1st Grade Missionary Project

For a couple of weeks, me and Emma Kate have been working on a missionary project that was assigned to all the 1st grade students. Emma Kate chose to do her project on one of my parent's friends from Piggott, Jerry Morgan. I guess I shouldn't give him the label as just being friends of my parents. We have known him for many years also. Jerry was who Philip and I chose to marry us 11.5 years ago. He is such a good Godly man who is pretty much like family to us!

Having said that, because we left Piggott when Emma Kate was 6 months old, she doesn't know him as well as the rest of us do. When the assignment was first sent home, she and I talked about if she personally knew any missionaries. She said no, but I quickly reminded her about Mr. Jerry and told her that he is a missionary. She immediately decided to do her project on him and his work in Ukrainian orphanges.

We began by emailing him a few questions. I typed the email but Emma Kate picked out the questions to ask. Here are the questions she asked Mr. Jerry:

• What is it like to be a missionary? Why did you choose to be a missionary?


• What countries do you go to?


• What can you tell me about that country? What are the people like? How do they live differently than we do? How do they live the same?


• What do you do there? How often do you go? How long do you stay? Do you take things with you for those people? Do you like that country?


• How do you tell the people about Jesus?

Mr. Jerry responded back in a few days with very thorough answers. And in case you didn't know it, God often uses our children (or in this case their school projects), to teach us valuable lessons. I was so touched and moved by Jerry's answers, by the love of Jesus that he shows to these children, and just by God showing me how over-abundantly blessed I am. The morning that I received Jerry's response email, I was in tears as I got to the end of the email. It just made me want to be the hands and feet of Jesus to others in need. Just like Jerry is doing. I want to go and visit them. I want to bring them home with me. I want to buy these children things. I want to love on them. For as long as I can remember, children have been my passion. From my 1st year of teaching, I learned that the love I have for children isn't just reserved for white children. That year I had a classroom full of African-American and Hispanic kids that I dearly loved. Now after emailing back and forth over the last few weeks with Jerry about these children, and seeing pictures of them, I know that the same love extends to these precious children in the Ukraine.

Do you see what I mean about me learning more from this than Emma Kate? This post is supposed to be about her project and I can't quit talking about how deeply I was impacted! But I will quit...for now.

Back on track....today was the presentation day. I was able to go to her class and video it (even though she told me that it would "freak her out" if I came). She presented it although I could tell she was either very nervous or scared (or maybe both). That girl is somethin' else. She'll get out on a gym floor in front of hundreds of people and perform all by herself, but if you ask her to talk....FUH-GET ABOUT IT!!!

So, here's her presenting her project entitled,

Mr. Jerry the Missionary and the almost ABC's

(you'll have to turn your speakers up as high as they will go to hear her tiny little voice. and even then you probably won't be able to tell what she's saying, so I've translated it below)

"Mr. Jerry the Missionary and the almost ABC's

A is for Alexsey and Mr. Jerry laid down beside him and petted him like a dog because he lived with dogs and goats.

B is for babies and there is a baby orphanage where that he talks about.

C is for children and there's children in the orphanages.

D is for diapers and the ladies make handmade diapers.

E is for expenses and our Grandma and Grandpa give him money every year to go and talk about Jesus.

**She accidentally skipped F & G. The poster says "From God." She was supposed to say that Mr. Jerry says being a missionary is like getting a hug from God everyday on this Earth.

H is for hair and they have red, blonde and brown hair just like us.

I is for items and he brings items and he brings items to everybody in the orphanages.

J,K, and L is for Jesus, Kind and Love and he acts like Jesus, he's kind to them and he loves them.

M is for magic and someone asked him to go and do a magic , his magic routine for them.

N is for nearly 2,000 children in the orphanages.

(O is for orphanages but she didn't say that) and there's a picture of one of the orphanages.

P is for pets and they have cats and dogs like us.

(S is for six but she didn't say that either) He goes six times every year.

(T is for transportation but again she didn't say that) They ride on a bus and it takes them 30 minutes to get everywhere.

(U is for Ukraine) Here's the Ukraine. Here's us and there is them over there. (as she points to the United States and then to the Ukraine.)

W is for wheelchairs and there's a wheelchair orphanages.

Y is for Yes! He said yes to go and do his magic routine.