Dear Friends and Family,
This summer one of our main focuses at the Valley House has been on reading. Each day, all of the children have an hour of reading time in which they treat themselves to the book of their choice from our library. We have seen many of our children grow from complaining about and dreading reading time to sincerely enjoying and looking forward to it.
My own experience with reading as a child was one of great pleasure. I remember my parents reading to me before bed in my earlier years and later discovering the joy of reading on my own in elementary school. Each month I eagerly awaited the arrival of the Scholastic Book order form so I could solve the next Boxcar Children series mystery or indulge in another Roald Dahl fantasy. As an adult, reading remains an extremely important part of my life as I seek to explore and understand the world in which we live. Recently, I saw the film Freedom Writers and was provoked to think beyond the role of reading in my own life and more about the role reading can play in bringing about justice for the oppressed. I would love to hear any of your thoughts if you've seen the film.
S. is one of the children who comes to the Valley House daily. He is 10 years old and is going into the 4th grade but does not know how to read. His parents are illiterate, which means that no one ever read to him as a small child or helped him with homework during his early years of school. He has since fallen extremely behind, relying only on his ability to copy the shape of letters and words from a homework, or, more likely, on a teacher looking over her shoulder and passing him on to the next grade.
I met S. several months ago after coming on Word Made Flesh staff in May. I got to know him better as we built cars out of Lego blocks and colored pictures of various super heroes at the Day Center together. One day during homework time I was asked to quiz him on the letters of the alphabet using a set of flashcards. To my surprise, he was able to recognize and name less than ten of them. Thus began the journey of walking with S. through the process of learning how to read.
Most days, S. did not want to practice his letters with me. Because it was hard for him and because he'd always gotten along before, he didn't understand why learning to read was important for him. One day this summer, during reading time, I told him to pick out any book from our library that we would read together. He quickly chose a Spiderman comic book, filled with lots of colorful pictures of his favorite super heroes. After a few minutes of reviewing the alphabet with a reluctant S., I began to read the book to him and was surprised as he was immediately captivated by the unfolding story. He sat close to me, touching the glossy pages of the book and predicting what would happen on the next page. After we finished reading, we returned to reviewing the letters. The change in S.'s attention and effort was immediately visible. His new realization that reading can be pleasurable had filled him with the desire to learn the alphabet. Since then, he has succeeded in learning it in its entirety and is now reading one and two-syllable words on his own.
A young child learning to read may not seem extraordinary, but in this case, it is a sure sign that the Kingdom of God is coming to earth as it is in heaven. S. was on the path to a life of illiteracy and poverty, oppressed by the situation into which he was born as well as by those who have told him over and over that he's not smart enough and not good enough. Now, however, he is on a path of learning and of growth as he discovers the depths of God's unconditional love for him and begins to experience the fullness of life available to him through Jesus.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) Continue to pray for the children at the Valley House as we finish up the last few weeks of summer. Special summer activities have included reading time and review of certain school subjects (math, English, etc.), discussion groups centered around various topics that affect the children (drugs, STD's, abuse, etc.) and clubs based around the theme "Who wants to know?". These clubs have included gardening, sewing, photography, Scripture memory, sports, music and managing money. Pray that the things the children are learning this summer would be life-giving and encouraging to them as they enter a new school year this fall. Ask that God would fill them with the assurance that they are smart and full of dignity when the world around them so often tells them otherwise.
2) We will be going to the mountains of Romania for a one-week camp with all of the kids and staff the first week of September (the 1st to the 7th). Ask that God would use this time to deepen our relationships with the children and that it would be a time of fun, safety and relaxation for them. Also ask that the staff would be filled with energy and patience during a week that has the potential to be exhausting.
3) Pray for us the second week of September as we help the children prepare for school (distributing school supplies, covering text books, etc.) and as we have several days set aside for staff preparation. We will be reviewing our methodology and philosophy of ministry during this time, so ask for special wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit.
4) During the third week of September, I will be leading a team from WMF Romania on a four-day trip to Moldova. There we will visit several organizations serving among the poor as we continue to pray about God's leading us to plant a field in this country. Ask God to give me wisdom and strength as I lead this trip and ask Him to speak to us clearly as we have many decisions to make in the near future regarding Moldova. Pray specifically that we might find a potential partner organization and that there would be a handful of people who are called and who commit to serving with this new community.
Some Notes from Daily Life
* The last few days of my music appreciation workshop went extremely well. The kids especially liked an activity we did while listening to the first movement of Elgar's Cello Concerto, Op. 85. They each received a piece of paper with the prompt “In the Forest” written at the top. From there, they were to write a story as inspired by the music they were hearing. It was encouraging for me to see their hunger to be creative as they wrote and shared their stories with the others.
* I spent several days in Moldova at the end of July and was able to visit an organization that has a reintegration center for children who are coming off of the streets. It was encouraging to see what is happening there and to talk about the possibility of working with this organization in the future. I also had many encouraging conversations with friends from Moldova, some of whom I hadn't seen for an entire year.
* It was wonderful to spend 10 days in the States at the beginning of August and to reconnect with many of you. My sister's wedding was beautiful, and I am grateful to have been able to be there.
* A new servant team of four people is arriving today (I write this on August 14) from the States and will be here for the next four months.&
nbsp; I am looking forward to meeting them and seeing the way God moves in their lives during this time.
* On the theme of books, here are some of my recent reads: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry, Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
* See http://jwkoon.blogspot.com for more updates.
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