The rain was falling heavily when 6-year-old Julia [YU-lee-uh] arrived at the Seventh-day Adventist preschool in Poland. Children took off their wet coats as they walked into the room. It was time to begin the day with worship.

Julia sat at her desk and waited for the teacher to speak. She knew what the teacher was going to ask, and she was ready to answer.

When the 10 or so children were seated and quiet, the teacher asked the question that Julia was waiting to hear.

“Good morning, children!” the teacher said. “Who has something to thank God for today? Who has something that they want to ask God for today?”

Julia’s arm shot up.

“Yes, Julia?” the teacher asked.

“I want to ask God to stop the rain,” Julia said. “I want to go outside.”

The teacher smiled. She knew that Julia wasn’t the only child who wanted to go outside. All the children came to preschool looking a little sad about the rainy weather because

they looked forward to going outside every day.

At Julia’s preschool, the children don’t only go outside for recess. They also go outside to learn about God. Every day, the teachers take the children outside to explore God’s nature in the fields and forest around the preschool. They play and eat outside. Sometimes, Julia climbs trees with her little brother. Other times, they put slices of bread on sticks and hold them over an outdoor fire. Julia likes eating yummy crunchy toast that she made herself!

The teacher looked at Julia and the other children in the classroom, and then she looked out the window. The rain seemed to be falling even more heavily than before. It was supposed to rain all day.

But she was pleased that Julia wanted to ask God for help. Julia’s parents didn’t pray at home. Julia had only learned to pray when she came to the Adventist preschool. “Of course, we can pray for God to stop the rain,” the teacher said. “It would be nice to go outside today.”

After all the children had a chance to give their thanks and requests to God, the teacher prayed.

“Dear God,” please give us a few hours without rain so we can go outside.”

Nine o’clock arrived. It was the time the children usually went outside. Julia looked out the window.

The rain had stopped!

With great joy, Julia and the other children put on their coats and ran outside. The grass was wet. The trees were wet. But there was no rain falling from the sky. They could learn about God in nature.

When lunchtime arrived, the teacher called the children to come inside to eat. The children filed into the cafeteria, which they shared with bigger kids from the elementary school. As they began to eat, the rain started to fall heavily again.

Julia was filled with awe about the power of God. He had heard her prayer request, and He had answered it in a wonderful way! “Wow, Teacher!” she said. “God answered our prayer. It wasn’t raining when we went outside. It started to rain when we came inside. God is incredible!”

Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help church schools around the world teach children such as Julia about the wonderful love of God.