CEF Internship Summary

I have finished my time with CEF, it was a good 5 months of learning and growing in my walk with God. Below is a summary of the things that God helped me do in my time in Levin.

CEF Training: Teaching Children Effectively Level One
In the first 8 weeks in Levin I completed the TCE L1 over four weekends. I did well in the assessments, learning things such as presenting the Wordless Book, teaching a memory verse and teaching a Bible lesson using the CEF method.

Good News Clubs

Hinemoa House My first day with CEF was a Friday and I was there for the first Good News Club of the year. Apart from one Friday, I have been there each week. Overall, 28 children have come along to the club, many coming just once or twice but there has been a group of 10 that have been consistent. It has been a great joy to share about God with these children. They always want me to join in the games and when I sit on the ground for the lesson I am surrounded by several who all want to sit next to me. My Bible has become something that they want to hold and look up anything that is said and so it gets passed around a bit. I have had some precious moments that will be remembered for many years to come. One of those is sitting with a young boy and seeing him understand the gospel and make a profession of faith. Another one is at the end of club, having three 5 year olds take turns at getting hugs: one, two, three times, accompanied by laughter. Each of the children who have come to club have left an impression on me, and it is hard to leave.

York St
I have been attending York St Chapel, and through conversations and interest from Pam the idea came to start a club in the Levin North area at York St Chapel. The first week started off  with only three children, but that increased to nine children in the third week. Some of the children had not ever heard anything about God, and some others had. Two of the girls had been going to the other GNC but changed to this one as they could walk from school. It was great to get to know some of the ladies from York St a bit better as they came to help with registration and afternoon tea.

Wonder Club
This is a discipleship group for children who have made a profession of faith at the Good News Club. We started teaching about the Bible and have been working through Mailbox Club lessons. I got to know these children a bit more than some of the other children with seeing them twice a week and having opportunity for one-on-one time. At the end of the term there were eight children coming.

Bible in Schools

What at joy! I have been teaching the new entrants class at Levin School. I started with nine children and finished with 19. The class was a mix of ethnicity and backgrounds but something they had in common was an eagerness to learn. One of the children told me one day, “My Mum doesn’t believe in God. Thank you for teaching me about God.” That is a good reason to keep going, while the schools are still open to people coming in to teach about the Bible. I was always amazed at how much they remembered from what I taught them. They loved to sing the songs and would often sing them before class while playing and during the worksheet time in my lesson.

Girls Rally
I was mostly helping with the junior girls, aged 8- 10. Rally was only every second week so we did not have many weeks, but there were certainly some relationships built in the time that we had. I shared the teaching and taught memory verses. We were working through an ‘Answers in Genesis’ curriculum, ‘Seven C’s of History’. The girls were all keen to look up verses and read from the Bible themselves.

Visitation
Before going to Levin I knew that follow up was important and had wanted to do visitation. While there I learnt that it really is not that hard or even as scary as I had thought before. It was good to see a bit of what the children were going home to, even if it was heart breaking at times.

Good News Camp

The second week of the April school holiday was spent helping with a CEF camp in Christchurch at Waipara Riverside Park. It was a different camping experience for me but one that I enjoyed. It was wonderful to be a part of the team. Because I wasn’t a cabin leader, I did not get to know the children personally as well as I might have, but it was good to be able to support the leaders in doing their role both with the children and encouraging them in their own walks with God.

Office work
One of my biggest jobs in the office was to organise the literally hundreds of resources that Pam had in the office. My job was to sort and catalogue all of them. I began this job in the first weeks in Levin and have worked at it, only finishing in the last week. I have helped with preparation for TCE level one courses and organising different things that were happening.

Living at the Beach
Morning walks, the sound of waves and birds, fun conversations, getting to know my grandparents better, beautiful sunsets and sunrises are some of the things I have loved about living with my grandparents at their beach house.