VBS at New Life Church

Today we had our first VBS at New Life Church. Compared to last year I think that it went great! We had a meeting this morning with the youth of the church and were able to get them to be group leaders. It was great to give them that responsibility because the younger children look up to them as role models and have respect for them. 80% of the youth are new believers. They each were given a colored cross to lead each group. It was awesome to have their help getting the children divided and kept under control. This was a big relief for our team. as we were able to really focus on each task assigned to us.

We were given some shocking news about the number of children to expect. We heard that the last team had 500 children. This worried us a little because we had planned for 300 children with the crafts. It was truly amazing to see just how well word of mouth works. This morning several youth from the church went to the local village and told the children to come. Before I knew it, the driveway in front of the church was full of children! I think our final count was 220. God knew how much we had prepared for and he knew how many we would have. Praise God!! 

I worked with Stacey at the coloring station. Our station was right after the bible story. I thought this was great because the children knew about the picture they were to color. The chant we are teaching them this week was caught on pretty quickly. Today's chant was "God is King. God takes care of you and me." 


Deanna, Lindsey, and Marty were in the puppet station. The kids were very attentive to the puppets and to Marty as they did the EvangaCube. During one of the rotations, a youth from New Life Church shared his testimony. Marty said that the kids had their eyes glued on him as he spoke. I believe that this was the first time that the youth were given such a big role with the young children. 


Teresa and Ada Faye worked with the children making a sheep craft. Kyle and Aubrie were leading the children in songs and dance. Josh and Archie were playing games with the children in a big field beside the church. Candace and Alicia were sharing the bible story with the children. I think everyone had a great time in their stations. 

After VBS was over we fed the children lunch before they went home. While the food was still being prepared, we tried to get the kids to help pick up the trash that was around the church. Candace shared that she had talked to some kids, telling them that they did a good job and that God saw what they were doing.  Hearing this made the children even more eager to pick up trash. This showed that they got the message today that was taught. HUGE PRAISE!! Planning the food didn't work out like planning our crafts. Unfortunately not all the children were fed something to eat before they left. 


Our team divided after lunch. Josh, Archie and Marty went with some men for New Life church to go and purchase the supplies and tools needed to build the chairs and tables for the kindergarten. The store that they went to was more helpful than we ever would have thought. They cut all the tabletops, chair seats and chair backs for a very reasonable price. . The store even put and edging around the tabletop. The ladies on the team stayed and prepared the crafts for tomorrow. We are going to go out to Rat, a Gypsy village nearby in the morning to do VBS.

HUGE PRAISE!!! Alicia has found a place to live. All the details will be finalized later this week.

Thanks you all for the prayers for Candace. Her knee did not bother her at all today. Thank you also for the prayers for me, I felt much better today.

Prayer Requests:

Ada Faye - she did fall in the shower but seems to be ok, Please pray that she won't begin to fell pain.