Meet Mrs. Renee

I currently live in Lincoln, NE. I am from a large family of nine kids. I am married and have two children. My favorite color is hunter green and I love any kind of Mexican food. In my free time I enjoy reading, (I have a major book collection from all different authors), knitting, sewing and cooking. I got connected to City Impact through Gifts of Love, I volunteered for this event and then started at the Ministry. What led me to this was I was volunteering at the Friendship Home as a child and adult advocate. I saw a lot of hurting children there who needed to know about Jesus, but we were not allowed to talk about this with them. I wanted to go somewhere where I could help plant the seed of Jesus in young hearts. I have lots of favorite memories; one was having girls over for pizza and jewelry making. I also love when ever I hear a child quote scripture. I have been with City Impact for over 10 years and currently I am a small group leader in the 5th grade classroom.

Goal: Servant Leadership & Strengths Development

-Children will know and understand their personal strengths.
-Children will explore and use their strengths in a variety of contexts.
-Students will actively demonstrate love and kindness through words and
actions.


Teaching students to use their individual strengths has been something that the volunteers and staff here at Bible Club encourage weekly. Not to mention Mrs. Anna (Youth Development Director) has been working with each classroom teaching them how to recognize their individual strengths that God has given them.

As I sat in with the 1st grade classroom last week, I was pleased to notice Zahria using a character strength of hers. If you know Zahria, you would know that she is one little ball of fire! She is always dancing, singing, and talking to anyone and everyone. Zahria is usually in tune to what others need, and often times I find her helping. If I remember correctly the character which best represents Zahria is the Lion, which makes sense especially in the situation I witnessed in the 1st grade classroom. The students were working with Miss Jocelyn (Youth Bible Club Volunteer) to find verses in 1st Peter. Let me tell you, it is so cute to watch all the little ones open up a Bible to search for books and verses. Zahria noticed that Javier was having a bit of trouble finding the book Peter. She took charge like a Lion, but ever so gently said, “You need some help? Its back in the back.” She then proceeded to help him thumb through the pages until they came to Peter. Javier did not mind one bit that Zahria knew where the book Peter was and he didn’t. In fact, he was the first one to offer to read the verses out loud.

I learned quite a bit about humility while visiting the 1st grade classroom, and I really want to use it more in my own faith because I know God calls us to be like children in this way.

Great Bible Challenge

Goal: Spiritual Development

-Youth will come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
-Youth will develop into mature followers of Jesus Christ.




The lesson throughout Bible Club on Tuesday night was, “The Bible is an Answer to All My Questions.” This particular night, the 5th graders had a challenge to work through. Boy was it fun to see the students interacting with the leaders to complete this challenge!

Numbers were a bit low in the 5th grade classroom, but it turned out to be a good thing because each volunteer was able to take one student and work out the challenge one on one. I wish I could tell you how every one on one interaction went, but I was not able to be in all the groups at once! Each of the groups spread out so they were able to work on the challenge intently and with little distractions. I decided to sit with Vadoll (youth volunteer) and Kaprice (5th grade student). I was tickled pink to witness their interaction and not to mention it was so awesome to see them diving into God’s word together. Vadoll has a very kind spirit and it was so fun to watch that emerge while working with Kaprice. In the activity, the students were asked to read a list of verses and then match the verse to a phrase that best described that verse. They sat close together on a couch as Vadoll read aloud the verses and Kaprice intently listened. He seemed to be soaking up every word and it was so easy for the two of them to come up with the answers. For example, after reading the passage in Proverbs 15:4, they came to the conclusion that the word/phrase to match it with was respectful words. Vadoll was so good at helping Kaprice understand the verses! He would even take the verse they just read and try, in his own words, to explain it in a way Kaprice would understand it. Vadoll and Kaprice interacted so well and it was awesome to see them working side by side in God’s word.

Here at City Impact the vision is, “Transforming Families and Neighborhoods from the Inside Out by Equipping People with the Good News of God's Love.” Tonight the activity led Vadoll and Kaprice to be better “equipped” in their knowledge of the “Good News of God’s Love.” I enjoyed every minute of being with them in class.

For some time now Mrs. Anna (Youth Development Director) has been working with the students at Bible Club on finding their character strengths. On Tuesday, it was Mrs. Anna’s first trip to the 4th grade classroom. For the next 8 weeks Mrs. Anna will be working with the 4th graders to become familiar with a new way of journaling.

Mrs. Anna began by explaining to the 4th graders that she would be joining them for the next 8 weeks to teach/show them how to find what strengths God has given each individual person. After the explanation of why she was there, she told the class that they would be doing something fun for the first night; they were going to be making a very yummy snack!

The students were grouped into groups of 3, and then she told two of each three that they would be working together, and they were not to talk to the other person in their group. Then the two students in each group were given a bag containing the contents of part of the yummy snack they were making. The one person in their group was given a bowl with some other contents in it. Mrs. Anna then told each group to make their snack. You should have seen the look on their faces when they began to figure out that they didn’t even know how or what they were supposed to be making. After a few minutes of confusion Mrs. Anna said to the students, “Didn’t you get a recipe?” Then they all figured out that the one person who had been left to work on their own was the keeper of the recipe! They were then told to work together to make the recipe.

After they were done making their snack, Mrs. Anna asked them what it was like to try and make the snack on their own. Amara answered, “It was confusing because we didn’t know what to do.” This led Mrs. Anna right into talking about the new way of journaling. She explained that God made each and every person unique and each one of us has a gift or talent. She used the snack mix items as an analogy by saying that some of us may be a marshmallow and some of us may be an M&M, but we are not all chex mix. She explained that in the Bible the apostle Paul talks about the parts of the body and how each one is unique and different, but not one thing works separate without the others. Just as the body parts work together, so should the people who make up God’s kingdom here on earth. Mrs. Anna talked about how God did not give us our gifts just for ourselves, but He made us so we can use them for others. After that was said, Mrs. Anna told each group to pick a class to deliver their yummy snack to as a way of sharing their “talents” with others!

Kaylan pictured on the left

On Tuesday evening Mrs. Michelle (3rd grade classroom leader) asked the students to write about a situation which happened in the past week at home and which character (golden retriever, otter, beaver, lion) it brought out in them. When they were finished Mrs. Michelle asked for any volunteers to come before class and share their journal. Kaylan willingly jumped at the opportunity and here is what she shared.

“I helped my baby brother because he fell down the stairs head first and got hurt, but now he is ok.”

She was then asked what character it brought out in her and she said golden retriever.

Bible Club Volunteers Care

Goal: Volunteer Care
-Volunteers will be well trained and committed to the City Impact Mission.
-Volunteers will feel like a valued member of the CI Ministry Team.


From: Miss Lindsay (small group leader, 3rd grade)
To: Ian

“It is so nice to see you again! Come back! Happy summer”

From: Mercedez (small group leader, 3rd grade)
To: Zodell

“I see so much improvement in you. You haven’t been to reroute in a while, good job!”


From: Britton
To: Taylor

“Taylor, I really enjoy it when you volunteer to pray! God loves you!”

From: Miss Margaret
To: Channele

“You are so sweet! And I love it when you come here! It makes me happy to see you!”

Personal Responsibility in the 5th grade room

A few weeks ago before worship Mrs. Wanda (5th grade teacher) came to me very excited and wanted to tell me two things which she thought were “blog worthy” and boy was I excited!

Mrs. Wanda explained that during class one of the girls spoke up and told everyone that in the past week she had lied and she was asking if it was ok. The reason she had lied was to get into a party at the Light House. You had to be in the 6th grade to get in, so she lied and said she was. Mrs. Wanda was very excited because this brought about an opportunity to teach about being honest and how important it is to God to be honest. After the talk she was not ready to ask God to forgive her because she still did not think what she had done was really wrong. Later on the class was praying their inward prayers and when it got around to this particular 5th grade student she spoke out loud and asked God to forgive her for lying to get into the Light House party.

Not only was Mrs. Wanda excited to tell me about her student’s realization, she also said that this student does not usually pray out loud in front of the class. With all that said, it was the 5th grade girls turn to serve the food and so Mrs. Wanda asked if she could have a girl volunteer to pray for the food and with no hesitation the same girl who had spoke up earlier raised her hand and volunteered to pray out loud.

It was so fun to hear Mrs. Wanda’s excitement when she was telling me what had happened in class that night.