Three Ways
to Love
Description:
A craft plus a real-life story from Cameroon illustrating how God helped
a translation team discover the correct word to use for “unconditional
love” in Hdi Scripture
Aims:
• Children will learn the word for “unconditional love” in the Hdi
language.
• Children will learn that God loves them and sent His son to die for
them.
• Children will use the craft as a reminder to pray for the Hdi people.
Audience:
Grades Pre-K–6
Minimum Time Requirements:
25–30 minutes
Scripture:
Romans 5:8
Materials:
• Bible marked at Romans 5:8
• World globe or map
• Print out of hearts from pages
9–11
• Origami paper or construction
paper to make origami hearts,
recommended for ages nine
and up
• Optional: pens for children to
write the Hdi words for love on
their origami heart or to circle a
word on page 12
• Red crayons to color page 12
• Optional: computer, projector,
and screen to project hearts
with words instead of holding
them up
• Optional: Print out of the skit
script, pages 7–8.
If you have any questions or problems related to
this lesson, please contact Wycliffe’s Children’s
Communications team at [email protected].
No part of this lesson may be republished or sold
without permission. Copying for classroom use is
encouraged! © Wycliffe 2013
More curricula to engage children in Bible translation
are available at www.wycliffe.org/kids.
Pre-class Preparation:
• Decide if your children should make the origami craft (suitable for
ages nine years and older) or color the heart on page 12.
• If your students are making origami hearts, select one of the
websites listed below, and practice making an origami heart for a
sample.
• Cut pieces of origami or construction paper so each student who will
make an origami heart will have one.
• Make a copy of each of the three hearts with the words “dvi,” “dva,”
and “dvu” from pages 9–11 to use during the story. (Tip: Tape the
paragraphs for each heart on the back of the hearts so that you can
read the story to the students from the back of the hearts.) Or
prepare to project the hearts onto a large screen.
• Optional: Decide if you want to include the reader’s theater style skit
from pages 8–9. If so, you will read the narrator part. Prepare four
other scripts, highlighting each person’s text with a different color to
aid in reading. Be thinking of four good readers for the different
parts.
• If your students will be coloring the picture on page 12, prepare a
sample and have enough copies for each student (recommended for
students age eight or under).
• Don’t stress over how to pronounce the three words in Hdi—just be
consistent.
Here are a few sites that provide clear directions for making an
origami heart:
• www.origami-instructions.com/easy-origami-heart.html (video and
picture instructions—shown in upper right corner of this page.)
• http://en.origamiclub.com/valentine/easyheart/animeeasyheart/index.html (animated
illustration)
• www.papercrane.org/articles/abcTV/heart.gif (printable diagram)
• www.activityvillage.co.uk/origami_heart.htm (half-square triangle
uses less paper, pictured to the right)
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 2
Class Time:
Begin by asking,
Often we call February the ___________ month. What word would you
put in that sentence? That’s right, we often call February the “love”
month. Lots of books have been written about love. We all want to be
liked, and even more we want to be loved. We want our families and to
love us. God loves us with a love that lasts forever, no matter what.
We call God’s kind of love “unconditional love.” In every one of the
almost seven thousand languages spoken in the world, God provides a
way for people to understand His unconditional love in terms that are
clear. Today we’re going to discover one of those terms.
Materials:
• World map or globe
Holding the globe or pointing to a world map, ask,
Can anyone point to Cameroon?
If no one volunteers, point out the country of Cameroon, and say,
In the Hdi language of Cameroon the translation committee
coordinators, Lee and Tammy Bramlett, could not find a word in Hdi
that meant “God’s unconditional love.” God prompted Lee to look again
at the Hdi word for love. He knew that every action word or verb could
end with one of three letters. But with the Hdi word for love, he only
could find examples of “dvi” and “dva.” Lee wondered, “Why isn’t there
a ‘dvu’?”
Optional: If using the readers’ theater style skit, call up the four
students you’ve selected to read the parts of Lee and three
translation team members from pages 7–8, and skip down to the to
continue.
• 4 scripts for the readers’
theater like skit with parts
marked from pages 7–8
If you aren’t using the readers’ theater like skit, hold up the heart with
the word “dvi” on it from page 9, or project it on a large screen.
Continue,
So Lee got together with a group of men who spoke Hdi. These men
formed the Hdi Bible translation committee. Lee asked the men, “Could
a man ‘dvi’ his wife?” “Yes,” they said. “That would mean that he loved
his wife once, but not anymore.”
• “dvi” heart from page 9
Hold up the heart from page 10 with the word “dva” on it, or project it
on a large screen. Continue,
Next, Lee asked the men, “Could a man ‘dva’ his wife?” “Yes,” they
said. “That kind of love depends on the wife’s actions or what she did.
Her husband would love her with that type of love as long as she was
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 3
• “dva” heart from page 10
faithful and took care of him.” But neither of these words expressed the
kind of love that never ends, no matter what.
Hold up the heart from page 11 with the word “Dvu” on it or project it
on a large screen. Continue,
“Could a man ‘dvu’ his wife?” Lee asked. Everyone laughed. “Of
course not!” they said. “If a man loved his wife that way, he would have
to keep on loving her no matter what she did—even if she never got
him water or never fixed meals for him. Even if she went to live with
another man or family, her husband would have to just keep on loving
her. No, we would never say a man ‘dvu’d’ his wife. It just doesn’t
happen.” Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, which
says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only
Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life” (NLT). Then Lee asked the men, “Could God ‘dvu’
people?” There was complete silence for three or four minutes! Then
tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men.
Finally they responded.
Materials:
• “dvu” heart from page 11
“Do you know what this would mean?” they asked. “This would mean
that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia
(thousands of years), while all that time we rejected His great love. He
is compelled to love us, (that means He can’t help but love us) even
though we have sinned more than any people.”
Conclude the story by saying,
By changing one simple letter, the vowel at the end of the word, the
meaning changed from “God loves you because of what you do and
who you are,” to “God loves you because of who He is. God loves you
because of Him and not because of you.” Sometimes we think God
loves us only because of what we do or who we are. But God loves us
no matter what. He loves us unconditionally. God loves us just
because He is a loving God!
Just under two thousand people groups still wait to have the Bible in
their languages. They have never heard God’s words of love. We need
to pray that people will get involved in Bible translation so that all
languages can have God’s words of love. Will you pray?* When people
have God’s Word in their language, they will be able to fully
understand how much God loves them.
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 4
*If a student or family would like
to pray for a group of people
without a Bible in their language.
They can sign up to receive a
specific language name to pray
for at
www.wycliffe.org/Pray/BiblelessP
eoplesPrayerProject.aspx.
Craft Time:
These crafts can remind your students that God loves them no matter
what—unconditionally and forever. All He asks is for them to believe
that He came to take the punishment for the wrong things they do.
The crafts can also remind them to pray for the Hdi people to love
God and grow in their faith as they read the Scripture portions that
have been translated into their language so far. The crafts can also
remind them that there are still many people waiting to read about
God’s love in the language that speaks to their heart.
Option for older students: Pass out the squares of paper. Show them
your sample, and walk them through the steps. After they finish
folding the heart, the children can write on the outside: “God so dvu’d
the world!” (as shown in the origami samples on the first page of this
lesson.)
Option for younger children: Before younger children color a copy of
the heart on page 12, have them write their name on it and circle the
word that means “God’s unconditional love” in the Hdi language.
Closing:
For younger students: say,
We celebrate Valentine’s Day as a day of love, right?
Take a few responses, and then say,
That’s right. We give cards and candy, but God gave a much greater
gift. He gave His only Son! God sent Jesus to die in our place so that
we could become part of His family. We can’t do anything to make
ourselves become God’s child, because we’ve all done bad things.
Those bad things separate us from God. Only Jesus, who never did
bad things, can stand as the bridge of love to make a way for us to
reach a perfect, Holy God. God loves the whole world and wants
everyone to know it! People can best learn about His love in the
language that speaks to their hearts, just like the Hdi people learned
about His love through the word “dvu.”
Close in a simple prayer, or skip down to the .
For older students: ask,
In what country do people speak the Hdi language?
Take responses, and then say,
That’s right, Cameroon. And what did we learn about the Hdi language
and their words for love?
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 5
Materials:
• Squares of paper for origami
hearts
• Origami heart sample you
prepared
• Optional: pens for children to
write the Hdi words for love on
their origami heart or to circle a
word on page 12
• Picture to color from page 12
and red crayons, one for each
child
Answers will hopefully include that they have three words for love.
Then ask,
Who can tell me which of the three words for love in Hdi means God
loves us, no matter what, and just because He’s God? (dvu) The Hdi
language has a special word that describes God’s love. In the
language we speak, English, we don’t have a special word for
unconditional love like the Hdi do. We have to use the word
“unconditional” to describe it, but we can know how much God loves
us because He tells us this in the Bible.
Have someone read Romans 5:8. Then say,
For those who believe in Jesus, God’s love is always there. It’s always
the same. And it won’t go away, no matter what. Aren’t you glad that
you have God’s Word, the Bible, to read so you can know about God’s
unconditional love?
Close in a prayer something like this,
Thank you, Heavenly Father, that we have the Bible. Thank you that
the Hdi people now know how much you love them in their language
because of the little word “dvu.” Help the Hdi people to grow in their
faith as they read their Bibles. And I pray that each of these students
will experience Your unconditional love in their lives as they learn
about You. Help them to become men and women who love and serve
You, starting right now.
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 6
Materials:
• Bible marked at Romans 5:8
Script for Optional Reader’s Theater Type Skit
Call up four students to read the parts (Lee, translation committee member #1,
translation committee member #2, and translation committee member #4.)
Then begin reading the narrator part:
Narrator, holding up the “dvi” heart: So, Lee got together with the translation
committee and asked...
Lee: Could a man “dvi” his wife?
Translation committee member #1: Yes, that would mean that the husband
loved his wife once, but not anymore.
Narrator, holding up the “dva” heart: Next, Lee asked the men…
Lee: Could a man “dva” his wife?
Translation committee member #2: Yes, that kind of love depends on the wife’s
actions. Her husband would love her as long as she was faithful and took care of
him.
Narrator: But neither of these words expressed God’s kind of love that never
ends, no matter what.
Narrator, holding up the “dvu: heart: Lee was silent a moment and then asked…
Lee: Could a man “dvu” his wife?
Everyone but Lee: Laugh.
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 7
Translation committee member #3: Of course not! If a husband loved like that,
he would have to keep on loving his wife no matter what she did, even if she
never got him water and never made him meals. Even if she went to live with
another man or family, her husband would have to just keep on loving her. No,
we would never say a man “dvu’d” his wife. It just doesn’t happen.
Narrator: Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, which says, “For
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (NLT). Then
Lee asked the men,
Lee: Could God “dvu” people?
Narrator: There was complete silence for three or four minutes. Then tears started
to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally, they
responded very excitedly.
Translation committee member #1: Do you know what this would mean?
Translation committee member #2: This would mean that God kept on loving us
over and over, for thousands of years, while all that time we rejected His great
love.
Translation committee member #3: He really must love us, even though we have
sinned more than any people.
The End
Invite applause for the actors, and let them return to their seats.
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 8
dvi
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 9
dva
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 10
dvu
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 11
Directions: Circle the word that helped the Hdi people know
that God loves them, no matter what, and forever. Then,
color the heart. Be sure to put your name on the paper.
dvi
dva
dvu
Write you name on the line.
Three Ways to Love, Fall 2013, page 12