Marissa Gsoell

 I seriously am convinced God gave me the greatest team on the face of the planet to volunteer with. Everyone on my Seaside team is extremely dynamic. We just had a meeting this morning and we were kicking around ideas about different aspects of the service, and I just felt like a team that could change the Children’s Ministry for the better. It’s just so exciting to be able to volunteer with people that care for these kids, and have so many ideas about how to teach them God’s word. I’m really just incredibly blessed. It just makes me realize, that we have so many different gifts and talents in the Body of Christ that most definitely need to be utilized. I mean just to hear how they would teach certain ideas, or how they would use different props was amazing, because I wouldn’t have ever even thought about doing the things they were talking about. It was just enlightening and extremely exciting. 

• (Listening to someone else's Ipod plugged in, with country music blaring.)
• Me: This sounds like a playlist that would have Sweet Home Alabama on it.
• Denice: Yes. Yes it does.
• (Less than a minute later the beginning bars of Sweet Home Alabama play).
• Me: smug silence.

So in the Seaside classroom, the team has been changing it up a little and trying to do different stuff like puppets. Some of the curriculum doesn’t always use the puppet characters our kids are familiar with, so we decided to write one, using the same format and teaching as the main lesson. Obviously we threw in our own tidbits, because the pre-written puppet skits have the tendency to be really cheesy. So we kind of change them and throw in a sarcastic edge to the humorous parts. So here is the first puppet skit I’ve ever attempted. The characters are Toby (a doubter and Billy’s bestie), Billy (strong believer, and Toby’s bestie), Negatron (sort of like a Satan/demon character, not too scary), and Faith Man (it’s pretty obvious). 

Also at the end of every skit Toby and Billy hug. Because it makes me and Denice laugh every time we do it.

Lesson 2: Think for Yourself

(Characters: Toby, Billy, Negatron, and Faith Man)

Toby: Hey Billy!

Billy: Hey Toby!

Toby: I have an awesome plan for what we should do today!

Billy: What do you mean? I thought we were gonna go to church like our parents told us too. And then go straight home.

Toby: No. This plan is even better. We don’t go to church. And we skip and go to the mall without our parents. It’ll be so fun!

Billy: I don’t know, man. I just don’t know. That does sound fun…

Toby: Okay! So Let’s totally go!

Billy: Well…

(Time is suspended and Negatron enters).

Billy: I don’t know.

Negatron: Sometimes church isn’t fun. And you know, going to the mall is fun.

Toby: Yeah sometimes church isn’t fun like going to the mall would be.

Billy: But…

Negatron: And what our parents don’t know won’t hurt them.

Toby: And what our parents don’t know wont hurt them. You know man this’ll be fine!

Billy: I don’t know Toby I’m getting a bad feeling about this…

Negatron: Everyone’s always bossing you guys around. Have a little freedom for once and do whatever you want.

Toby: Yeah, Billy. Everyone is always bossing us around! This is our time to do whatever we want and we should skip church go to the mall.

Billy: Um…

(Enter Faith Man, Billy puppet and Toby puppet slide down slowly)

Faith Man: Negatron! You get away from those kids!

Negatron: All I’m doing is telling the truth.

Faith Man: You? The truth? I think not. You liar! Why are you telling Billy and Toby that sinning will make them free? You’re trying to blind them with sin. In the Bible…

Negatron: No!!!! Not the Bible-

Faith Man: Yes, the Bible! In the Bible it says that as Christians we are no longer under the chains of sin. We are free through Jesus’ good, good grace! Take that Negatron!

Negatron: But their older now! They don’t have to listen to their parents-

Faith Man: In the Bible, it says that obedience leads to righteousness. By going to church and listening to their parents, they will walk to righteousness with God at their side. But if they decide to ignore it, they’ll only fall into the hands of the likes of you! And with God, they will never be slaves to sin!

Negatron: I can’t handle all this non-sin related talk, I’m out!

(Billy and Toby re-enter)

Billy: You know, man. No I’m not going to go to the mall. I’m going to church. I’m gonna listen to my parents. God says we need to obey our parents and when He says something, we need to do it. Plus I wanna go learn about God and how amazing He really is, and the mall will never be as interesting as He is.

Toby: You’re right. The Bible does say not to be a slave to sin and let it have control. I want to be free with God at my side. C’mon. Let’s go to church.

Billy: Hug?

Toby: Hug!

THE END.

Yeah. I’m a dork. 

Worst Person EVER.

As always I shall apologize for the lack of posts from the last couple of months. The last post fell somewhere at the end of the school year, so I was dealing with school finals, and trying to hawk my books at the highest price-which doesn’t actually turn into much of a profit-but that alas, has been the reason for my continued absence. At least in the part.

My mind and heart are still feeling raw and open and hurt from the abuse I’ve put myself through. The longer I write this, the more it sounds like a boy or something. So no, it’s not. I’ve been struggling back and forth with my faith lately. And it shames me to even put it in words, which is probably why I’ve talked to no one else about it. Me and God naturally have been having some one-on-one’s but I haven’t opened up elsewhere. 

Basically, it started with this little, tiny seed of doubt, in the back of my mind, which I promptly brushed off. And then it kept creeping up. 

“Does God exist?”

“Why does every one of my prayers feel like empty air?”

“God, where are you?”

And with that I started having like a full OCD mind attack. If I was at work, or at home, or in my car I would freeze when these thoughts came on, and wouldn’t be able to think of anything else for the next hour or so. And it was becoming a whole day thing. So I basically had Satan sitting on my should telling the most incredible lies, while I’m trying to hold onto the shreds of faith in my hand, 24/7. 

Not surprising, shortly before this time I was sporadically going to church, praying, reading my Bible, or doing anything to build my own faith up, so I wasn’t hard to attack. I felt like such a hypocrite when I did come to church and when I was volunteering in the classroom with the kids, that I wanted to stop coming altogether.

But eventually when I was able to banish those thoughts from my mind for at least an hour, I found that I was letting myself fall into doubt and lies, and I found that God wasn’t so easily going to let go. All of a sudden when I steadied my mind I would find phrases and Scriptures practically hitting me in the face. Like “God has not given you a spirit of fear but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind.” The “sound mind” deal really jumped out at me. Or something like “God doesn’t give you more adversity than you can bear.” God honestly, even when I’m at my worst shows up in the midst of it and says “Why are you being so silly?”

Essentially I started seeing all the things I had been feeling before as ridiculous lies. And then I started going to church again. And reading my Bible. And praying for faith and strength. But I’m still going “Why did I screw myself over? I honestly can’t tell you. The closest I can get to an answer, is my complacency. The fact that I got comfortable and lazy. But this whole deal for the last couple months has got me thinking, about how we can really make or break our faith, with even the smallest of our actions.

Psh. And all this for an explanation as to why I haven’t posted anything.

Please tell me somebody else is in love with this classic four hour movie.

Easter with the kids. I love them.

In the first picture I’m second from the left and in the second picture I’m all the way to the left.

These kids know how to do Easter right.

For various reasons. No, that’s incorrect. For one reason. I’m not sure how much I like it when people tell me that everything I believe in is a fairytale. God, give me the strength to not punch them in the face for these remarks.

I swear. People can be so hateful sometimes. The person that made this remake to me, was giving me all the reasons behind her idea that God didn’t exist, however instead of just telling me in an intelligent way why she doesn’t believe, she went for the throat and told me I believed in a fairytale.

Which kind of rolls off of my back because let’s face it, no one’s going to convince me that there’s something other than Jesus, or that there isn’t anything. My faith is too strong. It mostly bothers me because I wasn’t being disrespectful to the fact that she was an atheist. I made no comment like that, and I wasn’t trying to convert her. I was actually just sharing with her as well as some others what my beliefs were.

I guess it just bothers me because I get irritated when people don’t show the same level of respect you try to show to them. And this is the time where somebody says “Love your neighbors”, to which I reply with a glare that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Because it’s hard and unpleasant. And I have a bit of a short fuse. But then God comes and I can picture this knowing look He’s giving me. And I love Him for it, but it’s ridiculously hard.

Maybe I’m being ridiculous. It doesn’t matter. I believe Jesus is there backing me up.

I’ve mentioned it before but I normally volunteer every Sunday in the children’s ministry for the 2nd-3rd graders. And I love these kids. The third graders I’ve been seeing for the last two years, and I already know that when they “graduate” at the end of their 3rd grade career in the 4th-6th grade classroom, I’m going to start bawling. Seriously. I love these kids, I’ve already mentally adopted all of them. Recently because of some changes the volunteer team was going through I became the leader/coordinator of the classroom, which is freaking fantastic. I mean, it’s through the grace of God that I was chosen because there’s no way I would have gotten it by myself. I tend to be a more subtle team member.

But my heart is happy when I see these kids, because I love them. And sometimes when I’m working or just around town or whatever I’ll see a kid that’s either currently in my class, or that has been moved to the 4th-6th grade class, and they all basically do the same thing.

They’ll stop walking and point and say “Teacher Marissa!”, and I’ll stop and look around for a second, and when I see them, they’ll wave really excitedly and barrel over towards me and hug me and say something along the lines of “Hi! Do you recognize me?!?!” And then I’ll say something like “I’ve seen for two hours on Sunday for the last two years, of course I remember you!”

And then of course I have their parents looking at me like I’m a possible kidnapper until I explain to them that I see them on Sundays, and then they look immensely relieved. But still. I just saw one of my kids in Wal-Mart while I was working and he started whispering “Marissa, Marissa, Marissa” until I turned around and he waved at me.

I’m telling you, I’ve found my niche.

Gorgeous weather. And I wasn’t working.

Because I’ll be honest it’s depressing to have to go inside of Wal-Mart and stay there on a lazy Sunday afternoon. But whatever. Maybe it’s just me. But here’s a shout out to Jesus either way for a fantastic day.