We started off our day with breakfast at 7 eleven and a pitstop at Daiso to pick up a few last minute items. With another late start for KSE Day 2, the families were invited to join us for lunch before the program. With bentos in hand, we mingled with moms and kids to get to know them more and how they heard about KSE. Many of the moms heard about it through Yasuyo, as their children attend the same Christian preschool as hers. How amazing that God is using the Kawai family and their relationships to bring so many non-Christians to KSE!
Day 2 of KSE started off strong with a fun and energetic worship session! This year, we weren’t able to reserve the larger room in the community building for the week and had to use a smaller room for worship for three days. But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the room made for a more intimate time of worship!
The theme for today was God’s Plan is Best, based on Daniel’s faithful obedience to God which God used to bless Daniel and his friends and be bold in their faith in opposition to King Nebuchadnezzar. Alessandro did an amazing job of introducing the kids to Bible history like the Babylonian exile (a difficult topic for kids who have never read the Bible before!) by relating the distance that the Israelites traveled to the distance from Nagoya to Sapporo. He emphasized the truth that there is only one God and all other gods are idols, relating Babylonian idols to modern Japanese ones. During teaching time, the preschoolers had lots of fun with the “What’s on Daniel’s Plate?” activity. The children were given three food options and asked to decide what would be on Daniel’s plate. Each time, the kids successfully identified that vegetables, not the other tempting foods like ice cream or pizza, belonged on his plate. The kids chorally repeated the key truth: “Daniel chose the vegetables because he trusted that God’s plan is best!” For the whole week, Cindy thoughtfully planned out crafts that would remind the kids of their time at KSE. Today, the kids carefully placed colorful glass pieces onto a jar and painted their own wooden sign.
For dinner, the Burns family (another missionary family) joined us for Cindy’s favorite – abura soba! It was another encouraging night of fellowship, being spurred on by their faithfulness through trials of Christian life in Japan and grateful for the blessings as well, all over a yummy meal.
