At the beginning of March, Emily and I got to go with our church to an event called Mission Ignition. These events are held across Oklahoma as our state-wide GA’s and RA’s conference. Emily could not wait to go and it was some really good daddy-daughter time. This was also her first time to be big enough to ride the church bus and this just added to her special day.
Throughout the day, each group got to do rotations that focused on team building, time with missionaries, and learning a Bible skill. For Emily’s first team building activity, she had to help her group form different shapes while being blindfolded. For one of her Bible skills rotations, she helped a group stack the books of the Bible in order. Even though she was one of the youngest there, she did a good job when she could.
For one of her rotations with a missionary, she was asked to write a thank you card to a foreign missionary. The group then said a pray for all of these missionaries and learned how important it is to encourage and remember all of our missionaries.
Another of her team building activities encouraged the groups to build a transportation vehicle out of various resources that missionaries could use the take medicine and Bibles to remote areas. Emily loved this because she got to take everyday items you would find at home to build something she could be proud of. I have a feeling we will be doing more of this later during some of her homeschool projects.
For two of her games, she got to use a slingshot to shoot paintballs at a target and shoot a bow and arrow. Again, being one of the youngest there, these were both a little hard for her to do. She ended up going last in her group and got a little extra help from the volunteers. I was very proud though because she didn’t give up and had fun doing them both.
The last missionary couple she got to spend time with during Mission Ignition were my former pastor and his wife. Bro. Robert and Faye spent a couple of years in Thailand after they retired from my home church. It was really special for me getting to hear their stories and have Emily interact with them. She didn’t really care for the seafood tasting snacks they brought, but she did find it interesting to hear them talk about other people following a guy named Buddha. She said that was a funny word!
I do think that her other biggest highlight from the day, besides lunch, was the inflatable games. She really enjoys getting to bounce in the moon bounce and she even tried the giant slide. For a girl who doesn’t always want to try new things, I was very impressed and proud of her for trying this new inflatable. I can definitely tell she is growing up!
Even though this made for a really long day and she was getting sleepy on the ride home, it was well worth it. Emily already has a very tender heart for missions and Theresa and I could not be more proud. I know that God has big plans for my angel!
Tags: Emily, Ministry, Photos