Sandbox Baking

   At the missionary compound in Yaounde, Cameroon the pre-school kids had the use of a large square contrete sandbox.  My wife and I had fourteen 3, 4, and 5 year olds to take care of for three weeks from 8 - 12 each day and they loved to play in the sandbox.  The girls would pretend that they were baking all kinds of cookies and cakes.  They presented them to me on toy saucers to taste.  I pretended to eat them and praised them for their baking skills.  The boys liked to fill toy trucks up with sand and haul them around the concrete enclosure.  It was a joy to watch them play together and have a fun time.  

    Soon they would be going back to the villages away from their friends with only Cameroonian children to play with.  During the rainy season the red clay would turn to mud while during the dry season there'd be wind and dust.  Our task was to teach them the Story of Creation, love on them, and help them have a fun time.  I believe we accomplished that goal.  

Bob and Elaine Delaney

MK's Favorite Pastime

I found that pre-schooler missionary kids love to have you read books to them.  The more you "ham" it up the better.  They love to sit and listen to stories about animals and people.  One of their favorite stories was the "Three Dassies."

 The book was written by Jan Bret and had very colorful pictures and a fascinating tale involving each Dassie building a house and a dangerous eagle.  The first Dassie built a house out of grass and the eagle came and blew it down carrying Dassie off to his nest.

 The second Dassie built a house out of sticks and the eagle blew it down and carried Dassie off.

 The third Dassie built a house using rocks, but the eagle tried as hard as he could, but could not blow it down.  He even tried to go down the chimney, but all he got was burnt feathers and covered with black soot.

 While he was busy trying to blew down the rock house the other two Dassies escaped out of his nest and scampered down the mountain to hide in their sisters stone house.  The poor eagle ended up with no breakfast and the three little Dassies were safe.

  Alls well that ends well seems to be the favorite part of the story. 

If you want to hold the attention of pre-schoolers try reading and acting out a good story book to them.  It worked for me.   Bob Delaney

Mystery Bible Character

    One of the enjoyable tasks while working with the missionary pre-schoolers on our Cameroon mission trip was telling them a story about a Bible character and seeing if they could figure out who it was.  Do you want to join us?

   The person I have in mind was an idol worshiper until God called him to go to a foreign country and start a new nation.  He had to travel a long distance leaving his family behind and trust God for direction.  When he arrived in the land a famine broke out and he journeyed on down to Egypt.  While there he lied about his wife which resulted in his being forced to leave the country.  He returned to Bethel and built an altar to worship God.  God made him a promise that all the nation would be blessed through him, and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven.  He finally had a son at the age of 100. 
WHO WAS HE?

    The children could hardly wait for me to finish before their little hands were in the air to tell me that my mystery Bible character was ABRAHAM.   Did you get it right?   I can still hear the kids shouting -- Mr. Bob!  Mr. Bob! tell us a Bible story.   It was such fun!