Saturday, Take 2 and 3

New Virginia had their first year of VBS just by themselves. There was also a community VBS with the other churches it’s yoked with (I believe there are five total. Go, Pastor Amy, go!) We were pleased with NV’s turnout of a dozen, including some youth helpers. Never underestimate the power of a good teenage helper! 

We had a five year old here who quickly fell in love with Flame. (Once he learned his name, that is. At first it was “John? John? Jooooohn?”and he understandably got no reply. I also mentioned that Flame doesn’t usually talk to us until we raise our hands [which, granted, does create some difficulties for a puppet who can’t see.]) He raised his hand and called out almost all through closing- through the talking, through the singing, through reminders to put his hand down for right now. Finally, his persistence paid off, and he got to ask Flame his burning question (pun intended, of course.) “Flame? When can I go to China with you?” Um. Flame had mentioned earlier in the script that he had gone super-speedy to China, and that’s where we said he was whenever any of the kiddoes asked where he was. My young puppeteer was absolutely amazing. Without missing a beat, he says, “Well, I don’t know. I’ll have to check my schedule. Maybe… next year?” “Ok,” the boy nodded, entirely satisfied. I guess that’s all he wanted to know. 

Flame travels light.

The next Saturday was Hebron United Methodist. Hebron takes being in the country to a whole new level. I was familiar with the area, but their sign I was used to seeing off the highway had blown over, so I was glad I had the address. Four miles of gravel and a whole lot of cornfields later, I finally found the church. It looks like several people manage to find it on a regular basis, though- the pastor said there were ten kids at children’s time the last Sunday and 26 adults. It’s a small church’s dream to have this many families! We had nine kids and several adults come help with VBS. They were a good bunch. The volunteers were very willing to jump in and help. They were also willing to be flexible- the little kids were pretty well out of attention span when the second classtime rolled around, so they made some play-doh creations. A few of the big kids finished crafts early, and before pulling out our extra craft options, the craft leader pulled out a piece of paper and said, “Make a thing.” At first the kids just looked at her, but pretty soon they did- they hole punched and duct taped and glued ribbon and came up with some pretty good-looking works of art. It’s always fun to see what kids come up with when using their God-given creativity. As we talked about in the story of Samuel anointing David (the pipsqueak) as king, God loves to be creative and to lead us in directions we don’t expect!

Flame poses with Super Cookie Monster

Hebron has the coolest church doors!