RMCNews with Jami Simpson – Grand Junction, Colorado … “My favorite part of the week was when John Henri lit his hand on fire,” remarked several students from Intermountain Adventist Academy (IAA) when asked about the spring week of prayer sessions held the first week of April.
The spiritual emphasis for the week at IAA and Little Lambs Daycare was “The God of Wonders,” featuring John Henri Rorabeck as a guest presenter. A naturalist and a science instructor who loves connecting people with the Creator God, he enjoys finding examples of God’s love in nature and believes that the way we treat creation shows what we think of our Creator. For the past 15 years, he has worked in camp and nature ministry in various states and parts of Canada and currently shares God’s character with elementary-aged students through after-school science programs in Maryland.
The special programs feature activities that the students connect with, including a nature hike field trip for each class. Second-grader Daniel enjoyed the museum and the hiking excursion. “I liked when John Henri hiked with us, showed us how dangerous fire is, went to the museum with us, told us about the love of God and how powerful it is. He told me on the way to the museum that there’s a lizard with three eyes.”
Haille, a sixth-grader, also enjoyed the field trips. “My favorite thing about the week of prayer was when we went on our field trip, and we found quartz and mica.”
Henri also connected the scientific method with how God never changes and introduced the school to various animals, including a skink.
“I learned about a skink, and it will stick by its partner no matter what,” said Jocelyn.
Elloise, a fourth-grader, wants a new pet. “I loved and learned about the animals. I am going to try to convince my mom to get a skink!”
Learning about larger animals was what other students will remember. “I learned about this animal that looks like it has two heads, but the tail looks like the head, and we learned about animals called tigers, and I like to do the quiz. Week of prayer was fun,” said Myia, a second-grader.
Henri held a program for kids and adults at the Grand Junction Adventist Church on Wednesday evening and a class on making slime Thursday evening. He also had the kids praising God through song. At the end of each presentation, he had a quiz time with prizes involved.
For Gavin, an eighth-grader, the praise songs were the best part. “I liked the guitar playing.”
Experiments and field trips were fun, but students also left the meetings having heard how much Jesus loves them and takes care of them and that they can share Jesus with people around them by how they act and what they say.
–RMCNews with Jami Simpson is the second through fourth grader teacher at Intermountain Adventist Academy; photos supplied
