Friday Nighters

One of the ministries that I have been able to be apart of while I was at Emmaus Bible College and am involved with again this year is called Friday Nighters. It is an outreach to downtown elementary kids of Dubuque. It is a ministry of a local church and most of the leaders are Emmaus students. We meet downtown in the gym of one of the elementary schools. We start with about 30 minutes of free time fun with the kids with balls flying etc! Next we play some group games and then we head to the bleachers. In the bleachers we sing songs and then one of the leaders gives a lesson that they had prepared. Lastly, we get into small groups with the kids (about 1 to 2 kids per leader) and have about ten minutes to talk about the lesson or the Bible or just get to know the kids better.

This last Friday, God gave me a neat opportunity with a couple of the guys. I met with a boy named Akyron who I had earlier given a Bible to. I asked him if he had been reading it and he said he had and shared with me some the places he had read. He also told me that the Psalms was his favorite book to read. I shared a verse with him relating to what we were talking about and he looked up the verse and wrote down the reference, saying he really liked that verse (it was Matthew 28:20). It was neat for me to see how he had grown in the Lord and how he had a tender heart to Jesus and His Word! Before leaving I asked him if he has ever been to church and he said no. I asked if he would like to go to church and he brightened up and said "YES." =D His friend Zae (short for Xavier) said he wanted to go too! So that night I walked over to their respective homes to ask permission of their parents for me to pick them up on Sunday mornings to bring them to church. Zae's mom said yes and Akyron's mom said she'd like to think it over. Praise the Lord! The next day I was also able to get together with Zae and my brother Victor. WE went up to my house and sledded on the hill behind our house!

PRAYER request:
-that Zae's parents would continue to let him come over on Saturdays and for church on Sunday mornings.
-that Akyron's mom would decide to let him come
-that Zae and Akyron would grow in the Lord
-there seems to be something hindering or opposing Akyron's being able to go (aside from his mom's wanting to think about it first) pray that the Enemy will not succeed in deterring him