White Wood Sunday School

Win but Lost

2006-08-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

In our relationships with other, we can play many roles such as play as a nice guy or bad guy. And in relationship with other teacher or kids we can be friend or foe for them. Don't just look from our point of view that he/she is our friend or our foe. But see it from their eyes, do we friendly with them or not.

Its easy to make foe with others. From a small debates, than just create always want to win emotion, and turned down everybody. Although we are in the right side, but doing this will just make so many foe for us. They can think that, ok you're right this time but we dont like your style or attitude. Many simple action can make foe with other.

To make friend with other, we need to know how to act low profile and kind hearted. Always try to be polite whether you're so angry or sad. If you have some debates , dont try to win it at that time, just make it fair. Then if you're not satisfied you can talk it personally with your "opponent". Choose a friendly situation to talk this serious thing.

I dont mean to play double agent or double face people, what I mean is how to keep good relationship with other along with some different concept each other held. If we can can maintain this relationship , and prevent " always want to win attitude ", maybe we can prevent many conflict that could happened.

Power of Newsletter

2006-08-02T00:18:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
remember me?
this is me again, back in town!
I think there is not much time to explain about my absence in the blogging world.

Let start to talk about newsletter. I think everybody can make it, its easy and dont need much money. Usually I makes it with microsoft office publisher. It have many templates. But the most important is like a blog, the content. I use newsletter to promote about the kids camp last month, and I think it helps to gain participants.

The content musnt be to straight, use some easy going words, then in the middle or end of newsletter just write a bit about the program we want to promote. So kids wont notice the aim of the newsletter when first read it. If you write about bible verse, or just stick with the program, I think, kids wont like it. The newsletter will just become like a letter for parents.

Add some pictures will be interesting too. At my newsletter, I add some world cup stars picture such as David Beckham.

Anyway nice to see you again!

Marriage and Blog

2006-06-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hi there, im so sorry to tell you guys that I cant update my sunday school blog for a short time. My computer is being removed, and havent got internet connection. The cause is my brother will get married soon, and rooms in my house are being re design, and it forced my computer to be repositioned too.

Right now I'm using my brother's computer, but I cant use this regularly because he need this computer to type and print invitations for his wedding.

hope to update again soon....
anyway im still updating the news blog, not because I like it more, because its easier to update than this one.

How is it Going?

2006-05-31T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hi there , its been a long time since I post about my Sunday School.
Well, Sunday School is still going well, but still many things to do here. First is preparation for the Kids camp. We havent found good speaker for this camp, but yesterday when preparing for sunday school together with my friend, the preparation leader makes me interested. She's so great and lead us well. I think she's got the power ( read about this on my previous posts ), she prepare all the things well and her stlye is good also the face expression.

Second, the Sunday School also makes preparation for Children day in July. The theme is about child abused in family. Usually we also trying to gain funds for disabled and sick kids. And with this condition in my country, maybe we also gain aid for earthquake victims.

I've got a sad news yesterday, saying that one of ex sunday school teacher still in treatment at GuangZhou ( China ). He has problem with his kidney and he has spent a month there , and sadly doctors said that there is no improvement in his health. He is one of my first friend in Sunday School, the first class mate I have there, and has guided me well in teaching. We pray for his health.

God Bless you All!

Fun Sunday School : Social Activities

2006-05-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hi there
related to disaster happened here, I want to share some ideas to involved kids in social activities to help others. The most important thing is to give seed to their heart about helping other and the feeling to help other with genuine motivation. As usual, I will share simple idea only, because from the simple one, then we could take a bigger step ( its ridiculous to send my kids as a volunteer in dangerous place ). The activities below, related to fund raising and collecting usefull things for disaster's victim.

Class Saving
Make a piggy bank or place to save money for your class. You can make it together with students or kids. The bank must be big so it can be filled with much coin ( money ), also it should'nt transparant. So kids wont compare each other money. Each kid can give their money voluntary in that bank. The one bank for a class is better than each bank for each student. Because, again , individual bank will make them seeing each other saving account, and the one with small amount of money can be sad. Gives deadline time, example : after a month then, the bank will be emptying and the money will be given to the poor or needy.

Bazaar/garage sale
Held a bazaar in your school, and invite all the people from your community. The things that sold in bazaar can be used item, or anything kids want to sell. Also a good idea if they making some craft or arts to be sell there. The money gets from this bazaar will be used as charity. Making cookies and sell it here also great. Teacher, parents and kids can make it together.

Caroling/talent show
Same as the bazaar idea. Kids can perform in a show to gain money for charity. The show can be a singing show or drama. Remember to practice and train, dont just make it easy. Also involved all the kids, don't just the clever or smart kid.

At last, I want to said again about the importance of the lesson, to care and help other. Doesnt matter how much money can be gain. We're not selling our kids here.

Earthquake in Java ( Indonesia ) : New Blog Established

2006-05-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hi there thanks for coming
Im sorry, if you come for info about Earthquake in Java, there is none of it will updated again here.Because this blog has different aim than giving information and news.

I've established a new blog with informational and news content. Especially news in Indonesia.

here is the address :
indonesianewsonline.blogspot.com

it will be updated daily
thanks for attention.

From Zero to a Hero : Patience

2006-05-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

I wrote the post below last week, when the connection is down at netcafe. And Im thinking to post it now, but same as last week the internet is down again now. Well if the internet going well, I will post it, because reading this again make me feel better. Here is what I wrote last week :

Right now I just really want to get angry. But still I can handle this feeling. The internet is so slow here, and I've got bad result on my blog meter. Only 10 peoples comes up. Remembering that this evening I must finish the informational letter about kids camp ( which acctually this isnt my job, but I must handle this because she got sick ), I have no problem with doing this. But thinking about the short time to finish it make me feel unwell.

In situation like this there is some tips :

Take a deep breath

Well ,I've got better by doing this repeatedly. The explanation is , when taking deep breath, big ammount of oxygen entering our bodies, which mean it increase oxygen and blood flow to brain. With more oxygen in brain, your brain can think more clearly. I keep doing this, yes it will be a weird things, but its better than get mad in this net cafe. This is usefull too, if you want to get angry in class, just do this thing first, and try to think clearly. Don't let your negative emotional state ruin your class.
Positive thinking

Think about the positive side. Well the internet is slow, so I have time to write article, not keep browsing everywhere. And one of the good thing is I've got idea for write this article. And about the letter business, well at least I can learn how to write formal letter for parents. Maybe someday that skill will be usefull.
Calculating

Try to think logically. Get mad and shouting at the net cafe's owner wont change the internet speed. Just sit down and wait, isnt a good idea too, but it wont be troubling. When you think logically you can find the reasonable answer. If you angry with kids, you can hit them, but the result will be bad. A young chessmaster said " Don't move until you see it " ( Josh Waitzkin ), means that always look for the best move.

picture taken from internet

Sunday School : Back Again here

2006-05-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hi there thanks for coming...
Well for the last two days I keep updating my blog with earthquake news. And I think its time to go back to Sunday School. Yesterday, the Sunday School going well, and I think most of the kids didnt know about the earthquake although parents and teachers talk about it. Only kids which their family lives in mid Java know this.

And sadly one of my student grandmother and grandfather become the victim of earthquake. They're not dead, but their house cracked a lot. Also one of ex-teacher which lives in Jogja, his house ruin in some part. Well 5.9 Ritcher is a big quake there.

The topic yesterday is about God who take care of us even He isnt with us physically. God with us in the form of Spirit that protect and guide us. A bit hard to tell children about this, but with some illustration, they can understand well. The illustrations is about kindness that can be done by kids. They can do it because they've got guidance from the Spirit.

GBU all!

Earthquake in Java : Citizens stay at chicken farm

2006-05-28T02:16:00.000-07:00

The shortage of emergency tent , makes hudreds of people from Pentung village , Bantul, staying in chicken farm. All of the houses there are destroyed because of the Earthquake. They are eating and sleeping there, as shown in pictures. The biggest number of victims are from this area, Bantul, more than one thousand people die ( from all three thousands )

Telkomnet, as one of big internet provider in Indonesia, got their traffic down almost 40% in Jogjakarta.

picture taken from internet.

Earthquake in Java ( Indonesia ) : Crying victim

2006-05-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hospital in Jogjakarta full of earthquake victims, picture is victim in Sardjito Hospital.

Citizens prefer to sleep outside their house ( in Bantul and Jogjakarta ), they are still trauma with the Earthquake, and afraid of coming soon Earthquake. And many others stay around Jogja Sultan's Palace. They believe that the Palace will give them more protection. They also believe that Sultan has magical power and can protect people ( there is many magical stuff inside Sultan's Palace, i know it when touring there some years ago ). Jogjakarta, historically is a safe against earthquake, but today it comes to Jogja and chrushed everything there.

One good thing is, the nuclear reactor in Jogja is still safe.

Earthquake in Java ( Indonesia ) : some photos

2006-05-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

Left Pic : Destroyed house at Jl. Solo
Right Pic : Destroyed hous near Gembira Loka Zoo.

Earthquake in Java ( Indonesia ) : President instruct to supplies logistic fast!

2006-05-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ( SBY ), instructed people's wealth department to act quickly to help earthquake victim in middle Java. President arrived at Bantul ( the most damaged area near Jogjakarta ) saturday night ( this night ). President gives 4 instruction :
- The most important is to help the life victim
- Controlling the situation
- Do fast emergency help
- Do rehabiliation and reconstruction

President will be moving to Jogjakarta to control situation in Mid Java for days forward. The logistics is still enough for the victim and many shops still open there.

Earthquake in Java

2006-05-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hi there, a friend ask me whether I've got the earthquake or not. Well thanks to God, Im ok here. Me and my family are in Jakarta, and we're ok. Earthquake happened at Middle of Java, in Jogjakarta city and the rural areas around it. From the recent news, the victims are 2998 peoples. Earthquake happened three times this morning at that place, the strength of the earthquake is around 5.7 Richter. The cause of earthquake is some movement of earth piece in South Hindia Sea

President has gone there to see the victims, also make some coordination there.

Hope God always be with my country...

photo taken from internet

Fun Sunday School : Lets Drawing , Butterfly

2006-05-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
This is the second drawing tips. Butterfly is a beautifull animal and kids will like it, because butterfly dont bite anyone. And also it has nice color. You can use this step by step tips to create butterfly picture with students or your children. I know that this will be very easy for yourself, but not for kids. Don't just give them the complete butterfly picture to copy, but show them how to create it step by step. The hardest part is creating the wings, its like making number 3. But its also the best part to color.

Here is my step by step :
1. Create the base body
2. Give lines in it
3. Create the right wing first, its like making number 3
4. Create the left wing, if you can create the right, the left one would be easier.
5. Gives eyes, you can insert emotion ( read my previous post )
6. Create the antenne
7. Decorate the wings you can draw circles or anything there

I draw happy butterfly here. You can make variation for Sunday School or kids activities by creating big butterfly then kids can color it with mosaic stlye ( by sticking small piece of color paper to its wings )

Hope this can be usefull

Fun Sunday School : Lets Drawing ( Faces/Emotion )

2006-05-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hi All!
Its me again! Sorry not to write for a day. Well I'm a bit busy with registration for Master's program and I also busy with kids camp planning. But now I'm back!.
Today I'm posting about how to draw simple picture. Simple picture, means picture that can be drawn quicly, not the artfull one. This kind of picture will help us when we need to put illustration for Sunday School story or school lesson. There is time when you need to quickdrawing on whiteboard or board.

The tips than I want to share is first about drawing faces. Its very easy one. Faces of human picture has emotion, and the emotion can be played by the various eyes and mouth form.

1. Draw the base, two circles with dot
2. The eye line can be inside or outside the circles.
3. / this line mean sad eye
4. \ this line mean angry or brave
5 ^ ^ this line, inside circles means happy
6 example of various emotion shown by eyes
7 Mouth form, from left to right, happy, unhappy, confused
8 Various faces, happy and brave, happy face, unwell face.

Hope this will be usefull, and it will be used also in animal or plants emotional face.
Have a nice drawing!

Cartoon Heroes

2006-05-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a simple song about heroes that I like most. Not so simple I think, because the melody and background music is the great one. “Cartoon Heroes” by Aqua. The lyric is great and inspirational for me. Its so heroic and applicable too . Heroes just like illusion, hard to believe but they’re real. They do the thing that people hope somebody will do ( we teach greatly as the students hope we will do it ). Sometimes we must fight extremely, the lyric “one by one we’re making it fun” is nice. It means we can enjoy our work or job.

There is a sentence that Hero must learn skills. Learn to run and learn to fall ( from any height ). Learn to run at speed of light, I think this mean learn and train so hard, because to run at speed of light mean run in maximum speed and without training hard, you cant make it. Learn to fall means you’re learn to fall and still alive. This is great, often we fall and consider it as failure and don’t want to stand up again. Lets learn to fall and be alive , stand up!

Not all people can do heroic things and can be a hero ( maybe they don’t want to learn to run and fall ). But when you become a hero it will be last forever.

Cartoon Heroes

By Aqua

We are what we’re supposed to be - illusions of your fantasy All dots and lines that speak and say - what we do - is what you wish to do
We are the color symphony, we do the things you want to see
Frame by frame - to the extreme

Our friends are so unreasonable, they do the unpredictable
All dots and lines that speak and say - what we do - is what you wish to do
It’s all an orchestra of strings, doing unbelievable things
Frame by frame - to the extreme, one by one we’re making it fun

We are the cartoon heroes, oh, we are the ones who are gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind, oh, and walked out on a piece of paper

Here comes Spiderman, arachnophobian, welcome to the toon town party
Here comes Superman, from never never land, welcome to the toon town party

We learn to run at speed of light, and to fall down from any height
It's true but just remember that - what we do, is what you just can’t do
An opera of craziness - a bunch of dots that’s chasing us
Frame by frame - to the extreme, one by one we’re making it fun

We are the cartoon heroes, oh, we are the ones who are gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind, oh, and walked out on a piece of paper

Here comes Spiderman, arachnophobian, welcome to the toon town party
Here comes Superman, from never never land, welcome to the toon town party

You think we’re so mysterious, don’t take us all too serious
Be original and remember that, what we do, is what you just can’t do

What we do, is what you just can’t do - What we do, is what you just can’t do
What we do, is what you just can’t do - What we do, is what you just can’t do

We are the cartoon heroes, oh, we are the ones who are gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind, oh, and walked out on a piece of paper

There’s still more to come, and everyone will be - welcomed at the toon town

Søren Rasted/Claus Norreen
© 1999 Universal Music Publishing AB

What they said about the Zeros

2006-05-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

“ We don’t like their music, and even the popularity of guitar is going down”

( Decca Recording Company when rejecting The Beatles, 1962 )

“ You won’t go anywhere, kid. Better going back with your previous job, as a truck driver “

( Jimmy Denny, Grand Ole Orpy manager when kicking out Elvis Presley after a show at 1954 )

“ Just learn to be a secretary or get married “

( Emmeline Snively, director of Blue Book Modelling Agency, her advice for Marilyn Monroe, 1944 )

“ Your teeth form is bad, and you talk so slow “

( Universal Pictures Executive when Rejecting Clint Eastwood, 1959 )

Well , all of us know what happened then with the Zeros. They’ve got their popularity boost and reach their dream. Many heart stabbing words come to us, to stop teaching, to stop blogging, said that you’re nothing, you’re not a good teacher, you talk to slow, you’re ugly, you can’t be with kid, you don’t have talent, etc. But the one who know our future only God, and the one who decide to walk on or just sit is us. We can learn to get better and better until become the best.

I translate the sentences from Indonesian language so it maybe a bit different from the real sentences ( if you found it somewhere ).

picture taken from internet

From Zero to a Hero : be a role model!

2006-05-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Hi there, I’ve posted about Role Model and Modelling theory yesterday. And also I put Gandhi’s picture there. I don’t mean that all of us must become like Gandhi , Mother Theresa, Lady Diana or even Christ. It is good if you can become one of them, but all the big things firstly started from the small one. We can become a role model for our kids or children or students by doing simple little things.

Put litter in bin

Seeing litter in your class or environtment? Just pick it up and throw it to litter bin. Even the smallest piece of paper until dirty tissue, you can pick it up. Maybe kids will think you act strange ( to gather those dirty thing and put it in bin ). You can explain that this simple action is usefull for our environtment. In my country, doing this thing means preventing flood ( because flood happened because people littering everywhere, in sewer, river , etc, that will stopped the flows of water ). Also you can clean up your class by yourself, don’t just wait for cleaning service. I used to sweep my own class. So when other teacher want to use it , its already clean.

Don’t get into “it”

Often when you’re with student then on of you friend come in to talk to you. He/she can talk about dirty joke or just get angry and said dirty words. Even the joke is very funny, don’t give positive response, so kids know that dirty joke and dirty word isn’t good. Or you can warned your friends about that joke , you can just “shhh” or “we can talk about it later “. Then even you get angry, if he/she teasing you, don’t fight back with dirty word, just told him/her politely.

Come very early

Come early in the morning, set up the class well. This gives good model for kids. They know that you come early and not late. If you get late, it can be a reason for them to come late too, they can say “ you as the teacher can come late, why we can’t come late too? “. Coming early not just to prepare your own class, you can help prepare other class. I often seen kids from other class that come earlier before their teacher, then they prepare that class ! They arrange the sit , clean up whiteboard, etc. Usually I helped them and give praise for their attitude.

From this three simple things, you can add more. Maybe the modeling don’t take fast effect, kids can remember the model when they’re teens or adult. So as the bad model, they’re afraid will get punished if talk dirty, but when they’re adult, there is no one to afraid of.

picture taken from internet

Me and my blog

2006-05-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

Having blog is like having a kid or child. You must take care of it and be responsible. Im so thankfull for all the visitors that come to my blog. And I also amazed by that my article here reach above 50 , which I think I cant make it ( at the first time launching this blog ). Yes, its like kid, you dont know what they will become.

To leave my blog ( for teaching or sunday school ) is a bit sadly for me. Like you're leaving your child for about 1-2 days. Leaving my blog give me "blog anxiety" in my brain, I will always think about it ( the visitor, content, etc ). Fortunately, yesterday, when Im leaving my blog, God sent his angel to help my blog. My friend, Razib, informing about my blog in some sites. And I've got benefit from his action. He is a good friend ( like a good neighbour who can take care of your kid when you're working ). Razib is a blog owner too, his blog is quite great southasiabiz.com , he update it everyday with fresh news from South Asia. I think he is a good blogger model and his blog also a good blog model. People can learn from his blog and his attitude.

Today I've got problem in my blog, I cant see my own update in my blog, well of course you will seen this post but I cant. Also for some others blog, still frozen with their old topics. I dont know what happened, but when using other computer, all is running well.

Hope it will be fix soon.
have a nice day
and for blogger, have a nice blogging day!

From Zero to a Hero : Power of a Model

2006-05-21T17:49:00.000-07:00

Model?
who? Kate Moss?
No, I mean a role model. Be a role model means that your action will always be observe or seen by other, and in the school context , all of your action as a teacher ( or maybe as person ) will be observe by children and other teacher. If you do something bad, for example, talking dirty infront of children , than kids will copy that action and paste it in their brain.

Learn from model, usually called modelling or observational learning, is the part of Bandura's study in social learning. Bandura using experimental method in his study, he lets chilldren observe a kid that playing with doll ( called Bobo doll ), the kid ( as a model ) then play roughly with the doll, the doll been hit and kick. After some time, Bandura, let the children to play with Bobo doll too, the result is, the children play it roughly like the kid before. The result is reversed when , the model take good care with Bobo doll. Other variations is by giving reward and punishment, seeing the model get punished because rough play will decrease children's will to copy that action.

Reading the paragraph above, we should know how to positioned ourself. Dont do bad things infront of students ( the best is dont do bad thing ). Also we learn about social learning here. Give reward to good model will make other copy that nice action , example : Bill can memorize the verse well, then give him a praise, children who seen this will copy Bill's action. Another example : Joey hit Ron with book, you must act quickly warn him, then other kids dont want to do that too because they have seen their friends get punishment.

The picture in this post is Mahatma Gandhi, from India. He's got many followers till now, because he is a great role model, he fight for justice with peacefull way. Gandhi, also know about Bible, but he get very upset when Christian people ( in India at that time ) still valueing people by race, if all Christian can be like their model ( Jesus ) then the world will become a nice place to live.

Fun Sunday School : Holding Hands ( Activities )

2006-05-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

Tools :
Scissors, Pencil , Paper

First Step : Cut paper into horizontal form, then fold it ( x to x )

Second: fold until the smallest form/square

third :Draw the pattern, half man pattern or you can also draw woman pattern
after that you can cut around the pattern, remember to only cut the line. Dont cut the unpatterned!

Here is the result of the cut, left is the sample of result after you cut pattern, right pic is the result after opening it. You can make various pattern to create various result too. After getting the holding hands picture, you can draw their faces or clothes. This is very simple and easy. You can use this activities in lesson about peace, caring each other, etc.

Fun Sunday School : Simple Singing variation

2006-05-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

Kids will be easily get bored if we just singing without variation. I learn some variation style of singing from my friend. She’s just lead the kids to sing the same old song, but with more variation. Its just like a simple singing activities. You can copy these techniques easily.

Follow my Hand

Ask kids to follow your hand. Divide kids into two or three group. If your hand goes to left side, it means the left side group sing, if it goes right then the right side turn. And if you lift two hand, means all the kids must sing. You can make this style more harder, with reversed style, told them that if your hand goes to left side, it means the right group sing.

Control Volume

Explain about the volume control, if you show them 5 fingers then it means they sing to the loudest. 1 finger, sing with light voice, 3 mean normal voice. And no finger means still singing but without voice, only lips and mouth movement. You can do fast change while they’re singing from one to five or five to zero. They must keep an eye to your code.

Music sound

This is more easy. Change the voice with music voice, if you said guitar, then they must change their voice to guitar voice, but still sing the song. Piano with piano voice ( only ting ting ting ), drum ( dum dum dum ), and so on. Let them also choice their own sound. You can variate with dividing group, guitar voice group, piano voice group, etc. So it will be a full music there!

As time goes by you can create various technique. Just keep your brain creative. Have a nice song leading!

Fun Sunday School : Simple activities

2006-05-19T02:07:00.000-07:00

Just want to share idea about some simple activities. Simple here doesn’t mean low in quality. It means everybody can make it, but maybe just don’t get this idea. These activities, don’t need much tools, you can make it by paper and pencil or even without any tools. So, get ready to write this down.

Secret Code

Want to make a verse become interesting to learn ? or want children to remember important message ? Often I used this technique. Just write some code for each letter , example a = ?, b = $, c = * , d = !, e = + , f= [ , g = ] , and so on ( you can change the code with more interesting symbol like triangle, square, heart, etc ). Then you can write the words, example : bed , write it = $+!. This activities can be done by kids at minimum age 8.

Acting Quiz

You must prepare the acting task. Write it on small papers, example : Act as praying Jesus or act as the good Samaritan. Then call one of the kid to take paper randomly, he/she just read it in mind. After that he/she must begun to act, only act without sound, and the others kid must guess.You can make this as groups games too, or make competition between groups.

Glass of Mission

Again, put simple some task ( that written in small papers ) in a glass or bowl. Then instruct the kids to make circle ( sit forming circle ). Kids must pass the glass to each other, do this with singing. When you say “stop”, then they must stop singing, and kid who hold the glass must take one of the mission paper. The mission could be one person mission or groups mission , Example : Sing a Christmas Song together with one friend at your left and your right side.

Last Kid Sitting

Form circle from chairs, but you must take one of the chair first ( If there are 15 kids then just form 14 chairs ). Then kids must move around the chairs formation, they do this while singing. When you say stopped, kids must sit, there must be one kid don’t get chair, then he/she must step aside. Continue with singing and move around, until there are only two kids with one chair. The last kid who get the chair win the game. This can be more easy if you using tape, so you can easily stop the music.

I believe each of you can do more variation, I only share some ideas. Hope these will be helpful.

From Zero to a Hero : Small Gift

2006-05-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

What is your talent ?
Many of us get confused in answering this question. I can sing ,but only with so so skills, also draw, teach, write, etc. You feel that you're just normal person with average overall skills, nothing important with yourself. You're not American Idols or great politician. Thought like this seems to haunting us and if we keep it like this, it will ruin our confidence.
( Matt Murdock is blind man, but he's got his own talent )

Maybe We should realized some simple gift like these :

Joking/Entertain
Well being a comedian is hard, and its happen on some shows here in my country. They're trying to make people laugh, but then the audience just keep silent. Guess what? yes, that clown will be kicked out from their job. But for people who get gift to make joke, its very simple for him/her, just by unprepared style, people will get entertained. If you can make people laugh or entertain people, then its just a step away to make the world a happy face.

Super Soft Motoric Skills
Knit? watch repair?
I cant do that small tiny bity things. And I think most people dont want to get involve on that things. But if you have great soft motoric skills, you can do much on that little things. My friend can repair chess clock and chess board that crashed a lot. I think he's got some magic fingers, for me and other maybe just think to buy another one. This skill also usefull in making craft for activities in school. Many that dont have this skill just give photocopied activities ( coloring, drawing, etc ).

Evaluator
Have seen people like these? keep critics on other. But I know some good evaluator. They have good point of view and can tell us whats wrong. And also give some solution. If you've got this skill then you're ready to become Idol's judge. Evaluator have great role in my Sunday School, person in this type keep disciplining other. They done this to keep the quality of Sunday School.

Well you can find more unique skills like animal tamer ( person who can get closed with animals, even with snakes ), quick hand ( you can be an illusionist ), sensitive tongue ( know people that paid for food tester or wine tester ? ), etc

God give it all for us to do nice work, so find it develop it and use it for our God. Dont waste it!

Who Am I?

2006-05-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

After a month, I havent introduce myself more details in my blog. As you may know, I am a chess teacher and also a sunday school teacher. I graduate from Faculty of Psychology at University of Indonesia in year 2006.

Im not a saint also not a real superhero ( I have mentioned this at some previous post ago ). I also got some fail in my blogging experience. But now my blog can running well and many people like it. Thanks for supporting. One of my weakness is my English, i cant speak and write it perfectly. But its ok, I will try as hard as possible so people can understand what I mean ( thats the main function of language isnt it ? ). Dont let people turned you down just because you have weakness, everybody has weakness, but we have our talent too.

Back to me, I like to do some sports too. I join the karate club at high school and reached purple belt. Then at this time I like to cycling and playing street soccer. How about music ? I like secular music too, like LP and Fort Minor.

You can asked me if you want to know more about me.
thanks for coming!

From Zero to a Hero : Get Up!

2006-05-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

In our journey as a teacher, sometimes there are hard rain with storm on our way. And often we've got down, even we've fight it nicely. Get defeated, get down, get hit, and anything else synonym to failed. Upset or sad is normal. Even, you can think about resigning. Well dont do it without think. I do these things when got failed on teaching :

Relaxing
Dont be too overhelmed by the failure, just do another thing and dont think about it until you feel good. Well this is hard to do if you still on the location or meet people related to your work or job that failed. Go away from that world. You can go to park or beach to give yourself some silent time. Also you can forget it for a while by playing games or reading comic. I played games on PS 2 when get some problem.

Evaluate
After you've got back your cool brain, then think about the problem again. Whats wrong with it? dont do this to blame yourself, but to know what to do next. Its a bit painfull to remember it again, but remember that doing this thing will benefit yourself. " A success person is the one who can look at his failure with tough face ".

Social Support
This is the most effective way to help you get up. Call old friend or your best friend. Just talk about what happened. Sometimes "just talking" will relieve your pain. Even better if they can motivate you ( and you must do this when there is friend who need you ).

Pray
Pray to God and tell Him that you need His help. Believe me that God will help. He will make a way for you. But still need your action to decide, whether you just sit down and crying or get up and build your dream again.

To get up from emotional breakdown is a hard thing. But if you can do this, you will become stronger and growing better. It will take time, but with patience and persistence, you can work through it. GET UP! ( even a good boxer needs time to get up )

picture taken from internet
this topic related to From Zero to a Hero : facing anxiety

From Zero to a Hero : Encouraging Soldier

2006-05-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

For kids in early age, entering class is like entering a strange battlefield. This happen most for kids at 2-7 years.
Entering class with unknown people inside it, without parent beside them, different environtment, etc. He/her sometimes will try as hard as possible to keep theirself in the "secure zone", they will pretend too hold their parents arm and dont want to enter class. Or just crying as loud as possible. But the battle must begun Sir!

Come to him/her
Dont just standing numb in your class. Get outside and come to the crying kid. Tell them that its ok to entering class. The class if fun, also the kids are great. Make him/her believe you. Ask what are they afraid ? then give the right answer. Example : I want to be with my mother, then you can answered, Thats ok, mom will watch you from the window, and everything gonna be alright. If you pretend like this, your mom will sad.

Make sure the situation inside is great!
Let them take a look at the class from window or outside. But you must told the kids inside to act polite and greet the new comer. Open the door and instruct the kids to greet, Example : Welcome to our class ! or just Hello, good morning, please come inside. It will be better if one of the kids inside want to come outside and encourage the new comer.

Give reward
You can give sticker or keychain to lure him/her. But dont do it if you dont try as hard as you can.

Let the parents guide
If the kid still dont want to be separated from his/her parent, you can let the parents enter your class. Then you can do some shaping technique, week 1 ( sunday school ), parents can get inside, week2, they just looking from outside, week 3, try to let the kid alone.

In handling this situation, you must also calculate the time. If you're the only teacher , then give yourself about 5 minutes to take care this case. After the time is up, then let the parent decide whether they will back to their house or they want to try hard to encourage their kid and let you go inside to teach the other kids.

From Zero to a Hero : Kids Name

2006-05-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

" Billy, answer the question please ", then the boy just mute. " Ok Billy, dont be afraid, nobody will laugh at your answer " you try to encourage him. But still the kid go on his silent mode. " C mon, you can do that Billy ", you said again. Then one of the kid give you a good answer " He is not Billy, he is Ricky ".

Experience like that often happen when we just started a new class. And it can be worse if you still dont remember kids name until half of the semester. There is some way to make it easier

Let them Introducing
When started a new class, let the kids introduce themself. Not you who read their name from a list. Let them stand and said their name , one by one. You can let them added some information such as house, pet, etc. After that you can guess their name one by one, act like this is a guessing game. Kids also can involved, example, you point at one of the kids and ask " Ok kids, who is her name ? ". You can do the name guessing game for 2 weeks ( in sunday school )

Chunking
This is a memorizing technique that use a word related to the subject. Memorize, just name only can be a bit hard example : Joan, Andrew, Ron. But if you add some information, it would be more easier, and you could just know their name by words you chunk to their name. The add on word can be related to their physical or their attitude. Example Blue eye Joan, Silent Andrew, Short Ron, etc. But remember to said this formula in your head only.

Name Tag
You can create name tag for them. This is the most helpfull tools. After giving the name tag, order them to write their name on the name tag. But dont just depen on these name tags, because you must know their name to when they]re not wearing name tag ( if you meet them outside school ).

Listing
You can do this at activity time. You can call their name one by one, and checked at the name list. When calling their name, you must also see who the person you call, so you can remember, not just read and check.

Dont be sad if you cant memorize kids name on your first week. It needs time for your brain to process it. Have a good time!

Its 3 o'clock in the morning

2006-05-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

hi visitor!

good morning, im still wake here to see some situation, glad to find you in my blog. Hope you will like it and would like to come again. If you left some comment , then I can visit you too. Anyway you can find older interesting article in my blogs, such as From Zero to a Hero series and Archetype. Well, i will continue to write that series.

From yesterday I have start to write new series, the Fun Sunday School. The different between this series and From Zero to a Hero is the focus. In Fun Sunday School the focus is around the school, while im focusing on teacher skill in From Zero to a Hero. Hope you will like it. Because my blog is nothing without you.

what time is it in your country?
Have a good day!

Fun Sunday School : Introduction ( simple technique )

2006-05-16T04:05:00.000-07:00

How to make a fun self introduction?
You can make a simple quiz, the quiz aim is to guess your name. Example : Your name is Lucky, then write five line in whiteboard like this _ _ _ _ _, then you can said, my name is form by five letter. Let them said the letter, if they said a, then answer, no there is no a. If they guess c, then write c, _ _ c _ _. And so on. If its to difficult, you can give a hit about the first letter or the last letter.

This simple quiz can be used to introduce new students to all, or to introduce the character or things you want to explain in the lesson ( example : Jonah, Fish, etc ).
Using this technique can attract kids to focus on you and your name. They are lure to guess your name and try to get right letter. And they will remember your name easily, because their brain try to get it ( there is interest factor ).

Other technique is with some variation
still with example Marie, then write five lines _ _ _ _ _
after that, told them that each of line consist of one letter, the letter is the first letter of what you will draw. Draw Moon below first line then, Apple below second line, Rose below third line, Ice cream below fourth line, Egg below fifth line.

This can be used if you've got times and the kids is bigger.
have a nice introduction!

Fun Sunday School : Ice Breaker!

2006-05-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

How to melt the ice?
Put it in hot athmosphere, then it will melting soon. Same with kids, you must know them and memorize their name and their face. But this isnt enough, although you know them, but some situation sometimes make them so cold or sleepy. This happens especially at morning, when you teach morning class, you can find some kids are unmotivated. Maybe they still want to sleep or their parents force them to come to Sunday School while they're still watching cartoon.

Ice Breaker is a technique to melt down the cold situation, and make happier condition in class or in relationship. Usually we use games for Ice Breaker. Games must involve kids movement, more movement is better, their body will get warm, blood will arise to brain also oxygen, and this make them more fresh.

Some Ice Breaker games :

Tornado
Kids sit in circle, then teachers spin around his body , and said Tornado come to kids that wear shoes . After that , kids who wear shoes must substitute sits. Example : Maria, Jane and Rocky wear shoes, then all of them must run to others place, Maria to Jane's chair, Jane to Rocky's chair and so on. You can variate it by saying : Tornado come to kids who have red color in their shirt ( although they wear white shirt, but if there is a red stripes there, they must change their sitting posisition ). Say the words for about 3-4 times, until the kids mixed.

Follow the Coach
Pretend to be a commander of soldier. The game is simple, use flute ( that used in sport games ), give some code first to the kid. Example : Short whistle means stand, twice means sit, long whistle means jump, etc. Also you can said : Are you ready for today? lets see your reflex!. Make it fun!

Hidden Treasure
Hide a things like key or something related to subject. Then give 5 minutes for kids to find it. Hide it outside the class will be better, and even good if you give them the maps. Make sure that this game not disturbing other class.

The games above are the games that me and others teacher used in sunday school. You can find more Ice Breaker game in internet, because Ice breaker not only for kids but it can applied to in many occassion.

1 Month of my blog

2006-05-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hi all!
today is one month of my blog. Well time went fast....
Thanks for all people that visits my blog regularly and suddenly. Also I thanks to my friend at google groups , bloggerforum.com ( This is very usefull forum for all bloggers ), blogfam ( indonesian blogger forum ), and special thanks to my friend and kids at White Wood Sunday School.

I hope this blog will last for a long time and can give benefit for not just Sunday School but also educator. I realize that there are some weakness here, and will try hard to fix it and to improve the content.

Have a nice blogging day!

Fun Sunday School : Lets Make it ! I ( physical )

2006-05-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

First question : How to make school fun?

My answer is, don’t make it a school. I know, that some school have a fun effect too. But majority, school is perceived as an unpleasant place. This happened mostly in East side of the world , where feudalism still exist. In Japan , Singapore, Indonesia, school is too hard, the quantity of freedom is so small. But it doesn’t mean that school at West is better too, although freedom and democracy culture are there. “School Sucks!” term is coming from West, yes its right that more freedom there but, also the needs for freedom is higher too.

So, lets change their ( students ) perception of school/Sunday school.

Classroom

This is a physical representative of school. Lets make over, put some bright decorative in there, and also outside the class. It must be up to date decorative. Some animals character made by cartoon is also good. One of my friend make over her class crazily, she decorate the class like a bedroom, with crane origami at the ceiling. And the other create an aquarium classroom, where fish and other sea character from paper are stick on the window. Still one of my friend create a forest in her class. I know this will cost a lot, but its nothing compare what you will get next, the joy of students in your class ( school ).

Sitting Arrangement

One of the sign of giving freedom is by let the children choose their own sit. You can arrange the chair forming circle or big U. It means openness. But if the class is small and the kids is too many, then using traditional row is ok too. Or you can avoid it by using mat, or just sitting on floor.

Toys and Books

You can add some toys and book in class. So kids can play or read it before the class begin. Or they can use it while they are waiting for parents to pick them. Better if the toys can be played together, so you can play it also, games like snake and ladder , ludo , puzzle are a good example. Books like comic and children books are good option, the books musnt to thick, so they can finish it fast. Or if the book is thick, you can let them borrow it, with promised that they must return it.

Wall Magazine

Put a big thick paper in the wall. Or place that can be view by kids. Then you can add some articles there, with smaller paper ( colorfull ) then stick it on that big paper. It can be informative articles, such as sports event, or news. Also you can stick humours or cartoon there, but remember to make it suitable for their ages.

At the next post I will write about the other points of Fun Sunday School. Although Im focusing this for Sunday School, but its also applicable for secular school or even for your house. I will also give some example of classroom decorative, sitting arrangement, and the wall magazine .

Fun Sunday School

2006-05-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

Well I think I havent define what I mean by Fun Sunday School, I will define these words by myself. Lets start it one by one.

Fun : Means fun, just kidding, its mean happy , a bit freedom, smile, laughter, joy.

Sunday : Its a name of a day in week. Sunday, in international calendar is holiday. People can take vacation in sunday or just taking a rest. Some said that Sunday is the first day, but some said that sunday is the last day. Bible told us that the last day of creation, God take a rest.

School : Place to study. The subjects to study is depend on curriculum in this place. Also there is some rule in this place. People who study in school called student and people who guide or teach students called teacher.

Now I will arrange it by two words

Fun Sunday : Means that a nice sunday, full with happiness and joy.

Sunday School : Some people seen this as a contradictory, school in Sunday ?! Oh cmon, isnt that just enough for school from Monday to Friday ( or Saturday ). Sunday School term has different definition from School. In Sunday School, students learn about Bible and things related to that. The teacher called sunday school teacher. Learn about Bible isnt a cool things in this modern day. So lets just add one more word infront.

Fun Sunday School : Sunday School added with fun. Means kids can learn Bible with joy and happiness. The athmosphere is set to be as comfort as possible. Not to serious and religious. The teachers also not to cold or to formal. Its different from usual school. Many cheerfull song and activities add here.

Seems hard to make it fun, since Bible and School isnt a fun thing for children.
I will post the how to make it fun in the next post.

Welcome to Fun Sunday School.

Where are the teachers gone?

2006-05-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

I notice this question at a "Matilda" by Roald Dahl ( a kids to teen book, but also great if you want to read it ). There is scene in this book, when Matilda asking in her heart, where do the teachers go after school over. Are they just gone , pooping away then poops in again tomorrow, or they just went to teacher box. Me myself has this question when I was a kid.

Then Matilda found a surprisingly fact about her teacher. This happened when her teacher invite Matilda to her house. They walk together to that house. The house is small, and her teacher eat only simple food , she dont have butter so she used margarine.

In my country, there are lots of teachers life below good condition. Some of them have side job as a " ojek driver " ( they used their motorcycle to deliver people, just like taxi but using motorcyle ). And lots of them have worse house then Matilda's teacher house, their house just made by tripleks ( thin gipsum wood ). And still many problems they got such as cut off wages by governtment ( the reason is for their retirement funds )

This is very ironic, the educator dont get a good life.
Hope condition will change , and job as teacher can have a good status too in the society.

picture taken from internet.

Lets Read Comic

2006-05-14T02:39:00.000-07:00

As I said comic isnt a bad source for kids. You can read it with your kid. Here is some tips and tricks to prevent choosing wrong comic. But there is also sacrifice you must made to make this comic mission going well.

Read it first
Before you buy comic for kids, you must read it first. And make sure that the comic doesnt contain pornographic or much violent. I know that it is rare to find comic without violence. So just filter the violence, not to much blood fest, not to detail on character scar ( dont buy it if its too expose the character scar or hurt, maybe its a sadomasochism comic ). Also you must aware of the age meter on the comic ( some comic have their grade , example : everyone, above 13, above 17 ).

Read with kids
You can read the comic with kids. But dont disturb them to much. After reading together, you can discuss the content. Example : Why Spiderman must hit Green Goblin, or why Superman is angry and say some dirty word. Then you must explain that we can models the good character, but must avoid to become bad character or using bad habit as smoking or saying dirty word.

Read after they read it
If its not comfotable for kids to read with you, then let them read it first. Then you can borrow their comic, use friendly approach. Dont make it an inspection. I think they will also be happy if their parent or teacher want to read their comic.

If you find something wrong
If you know that the content of the comic that already bought by your kids is not suitable for them, then you must explain it clearly. Substitute with other comics or toys. Remember to always explain about the not suitable content , why its not suitable, and etc. Dont just grab away the comic without explaination.

As I said, need sacrifices to doing this things. Its not easy, but there will be no easy for doing the best for our kids.

Comics

2006-05-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

Today , my brothers borrow much comics from comics retail. Comics here mean japanese comic that translated to indonesian language. They brought so much comic about 10 books. Detective Conan, Kung Fu Boy, Prince of Tennis, Black Jack. I know it all, and I read it too.
Many parents dislike comic, they thought that comic only make their child become lazy and imaginative. We know that some comics have bad effect like, brutality, pornographic , use of drugs, etc. But mostly not, if you are a parent its easy to control your child comic, you should read it too.

Comic main character, brings some good message for me. Chinmi from Kung Fu Boy is a great kid with martial art talent. He fight for justice and he keeps himself low profile. Also in this comic show that Chinmi must work together with his friends to fight their enemy. There is never give up spirit shown by them. Although they must face enemy in much numbers.

On Black Jack comic, it show a young doctor's life. He life as a doctor that must experience the darkside of hospital. That many senior doctors do bad things to their patients. This young doctor, keep his idealism and try to change the bad things. He fight for the patients right. This comic talks much about humanity value.

Likes to have brain sport? Conan Detective is one of a good way for me. The story is so smart, and not boring one. Conan must try his best to reveal cases. There is some humour too. And as the previous comic, Conan also fight for justice, to hit the real badguys and freeing others from terror of murderer.

Sportsmanship, teamwork and again never give up spirit shown in Prince of Tennis comic. It talks about Seigaku Tennis team. They tried as hard as they can to win tournaments.

There must be comics to in your country. And I know you can find the best for your kids. Remember to avoid pornographic comic or only fighting comic.

Happy reading!

From Zero to a Hero : Make Friends

2006-05-13T02:46:00.000-07:00

As a teacher and sunday school teacher, we are not alone there. We works with other. There are another teachers around us, and ready or not, we must have good relationship with them. Not only with senior teachers but also with the newbies. I divide the teachers into 4 groups, senior, middle, same class, and newbies.

Senior
Senior teacher, usually called as the legendary one. People give much respect to them They may be the first one or the founder of the school. Have good experience and broad knowledge. And they are very aware of rules, tradition and organization. Their weakness is, sometimes they dont moves with modern technology, dont know how to email or using computer. Dont get trouble with them, because they're a bit stubborn and it is a waste of time to fight against legend.
Help them if they have some problem with technology, but don't make them embarassed. I help a senior teacher to use microsoft excel, and she appreciated so much. Also they will be happy if you want to know about rules and the school organization. In a teamwork, give them simple but honorable work such as leading prayer, giving foreword, or as evaluator.

Middle
Teachers with more years experience. Still have good amount of energy. There are various type of this middle class. Some with a revolting mentality, usually in small number, always fight against the old rule. Some with "let if flow" mentality, dont want to get into trouble and just follow majority. And a little amount of leader. The leader group is a good group to become friend, as they like to get follower. But also, you must make friend with the "rebel", they are very loyal and helpfull , as they want you so badly to join them ( because of their small amount ). One of the weakness of leader is, they have many good ideas, but dont want to work fo it, they only depend on young teacher to do it. They likes to create concept. So if you want to get good program concept or fresh idea, you can ask them.

Same Level
Here is the same level teacher with you. They started to work in same year with you. They can be your very good friend, as both of you have same feelings. But trouble or relationship problem often happen with this groups of teacher. As you are the same level opponent! So , watch yourself and always be nice to them. Someday you and your same level will lead the school or organization. The better your relationship at this time, the more benefit you get in the future.

Newbies
Usually the very fresh comer. They are still new and "clean". Also still have good spirit. You can be their guidance. But dont make fool of them, because someday they also will grow bigger. They are very helpfull and want to do much job. Give them simple or physical job. Dont give them hard or serious conceptual job. There is a bad culture in sunday school by giving much job or leader position of a program to new comer. If they get stress, then they will quickly get retired.

My conclusion is, we must make friend with other. But we must also control our word and action against them. Dont use to cool or hot words with senior, as dont use serious mimic with the newbies.

6 minutes before tomorrow

2006-05-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Now Im sitting here, infront of my computer.
Im happy with sitemeter result today it counts 36 visits. Well good number for me, although there are many person got bigger number than me. From yesterday, im trying to do my best for this blog, I visits much blogs and make good post there. Hoping that everybody will visits mine too. Thanks God, you're coming here.

Still I have something to think in my head. Its about the Kids Camp again. Im not sure about what will happened at next Sunday ( the second meetings ). Honestly I fell anxious and always think there must be something wrong. But as I try the best for this blog, I also do it for camp. I know God will always with me and also with other who believe in Him.

Good night and have a nice dream my friend.
Goodluck for tomorrow.

Why Zero to a Hero?

2006-05-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

Maybe some people have some question about why I made the From Zero to a Hero series. Am I a great hero, or a great teacher so I can write about it?

No, and absolutely not. Im not the great one. I write from Zero to a Hero based on my experience as a teacher ( in school and sunday school ). I have earn some bad experience ( kids fight, coming late, dont prepare well, misscommunication with other teacher , etc ) and got some lesson from that. I only share the lesson that I got , so I hope others wont get same bad experience like I feel.

People did something wrong, often not because of their fault or stupidity, but because they don't know the "how to". And through " From Zero to a Hero ", Im trying to inform you ( reader ) the "how to " in many topics. I hope it will be usefull.

Remember , Im not the clever one here, you're freely to comment or also share some tips here. Zero means nothing or just empty, and after reading "From Zero to a Hero ", hope you get something and there is no zero again, or the goodnews, you can be the Hero.

pictures taken from internet

From Zero to a Hero : Kids Fight! ( Prevention )

2006-05-12T02:01:00.001-07:00

Begun with joking, then mocking each other. Tension grew hot, and one of the kids hit another with a hook, then the sparring partner give him a kick. Fight! One or two friends join the brawl, and its just like watching WWE ( world wrestling entertainment ). Teachers become panic and shouting. It will be complete if parents enter the class to help their kids and blaming teacher.

Well, this is real and can happen anytime. And it has destructive effects, maybe there will be revenge , angry or your class will turn upside down as the things falling everywhere. The atmosphere become unwell and other who didn't join fight wont have comfortable class. Parents wont trust the teacher anymore.

You as a teacher, can have reason like " things happen so fast " or " I didnt see that " or just " sorry I'm careless ". Im sure that all of us dont want any kinds of fighting happen in our class. There are some tips to prevent this :

Don't let the fire spreading
If you seen a kid begin to tease other, warn him/her. Give a serious warn, if you dont do this, he/she can make things become worst or other kids will do the same thing ( as they see that they will be ok doing so ). When giving warn you must call his/her name , example : "Billy, dont do that again, its not good ", dont say " You, dont do that ". When you said his/her name, he/she know that you warn him. There is less identity conscious with saying only you and you.

Don't mix cat and dog
If you already now that Mary and Jullie cant be friendly each other, then don't place them near. Give them a good distance, 3 or 4 chairs. Let some neutral kids separate them. And you must aware if one of them coming toward another ( often this happen, a kid coming toward another to use hit and run tactic, he/she coming fast to enemy place than give fast hit/tease then comeback again to their chair ).

Don't mix the "gangster"
Some kids cant be mixed together not because they're not friendly each other. But because they can make partner in crime with his/her gang. A gang of kid's ( with same thought to fight or tease other ) are more dangerous.

Placing guard
Tell your sidekick or partner to keep an eye to some potential troublemaker kid. Place him/her near that kids. This is one of the most effective way to reduce "riot".

Always keep an eye
You and your partner must always keep an eye on what the kids doing. Many problem come because you're not aware, or the kids are not in your view area. If you keep an eye on them, then you can have fast reaction against trouble.

Working together task
Giving a task that can be done together is a good way to make them be friend each other. And you must praise the teamwork. Make sure that the task can be done by kids, but to finish it needs helps or support from all of the group members.

Pray
Pray before the class begin. Pray that God will protect the class and lessons can running well.

Told them about love, living together, care with other will also the best way to put good seed in their heart.

I lost it

2006-05-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

I almost posted my 51'th message, but suddenly the internet connection is down and I havent backup the post. So, I lost it. Well thats life you can ruin it after working hard. At you can do it easily. If I just make a copy on microsoft word, sure there will be no problem like this. Im just not aware about this simple things.

Although Im so upset right now, but I learn that I must more carefull next time. And I tell you to backup your post, so you wont loose it. There is a person in bloggerforum who wrote : backup your post on his signature, but I dont take serious about that.

The case is same as you must bring spare tire on car, bring more pencil or ballpoints when doing exams, backup all your document and data, etc.

Right now I must go to teach
bye!

From Zero to a Hero : Facing Anxiety

2006-05-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

Right now Im feeling unwell about the Kids Camp planned by sunday school. I havent got any progress report. I know that there must be patience to do a thing. But still there is a part of myself that feel not good. Everybody must have feel this way too. Feel afraid, anxious or stress. According to Freud's term, our unwell feeling is because of something he called anxiety.

There are types of anxiety :

Realistic
When you face the real danger, like meeting tiger in the woods or your plane is being hijacked. The threat source is real , it can be seen and very realistic one.

Moral
Anxiety happened when your spirit feel quilty because you've done something unethic. Or when seeing somebody does that. Hit kids with hand or newspaper, then you will feel guilty of what you've been done. Many person do suicide because of this type of anxiety, the example is Judas from Bible.

Neurotic
It doesnt mean that you get crazy. The cause of this type of anxiety is our fear of something external of our control. You're afraid of something that havent come yet or havent been seen. Im now feeling this way, I have done many things for preparing the camp but still I feel there must be something wrong.

People can face anxiety or fear with two way. Flight or Fight
You can withdraw yourself against problem and try to forget it. Or doing another things you like. The second option is to face it with a tough face.
It isnt bad if you must fligt for awhile. Then returning when you're ready to fight. Realistic anxiety , for me, is the easiest one to be solved. Because everthing is clear and can be seen. You can make quick decision, will you fight the tiger or just run away.
Facing moral anxiety is like facing your own heart. Just try to forgive yourself and let the past be the past. Neurotic one is the hardest, we dont know where is it come from.

But also you can fight it, just relax, think possitive, and get that bad sounds out from your head. Remember you are you! Dont let evil sound banging on your head, take control of your life and let the neurotic sound be gone.

Good luck my friend!

picture taken from internet

Beauty simple little thing

2006-05-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

Have a lot of work? get depressed?

Well me too, many things to think. My blog problem ( its flopping ), the kids camp, etc. Sure I want to get away from this as quick as I can. Many of my friend got stress because of their job ( with 12 working hours a day! ). Many of students also get depressed because the paper and homework is to much. This week , three of my friend got thypus ( caused by work overload ).

Is our life get bad and bad everyday?
Will we be like this for a whole of our life?
as a kid there is a bunch of homeworks and problems
as a teenage, you've got problem from friends and parents
as a youngster, you must do paper in university and doing part time job
as an adult you must go to work everyday
as an old person you must take care of children and take care of your day.

In Sunday School , the opening's song in my class is Good morning God and The Sun shining brightly of course we sang in Indonesian. The song is talk about God's care of us in everymorning. The sun still shining and birds singing. Flower blooming beautifully.

Many simple little thing we dont realize , and that things is so beautifull. The sun still shining for us, also oxygen is free. When you can enjoy this simple things, you can feel your life getting better. Watching the stars, ray of light through tree leaves, rainbow, etc. God still take care of the million stars and also he will take care your life.

Stars

2006-05-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

I like watching sky at night. Especially when there are stars in the sky. It looks very beautiful although the light isnt clear. Some times ago, I sent a short message through cell phone to my friend, I inform her about the beautifull stars on the sky. But she said that my message got no meaning. Maybe she just thought that im trying to flirt on her.

Well stars have a good meaning. They are very usefull to guide people who lost in their way. Long time ago before human create navigation tools, ships and trader only hoping on stars guidance. Many life can be safe by stars guidance. The light is only like a dim but it can be very helpfull.

Our life, as the Bible says must be like a light. Maybe we dont have a bright light. But like the stars that could make itself usefull, we can make it also. Doing just simple things for others is got a "stars" meaning too.

I've put hungersite.com
link in my blog, and if you click on it, it means you give a plenty of rice to others who needs it.
simple things but have good meanings.

From Zero to a Hero : Sidekick isnt bad

2006-05-10T00:08:00.000-07:00

Hi there
at my some previous post I wrote about archetypes, one of it is role as a sidekick. Role as the secondman(woman) , role as Robin ( Batman ). Dont be sad or loose confidence if you become "just a sidekick " . Well before becoming a teacher ( who can teach at sunday school class ), i played role as a sidekick teacher. As a new teacher I've been put in "very very need teacher class". There are 3 teachers on that class , 2 is gone, and another one can't come regularly.

So I, as a new teacher was place in that class with subtitute teacher. And the subtitute teacher is always rotate everyweek, so Im sidekicking about 5 teachers. Yes 5, and need some adaptation to doing so.

Well at first time I'm a bit confuse but later I took some advantage from this condition

Benefit from sidekicking :
Learn
You can learn about the first hero style. You can observe her/his style. How he/she handle the kids, the situation, others. Dont be shy to ask from them. But dont just be their clone, you must also filter the negative side of them and put it out from your style. I learn from 5 teachers, each of them have their own talent, one is very motherly, one is very discipline, one is with young style, one is good at singing, one is very brotherly and patient. But every of them has their weakness.

Always got back up
If the first teacher is good, he/she can back you up against problem in class. As the first teacher now, I always ready to help my sidekick if she has problem. Whether the problem with kids or with other teachers, or even with parents!.

Idea sharing
Their ideas ( idea from main teacher ) usually is a good one, you can keep it and save it in your memory. You will need that ideas when you grow up as a main teacher.

Things to remember :
Remember to help the main teacher, and try to back up as hard as you can. Dont think that you're just a junior and not need to have responsible. Sometimes when I was sidekicking I took the role as main teacher for a few minutes, because the main teacher is late. Always think to become main teacher too, dont just satisfy becoming a sidekick

picture source from internet

From Zero to a Hero : Move Move Move!

2006-05-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

Darting here than dashing there. Often you need to do things like this. You must go to one class then as fast as you can , you must go to other class. Well I do it also in sunday school and in chess teaching. And sometimes the action scene not only from class to class but to allover building from the ground 'till the 3rd floor. And it will be very hot action in an event such as Easter or Christmas. I usually on the equipment department, so I must control all the equipment and situation there.

Honestly a lot of energy will drain and we will get very tired after this. And there is a risk that you can get accident. So, we need reflex, stamina and pace. And this will be usefull in everyday life, I sometimes must run after a bus to catch it. Or run to school because im late.

Do sports in minimum twice a week will helps you increase your physical skills.

1. Cardio
Which means a form of sport that will increase your stamina and strengthen your heart. Example of this one is running or jogging. Its very simple and cheap. Running or jogging around. In doing this thing, dont be to hurry or overconfident. Just keep the pace stable, its ok to run slow for one hour than running fast but only last for ten minutes. Control your breath so you wont waste it. Swimming is also a good choice. Want to know Bruce Lee's secret? he is doing rope jump everyday for one hour, and according to him, rope jump is 3 times effective than running.

2. Body Power
Get the physical power through muscle training. Train your muscle and you can lift heavy things. You can train your muscle with dumbell. Same with the cardio training, dont be to hurry, just lift from the light weight ( 2kilos or less ) , after you done well with the light one, you can increase the weight.

Sit up and push up is the cheap one. You can do it without buying sports equipment. One of my friend who is being Indonesian Idol ( the Indonesian version of American Idol ) do sit up 25 times on morning.

3 Games
Playing sport games such as soccer and basketball is a good way to. It will increase the cardio side and a little bit of power. And the most important, this will increase your reflex too, because you use most part of body to play the games. And its fun also. You can get more friend here, and you can do it more routine than training by yourself.

Here is an example of training menu :
45 minutes cardio ( running )
30 minutes power
- 20 push up x 2
- 25 sit up x 2
- weigtlifting , 15 x 3 ( for each right and left body )

You can add more menus or you can decrease the number, its according to your condition now. And there is one thing you should not forget :

WARMING UP before doing sports.

lets MOVE!

Idea

2006-05-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Idea is something like love and death.
Nobody know when it will come
Nobody know when it will gone
Nobody know where it will appear

Idea is sometimes hard to get, but sometimes it could easily come up. I need many idea for the sunday school, kids camp, chess teaching, blogs, etc. When I think hard about ideas, it never come up easily. But when in a relax condition, it can appear accidentally. You must be have the same experience.

Idea can also be come up by looking others. Looking at others job and modificate it, then this is what people call innovation. Adding this or replacing that. I know this is not original one, but still we can produce better one.

I have mentioned that Idea not always come in hard thinking. But this doesnt mean you dont have to think about it. Idea come when we are relaxing, mean our brain still working although you're not still thinking the idea. Have you ever feel when you suddenly wake up and got some solution? It mean your brain still working while you were sleeping. So if you never think, then the brain also wont thinking. But when you think, the brain will work harder that you.

The world is full of ideas....

Get Up! ( From Bed )

2006-05-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

Somebody told me that bed has its own contradictory. At night, when you want to sleep, you're make sure that you will leave the bed on time at morning. But in the morning you just want to spent a little while in your bed ( to sleep again?). I think its ok to take a sleep or just moving lazyly in your bed. Nobody will banned you.

I also have some get up problem. And to solve this, I try some way :
1. Alarm
Use alarm is one of the goodway. But I know we can easily stopped the beep by push or hit it. So if you set up an alarm, put that alarm as far from your bed, and make sure to turn it of you need to walk or stand. Doubling the alarm is also good idea, use the alarm clock and the alarm from your cell phone. But set it up at different time, one at 6.00 and the other at 6.05.

2. Human Alarm
Just put a paper in your refrigerator or place that can seen by other people in your house. Write down "please wake me up at.....". You can also add " its urgent, wake me up till I wake up ". And you must also permit the person to do whatever things to make you wake up. Even if she/he needs to splash you with water.

3. Remember your Schedule
Remembering a schedule can make you thought what you must do. Just mention it to yourself that your schedule will need to be reset if you come late because of get up problem. This is a nice way for me, as I dont want to waste my time and my effort making schedule.

4. Think positive
Think that others has waited for you to come up. Think that kids wants to greet you at school. Think that your co worker and boss ( !? ) need you. Think that the world can be change by your role. Dont waste your time! And I'm always thinking, "ok I get up now, but will sleep as much as I want later, after my job is done "

I hope this will be a usefull tips. Get up on time will make you can prepare well for school or for work. And you can come up on time at school which mean you still have time to meet and greet the kids and the teacher ( which i have mention this at some previous post )

Get up now!

picture taken from internet.

My Country

2006-05-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

Some of you maybe dont know where my country is. My country name is Indonesia , and you can find it on world map, its above Australia and south of East Asia. Indonesia is an archipelago country, a counry with many islands. There is Java island, Sumatra, Kalimantan ( Borneo ), etc. You may found the island name on many movie, in King Kong one of the ships name is Surabaya ( this is name of a city in East Java ), also it is mentioned about skulls island. I think this is a fictive but its said near Sumatra ( an island also in my country ).

If I said Bali, most foreigner will know, they know Bali more than Indonesia. Bali is a great island with beautifull sandy beach. But unfortunately its been bombed twice by terrorist. And also there is some drugs case there.

Honestly I said that it is true that my countries isnt in a good condition. Terrorism is still active here. Also corruption by government is still not decrease.

I'm hoping that what I'm doing in sunday school can give better future for my country. Hope that the kids someday can become a great leader and make improvement for my country.

From Zero to a Hero : Got the Power!

2006-05-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

Well after waiting for several days , now im ready to write about this. I have been annoyed a bit, because of the internet connection problem, but now its ok.

I have seen a teacher who can control well the class athmosphere. He also can make all the students listen to him well, without being a tyrant. When he enter the class, the students will be happy, but they still respect him. I have also seen a teacher that can teach well, have a good physical style but cannot control the class well.

Sometimes I can control the class well but sometimes not.
Power here not only about controlling the class, but also usefull for communication with others, and the higher your power the better you are. I have seen Joan of Arc movie, there a scene when Joan come alone in battlefield any she told her enemies ( in a big troops ) to go back to their homeland or they will be killed. None of enemy soldier to come forward or hit her with arrow. Then they turned their horse and go back home.

1 Know yourself
After making a self evaluation, you can recognize some of your talent and also your weakness. Then you can learn to increase your talent and closing the weakness. Improving talent is better than minimizing weakness. A very talented person ( in a field ) will make him/her got power, and people usually dont bother with his/her weakness. Because some weakness sometimes cant be change, especially if its a psychological/physical dissability.

2. Know your aim
You must set up goal in everything you do. You must know about why you do that things, why you teached sunday school? If you have the right motivation then you can gain your power too as motivation will related to your action. Often good motivation will related to good action too and people likes good action. Don't have aim means you're walking in the middle of nowhere and just doing your job without fighting spirit. You do the ministry or job just for killing time...., you wont produce good quality.

3 Integration
Means there is no Jekyl and Hyde. You are you and there is only one you. Dont be a two face people, you're a saint when teaching or when in school, but doing bad things outside. I know that we are not always be a clean people, but we should try. When you act as double agent, you will feel quilty when you act as the saint. Maybe you can still be a good actor, but the content and spirit is blank. And somedays your mask will revealed.

There is a woman that have good power and get much respect. She got all of this because her talks and her action is congruence. She talks about bible and she do what it said.
And I know a man that always talking about good program but he didnt do anything. Many of my friend talks about him behind.

Once you can increase the quality your own self, the power will be increased automatically. I will still write the continuation.

Against Child abuse

2006-05-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

This is a very hot issues lately since there are so many news about child abuse and child pornography. Child abuse, usually related with physical and psychological harm targeted to child. Physicall abused is like punching, kicking, hair pulling, etc. Psychological abused is like, dirty talk to kids, underestimate kids, abandonment, etc. As a teacher we must know about this and also aware about our kids condition. There is some several way to recognize the victim of child abuse.

1. Physical
This is the easiest way, observe the kid and if you find a scars or marks ( blue/red ) on observable body part it can be cause by physical abuse. You can ask about the scars or marks, asked it politely and make sure that you're not interrogating, show that you care. If it havent been take care, than you can get the first aid kit to help him/her.
The hardest one if the scars or marks occur in the unobservable body area ( behind clothes or skirts ). But you also can recognize this by kid's action, whether she/he moves in awkward or unusual. You can ask what happened to him/her. Better the person who asked is person with same gender.

2 Psychological
A little bit hard, but also it isnt impossible to know this area. If the kid didnt act as usual. Example : Usually John is very active, but today he looked sad and unmotivated. You can also seen this in his/her relationship with other friends. Usually the abused child dont get along with others and likes to be alone. Or the other extreme point they will make aggressive action ( blast his/her anger to others ). I know a boy who's been abused psychologically by his father ( his father dont want to claim him as his child ), the boy likes to say " I will hit all the girls with baseball bat ! ", and also a teenage girl that psychologically abused by her parents ( parents overprotective and always blame her on everything wrong ), there is a time when she said " I will pay someone to rape her ( her friend that she hate most ) ", and she likes to draw skull.

You can also observe when he/she plays with toys. In one truth example , the one with abused experience played the toys aggresively, a girl can put off her doll hand, or a boy that always make war story with his figurine. Also in the way of drawing, they can make their own experience when abused by drawing.

It isnt easy to get in to this kids heart or to make them trust you. First you must be their friend. Then slowly you can talk about this problem, dont get to the point, you can begun with neutral chat. Dont take them as an experiment subject! If you have get in to them, dont leave them, be with them whether the problem solved or not.

Second, try to solve the problem. You can work with their parent to solve it, or with other teachers. It will be hard if you work alone. If you know that the abuser is the parent or other family member, you can ask support from older people ( because often people younger than parent are being underestimate by them ) like senior teacher, principal, or leader of religious group ( priest ), psychologist or therapist.

If the case is caused by criminal action ( rape ) you can also ask help from police.

Protect them and make a better future
Because it is a fact that an abuser is a person who's been abused in their past.

Back Again

2006-05-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hi all!
Im back again to blogger world. Well its like been forever ....,
Today as usual I teached sunday school, then I must attend several meeting. The teachers camp meeting , also the monthly teachers meeting. Well Im tired but its ok. Anyway at the morning, I went to Sunday School as fast as possible.

Because I wanted to put flyer on every class on the building. Also I give the flyers to every teacher. The content of the flyer is giving information and approaching teacher so they want to support kids camp. I know thats not depend on my flyer but depend on God's will.

Here is the picture on flyer ( i cut the content, as the content is in indonesian language ). I made some change from World Cup 2006 Logo. Camp Anak 2006 means Kids Camp 2006, and Cimanggis is a name of a site near my city ( Jakarta ). The font on that flyer is Lord of the Ring Font, i take it from internet.

I put precious one on one of the circle. The meaning is ( as I write on flyer content ), that this camp is very important, and everybody needs to support this camp. This is not my camp but our camp that we do it for God's name.

Got To go!

2006-05-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Dear all visitors
thanks for still visiting my blog on this beautiful ( i hope ) sunday/saturday. But now I must say sorry because I must do something more priority. I must prepare for sunday school and for kids camp meeting. Please pray for me, since there is a problem, im trying to fix it but still dont get clear of it.

Today i have made the kids camp flyer. The flyer isnt for kids but for teacher, we need more teachers for supporting this camp. Im a little bit sad when I heard only few wants to join. Hope God will be with everything I do and more people will open they heart to join this mission.

Well have a happy day ( in blog world and in your world )

Remember you have your own life outside internet!

Recharging the Battery

2006-05-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

I dont know if I write this for myself or for others. At this time I feel so tired body and soul. And I've got some tips from others too. Well I think I can relate this post previous post about "things you shouldn't forget ( as a Hero ) ". There is a point about energy and it says not to overuse our energy. But there is a time when you didnt notice about your energy meter, and at night or even before sunset you feel so tired. It can be physically tired or psychologically.

At this condition we need to recharge before get sick or stress or frustration.

1. Its time to leave the court
When a basketball player got stamina decreased then his coach will substitute him with another player. We can do this thing to, just leave it all, the works, the ministries, and even dont think about it for awhile. Remember only for awhile, and dont be afraid. Leaving the court doesnt mean that you will leave it forever in your life.

2. Eating and Drinking
This is a simple answer I guess. Eating and drinking can boost your physical energy. And I prefer to eat favorite food or drink , when you do this you will feel better psychologically. But remember not to eat or drink excessively or you will get obes ( overweight ). Ice cream also have positive effect, and chocolate can make positive feelings too ( when you eat chocolate, the feelings is like you're in love, thats why chocolate very popular at valentine, I dont know the truth about this ).

3. Doing hobby
Doing hobby can make u happier. But you must remember the time too, dont waste to much energy and time. Hobby that taking to much energy will decrease your energy meter. So, do it wisely.

4. Sleep
This is the most important thing. Sleep well about 6-8 hours is the best way to recharge your energy. Because our body is totally resting, and our brain can lower its activity. Nap also good for refreshing. Remember to make your sleeping time as comfort as possible. When this "golden time " ruined it will ruined your whole next day too. I have experienced this, when the electricity down, then mosquitos come to bite me, and I cant sleep well which causing I feel unwell on the next day.

5. Pray
Have a silent time and think of God. I will always get some spiritual recharge when doing this. I know that God will never leave me on whatever happened. As the soul get recharged then I can sleep well and get up with positive feelings.

Have a good rest friend!

Little Rock and bigger Rock

2006-05-05T02:21:00.000-07:00

Well im a little bit tired today. Sorry that i haven't write about the "power" since I'm got low power right now. There is some little problem in the kids camp project. And Im trying to fix it now. Well hope God with us. I know that we can just depend on human.

Im still have spirit for this race, its just begun and a little rock wont stopped us.
Im afraid writing about From Zero to Hero in this condition will lower its quality. But I have added the Archetype II. Hope it can helps you in socializing.

If you find a rock in your way, you can just jump over it or kick it. But when you meet a bigger rock or some bigger rock, you need friend to get rid the rock. The more big the rock the more hard to get over it, but with God, I believe that He can take every little and big rock in our life.

Lets Get over the rock!
Lets Kick the rock!
Just dump away the rock!

Archetype II

2006-05-05T01:31:00.000-07:00

As there are so many archetype in this world of human, im trying to continue my last post about archetype. I have read it from wikipedia and I think the explaination there are not far from mine. Doesnt mean that mine is level with Wiki.
Wiki says that " archetypes are innate prototypes for ideas and may be used to interpret observations "

Here are some more archetype :

4. Sidekick
Easier to be explain when i said Batman and Robin. Robin is the sidekick role here. He isnt the star here, but he will help the main role to get the mission accomplished. Often we positioned ourself as "robin", just want to help others but dont want to dominate. It is not bad to become just a secondman (woman). But after some sidekicking job, there is usually a time when we will got the main role. Sidekicks are very loyal person.
Example : Robin , Patrick Star ( Spongebob's friend ), Millhouse ( Bart's friend ), Hanoman ( from Ramayana Legend ), Guan Yu and Zhang Fei ( China ). In history, often the sidekicks didnt get they name written, we know Hitler but dont know his secondman ( woman ).

5 Princess
I think I dont write this objectively ( I've just got this idea when seeing two very beautiufull ladies sitting near me ). In almost every mythology, history or legend , the role princess will included there. Usually she is beautifull ( physically ), kindhearted and everybody likes her. And she has also charisma but not higher than Leader. Kind of person that make others compete to win her heart. Remember the story about Helen of Troy? some called this role as Diva.

Example : Lady Diana, Helen of Troy, Shinta ( from Ramayana Legend )

6. Entertainer ( Clown )
A funny role I think. People in this type is happy to entertain people, even they must make fool for themself. They can melt the icing situation. And usually can become a good opening for negotiation, but not for the process , as they are never get serious. They dont like fighting and just want to make everybody happy. Hard to become a big person but will easy to get into every people heart.

Example : Comedian, i dont know if any of their name written in history ( i mean this kind of people that life in history, there must be any of them , but I dont know who's Hitler clownie friend, or King Arthur's entertainer. Im sure there are people's like these on your life...

and this post will be continued to
Archetype III I will write about the "dark role"

Just a Human

2006-05-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday night, my friend almost make me angry. I feel so upset of what's been done by her. I dont know if im right or wrong. But thanks to God that im not angry ( in front of her or others ). I still can cooldown myself and thinking many factors that make her did it.

I can imagine if I get angry and blast it all to the people doing wrong thing ( from my perspective ), maybe all of the effort i've been build will also ruin. So watch out of your emotion. Blast it and you get the negative effect too. As a human it is our right to get angry or upset or get badmood, but you must think, is it has benefit for you ? or just make things get worsen.

Self control is easy to say but hard to do. It is like there is a delicious pizza in front of you but you dont have permit to eat it.

Well in next tips and tricks I think I will write about controlling tempation to fight or to get angry. Honestly im still feeling unwell, but let the past be the past.

Got Reviewed

2006-05-04T00:37:00.000-07:00

I've just got the blog been reviewed by asianbiz.blogspot.com
and i thanks for all of you that visit my blog and make this happened.
i will try as hard as possible to keep improving this blog.

this is a bit what the asianbiz write about my blog :
Wednesday, May 03, 2006 Blogs From Asia: The fun Sunday School blog
This review has been done by S M Mehdi Hassan

The http://funsundayschool.blogspot.com/ school is a blog for teachers especially, for those who are teaching nursery or playgroup children. Written by a teacher who teaches in a school at Jakarta in Indonesia, the blog talks about communicating with the children in the class, school etiquette and various other important issues for teaching children......

you can read it completely on asianbiz.blogspot.com

From Zero to a Hero part III

2006-05-03T23:10:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I went to Sunday School with happy face. I enter the class as usual, greet the kids and my partner. Then we are singing happily. After that, its my turn to tell story to the kids. I've just started to talk some words when the kids buzzing each other. I continue my story, but I saw some kids are day dreaming.

What happened to me on that day can happened to all of us too. We can't get any attention, the kids buzzing, playing or day dreaming in class. Even they have know you ( as their teacher or maybe as a friendly teacher ) its not enough to draw their attention.

There is some factor to explain this :
1 You're not ready for the "show"
When you are not ready , i mean ready in your spirit to teach, then you dont have the power to teach. You're just like robot or computer doing program, you dont have the spirit. I dont know if it is a myth or what, as I heard from old teacher , kids can "smell" our readiness to teach. But when you've got your power they will put attention on you and what you taught.

2. The athmosphere is too cold or too hot.
I mean the class athmosphere. Too cold mean that the class is still dont get ready to study, the kids still sleepy. Or the relationship between students and teacher isn't friendly. Too hot mean that the class is overexcited. It is good if the students got very happy or excited but it also can make the loose their concentration. Example , you hit them by a jokes, then they are laughing happily, but they still talks about that jokes when you're go to more serious topic.

3. External problem
Light out, broken air conditioner, sounds from outside of classroom, etc. Even seems like an untouchtable problem, but we can handle this.

What to do is called " Juggling the Ball ". Some soccer player have this ability, they are trying to control the ball with all their body parts ( exept hands ), the ball must not hit the ground. They create a beautifull show by this skill. This is what we will do, we must try to control the class as hard as possible. These is what I suggest :

1. Prepare Yourself
Prepare yourself for the class. Physically and also your spirit. You must know what to do in class, do not depend on your instinct or reflexes. Make a program guideline, example the first 15 minutes is greeting, then games ( 15 minutes ), singing ( 10 minutes ), story/study ( 20 minutes ), etc. Pray and build your self confidence. My friend told me a good tips : " When you're entering the building , forget about all the personal problem that you have and concentrate on what will you do in the building " ( the building here means sunday school building ).

2. Playing the Gear
Driving too fast is dangerous, driving to slow will make you bored. Same with the class, start to make it hot with some greetings momment , singing, games. But remember, when the study or story time will begun, you must slowly bring the class into a bit serious athmosphere. Example : when I teach the sunday school ,we begin with greeting each other , then singing . Before the story time ( or the main course ), I invite the students to pray for the story or singing a worship song ( song with slow tempo ).

3 Wild ball
In juggling ball, sometimes the ball seem out of control. But creativity will handle this. Some says it depends on your experience. Out of control condition can be handle by our creativity and of course by the power too ( even a crash sound happened, the children still concentrating on what you said ). Example about creativity : There is a time when my friend told story about missionary, then the electricity is down. At that time the students begun loose concentration, but my friend can get them again by saying " yes this is what happened at that time, he must live in situation like this to accomplished his mission. Live in poverty, without electricity ".

I think this seem not enough to explain about getting attention. And will continue this , especially on the term power. I dont mean mystical power.

When you are not the "hero"

2006-05-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

This is not a tips, but only a thought of mine. Behind the heroic things I wrote, honestly often I dont feel becoming a "hero" because somebody has taken that role. When I'm not the one who can help, when I'm not the one who save the day, when I'm not the one being there, etc.

Deep in my heart or maybe your heart too, there is a bit jealous seeing other become a "hero", even he/she didnt mean to do that or doing that because of their kind hearted ( not to get praise ). There is also a time when everybody talk about the other person and just forget your part, or even they don't feel that you are being there also. It will get worse when you do the things and other get credit.

Well I know i wont feeling well having that experienced. But I must realize that everything other do or I'm do is for the benefit of other people ( ministry or society ).

A little things that maybe not count as heroic things by other can be heroic for us. Even dont got a big name, one of my friend is happy when he can make the children smile and learn with happy face. I'm also give credit to myself when I can do little things for kids, even it is only helping a boy to wear his shoes.

Well I cant become the "hero" but I can become "Hero"

Archetype

2006-05-02T22:01:00.000-07:00

What's this word mean?
well this is word that used by Carl Jung to defined personality. According to his theory all human in the world has the same general conscious. We can see it on all myth and legend in the world there must be same role appear. Role as a King, Hero, Princess, Wiseman, Mother, etc. There is Merlin ( in West Culture ) and there is also Zhuge Liang ( advisor from China, East ).

In our real life there is also archetype in each role

Leader :
Person who can lead others. He can make sure that other people will follow him/her. Primus Interpares, a human that lead or congquer others. Example : Napoleon, his body is small but he can lead big army also Hitler, he is not a big man.

Wise Man
Usually is an old man ( there is saying, the more old the more wise you are ). He likes to help other but live as a low profile person ( so its a bit hard to search for this people ). Also they dont like to directly face to face with problem, they prefer to give advice. Example : Zhuge Liang, from China, he is a wise and smart man. But he live in mountain and dont want to take part directly in war.

Hero
A person who appear when needed. Can lead others but only for a while. Dare to fight directly against problem. Prefer to work in small group or even alone. Example : Hercules, Three Musketeer. They work in small group or alone against enemy. Joan of Arc also a hero, she can lead army but can't or not the type to lead country.

I will continue this on later post
my friend coming now, and I must go!

Knowing the role will help you adjust yourself in your environtment.

Things you shouldn't forget ( as a Hero )

2006-05-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

It will be good if you can be a Hero. But there is some other things you should remember. That actually we are not a real superhero ( I mean like a comic hero with super skills ). We are still a human and live in human world ( earth ). So , we should remember these :

1. Family / other community

As a Hero, often we are too enjoying our "heroic" job, and this made us forget our family. We forgot that they need our time too. You can be a Hero in one community and also can be a Foe in other community , dont let this happened. Try as hard as possible to balance our time with them. For example, in Sunday, I must be at Sunday School a whole day since 8 in the morning until 18.00. But in Saturday, I share my time only for my family and if there is Sunday School things I should do, I will do it as fast as possible.

2. Energy

Reading the first paragrah, I have mentioned about human. Yes, indeed we are still a normal human, not a super human. So, we must realize that we also have limited energy. Remember not to overuse your energy. It happen often, after doing our jobs ( which we try our best ) we got sick. This is not good, and not effective if after doing "heroic" things, then you got sick for a month. Yes , I know that there is term sacrifice in the firt part of From Zero to a Hero, but do it without thinking will just waste it.

Example :
When you and your friend preparing for Christmas. You do all the things by yourself, then you've got sick for a month. Your friend must take care of you and the job that you left behind.

3. Pray
This is the most important things. Remember that in everything we do we need God. Sometimes when our mission is accomplished well, we claim it by our own success, we forget about our team and God.

4. Learn
Don't get to much satisfied if you get success. We should evaluate and learn more. Don't just stuck in our first success, things change quickly and we must anticipate this by learning those things. Be a Hero not a Legend! I'm also still learning more about Hero, becoming Hero, and also I'm still learn to write in better English.

From Zero to a Hero part II

2006-05-02T03:17:00.000-07:00

I want to share some tips about communicating with children. As a grown up, sometimes its a little bit hard to " connect " with them since adult and children have different developmental stage. But as an adult or grown up people we have feel to life as kids or child , so if we can positioned ourself a bit "lower" it will be easier to communicate with them.

1. Body Position

When you talk with kids with lower height than you, you must bow down your body and look at his/her face. Better if you crouch or sit down to listen to them, so their neck not to tired to look up. If you pretend to stand and only looking down, it will be not good, besides they will be tired to look up, also they will think you didnt respect them.

Do not cross your hand ( in front of chest ) or hand on hips. As I read in body language book, it means you are defensive ( dont want to be friendly ) or angry. This is not good to create relationship.

2. Give reaction

When you are listening, make sure that you give reaction. Do not just looking or it will be worse if you listen and doing another job. The reaction can be with gestures, like nod your head, or smile. Or you can just make simple noise like "ehm" "yes" "ok". Or you can repeat their story, meaning that you listen to them. If they talk about going to zoo, you can repeat with "so, you are going to zoo ".

3 Dont interupt

Dont interupt when they talks. Or if you want to interuppted you must say sorry with reason. Example when you must explaining something, then a kids want to talk, you can say "sorry I must explain the lesson, but i promise to talk to you after this ( or after the class we can talk ) ".

4 Kid's Topic

If you want to start a conversation with kids or child. Use a topic that also known by them, or popular kid's topic. Don't talk about what you like, if you like rugby or fashion, then they dont know it, so dont talk about these one. Its easy to broaden your knowledge about this, you don't have to see kids channel on TV everyday, but you can just see the program clip or advertising. I dont know about Digimon or Sponge Bob, but I know it from the clips on TV or from TV program on newspaper.

And asking them about this is good. You can ask " what games played by kids on your school " " how to play it "

5. Respect

This is the most important. You must respect them as a same human, not as a small funny creature or even a pet. Dont talk dirty because they have same brain that can process that someday. When you can talk about light conversation with them, it is a good way that someday they will talk about hard problem with you ( about their family problem or school problem ).

What is a Hero?

2006-05-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

When I share some tips to become a hero, I havent defined the meaning of a Hero. According to me a Hero is :

1. A person who came when needed.
Whatever happened he/she will try to come and help. Whether there is hard rain or snow, whether sick or not a Hero will ( must ) come.........

2 Sacrifice
This term related to the point 1. A Hero often make sacrifice for helping others or in doing his job. Sometime a Hero must sacrifice his pleasure time, resting time, or sleeping time to do a " Heroic " things.

3. People's Champion ( Optional )
A Hero will be in every people's heart. Therefore a Hero shouldn't help people by only same religion, nation or skin color.

4. Not a Bounty Hunter
Contradictory to point 3. A Bounty Hunter hoping for reward after doing job. But Hero don't, as you become a Hero, sometimes people forget about your helpfull hand. Or they just don't know your "heroic" work to help them. But that's ok, we are not a Bounty Hunter. Keep that in mind.

There is some hard things to do to become a Hero
need training
need sacrifice
need commitment
and of course need God's help

From Zero to a Hero part I

2006-04-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hello there!
This is a tips and tricks for a new comer in sunday school or school. When you arrived as a rookie, maybe there is only a little bit people know you. Also the kids do not know you. And if you prolong a condition like this, you will perfectly stuck as an unknown entity there.

How to start a good openings ( in chess game the starting game is called openings game ) is depend on your will to socialize yourself.

Here is some tips from my experience and others fellow friends :

1. Do not come late !
whether you're not paid in teaching sunday school, please dont come late. Coming will give a bad sample for kids and they will looked negatively if you do this often, and also your partner wont like this.
There is some benefit if you come early, minimum 30 minutes before the class started ( one hour will be better ). First, you can make a small chat with kids that come earlier, you can ask small things like their address, school, age, and others. This is more effective than a formal introductory. And also you can have small talks and greet your fellow friends.

Second, you can prepare well before the class, and checked if everything is alright. So you can minimize a surprise shoot.

2. Wear name tag
You could wear a name tag even if its not a must in your sunday school. Wearing a handmade name tag would be good. Bright color and unique shape will attract kids to know you or asking about your name or the shape there. It will be a good start to make friend with kids.

3. Helpfull hands
Be a helpfull person is a good idea. Help your fellow friend if they need it, also you can ask if they need some help. But remember, do not help if you can't do it well, or you will create a worse situation. You can also helps the kids outside classroom, you can take care a crying kid or help if one of them fall down in playing ground ( do it quick ). Or in the situation you dont know what to do ( kids get hurt or bleeding ), you can fastly react to call other teacher.

4 Be Generous ( optional )
This is an optional idea. You could bring cookie or candy for kids or for your friend. Will be better if you make some simple things for others, maybe a bookmark with simple decorative. One of my friend sometimes give some used kids magazine to students. Simple is better than expensive one.

5. Leave the building late
This is the reverse of the number 1. Dont leave the building quickly, spare some 30 minutes to one hour to stay there. You can make a chat with kids that wait for their parent. Also you can share experience with other, you can talk about your problem in your class or just sharing a good moment you feel at class. Attending a program outside class also good, maybe a sports program with others teacher or praying community.

I think 5 of these is enough. You could try it or can add some if you like
goodluck!

Who is the ( real ) idol ?

2006-04-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

This is the poster of kids camp
I made it yesterday. The sentence on poster is " Is this your idol ? " - prepare for kids camp 13-15 July.

The poster is made from yellow paper, then I search for picture of sportstar or artist on newspaper and magazine. I placed the pictures all over the paper. If you look at it carefully, you can find Michael Schumacher , Norah Jones, Friends, Angelina Jolie, Taufik Hidayat, Ronaldinho, Jennifer Anniston, Jacky Chan, etc.

So who is the real Idol ?
Hope you have the same answer with me...

Kids Camp

2006-04-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

There is a time to do some work again......
And now it is the time for me and my fellow to work on Sunday School Kids Camp. The Theme will be Jesus my Idol or Jesus my Superhero. I am planning to make the posters today, and hope it will be ok.

Why this theme ?
Well, the camp is for kids age 9-12, they are in the pre teen age. And many of them have idol like soccer superstar , artist, F1 driver, etc. Idolizing Jesus isnt a cool thing, and i hope it will be a cool thing after this camp. And I'll tell you the detail tomorrow, as tomorrow will be our first meeting to talk about this camp.

Pray for it, and soon i will upload the posters photo here.

Lets get the spirit!
I know that this isnt an easy job, but God will come and help in every job that glorify His name, and i believe that.

Chess Puzzle

2006-04-28T03:33:00.000-07:00

Hours ago, a friend of mine gave me chess puzzle ( chess problem ). The problem is made by chess pieces arrangement with a mate in two problem. The problem is very hard for me, then some other friends come and try to solve the problem too. But they ended same with me.

One of my friend then yelled " This is a wrong problem, there is no answer for this problem ". And I agree with his opinion. But the creator of the problem said " There is no problem with no answer, every problem must have answer ". Then we tried again and again, and always failed.

But , suddendly an old man ( one of my friend too ) that trying to do it can solved it. We claps our hand for him. " Patience and never give up will solved it " said my friend who create the problem.

In our life, sometime we met a hard problem or a deadlock problem. But we know that or Creator will always give a way to solve it ( even it takes long time )

God Bless You All!
and thanks for any of you that pray when i am sick

Got Sick

2006-04-25T00:16:00.000-07:00

I ve got sick since yesterday
I think its because my carelessness in lifestyle. Yesterday i went to internet cafe, and surf for about 4 hours. Then i forgot to eat, and when arriving home, im only eat instant noodle.

Now its become more serious i think, i felt my throat get hot and coughing a lot. I got a little dizzy also. I cant go to campus to meet my cell group ( oh im sorry kids! )

There is so many person doing the same thing as i am. They just dont care about some little things, and got a problem because of that. Forgot to eat, forgot to call, forgot to do this, forgot to do that, etc.

There is a saying in the bible to take care of little things so you can be trusted to do big thing

today i've failed
but i hope i can do it better next time

Behind the black activity

2006-04-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Equipment : Crayon ( thick crayon better ), drawing paper , sharpened chopstick
Here is the instructions to make this activity :
1 Picture 1 ( top left ), divide the white paper in 3 collums.
2 Color each collum with 3 differnt colors ( bright collors better )
3. Then color all the pages with black, it must cover all over page
4. Write using chopstick or sharpened wood or something sharp.
5. The sample ( it says : " Jesus alive, believe it "

Kids II

2006-04-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

Today i wake up in lazziness. Well , at this time I thought about not being a sunday school teacher. I can sleep a little bit longer in sunday ( sometimes i get jealous with my brothers who still can sleep until 10 in the morning at Sunday ). Hardly I forced myself to wake up....

Along with my breakfast, bath, etc, I'm thinking about the work to be done at sunday school. Teaching, then I must giving the class utility to others teacher, then I must handle the equipment for internal training, and must talking about kids camp with other teacher. Honestly i'm tired about this.

But things change when i arrived at sunday school. I met some kids who greets me with their smile. When the class began, my partner started to sing with style and the kids too. It makes me forget about the other things..., then its my turn to tell story, and the kids response in a good way. Also when the activity ( about the colorfull behind the dark ), the kids do it in enthusiasm way.

And at the end of class, i thougt that i will miss them for a week, I feel time is running fast.
Since then my heart is full of joy..., well kids can turnaround our feelings.

God will take care of them during next week

Behind the dark

2006-04-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

This is the name of tomorrow sunday school activities for children.
They will be given white paper, then they must made 3 blocks of color in that paper. After that the colors will be sweep over with dark color ( black ).

Now there will be only black color on that paper. The kids will be intructed to scratch the black color with chopstick or scissors, the scratch must form written : Jesus is Alive. The color behind black color will appear on that scratch.

Hope the plan will going on well, i'm afraid the color will blend and the other color won't appear. But yesterday my friend has tried it at it works. I will make some photos , so you will know about the activities.

By the way what is the message of this activity? The message is, there is always hope behind the unseen if we want to believe. Many people don't believe the resurrection of Jesus although they have seen it ( the soldier that guard Jesus tomb ).

God bless you All!

Tonight

2006-04-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight Me and some of my fellow teacher friends come to sunday school building. We are a part of utility and equipment departement in sunday school. We come to prepare equipment ( boardmarker, glue, color pencils, pencil, double tape, etc ) that will be given to all classes. Not a hard job but needs patient. We recycle all the color pencils ( that mixed , not in the box again ), all is being sharpened again, one by one , its about 200 color pencils.

After preparing all the equipment, then we divide its for each classes. We tried by our best to divide it in a good way, so it will be justice for all.... ( I hope )

We're not forget to clean up the equipment and utility room before coming home.

Well the activity for sunday school its not one a week, it can be 7 days a week. Not just preparing physical equipment but also preparing our heart to teach. Try not to do bad things...

goodnight!
im a bit sleepy.....

Kartini Day

2006-04-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

every 21 th of April, there is celebration of Kartini day on my country.
Who is Kartini?
she is a former of woman movement in Indonesia. Her writings is about the same level position for woman and man. Thanks to her for making such improvement.

In sunday school mostly the teacher is woman and they made a very good effort. The insufficient of help from man isnt a big problem. The teachers can work each other well, including the physical work as setting up some hardware things on many celebration ( Christmas, easter, children day, etc ).

Besides as sunday school teacher they also work in many occupation from trader , teacher until manager on some company. And im sure that they will make improvement and good thinks on their job.

Happy Kartini day!

Internal training

2006-04-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

Internal training is one of routine activity in white wood sunday school. After some teacher sent to a training, then they must share their knowledge to friends who didn't attend the training. Hope there will be transfer of knowledge from them.

Unfortunately, not every teacher likes to attend the internal training. Whether they have another plan on that time or just don't want to attend. Besides judging other, i seen myself as a teacher that don't like internal training but i don't want to waste chance to learn. I don't really like internal training because i can't go home in normal time, and must stay in the building for about 2 hours more.

The chance to learn about sunday school skills dont come every week. And there is also some sunday school hoping to attend training but they can't ( because dont have funds or they are in remote area ). Grace come for every people, but not every people wants to accept that Grace.

Good night!

Chess

2006-04-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

For some people its surprisingly to know that i work as a chess teacher. Yes, chess, games with some unique pieces, king, queen, bishop, rook, knight and pawn. I teach chess from kindergarten class until junior high school.

Chess can be related to our life. One simple example is in ministry, like in chess, there are different people in ministry. Some with easy going temperament, some with serious grunting temprament, or maybe there is the one with tantrum. Besides the flaw that each people has, there is also different talent.

Queen as the strongest pieces can't fight alone, there must be support from other pieces including the tiny little pawn. As in ministry too, one person with gifted and talented skills cant build the ministry alone. We must work together to reach the aim, to win the game in our life, to finish well in competition, to complete our ministry.

Who needs God?

2006-04-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

at first im planning to write about preparation for sunday school at sunday ( absolutely )
but when i arrived home after sunday school prepartion, there is an interesting movie on TV. Its the " turbulence heavy metal " ( hope its right title )
the story is about a group of band with Slade Craven as the leader that make a show on a flight. Slade likely to make fake murder, so he can raise the number of fans ( on internet online ). The fans on the flight also like him and all criminal things he said. Unfortunately there are few real criminals people ( satanist ) who join the flight. And the real criminal hijack the plane, and kills some people.

The fans that enjoyed violence become very frightened, some says "Oh my God ".
there is a good scene, when Slade can freeing himself from hijacker, he must land the plane by himself. He looks very afraid, on his anxiety, he then cut away his neclace ( with reverse cross symbol ), then he pray " God please land us safely "

Well human will realize that they need God....
Realize before you get realized

Good night!

fantasy world

2006-04-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

many of my friend says that becoming a sunday school teacher is just facing a fantasy world. A world with child laughter, good fellow teacher friend, singing along together...and another good things.

The fact is, there is also hard things to face by being a teacher, we must know each of our kids. We must help them through their problem, pray for them.

I have experience facing kids fight ( boys ). Yes i can stopped them fighting physically, but hard to make them say sorry each other and forget the fighting. And their parent could blame us as a teacher if this things happened.

Miscommunication with other teacher can be happened, and can makes us angry or sad.

Well, there is always a cross in each job, whether in church or in the world.

Kids

2006-04-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

seeing kids at sunday, i saw my childhood.
nothing to think about work, money, family , study, etc
just thinking about playing, friend, ice cream, toys, and other nice think ( that kid thinks )

They are easy to get happy, they will laugh seeing puppet, or seeing our style while singing.
They didnt see the puppet or singing style as a ridiculous or silly think, but its seen as funny think that make them happy.

The puppet is simple think, made by hard paper, and drawn as a simple character, then stick it on a wood, but it make them happy.

i think i can learn from them, learn to know that many simple think can brighten our lives....
learn to appreciate trees, animals, sky, cloud, wind, water, sun, and others things that we dont notice.

why i write in blog

2006-04-18T04:32:00.000-07:00

There is a reason about made this blog
Maybe some people thought i make this to get money
There is 10 percent right about this ( i will be very thankfull if it happen )
the main idea about this blog is to share idea and sunday school experience to everybody
that everybody will feel the athmosphere, not just thinking that this is a religious place.
this is a fun and warm place.

The most important is to motivate people to become sunday school teacher ( although motivation real come from self , pray and God )

Well thats my dream
everybody can have dream.right?
and i'm trying to make it come true through this blog
God Bless you all!

More Beyond

2006-04-17T04:46:00.000-07:00

Thats what i heard yesterday at church
After Easter celebration, many of us tired and want to sleep a little bit more ( I am )
and many of us still happy with easter memory, with the celebration and etc. And also many of us get the meaning of Easter, about our savior that won from death.

But there is more, and more beyond the Easter. There is many things we should do...
We must bring the light of Christ to others, Easter not stopped on April.....

We can thought of many idea and meanings
but there must be actions to do

Morning for Easter

2006-04-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today i get up very early in the morning to help my friend at small class. We set up things at Pasadenia's ( name of an apartement ) field. Thanks God there is no rain, and everything can be set up well. First we set up the bacground then the mat and decoration. I dont know about how the celebration running ( because i must teach my class at that time ), i think it run well.

There are bunnies, egg and bees that placed well in the park. It looks nice.

Happy Easter All!

2006-04-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!
the celebration in sunday school is over, but the meaning isnt.
all going well. There is emptyness in sunday school today, the big and the small class are going outside to celebrate easter. The middle class left ( only left 3-4 classes ).

The picture at the right is one of the easter egg winner. Kids made the boat from box, and the egg is the people that rowing boat. At the yellow banner there is a writings mean sail with Jesus.

2006-04-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

The show is go on! and everything ok
this is the picture of the puppet show. It talks about a group of animals trying to break the wall. The wall is known as wall of sin. No one can break it, until Jesus come to the world and break the wall through His sacrifice in cross.

I will told you more about today celebration in tomorrow update. Because i'm so sleepy right now. By the way the rain is still coming, but it happened right after the celebration is over. Thanks God, and thanks for praying!

one hour before D day!

2006-04-15T00:54:00.000-07:00

everything is set up
the chair is ok
the decorative ok
tent ok
music ok
well hope everything is ok
im just a while here, the i will dart to the building again
here some of the decorative picture

the man is Mr Heru who created many of the decorative
and also the puppet The second pic is the puppet for show there are monkey. giraffe, elephant, rhino, dog.

6 hours before the H hour

2006-04-14T18:40:00.000-07:00

im wake up in the morning, and feel the weather
its sunny! and i hope it will be like this in the whole day.
I will go to the building at 1030 and hope to meet my friend at 11.00 to set up
the light.

Also I will bring the digital camera ( i got it finally ). I will take some pictures for this blog.

human can made plans but God decide....
I know God will give the best for us.

It will be a fun and hard day today!

Ready for D Day!

2006-04-14T06:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will come!
today me and my friends are so tired. We made the decorative since 11.00 until 18.00. 7 hours. Thankfully, everything is ok, the equipment is good.

The decorative were made by many things, the cross made by bamboo , background made by hand painting. Then we also used dead tree , styrofoam, palm leaves, and we got all of this from neighbourhood garbage can!

And i'm very happy that the tent has been set up well above sunday school building. So it will protect the things from hard rain.

Unfortunately and im very sorry that i cant bring my digital camera. Because my father used it for his work.
Until tomorrow!

The Day before tomorrow

2006-04-13T18:51:00.000-07:00

Good morning everybody!
wake up! wake up!
today is the day before Easter celebration in sunday school. Teachers from my class group will meet at 10 in the morning to set up for tomorrow. I will take the keyboard and sound system from church ( hope will get it well )

And one of my friend will search for trees for decorative, i dont know whether he will get it or not. Also i will try to borrow digital camera from my brother so i can take picture for this blog.

The weather is cloudy here, i think rain will coming again. Better coming today than tomorrow i guess.....

Goodluck All!
Have a nice day!

Hard Rain

2006-04-13T05:12:00.000-07:00

Uh oh!
hard rain still coming through .... and if it still continuous like this, it will be hard to set up things for easter celebration. I hope in the next two days the rain will stop. Although i have call tent service to cover sunday school building, its still risky, because the wind is also hard.

And it will be risky to for the small group class that celebrate easter in the open field ( although still they are covered by big tent ).

Well i dont know why the rain still coming, because according to what i was taught in school, April until October isnt rainy season. Maybe because of some change in the world ( global warming ) so the season also change suddenly.

Almost everyday since last monday, rain comes in the morning and in the evening. Today the rain comes for 4 hours since 15.00

Lets pray!

Why Egg? Why Bunnies?

2006-04-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

I asked the kids about why there are so many egg decorative, egg competition in easter?
Why not using carrot or others as a decorative?

Many kids ( also us ) dont know about this, egg is a symbol of new life. A new hope.
When Jesus won from death, He lives again and bring hope for all. And when we believe in this, we will get new hope and also new live ( in earth and heaven ).

Then, how about the bunnies?
Bunnies or rabbit, is animal that hard to be killed. They are everywhere, when one rabbit die, there will be others rabbit still alive, and the number keep growing. Hope this will be a symbol that Christian will never extinct and will grow larger in quality and quantity.

Easter is coming!

2006-04-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

Hi all!
Easter is coming and all of the teachers in white woods preparing to celebrate it. They created so many decoration, easter bunnies, bees, etc. And i will publish the picture soon!

In the grade that i teach, we prepare for drama using puppet. But this isnt a usual puppet, the puppets created by hard paper, it is in animal form. Hope there will be no rain, so the easter will go on in a good way.

Dont forget to pray!

I think this is enough for first post