Two's day with Vee Be Es Muy Caliente!

We had fun yesterday. Like Monday, we got up fairly early, finished the things that we needed to get done, met for prayer, and then went to meet at the church where VBS is held. There were actually a couple more kids who showed up in addition to the ones we had Monday, though a couple also didn't come the second day. We had the morning time (when everyone was getting ready) playing quack-quack-honky tonk (that's Duck-duck-goose y'all) and then went up to the main chapel room to get the day started.

Bruce is really good with children and I enjoy watching him dig in his backpack, coming up with some new thing. Monday, he had a rock that he tapped with a hammer to show its hardness (and we spoke of the hardness of Saul's heart). Today he had a sponge, which he tried to tap but which of course sunk in because it was soft. Everyone laughed at that. The lesson was about how God had softened Saul's heart.

I went down with the "Boulders" (Betty and Laura's team) to the memory verse station, which was led by Anna. We said the verse (Ezekiel 36:27) over several times with each time through a few more words were erased. At the end we said it in a "funny voice" sounding like horses. Then we stomped upstairs for the Bible story time which was led by Katie. She is really in her element when working with children and I think that the kids enjoyed the story. Then we headed downstairs for some crafts.

It's interesting watching how some of the children are perfectionists, having to trace the lines carefully (and start over if they make a mistake) while others were snip-snipping done in a wink and bouncing off the walls again. With some, they grab the nearest materials, with others, each ribbon or pin has to be carefully selected. The colours have to be perfect, and the paper has to be lined up just so.

Once we finally got everyone outside for the game, they lined up in two teams and they were going to have a duel with sponges. Five paces, turn, and fire! I don't know what happened but with the coordination of it all, we ended up with two of the three groups outside at the same time, Sam left and Katie and I were trying to run it. It was a great idea but they wanted to have some sort of a contest where each of the winners would go on and battle again. But try doing that with about 20 kids, matching four at a time, and you have no idea who won (because they more often miss than not) and doing the re-matches and then making sure everyone has a turn and also making sure they stood still instead of dodging the sponges (which would have made it nearly impossible for anyone to hit). We just lacked the coordination. It ended up with me kind of taking over, handing out the sponges, and calling everyone to the center. "All right GentleMEN! (and gentleladies), On my mark! One, Two, Three, Four, Turn and FIRE!"

At the end apparently one little boy had not had a chance so there was a private duel with Mr Roc (JD) and then David and myself had one. He nailed me good, which spoiled my chance to claim he threw like a girl. But I told him so anyway ;) We all marched inside for a snack, which was granola bars. It had rained the previous day and with the granola bars, the tables, chairs, and floor was soon covered with crumbs and bits of grass and dirt. I grabbed a broom and started sweeping up while the kids went upstairs. It was a small broom so it took a while, but with Mrs N and F.B. helping it was soon finished and I hurried up to hear the ending of the day.

Later that afternoon we met briefly at the church office, then we went out for about an hour to do some door-to-door work. We had several people tell us they weren't interested, a couple who answered our questions, and one that MIGHT read the information we gave them. I believe most take the pamphlet just so they don't appear rude. But I don't know what will happen and as we walked along (Stephen, Katie, and myself) we prayed that the "seeds" wouldn't be sown in vain but that God would use them to bring salvation to these people. The responses are discouraging sometimes, especially when there doesn't appear to be any interest, but the command is still there and may we be found faithful and labouring and doing the will of our Father.

Today is my turn to give the story and I'm talking about Saul being lowered in a basket and about how the church was being built up (a great opportunity to bring in the living stones). I had some ideas as to how to get the kids involved and we'll see how they go. I tried drawing some things on posters last night, which look okay but certainly are not the best quality. I'm not very much of an artist in anything really. Well, let's hope the day goes well and that Christ may be glorified!