CMA Japan 2006 Update 1

CMA Japan Update #1:
June 19, 2006

Vacation Bible School in Kitakyushu
- What will we be doing?

- We will be working with, Karla Rae and her husband, Paul. They are church planters who have been working in Japan for twelve years, and are currently missionaries at Kitakyushu Bible Church.
Check out their web site.http://www.reachjapan.org/kaitaku/

- Kids' Summer School is July 31st through August 2nd.
- From 1am to 5pm each afternoon. The last day concludes with a party that parents are invited to.
- There will be about 25 kids from 4 years old through 6th grade.
- In addition to the VBS Japanese staff, we will also be working with a college student named Robynn Oglesby, who is Marla Ayatsuka's cousin.

The Big Picture

"Summer School will have a Treasure Island theme. The main point of the teaching in the Bible times is that the greatest treasure that we can ever find is God's love. The kids will be learning 1Corinthians 13:4-7. Hopefully, by the end of Summer School they'll have it memorized. Almost all of these kids will be completely unchurched. Our church only has three kids in this age group, so its very much an evangelistic outreach. Many of the kids that come have never been introduced to the Bible or to the God of the Bible, so it's a fantastic opportunity to plant seeds of truth. This may very well be the first time for them to hear, "God loves you!" I'm so excited that we can do this together. I know that God is going to work in and through us and it's going to be amazing to see what happens!"

- Karla Rae Gateley

During these three days, we will be helping assist and run workshops.
Each group of students will rotate through different activities: games, snacks, English learning, music & dance time, craft time, and Bible story time.

English song and dance
The kids will be learning a song in English, "Before All Time," from Gospel Light's SonTreasure Island VBS program. We (CMA company) will create a performance for this song that the kids can participate in. The words are very descriptive, the song tells how even before God created the mountains, sunshine, sea, etc. - he loved us. We will be performing this with the kids.

Japanese song and sign language
The kids will also be learning a Japanese song about God's love, and will learn to do Japanese sign language with the song. We will be learning and getting familiar with the song and the sign language so that we can help the leaders model it for the kids.

English time
We will be teaching English sessions. (With a bilingual helper) We will be using the words of the song "Before All Time" as the basis of the lessons. The kids will learn a lot of nouns like beginning, time, earth, sky, mountains, sea, sunshine, sand, waters, land, islands, coconut tree, as well as some verbs: made, love. Also, they'll learn to use comparatives: wider, higher, brighter, deeper, stronger. We will use flashcards, a bingo game, and some worksheets to help them learn and use the English.

Other stuff
We will be helping ladies from the church in leading craft, game, & snack time, etc.. We will be helping out in any and every area we can!

Performance for parents
On the last day there will be a party for the kids and their parents. The kids will have a little performance for the parents, dancing with us to, "Before All Time". We will participate in the Japanese song/sign language along with the kids, and we will perform one of our company dances for the children and their parents.