Vacation Bible School

Something I hated as a child: VBS. Sorry to all of the ladies at church who worked so hard to make it fun for the children (including my own mother). I was that wierd child that never liked going to sunday school, awana, or vbs, probably because I was very shy. But here I am prepping to lead my own class of 4th graders for the next week, number of students, unkown (though I could safely venture a guess of 35+ in each room). We had our orientation today which basically consisted of 'here is a stack of the materials you will need. Cut this stuff, color this stuff and read this stuff.' We also learned 8 songs, some with actions. I'm completely and totally freaked out. I'm not a very good teacher and when put in front of a large group, the issue is only compounded! But 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'.... I'm clinging to that promise! I did get a chance to briefly meet some of my students, probably about 20 of them, the other day. They seemed pretty excited for next week. Also, I thought this was funny: I told them my name and where I was from and asked them to guess how old I am. The guesses started at 35 and went up. Hmm... perhaps because they thought I am so wise... Yeah, I'm sure that's it. Anywhoo... pray for me as we have a SUPER busy weekend followed by a full week of vbs followed by another SUPER busy weekend. We are busy, but it's good! Being busy means that God is giving us opportunities minister to others! But it's important to remember that being busy for God doesn't replace time with God! It's important to continue to be in the word and spending time just in fellowship with the Lord.



My stack of materials for next week.



We had a good week this last week. For 3 days we helped out with another vbs. Actually, the boys helped while us ladies sat outside. :) A lot of the mothers stick around outside instead of just dropping the kids off, so pastor Erick asked the two of us to just hang out with the mothers and get to know them so as to possibly have a chance to share the gospel with them. Well... Brittany and I quickly saw most of the mothers flee when we sat down. One of the other ladies told us that most of the women didn't want to hang out becuase they were embarrassed of their English. Too bad, we could have used some brushing up on our Tagalog! Well, regardless, there was one mom (grandma actually) who stayed behind and talked with us. We got to know her a little better as she actually tried to witness to us! Ate Marilyn... she is a Jehovah's Witness. She saw Britt's bible and it was all history from there. :) Actually, we discussed a little on the first day, and Ate Marilyn told us she would bring her bible the next time we came and we could talk more. It gave us a chance to get to know what JW's believe a little bit more and learn how to point out the differences in our bibles, verses that teach us that we cannot get to heaven by works, and verses to support the trinity. It was very interesting... a little like prepping for battle. So we armed ourselves with the armor of God including the belt of truth, and the sword of the spirit. It was exciting to be able to share a little more in depth with someone just exactly what we believe, and definately challenged me to study up on the word. We had some very good conversations and ended by agreeing to look into what each other believes and  meet again this next week (over some home-made peanut butter, YUM!) hopefully able to better answer some more questions. Hmm... I'd love to muse a little more about this but it's time for worship team practice. The team is leading this week at church. But I'll leave you with this:

We get the best sunsets here! :)

Well, best be going...

Until next time...