Being Honest/ Story of Jonah

Updated by Setsuko:

Since Tyler is taking a summer off until the end of August, God allows me to keep Joy Time during this summer. I have been praying about how I am going to open this Joy Time without brother's help, but God encouraged me to keep it as long as children are coming back. Praise the Lord for today's Joy Time. Youka showed up first, and she told me no one else would come with her today, so I started the program with her. I was surprised Youka was calling up with her friends to come to Joy Time together. Today's English lesson was..."Find me a ... " Basically, it was matching game with animal picture cards. I played only with Youka. She enjoyed and was very good learning /reviewing what she has learnded previous weeks. The Story time(Bible Lesson) was about Jonah. I wanted to share this story for a long time. It is a famous story of "The Great Fish and Jonah". Youka listened the story very well. Then all of the sudden, many children came when Youka started her homework. There were Youka's sister Yuki, another Yuki and her sister Miki, and Mana and her brother Naotaka ( first time attending Joy time). Some broght their homeworks. As Japanese children study hard during summer, they have to keep up all the assignments. I helped them as they needed. While I was helping Miki, the oldest one, 15 years old, Youka brought my toy tiara. Unfortunately, it was broken. Youka said, "it is broken." I said, "who broke it." Youka stepped on it, and broke it. She had a hard time admitting that she did it. I told Youka, " I am not angry just because you broke my tiara, but I will be disappointed if you did not say "I am sorry." After a while, She said..."I am sorry." She cried.... I gave her hug, and told her, I am very proud of you that you were able to say "I am sorry." I continued to tell her about loving God. God likes our honesty. I told her the tiara is not really important, but it is more important for you to be honest. God loves you so much, Youka... Through this incidence, other children also listened to what I have talked to Youka. It was a practical lesson for everyone and was ultimately a message for today. Let God work within these children, and let them know the truth of God.