Frances Wu 吳恩慧

Editorial Note: 2024 marks the fifth year that Frances’ participated in YSMP short term mission. How was this journey different from the previous? What new insight has she gained from this experience?

Hello, my name is Frances. My Chinese name is 吳恩慧. This is my fifth year at YSMP. This year has been very fruitful as we received the highest amount of kids joining us for Vacation Bible School (VBS). As I was thinking about what to share today, it was hard for me to write it in the exact way I wanted to share it. During our training, we were taught different ways to share the gospel. However, when we actually share the gospel, we never follow it step by step. We tend to share the gospel in a way that relates to the person and we allow God to work in us to take the lead. So in the same way, I prayed to God and asked that I may trust in Him to give me the right words to say and for my testimony to touch your hearts in some way.

During this YSMP, I was in charge of Morning Crafts and teaching Preschool. I’ll be focusing on the experience I had with teaching Preschool but feel free to ask me about Morning Crafts later. I was the main teacher for Preschool and taught all three days. My TAs had a busier schedule, so I was able to be the one to focus on the teaching aspect of our class. I’m forever grateful to my TAs for helping me keep the class focused and making sure we had all of our kids. I had a student named Isabel. She was one of my TA’s nieces. She was really quiet and seemed like she wasn’t focused on what I was teaching. Her Aunt would always dote on her to focus in class.

Throughout the three days, I decided that if there was anything I wanted them to remember from VBS, it was the gospel and our theme memory verse. I took about five minutes each day to repeat the memory verse to them over and over again. I knew they were getting tired of it, but I wanted to make sure they knew it was important to know. The memory verse was Romans 12:2. The Pre-K version says, “Learn about God. Choose to Obey Him.”. I would ask them “Learn about who?” and they would say “Jesus!”, which is the Sunday School answer. I would tell them that they’re technically correct, but the answer I’m looking for is “God”. I would also ask them “Choose to obey who?” and most of them would answer “God”. I laughed a little because that was the previous answer, but told them the memory verse said “Him”. We did this a couple of times before it was time for Snacks. It seemed like a lot of them weren’t paying attention, but I needed to trust that God was working in their hearts to remember our memory verse.

It hit the final day of VBS and it was sort of disheartening. Half of my students left early that day and it was the last day to be able to teach them about the gospel. As I shared about what Jesus did for us, I asked my students multiple times if they believed in him to make sure they weren’t raising their hands because their friend raised theirs. I was glad to see that all of them raised their hands. I know these preschoolers are young and might not understand what they are committing their lives to, but I hope this will push them to continue to come to church.

During the closing rally, there was time for the students to volunteer to recite the memory verse. I asked one of my more energetic kids if he wanted to go up on stage to say the memory verse and he nodded his head. As we were waiting in line, he suddenly didn’t want to anymore. I said that was fine and we went back to sit down. I looked over to Isabel and wondered if I should ask her. She was quiet and didn’t seem like she wanted to. As the line got shorter, I felt God tugging at me to ask, so I did. She nodded her head slowly and we waited in line. I went over the memory verse with her and prepared to recite it with her.

When it was her turn, she started to get shy. So, I started to say the memory verse with her. I said “Learn” and she said “Learn”. I said “about”, and she said “about”. As I was going to say God, I gave her a reassuring smile. She then recited the rest of the memory verse, without my help. I stood there in shock and felt joy fill my soul. She was paying attention during class and she had memorized the memory verse. I felt myself grin and told her, “Good job!”. We sat back down and her aunt thanked me. She really appreciated what I had done for her niece. I nodded my head and smiled but thought, no. This wasn’t me. This was God working in my classroom and working in Isabel to be able to repeat the memory verse in front of everyone. To show that I had nothing to worry about and God always has our back.

Throughout YSMP, many of the quieter kids who professed their faith would be the ones who surprised us the most. It reminded me of 1 King 19:11-12, which says:

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”

It just reminds me that during VBS there are a lot of kids who always raise their hand or they always shout the answer. But there are kids who are quiet and don’t seem to want to answer the questions, but they are paying attention and they do know the answer. It just shows that God is working in them to be their voice for them to be heard by us and that God is pushing us to hear them and see how much they yearn to know about Him. So, this is one of the ways that I felt God working during YSMP.

For me, personally, I’m currently in my last year of College at Cal State Northridge. There are a lot of uncertainties for me. But, as God taught me to trust in him as I taught the Preschoolers, he’s also teaching me to trust in him for my life. He showed me some career paths that I could take. I also talked to the Pastor’s wife there, Paula, and she gave me some advice that I never really thought about before. I won’t share it here, but you are welcome to ask me about it later.

Throughout YSMP, God has grown me to trust in him more and be flexible in what he has in store for us. He’s always there to guide us and has a perfect plan for us despite how uncertain it may feel to us. I hope that you will be pushed to trust in him more for any uncertainties going on in your life right now and maybe that will lead you to join us for YSMP next year. Thank you!