Atlanta CONFERENCE

Well, Jason, and I went up to the Atlanta Conference with Justin Rosenburg. What a drive and poor Shezel and I were freezing and I booked us into a horrible little hotel..but hey we didn't know it was also SEC Championship weekend in Atlanta.
The Georga World Center is HUGE( try walking on 4 inch heels here!!!) and the message was fantastic. We were all so motivated and our CLUSTER (ORLANDO) was named as one of the 19 that was on the radar to be moved into an A cluster. Now, as you know , Jason and I ( and the kids) are relatively New Bahai's, meaning... we just do as the UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE TELLS US, and we really also don't know what a lot of it means.. but we just do it.
So anyway, We met with the ORLANDO cluster adn then decided that the very next weekend we would have teaching cmapaign in Kissimmee in the receptive neighborhood around HIGHLANDS which is where we already have children's classes. So, over 20 BAHAI's descended upon KISSIMMEE and took to the streets. We have met a lot of wonderful people and thorugh this we also lost all fear. We are AUDACIOUS in our BOLD ASSERTION OF THE FAITH and of our offering services to the community. We added doing a study circle along with the Children's classes.. they will take place in another room . Also, we added holding DEVOTIONS and also want to start a JUNIOR YOUTH at the MIDDLE SCHOOL up the street from our house. Jason and I are both teachers so it is just something that we are good with and comoforatble with.. so now we just have to do book 5!

So anyway.. we met a lot of receptive people and we will be following up with them. :)
WE ARE SOLDIERS IN GOD's ARMY!

Children's Classes

Ok.. so we have been going since JULY every TUESDAY from 5:30 - 6:30.
We have 8 children all together:
JUSTUS, TYRELL ( BROTHERS )
Audrie (sweetie)
Jessika and her mother, Kelly, who recently signed her declaration card and is now a BAHA'I.
and our Baha'i children - PAIGE and HAILEY (our children) and ALISE who is our neice.

- We have studied prayers, virtues, had a fun skating party and always celebrate their birthdays.
There is nothing better than seeing the childen sign RED GRAMMER songs, say prayers, and ask for help and advice. Its awesome!

Last 2 days

Lots of fun.
We did crowns for noble soul.
Learned prayers.
We also learned dances and played a lot of games.
Snacks were great and the kids really enjoyed everything.
We made bookmarks and also a SSSHHHHHHHH. I AM Praying DOOR HANGER.. with the children's prayer written on the back.
The last day we planted flowers at the school ( Highlands) which was our host school.
Frances was on hand most of the week and she worked soooooo well with the kids with the virtues!
The last day we had awards of reconition to give out and Coach Jason made the kids a DVD of the pictures of the week.
we also burned them a copy of the music that we listened to.. Very nice..
:)

2nd day

Well Shezel had to work and I got soooo sick..
on day 2 - four more kids showed up! - :)
Mom Alise ( Jason's mom and my mother in law) went and did two projects with the kids...
they learned all about diversity ( we are all seeds of one garden) Fun activity involving egg cartons and seeds! Then they discussed God's light and how he shines through us and she did a mosaic stained glass "window" with them..involving paper plates, wax paper, and bits of colored tissued paper...
then they had snacks and also played outside ( jumprope, running, etc) and played Wii Tennis!
They all had fun!

1st Day Baha'i Camp

OK...
Here was the agenda:
9:00-9:15 - Registration
9:15-9:25 - NAME GAME INTRODUCTIONS
9:25 -9:35- Tooty Ta and Rattlin Bog - fun dances to get the blood moving and the mouths smiling!
9:35 - 9:45- Calm down- prayers
9:45 - 10:20....SOUL ---- we talked about respect and had a discussion with mapping and a coloring sheet.
10:25 - 10:35- snack
10:35-11:05 - MIND - we did ABC's of you and sang song - talked about all of the attributes
11:05 - 11:40 - bodY- STRECTHING, FUN GAMES, ISPY,
11:40 12:00 WORKING on Dance.. :)
Closing prayers and release!

How and why we decided to have a Summer Camp for the local children.

Ok... Shezel and Louis are our( Jason & Tena's) tutors for Ruhi. So we finished Book 1, 2, and 3. 3 is the one that is focused on children's classes. Yeah.. we felt a sense of accomplishment. Then, we volunteered to teach 2 Sundays at the Baha'i Center in Orlando. We had fun with the kids.



Then, we started to work book 1 with Justin and Kaitlyn and then after awhile we all began to deepen on the Ridvan Letter and what it really meant to us. It is important to teach the Faith and let people know that we are here. There are a lot of people out there that are just waiting for the Baha'i's to touch their lives... we really need to just let people know - who we are and what we believe and stand for and if that goes along with their belief system then join us or walk with us in the path towards a better relationship with God.



So, Jason and I are both teachers... and we know it is important to develop character education. We both asked out Prospective schools if we could do a virtues club/ service etc.. and Jason's school allowed him to do that. He had a lot of kids in his club throughout the year and they had a lot of fun and learned a lot.

A way that both Jason and I supplement out income over the summer is offer camps. I teach dance at Glenda's Dance Center in St. Cloud. So, I knew that both Jason and I can run a camp in our sleep. But.. that night on the back porch with Louis and Shezel...JASON was inspired and basically decided to not talk about doing something... JUST DO IT.. We all just said... YEP.. LETS DO IT... we decided to do the best we could and give it up to GOD..
On another note... there was a section in RUHI 3 that says something about GOD not letting us down as long as we put forth the effort.

So, Jason got permission from HIGHLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL where he is the PE coach and you know what.... every kid knows him... so it was good to go around to the area neighborhood with our flyers and brochures and talk to the people...

So, to make a long story short we met 3 times to discuss what we were going to do..

so we decided to go with the theme.. SPIRITUAL EDUCATON for CHILDREN.. Nurturing the MIND, BODY, and SOUL.... So basically.. we would do things for the kids which hit all those aspects...
MIND.. things that mde them think, reading skills, etc..
BODY- Dance, exercise, games, running... etc
SOUL... prayers and character education... :)

We then made up brochures and flyers and went out to the neighborhood in front of the school....

I will tell you what... Sunday night... Jason and I were so apprehnsive and so excited and just hoped that someone would show up..
I MEAN...it was FREE>>>>!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So Monday morning.. we were there and then... bam... 2 kids show up... Tyrell and Justus and then Jessicka came.. WOW.. it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Summer Camp @ Highlands

WOW! well it is Wednesday and we have only one more day of Baha'i Children's camp. I will blog more about everything tomorrow..and let you all know what we did. Here is the run down so far..
My husband and I are teachers and we knew that God was trying to tell us something and then we decided to offer a 4 day day camp for local children (FREE) from 9 -12 . I will put the whole curriculum that we did on here tomorrow. ..
we made 150 copies of a brochure and then another 100 copies of a flyer and went out on foot to invite people. The first day we had 3 kids and on day two and 3 we had 7. It was great!
Now I am trying to get their certificates and information for follow up!
We are very excited as God works in Mysterious ways. We also worked with our very good friends.. SHEZEL and LOUIS O'NEAL as it was a team effort with the Baha'is of Osceola County as well..
It has been a blast!