Malachi

Malachi was part of the first class that I handled in Sunday School. He was three when he became my student. He's a boy who's always ready to converse with anyone at anytime. He would always politely greet me with a warm smile and a perky "Hi!". Of course he brought different toys each Sunday morning and oh how I would sweetly ask him to hand them to me! (It took three Sundays before he learned how to trust me that I would just keep them and return them to him.) He easily got bored in sitting down so whenever I prepared my lessons, I would make sure that there were action songs and play time.

The Sky is Blue, The Clouds are White!

During my second Sunday with the kids, butterflies flew fast in my stomach! We were having art time, the picture was Jesus' Baptism in the River Jordan. We colored Jesus' body brown, the trees green, the flowers red, the river blue-green and the sun yellow.

Me: Now, color the clouds blue!
Malachi: Teacher, the sky's blue but the clouds are white!
Me: Oh! Ha ha! Yeah... Color the clouds white and the sky blue.
I am so sorry... Teacher's really nervous.
Malachi: What's 'nervous', teacher?

Teacher's Lesson #1: To avoid boredom, make kids move to learn the Bible story.
Teacher's Lesson #2: Do not dig a hole that you couldn't cover! (I groped for more words explaining the meaning of 'nervous'.)


A Fire Drill and The White Bird

To review the story of Noah and the Great Flood, we had a dove clay modeling activity.

Me: Now, what's the bird that Noah sent out of the ark after the crow?
Malachi: Dove!!!!
Me: Very good, Malachi! It's a dove. Now, let's listen to the alarm of the fireman outside. We are going downstairs as a practice. There's no real fire, okay? We will just line up, and walk fast and go out of the building. Just follow Teacher Rose, all right?
Malachi and the boys: Yes, teacher!

(The signal sounded so we lined up and immediately reached the church's garden. The other boys were fascinated by the firemen in uniform and the small fire-engine parked near the garden, but Malachi cried aloud).

Me: Oh, why are you crying?!
Malachi: My bird teacher... I left it in the room... It would surely die. There's fire!
Me: (embracing him tight) No, there's no real fire. This is just a practice. We will get your bird after this practice. We will go back to the room because there's no real fire.
Malachi: (sobbing) But there's a fire truck.
Me: It's just to let us see what firemen use when there's fire. But now, there's no fire... See?
Malachi: (looked around the building) Okay, so we'll get the birds back.
Me: Yes.

Just a thought: A kid's heart is a spring of love and faithfulness. :)