjoying last year's snack

We are looking forward to instilling in over 100 children the desire to make a stand for Jesus, just as Daniel did.  He stood up for God and for what was right in spite of some very difficult circumstances.  This is going to be a great opportunity to bless our regular attenders as well as reach some new families.  God is good!

We are very thankful for the Faith Landmarks Youth group who allowed us to take up an offering totalling $500 to pay for this event. 

In November we will host our annual Vacation Bible School.  If you or your church would like to help us by sponsoring the entire event or just a portion, please contact us at info@crossculturejesus.org  We need approximately $200 to cover the week.