Friday, July 17, 2015

"Come, Follow Me" Fishers of Men

Matthew Chapter 4: 18-23

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,
And they straightway left their nets, and followed him
And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.
And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 

Hello Everyone! I feel like I haven't been on here FOREVER! Oh man, I am falling behind! Summer has really thrown me out of whack! So much has happened this summer. I have felt pretty beaten and defeated the last couple of months. Why does life have to be so draining and exhausting? This is a tough calling to have when your feeling blue. I have been away quite a bit so I haven't had to actually stand up in front of the children and swallow back tears and put on that Happy face but this week I am finally back and hopefully all will be well! (fingers crossed)

Along with the blues, my creative brain is lacking. It is really hard to be creative and excited when you feel quite the opposite. I hope I'm not scaring you all away, just being honest here. I have had to rely heavily on my HF the last couple of months just to get through day to day. Of course, he is always there and has once again taken my hand and guided me through the storms of life. I prayed this morning for some guidance in preparing for singing time on Sunday. I have been drawing a complete blank on how to go about teaching this sacred Hymn to the children. I was once again blessed and inspired in the direction I feel my HF wants me to go with this.

 I will only be teaching Verses 1 and 6 for this song. I was thinking I will have the kiddo's sing the 1st verse, then have a violin join in the second verse while the children just hum along and then congregation will join in and sing the 6th verse with us.




To start out teaching this I will take the scriptures above and use that as my base or theme. It's easier for me if I have a theme or base to run with. Then everything else usually falls into place.

I will read and discuss the scriptures with the children and What Jesus meant when he said "Come, follow me" and I will make you fishers of men."  (Missionary work and serving others like Christ did) He was our perfect example.

For prep: I will be making an outline of a boat on the floor with tape. I will print out some fish and throw them around. Some fish will have the words to the song, other fish will have pics of items (food, scriptures, a child praying, pencil, phone, toy)

A child will come get in the boat and cast the fishing rod to catch a fish. If they get a fish with words to the song we will place them on the board and discuss them, if they get a pic of an item then they will say how they can use that item to be a "fisher of men." Example: Pencil: Write a letter to a lonely grandparent or friend that just moved) Food: bring a meal to a family in need, ETC.



As all the words are placed on the board we will sing and discuss their meaning until the 1st verse is complete. I will add in a couple pics of an "upset fish basket." if a child gets this pic, then I will scramble the words (fish) on the board and they will have to come up and unscramble them.


This is the cut out I will use for my little fishies! Just click, save and print and there you have it!!

This is the plan folks! I am hoping it works out well and we can make it through the first verse this week! I am falling behind and starting to PANiC a bit!



PS: I will be throwing in a little bribery this week as well! There's nothing better than a "fishy fruit snack" to help remind us to be "Fishers of Men!"



Happy Singing Everyone!

After prep pics: 
Big Fish with Pics for Jr Primary

Little Fishy with a pic of a Phone. How can you use a Phone to be a Fisher of Men? (Call someone who is lonely or in need and see what you can do for them or just let them know you care.)

Sr. Primary will have the little fish with the words on them

I took the end of a fising rod and Hot Glued a magnet onto the fishing twine. This will attract to the paper clips on the fish


I didn't get a pic of my boat outline because this will be done in the primary room on the floor. I will get a pic of it and post it today at church.

Thank you everyone, Happy Singing!!!