Tag Archives: Class

Aliso Viejo Children’s Class – Week Four

Another great week. This week we saw around ten kids at the class with many repeaters. Once again my wife and I got to the complex early and began to get everything setup. A few of the kids helped put the balloons on the signs around the complex.

They then started to go to each of the home to collect the children with my wife. It is great to see the level of enthusiasm exhibited by the kids. They are so eager to help out and participate in the class. We did some more singing this week and one of the songs that the kids like so much was the “love” song. It goes like this:

Love, love, love, love,
love your fellow man.
Love, love, love is
how the world began.
God loves creation
for He created thee,
To love, love, love,
Him and humanity.

I’ll try to remember to take my camera next week and get some more pictures of the kids enjoying the class.

Aliso Viejo Children’s Class – Week Three

With each passing week my anxiety level get lower and lower. During the week I kept debating whether the first two weeks were just a fluke and whether anyone would show up the next week. It was nice see that all the anxiety was unwarranted.

My wife and I showed up early on the third week and started to setup the blankets and stuff. My wife along with some of the local kids started to go around the neighborhood to collect the kids and remind everyone that the class would start shortly. Just as before, little by little the kids started to trickle in. Less kids than the previous two weeks but the ones that did show up were excited about the class and were fully engaged.

We actually were able to do more activities with the kids this go around. The kids got to play some soccer before and later after the class. Cindy had brought a bunch of musical instruments which the kids got to play with during some singing. We were also able to break up the kids into two groups and get the beginnings of a Jr. Youth Group started.

All in all week three was a success and we are getting some positive feedback from a couple of the mothers already. The kids seem to be enjoying the classes as well.

Aliso Viejo Children’s Class – Week Two

After the success of the first week my wife and I were looking forward to the second week of the class. We weren’t sure if the first week was a fluke or not. We had expected to get a couple of kids during the first few classes and had anticipate having to grow the class slowly. Having 24 kids come out on the first day was rather surprising. We didn’t know what to expect for the second week.

We had made a decision to change the class from Friday afternoons to Saturday mornings because of homework club and day light saving time that was just upon us. Friday morning of the second week I went to the community early in the morning on my way to work and posted fliers letting people know the class would be on Saturday morning.

So Saturday my wife and I show up and as I was parking the car we hear someone call “Peter,” “Peter.” We both looked at each other but dismissed what we heard. We get out of the car and around the corner comes Jesus, a boy that I had met last week. Jesus asks “Peter, are we going to have a class today?” To which I replied yes, and we were off to the races. Jesus and his cousin Sam started helping us setup the blankets and chairs. Then he and my wife went around the community to collect the children.

Eventually the kids started showing up and we got started. The topic for the second week of class was Justice and the quote the kids learned was “Tread ye the path of justice for it verily is the straight path.” The excitement of the first week was still thick in the air. We have about 17 kids come out for the class and we had lots of fun.

This time I remembered to take my camera and got some nice shots of the kids enjoying themselves and just having fun.

Starting day of children’s class in Aliso Viejo

As Friday approached I was pretty excited. Not knowing what to expect or whether anyone would even show up was nerve racking. But I think I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me explain what I’m talking about. For the last couple of weeks we had been doing a service project in a community in Aliso Viejo, California. By we, I mean some Baha’is and I. You see I’m a member of the Baha’i Faith and one of my passions is providing service to mankind.

We had been drawn to this community because of all the children that lived in the community. We wanted to provide a children class where we could teach the children about the virtues of God and how to become better people. The receptivity was amazing, nearly all the parents we spoke with were favorable to the idea and truly expressed interest in the concept.  So we began the planning and the first class was to be on Friday October 24th at 4:30 PM.

My wife and a few others had arrived earlier and had setup the blankets by the pool area where we were going to meet. There were some fliers posted at various location in the community so things looked really good. I got there just before we were going to go out and start gathering the kids.

The first few homes we went to were not there and the next few that were home said the kids were not back from homework club yet. I was beginning to get worried but finally got to a home that wanted to come so we accompanied the mother and her daughter to the blankets by the pool.

As the class was getting started, there were only two kids. Younger than our target audience really but we were happy to see them none the less. The problem was language. The kids only spoke Spanish and communication was starting to be an issue. At one point my wife and I looked around and there were more helpers than there were kids so we just stepped away and individually started to say some prayers.

Call it coincidence or luck, but little by little the kids started filtering back from homework club and before no time there were about 24 kids at the class. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm of the kids. The topic for the first day was Truthfulness and the first quote they learned was “Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues.” They also did some coloring and singing.

I didn’t have my camera with me so I pulled out my iPhone and took some shots of the kids having fun.