Reaching Out

I can hardly believe that it is almost November. In the past, I look so forward to the cooler days, first snow storms, changing leaves and , most importantly, football.  Although I have caught myself looking forward to those things several times, none of them are our reality this year.  I guess cooler days have come in the form of low to mid 80s instead of 95+ degrees, but no snow...yet.  These are all changes that I expected and anticipated, yet they can take some getting used to.  We did manage to watch the last 5 minutes of a Denver Broncos pre-season game a few weeks ago.  It was great, even though it was about a week old at the time we watched it.  Nonetheless, we are continually adapting.
One really exciting thing that we are a part of this fall is an outreach to the kids in the neighborhood that Logos is in.  Logos (Asian Hope's largest school and the one that our kids go to; http://www.logoscambodia.org/) recently moved and is situated in the midst of a couple dozen homes.  The homes around our school are in various states of construction and crumbling.  Some are completely open with just a roof, a few have sheet metal leaning up against some precariously stacked bricks and some are even worse. 

Since we moved in, as a school we have had the desire to be a good neighbor.  One that will leave a positive, sweet taste in the mouths of those who interact with us.  Part of making that a reality is pursuing spending time with those around us.  The primary way this is happening is through our Neighborhood Kids Outreach.  I am coordinating this ministry through the Service Leadership Class that I am co-teaching this fall.  The game plan for the outreach is easy and effective.  We invite kids from our neighborhood to come into our school grounds for an hour to 1 1/2 hours every Wednesday.  While they are with us, we love on them, teach them a Bible story and then let them play.  We offer soccer on grass (many play on dirt or pavement) with a real ball, playing on our playground and even sometimes swimming in our pool. Instead of playing, some of the children opt to stay in the classroom and learn English from some of our High School students.  It is such an amazing opportunity to serve and impact these lives for good.

Last week, I was teaching the kids about the birth of Jesus.  At the beginning, I asked them to raise their hands if they had heard of the Bible...no one raised their hands.  Then I asked the same question about Jesus...and got the same response.  Please pray with us that God will bring to our outreach the children that will be receptive to the gospel.  Also pray for the Spirit to move in their hearts as they hear the Truth.  We are so grateful to be working and living in an area that is so ripe for harvest.  Thank you for joining us on this journey.