I hope they call me on a mission - Celestial Airlines flight.

http://sevenofusalways.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/hope-they-call-me-on-mission-part-1.html
So this is an update on the activity we had - The first of  the "Hope they call me on a mission series"

I am a little frustrated with myself.....  forgot to take photos of the night.(well I started and then got distracted) So I only have a couple of how we started to set up the night.  So this photo is of our check in point - Each child was welcomed by an air-hostess, given a passport and boarding pass...(all shown on my previous post) and then directed to wait in the departure lounge.  The departure lounge was decorated with flags from other countries, a map of the world, other pictures related to our amazing race quiz and the supper table which was filled with international foods, mainly Japanese and treats from Brazil. (I so wish I had a photo)

We started our flight with a prayer - because all traveling should start with a prayer...Right!
I explained the night as shown in my previous post, and talked a little about the Faith in God Programme and how our journey through life, and through this programme requires a team effort.... us, our parents, our primary leaders and Heavenly Father.  Explaining that tonight they would be working as a team with their parents on this journey too.  We also talked a little about how Heavenly Father loves all of his children all over the world, and wants them all to know of his gospel, and one way we can prepare to share is to learn about other cultures and languages.

We divided the room into two flights.... an air-hostess was going to take each group into the hallway, line them up - arms out (like wings) and we flew around the block of classrooms to end up at the country we would be visiting ------one room was Brazil, one was Japan.  Each group spent 20 mins at their first destination and then flew in the same way to the next (swap).
IN BRAZIL - My other lovely Activity day leader is from Brazil, so along with her son, they set up a matching game of words in Portuguese that related to the gospel.  The kids and their parents had to look at the words in english and portuguese and see if they could match them - some were very easy to match... others not so.  With each match they learnt how to pronounce them correctly.  She also told them a little about where they were born and the temples in that area.   Each child got to take home their own matching game of words with pictures. - I will try and attach the picture files for you if you would like to use them also.

The next destination was JAPAN - One of the fathers of the boys served a mission in Japan, so he shared a little about the culture, his experiences, some basic greetings, a prayer and taught them how to make a simple piece of origami.

After each group had visited those two countries we all flew back to the "depature lounge" where parents and children were put into teams and given an amazing race quiz.  All questions related to things they had "seen or heard" at the two countries just visited and some things related to decorations in the departure lounge.  We had a world map with each of the 26 missionaries serving from our stake on it, a poster with country flags, faith in God books, article of faith posters etc.  They had 10 minutes to find as many answers from any of the rooms.... we then calculated the points... highest points recieved a trophy and treat.

We ended the night with a variety of foods from the countries visited including sushi, and a sweet treat from Brazil "brigadeiro".
The following link is to show an example of the questions we had in our quiz.... (yes there are double ups... I was working on it late at night..LOL)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11taNDUGRB_D5s5mpEFOnPtuZdNNAB1zCTHLqQ4kvOM4/edit?usp=sharing

Hope they call me on a mission - Part 1

This coming week we are planning the big launch of our  "Hope they call me on a mission" series of activities.  We have invited at least one parent to come along with each child.... so its a big deal.

Each of the children have recieved an invite like the one below... a plane ticket for Celestial Airlines.
The tickets really had the kids excited because the ticket really does not give too much away.

On the night each child will recieve a boarding ticket as they arrive and be led into our departure lounge (the primary room).  In here they will be welcomed and the night will be explained.'

They will each recieve a passport to be stamped along the way.  (The passport will be a little book that will have several pages... one for each activity they complete over the next few activities.  I think we might  keep these passports, and hand out each activity, just so they dont get lost)  The passport of activities can also relate to activities in the Faith in God Booklet, so these can be signed off each time too.  (see the original post about the Mission series for list of other activities we will be doing)

This first activity the children will be split into 3 groups and will arrive at  3 different destinations (rotating through the classes)
The aim of tonights activity is to highlight that we all have a mission here on earth, (full time mission or not) and that part of that mission is to gain as much knowledge of the gospel and the world around us so that we can teach and serve others in this life and the next.  Our role is to find ways to learn and grow each day.
We are going to start our activity by talking a little about Elder Bednars talk: http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=c090ba12dc825110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=21bc9fbee98db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
Explaining that one of the primary purposes of mortality is to learn -  Tonights activity is starting us on a journey of discovering a little about other people and cultures in the world, and how important it is to know that gaining intelligence is not about being a genius or to know everything,  but that all our learning or knowledge gained is used for righteous purposes.  Tonight we will be visiting 3 countries and learning a little about the language, culture and the gospel in that country. (you will notice the 3rd country really isnt a country but rather I am going to take the opportunity while we have the parents to go over the faith in God booklet and ways we and they can help their children Learn and grow ) We are so blessed to have amazing parents in our ward who are willing to share the languages.... this night we will be visiting Brazil, Japan  and our Faith in GOD pitstop.
Each group will learn, play games and eat special foods from that country while they are visiting  and then travel on to the next one.
At the end we will all come together and play a couple of games that relate to some of the things they have learnt..... matching temples, basic greetings etc....

Will post an update after the activity to fill in just how it went and what we actually did on the night....as its likely to change as we go...LOL

Passport covers:

Related posts :  http://sevenofusalways.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/i-hope-they-call-me-on-mission-series.html

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" I hope they call me on a mission" Series

With so many great things happening with missionary work in the Church in recent times, and with the excitement surrounding so many of our own stake members heading out on missions, we thought it would be great to run a series of Activities based on Preparing for missions.
Some of the things we may cover over the next few activities are......(will add to the list as we think of more)

• A cultural night - learning about other countries, food, language - we have a very multi-cultural ward so we are inviting a few parents to teach the children some basic words/phrases related to sharing the messages of the gospel in another language.
• I Believe - A fun night of games to revise, learn the Articles of Faith, and know what they mean to us
• Looking my best-   On this night we might try our hands at learning some self reliance skills like ironing, polishing shoes, sewing buttons, packing a suitcase etc - Maybe in a relay form would make it more fun.
• My body is a temple - Health and wellness night - a short lesson about importance of keeping our minds and bodies healthy and strong - possible zumba night, and or healthy cooking night.
• Preparing to teach - invite the ward missionaries, role play ways we can share the gospel, have the children write testimonies into Book of Mormons for missionaries to share.
• Care Packages- making care packages, writing letters to missionaries from our ward/stake.

I found this webpage that has great ideas that we may be able to base some of our activities on on
http://lds.about.com/od/programs3foldmission/tp/prepare_lds_mission.htm