no.250 140105 Thank you for the united service

My very first Compassion donation was made with my friends.

Today was the first Sunday of 2014. It was also the EM part of our church's first united service. Before today, we had three different service times - 10AM, noon and 2PM for the university students. It not only combined the three services, but also had children join the adults for worship. Coming to church, I didn't know what to expect. I had to be there early to finish prepping the craft activities I was working on. Everything felt the same - teachers gathered for the meeting, after setting up the activities, we went down to the main sanctuary to worship. It was different for sure to be in one big room with everyone in the EM. Everything was good and went pretty smooth... well, until right after the sermon and the teachers were dismissed.

When we went back up to the children to lead them to our small group time, I was just wowed. It seemed like there were just so many kids today! I didn't even get to say hello to all the children, and we kind of jumped right into the activity. I'm really sad that I didn't get to interact with the kids. One thing I missed the most about our children's worship time is the snack time. That was the time when I got to actually talk to the children and see how their weeks were, and what they've been doing. I also miss having the worship time with the children. We definitely need a lot of time to get adjusted to the changes. There needs to be a lot of improvements and in order to go through that, we need lots of prayers. So, if you're reading this post, please pray for the preschool department and the teachers - that as we go through these changes, that our focus will be set on God alone, and that He will provide wisdom to the teachers and leaders of church to find the best solution to fix the problems that we are encountering at the moment. Regardless of these changes that appear difficult in our eyes, I praise God for the united service and gathering the church as one body to come together and worship Him.

I finally got to make a donation to Compassion International today! Remember that I collected some donations from my friends during our annual Christmas party? That was the donation that got sent out today! Click here to read my post from November about what made me want to do this. I'm just so happy for this opportunity. And it wasn't just from myself, but all my friends contributed! I'm really grateful that God provided me this thought to give and I'm also grateful that I happily obeyed Him this Christmas. Although it was a small portion, I know that it will be used to help the children in poverty, and also the children who are affected by the typhoon in the Philippines. What I'd like to do next is to sponsor a child when I get a full time job!