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As websites and email make the world smaller,
our materials have found their way into
many corners of the earth.
Perhaps the most exciting part of our development is the spreading of our materials to other parts of the world. This journey began with an invitation to Russia in the fall of 1999. As with much of our work, we do not always know where and how our material is being used in other countries. That is because our materials spread abroad in two ways:
1. Through our direct involvement. This is when we either ship materials directly to an international ministry or we travel to a country to do training.
2. Through others we have trained. This is perhaps the most exciting part of our ministry. Once individuals are trained and have experience with the program, they spread it to many places. We are constantly surprised by emails or calls from people we don’t even know telling us how they have used our material with great success! We envision CK as a mustard seed – a program written for a small group of children in a church in Southern California has now grown to a ministry reaching children and families all over the world! It is gratifying to know that CK is a tool being used to touch lives in places that we will never visit and bring people who we will never meet (until we reach heaven) to Christ!
Here is a summary of the international use of Confident Kids. For more information, read further down the page or click the name of the country:
1. Places we have gone to, or shipped materials to, personally:
The Russian Federation (1999- present). Our work in Russia began in 1999 when we traveled to Moscow to conduct a training seminar for 94 professionals from 6 Russian speaking countries. That began a long association with OPORA, a Christian Recovery ministry based in Moscow. The bulk of our work consisted of writing an alcohol and drug prevention program with a strong Christian component. With the help of a capable team, we created Keys to Living A Healthy Life. We made six trips to Moscow to train leaders and aid in its implementation. Today, Keys is being used in many cities and venues, such as:
Moscow
Astrakhan - 750m SE of Moscow, Caspian Sea port
Cheboksari - 400m east
Dimitrov - 50m north
Dnepropetrovsk - 350m SW
Izhevsk - 625m east
St. Peterburg - 375m NW
Tosno - 75m SE of Peterburg
Tashkent (Uzbekistan) - 1650m SE
Tula - 100m south
In these cities, Keys is used in:
Schools
City Counseling and Treatment Centers
Summer Camps for street children
Juvenile Detention Centers
Orphanages
One Medical School (A professor from the school attended our training and is teaching the material to all her medical students.)
In addition, the original training seminar we taught in 1999 on the subject of dealing with our feelings, is still being taught in many cities throughout Russia and the Ukraine by those who attended that seminar.
Finally, three of Linda’s smaller books that make up the Guides for Growing A Healthy Family Series (originally published by Baker Book House) were translated into Russian by a Christian Publishing House in Moscow. The first title, All My Feelings Are Okay, is currently in its third printing!
A few pictures from our ministry in Russia:
 
 
Germany (2000). In November of 2000 we traveled to Lemgo, Germany to train leaders in a local church and Christian school to use the Confident Kids program. We also met with a professor and students from a Christian School of Psychology who asked if they could translate the material into German. We agreed. About 6 months later we heard they had translated the unit on Feelings and piloted it in the Christian school. That was the last we heard from them, until recently when we received an email informing us that:
- The unit on Feelings, the first one translated, is being used in 81 locations in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
- The second unit translated, Choices, is being used in 26 locations.
- The third unit, Family, recently translated, is being piloted in 2 locations.
This picture is of Dave and his little German buddy. Although he spoke no English and Dave speaks no German, he told his mom that Dave understood everything he told him - and he was talking all the time! They had a great time together:
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Finland (2000). We were invited by a Christian Recovery Ministry to do a three day training on parenting in recovery. We had about 60 participants in the seminar and were invited to address about 150 parents at the local school. The manuscript from the seminar was published by a local publishing group into a parenting manual.
Our training group in Helsinki and a parents' meeting we addressed:
 
Africa (November, 2006 - present).
- Kenya. Our most recent trip was to Nakuru, Kenya, at the invitation of the Crosslink Children’s Center. We conducted a seminar for 65 pastors and children’s workers on how to reach traumatized children (mostly street children and the very poor) with the gospel. They told us they had never received any kind of training on how to reach and disciple these kids and we were the first ones they had ever invited to do so! We had a wonderful week with them. This was our first exposure to a truly third world country and our hearts were deeply touched.
Recently, we received an email stating that the principles we taught are making a difference in the quality of ministry to the kids throughout the city. More importantly to us, they want us to come back and teach them more! We are now praying seriously about how we can best help these people – who have absolutely nothing (we were surprised at how much ministry they can do on how little they have). As the Lord provides us with financial resources to travel and insights as to how we can best be of help to them, we look forward to returning!
Some of the children in Nakuru, Kenya that we support.
  
- South Africa. After our time in Kenya, we traveled to Jefferies Bay, South Africa, to visit a ministry to street children that is using our Confident Kids material. They were so excited to have us come! Our materials are working well there and they are spreading the word to other ministries in the area about CK. (Already, a ministry to street children in Port Elizabeth, about 30 miles away, has purchased our materials.) Since this was mostly a time to get acquainted and encourage the two women who run this ministry, we only led a small, one day training while we were there. Again, we bonded with these women and look forward to returning to South Africa and working with them again. The day we left, they were already scheming about how to conduct an area-wide Confident Kids training!
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Argentina. In January of 2007, two women traveled from Buenos Aires to CA to attend one of our trainings. We were able to spend an extra day with them, learning about their ministry there and their dreams for translating CK and using it throughout the city. We gave them a complete set of curriculum to take back, and felt a tug in our hearts to visit them and help out in whatever way we could.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Egypt. We have shipped material to these countries and correspond with those running CK programs in their communities.
2. Places others have taken the Confident Kids Materials:
Ukraine.
· An American missionary who trained with us in 1999 taught several local churches in Kiev to use our Feelings material as an outreach. Our latest word, they are still teaching this material in numerous settings in their ministry. One of their classes:
· An American couple from Menlo Park, CA introduced leaders at an orphanage outside of Kiev to the Confident Kids material. They were very excited and insisted we come to train them. Unfortunately, Linda became ill and we could not go. But the wife studied the material carefully, consulted with us and provided some training for them. We still hope to get to this orphanage one day to encourage them and do more training.
Pakistan. One of the American missionaries we worked with in Moscow who helped us with the development of the Keys curriculum, is now working in Pakistan. She is now training leaders in Pakistan to use the Kids Like Me! curriculum (which is based on Keys), with great success. The following picture is of Nannette and her first training class.
Palestine, Thailand, Liberia, Mexico & Latin America, South America. We received an email from a woman we had trained in a Confident Kids seminar in 1994. We had not heard from her since, until recently. Since that time, she has used the Confident Kids material literally around the world:
- Palestine. She used it with ministry to children who “are daily experiencing violence and changes that you could never imagine.” In a Christian orphanage in Ramalah, she trained the staff use the Unit on Feelings and they have incorporated it into their daily program. Most recently, she reports, “I trained a group of leaders working with a program that was sponsored by the Palestine Bible Society. They work in teams providing programs in the community school building in villages throughout Palestine (West Bank). The leaders that were in training also received a lot personally from the program.”
- Thailand. Here she started several houses for young girls rescued from the sex trade. Confident Kids has become a part of the on-going education/healing these girls receive.
- Liberia. She did not give us details of this work, just mentioned that she used the material there.
- Latin America & Mexico. She used the Confident Kids program as part of a training program for church leaders in Latin America who are developing an outreach ministry to women and children from abusive backgrounds. She also led CK groups in Mexico. For this purpose, she raised funding to translate some of the CK material into Spanish! By sharing these materials with us, she inspired us to proceed with our project to translate all our CK into Spanish!
These pictures are from a CK group in Mexico and the last one is from Peru:
  
Bosnia. Several Americans who went to work in the refugee camps took the Confident Kids material with them. One story came back to us of an American counselor who was so busy working with the women, she asked the organizers to send someone to help with the children. When a young girl from Australia came to help, she handed her pages from the Confident Kids Feelings unit and said, “Do you think you can use this with the children?” The girl replied, “This is Confident Kids! Of course I can use it - I used this program in my church at home!” Amazing!
Malaysia, Jamaica, Singapore, Philippines. We have received email correspondence from folks in these countries telling us how they have used our materials in their ministries.
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We continue to receive requests from international ministries. One pastor in India corresponds with us at least monthly, patiently waiting for us to have the finances and time to do train leaders in his (rather large!) children’s ministry in his district. Others request curriculum, which we often provide free or at a reduced rate.
If you or someone you know has used Confident Kids materials internationally, please let us know!
Click here to send us an email with the details.
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