Friday, July31, 2009 - See pictures below

What a great week so far!

The team spent Wednesday and Thursday morning doing puppet training at the church.  The kids were challenged to make their own puppet, and though they found it difficult in the beginning, they were so proud of their creations when they got them done!  Then, after learning some basic puppetry skills, they started putting their puppets (and their arms!) to work, learning a new song to perform for Kid's Club last night.  They did a great job, and ended up doing the song during both the opening AND the closing times. The pastor also invited them to do their song for the entire church this Sunday morning. Needless to say, they are excited!  Hopefully, this will be only the beginning of the many ways God can use these new puppeteers to minister.

Kids Club continues to go well in the evenings. It has been fun to see new kids coming each evening.  However, by far, we are most excited about 2 little girls named Mallory and Megan who made decisions to put their faith in Jesus this week!  God is at work and we ask you to continue to pray.  Tonight is our last night with the kids.  Please pray that we would finish strong and we would make the most of the time we have left here. God is so good and we all are so blessed to be able to be a part of His ministry in Indy!

Melanie Derr
Outreach and Training
Kids Around the World

Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The Kids Around the World Puppet team is excited to be ministering in Indianapolis this week!  Last March, KIDS had the privilege of building a playground on the property of the West Morris Street Free Methodist Church in Indianapolis.  Now, the puppet team has returned there to hold a Kids Club for the neighborhood children and train several of their youth in puppet ministry. 
    
Kids come from all over the neighborhood for an evening of puppets, license music, games and most importantly, to hear the gospel message taught.  The first two days have flown by!  In all, 74 children have attended so far, and we anticipate many more before the week is over. It didn't take long for the team to fall in love with the kids, and besides ministering with the puppets during club time, they have enjoyed "hanging out" afterward, playing games and getting to know them better.  Many of the children come from lower income families that are really struggling.  Some of their stories are so heart-breaking.  However, this church has an obvious love for the familes in their community and want to minister to them in whatever ways they can. It has truly been a blessing to see how they work together to do what they can.    
   
We look forward to starting our puppetry training Wednesday morning, when the participants will learn to make their own puppets.  Then on Thursday they will learn how to bring their new friends to life!

Please continue to pray for the team, the church workers and most especially for the children. May they see Christ's love for them through us!

Melanie Derr,
Ourtreach and Training
Kids Around the World