One Time Here, Another Time There

Scripture: Esther

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will learn God often puts His people where He wants them in order to do certain things for Him.
  • Students will learn sometimes we must be very brave to do what God wants us to do.
  • Students will learn God expects us to do what He wants us to do even if it scares us.
  • Students will learn about different time zones and how to find differences in time.

Guiding Question: Why is it important to put our faith in God?

Materials: Internet access, world map with time zones

Procedure: Review the story of Esther with the students – particularly the Celebration of Purim. Explain that Purim is a holiday for remembering the story of Esther. Tell the students that during this holiday, people give little gifts (usually of food) to their neighbors. Explain that God wants us to reach out to others and be brave in sharing our faith. God expects us to do what He has called us to and to trust Him even when we do not fully understand what He is doing. God places people in our lives that He calls us to share our faith with and we can trust Him to help us when it is part of His plan.

Introduce the activity. Explain that Persia/Iran is in different time zone than your class. Show a map of the world and the different time zones – explaining how they increase and why we have them. Ask students if someone in Iran sent an invitation to Skype at a specific time, what time would it be where your class is located? Give various times and then locations to give more practice. If possible set up a Skype or Google hangout call with someone in a very different time zone to show students the difference in the time of day.

Additional Questions: How can students apply knowledge about time zones?

Supplemental Activity: Have students plan trips around the world with times to do different things on the trip. For example, if students plan to go to France and see the Eiffel Tower at 1pm on a Tuesday, what time would it be in their hometown?

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