Day of the Child Celebration at our church (Comunidadd Cristiana, El Hatillo)

One of the pleasures children experience here in Latin America is "Dia del Nino", which is like Mother's or Father's Day but for the Child, literally, it's "Day of the Child" and it's celebrated with festive activities, pinatas, and special school activities.

We decided to celebrate the children of our Sunday School with a morning of games and team building events. First we prepped the older youth for their special role of caring for the little ones by participating with them and encouraging them along. Then, we put the 125 kids together in five inter-generational groups, mixing up the ages from 3-18 years. We did this creative group divider game by handing out 5 different colored lollipops and after a few brief minutes, we had all the same colored-tongues gather into the same group!

From there we rotated the groups from station to station. You can see from the video how celebrated they felt!!

You can view this 3 min. video directly at YouTube by clicking on the image above or on this link: http://youtu.be/N-eti_VptU0.

Learning about Gratitude the month of November!

Our team of Sunday School teachers invested 10 hours writing the curriculum for the month of November with the theme of Gratitude. Even though Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Latin America, we decided to dedicate every November to learn about being thankful. 
We started the process of curriculum creating searching for our Scripture passages thiat would be substantial enough to let us dig down deep. This form of using few passages but going deep is very novel since most Bible studies and sermons in Evangelical churches here tend to jump from one passage to another, the more the better it seems, which then precludes showing the believers how to really study the passage.

As we dedicated time to this search, God showed up among us and we experienced something that couldn't be called anything other than holy moments. One of those moments came when we started to study Luke 17 about the story of the 10 lepers. We analyzed the exact sequence of actions of the 10 lepers to understand the role, form, and how gratitude was expressed. We discovered that one first must recognize that you are a debtor, needy, and not entitled in order for gratitude to be birthed in you (the 9 Jewish lepers may have felt entitled whereas the 10th Samaritan leper did not...). For almost all 19 teachers present, it was the first time they can remember ever having studied a passage word for word. The intensity of this holy moment is visible on their faces and in their gestures as you  can see from the pictures below.

As we finalized Lesson 1 of 4, we closed with a time of thanksgiving. God moved us to assume the exact same position of the grateful leper--prostrate, face on the ground--at the feet of Jesus. This was another one of those holy moments. Several were moved to tears as their hearts were filled with gratitude. Nadia, one of the teachers of the 10-12 year old girls commented:  Literally, I felt like that grateful leper. I recognized my miserable condition and I wanted to take advantage of this moment to tell God how much I appreciated His answers that I have longed for. 

We finished the first lesson for November 6th. It took us 4 hours but in that space of time, we have generated so many ideas and new perspectives that the remaining three lessons came quickly. Another one of those holy moments came after I read an article about how the Japanese, when they receive something don't say Thank you but rather: I'm sorry, in acknowledgement of their debt with the person.. Javier (teacher of the 10-12 yr. old boys) jumped up to share an experience he had had in his travels throughout Honduras. There was this little town in the boonies where upon receiving something the people  said: Forgive me. He had always wondered about that expression. On the other hand, Javier had installed wells in towns where not one single person had said a word of thanks, it was like they felt it was their due, like the government owed them, so they didn't say thank. Until now, do I finally see that until you realized you are a debtor, you don't see the need to say thank you.  This brought a whole cultural discussion on whether it was a cultural phenomenon or due to lack of education or social etiquette. The fruit of which was that each of us was forced to grapple with our own lack of gratitude.

 For Lesson #2 (November 13) we will focus on 1 Thess. 5:16-18 where it's clear that gratitude isn't an option, but rather a commandment, no matter what the circumstances. Being grateful is to be accompanied by joy and prayer and would change our perspective. Thankfulness is an act of obedience, not a feeling.  

For Lesson #3 (November 20) we decided to study the Israelites (Numbers), analyzing how grumbling is the antithesis of gratefulness and that there were dire consequences to their complaining. One doesn't talk much about how the earth opened wide to swallow the complainers, others were killed and an entire generation never even made it to the Promised Land but died one by one in the desert. While we don't want to scare the very little kids, we do want to prompt the kids to describe the negative impact of complaining and not being trusting and grateful. (We are considering threatening them with 40 years in Sunday School to make the point! haha)

For our last lesson #4 (November 27) we will close with a service project, opening a space for all the students from 2-18 years old to show their gratitude to God through giving away something that's meaningful to them, giving it to other children in Honduras who have suffered great loss in the recent flooding. We are involving the parents to guide their children in this project. There's 3 conditions we want to stipulate:
Condition #1 That the kids give something that costs them something, following the model of King David who didn't want to offer to God something that cost him nothing.
Condition #2: That the parents don't do it for them, either buying it or giving them the money, but helping the child give something that he or she earned or is meaningful to them (avoiding the tendency to give something that doesn't fit anyways or you really don't like anyways....)
Condition #3: That the parents have some sort of ceremony at home, like a ritual where the young person says: I give this away.... in gratefulness to God for this.......
Even if some kid arrives that last Sunday with nothing, we will encourage them (with the parents permission) to give away something they are wearing. 

I might mention that the methodology that we used to customize each lesson was one that I created called the Flower and bee methodology.  If you are interested in reading about this approach, I have an extensive analysis on www.slideshare.net Use of the Biblein Sunday School Curriculum… where you can download it.  The title of the article is called: The use of the Bible in Sunday School  curriculum.

Use of the Bible in Sunday School Curriculum

View more documents from Lisa Anderson-Umana, Christian Camping International, Latin America

As we left that evening, we each shared what we learned that day and how we were ready to impact the lives of the 125 children and young people that God gives us each Sunday. Erika said: When I arrived this morning, I was asking myself: How are we ever going to speak 4 consecutive Sundays about the same subject of gratitude? I figure one Sunday is enough. Now, at the end of the day, I'm sure with what God has taught us, we could speak the whole month of December as well!

Worshipping the Lord through song-Valerie Umana-Anderson

Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011 was "Day of the Bible" here in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and Valerie was invited to sing a song at our church, Christian Community of El Hatillo. This "Day of the Bible" is a yearly event, inaugurated in the 1980's by official decree, when the churches here honor the Bible as the Word of God. She choose a song in Spanish which speaks of the power of God's Word (Marcela Gandara, tu Palabra).
Enjoy the 4 min. video here in the blog or go directly to youtube.com by clicking on this link: 
Valerie Umana-Anderson singing at church (4 min.)
http://youtu.be/0Ac37je7Ot0

How do we turn experience into learning?

Camp is full of experiences. But not every experience is educative, in fact, many experiences can be mis-educative. What are the mitigating factors?

• The experience tends to provoke greater learning if it pushes you out of your “comfort zone” and into your “groan zone”.
• The learner must decide to move from her “groan zone” of discomfort to the “growth zone” by drawing back from the experience to reflect on it, observe her reaction and those of others, then to understand the whys or theories in play and finally to move into making concrete changes or adjustments for the next experience.

This is the essence of experiential learning and since camp provides a wide gamut of experiences our CCI/LA instructors need to know how to learn from experience themselves to be able to teach others how to as well.

Therefore, the first phase of the IFI in Mexico was a four day focus on training them to be facilitators of experiential learning using low ropes courses or team-building elements.

This 4:56 min. video (can be viewed directly on my YouTube channel: http://youtu.be/2lnB0nFMvRM) shows you how we begin by teaching safety skills, both to guard one’s emotional and physical safety. This is how we teach about emotional safety for example:

• What are some of the words or gestures we tend to use that are destructive in nature?
• What are words and gestures that we can use that are constructive and useful for building each other up?

You’ll also we also notice in the video that we practice spotting skills to avoid accidents when we are doing the team-building activities.

Our CCI/LA training is always characterized by a combination of theory and practice. We teach an idea or concept and then give ample opportunity for it to be practiced and accompanied by immediate feedback so the images of people in the video doing the activities are led by the students themselves.

How have you learned from experiences? How would you teach others to learn from their experiences? Tell us your thoughts, if you please, by sharing your observations using the link below.

Sight-seeing in Taxco (Day of rest during IFI Mexico)

This was the twelfth Institute for Forming Instructors (IFI) that Bob Sabean and I have led since the first one in 1992.

After a solid week and a half of labor, our team of professors and instructors were ready for a break-a day touring the colonial city of Taxco, famous for its silver mining, was just what we needed.
Here's a 3:27 min. video of assorted pictures to give you a taste of what the trip was like and see the beauty of a colonial city. You can see it in the blog below or view it directly on my YouTube channel: http://youtu.be/iPcRihtC61Y

What's your favorite tourist attraction? tell us about it by clicking on "comments" below!

We are on the right track! Strategic initiative of CCI/LA –Formation of a multicultural team of professors

Until now, the two professors responsible for teaching these Institutes for Forming Instructors have been two missionaries, two North Americans. The task at hand is to broaden this team of professors in a number of ways. How the top tier of our Leadership development pyramid is being broadened (see arrow):

• Instead of just one small team, we are creating two teams, one for the region of South America and one for Mexico/Central America.
• Instead of just two members, each team will have approx. 6 members, making for a pool of 12 professors to draw from.
• Instead of just one culture being represented, ten will be represented, from North to South: USA, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.

We have started this process and feel God’s confirmation that we are on the right track! A flame burns in the heart of a number of very proficient instructors with a yearning to become part of this multicultural team of professors and they are counting the cost to belong to it. With the exception of three of us, all the rest are volunteers. God did a mighty work just to get these professors to Mexico and He used many supporters from around the Globe who prayed and gave generously so we could begin the process of preparing them to be professors of the IFI.

Here are the professors-in-training:

Gloria Garcia (Monterrey, Mexico)

Evelyn Umana (San Salvador, El Salvador, she's the one standing up)

Rixy Leiva (San Salvador, El Salvador)

We all aspire to be like Bob Sabean, who at his 74 years of age, continues to serve faithfully, impacting our lives with his wisdom, Biblical insights and historical perspectives.

Someone has to lead the games!? That would be me! I love to play, to teach others how to play, and to teach others how to lead games!

What do you love to do?

Tell us about it by clicking on "observations" below and sharing!

Two Institutes for Forming Instructors (IFI) held in 2011

Since 1990, the manner in which we impact children and young people’s lives for Christ is through our Leadership Development pyramid (see figure). Each layer of leadership is developed by the tier above it and grows exponentially with each new camp counselor, program director and instructor formed.

This year, 2011, Christian Camping International, Latin America (CCI/LA) has added a total of 29 new instructors to the pyramid (IFI Argentina in January—13 new and one former instructor from the IFI in 1992 “updated” & IFI Mexico in July—16 new and two former instructors from the IFI in 2001 “updated”). The addition of 29 instructors will result in directly impacting the lives of hundreds of camp counselors who will participate in the training courses they will hold throughout Mexico, Central and South America. These counselors in turn will impact for Christ the lives of thousands of children and young people who will attend the camps held by these newly trained counselors.

The impact of these IFI’s will be felt throughout Latin America as viewed in the map since graduates come from nine different countries of Latin America (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina).

This July the IFI was hosted by the camp I served at during my initial five years of ministry (1983-1988), Camp Kikotén, Mexico. What a thrill it was to walk around the camp, with my children playing on the same recreational elements that we had built years ago!

I actually got to see one of my co-workers, Julieta Garfias, whom I had not seen since I left in 1988! She was 18 years old when I last saw her and here she is married with two children!

I love serving with the kids in ministry!

What do you love about the ministry where you serve?