Our first night of Oansa (Awana) was an amazing success!! Thursday, March 25, 2010, all my leaders nervously suited up in their uniforms. Those who had passed Basic training in Red, the listeners and trainees in grey (I don't know where these uniforms came from, but we've enjoyed them).
Our electricty service had been off most of the day (on only a half an hour in the afternoon--long enough to print my version of the Weekly Awana Score Sheets. PRAISE THE LORD!!!) About 4 PM, I realized we were probably going to have to do OANSA in the dark, so I started rounding up candles. In December, my uncle had sent me a box with a yellow and a green candle that had finally arrived the day before (God's timing is perfect). I found a red one from Christmas and had to settle for a white taper in a tin can for blue. I went shopping for more candles and flashlights for our leaders.
Our youth pastor had laid out the Awana Games floor in the patio in yeso (like powdered chalk) We used the colored candles for pins. I found a glow stick that my mom had sent which we used for the center pin. It was dark. We put candles around the handbook time rooms and large group time area.
I passed out flashlights to my leaders and we started with prayer, in the dark. Several had wanted to postpone the start until next week because of no power. A tarp to cover the patio where we meet in case of rain wasn't ready because of the power being off all day. There were lots of reasons to wait but I stubbornly refused. God's called us to do this and we were not going to be slowed down by the powers of darkness neither physical or spiritual. PRAISE THE LORD Halfway thru game time, the power came on. We had 12 clubbers in attendance for our first night.
Before we even started handbook time, several of the clubbers cornered me to ask "Can I invite my friends from school?" "What if they don't go to church, can they still come????" "Are we really gonna have this every week?" Two more girls came in right at the end. All the clubbers made a point of telling them, "If you come at 7, we start with game time. It was really fun, you missed it."
I am thrilled about what God has done in starting Oansa (Awana) in our church. We are going to start passing out fliers and inviting every kid we can. I look forward to sending more reports of what God has done in OANSA here in Perú.
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 Maria is secretary for OANSA. She keeps us all in Line. |
| Game Time |
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| Handbook time | Handbook time |
Sharing God's love in the Andes
