Week two

Last week was Kirkman. We had about 16 kids, mostly grandkids of helpers. But of the 64 residents of Kirkman, very few are kids (the church folks told me this, and I did a bike/swingset check...nothing.) But it was a great step for the church to show the community they're still active, and we were glad to have kids willing to travel from nearby towns to come to Bible school. We definitely had fun. I was especially impressed with the kids on the day we learned "Neighbors are bold!" Our verse for the day was from Matthew 25, and during craft time, we paraphrased a bit from "I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink," to include "I was lonely, and you sent me a card." As we made cards for homebound members, the older kids especially really showed their best artwork and encouraging words. Many parents and neighbors came for the program Thursday evening, where they heard us sing and remember Bible stories and verses. They even joined in on the very catchy "Neighbor Welcome," a song that reviewed the theme of each day through actions like high-fiving your neighbor and jumping in the air (ok, so some of the grown-ups might have cheated on that part.) Also it's very reminiscent of the song that asks you to slide to the right and cha-cha real smooth, so it goes over very well. What a sight to see families and neighbors sharing in this all together.

I got to stay with a wonderful host family. Within a few minutes at their century farm house, I'd been shown the location of the ice cream, piano, organ, and a cupboard full of sheet music. It's like they knew me already. :-) VBS was in the evenings, so I had the day to relax, read (rediscovered the beauty of the book Gilead- check it out), and work out some details for this week's VBS in the park. More to come on that!

It's an Everywhere Fun Fair

Last summer, I gave VBS updates via the MUMMs facebook page. I'll still do that, but I realized that each week of vacation Bible school gives me way more stories than I can condense into two sentences. So I opted to return to the blog I kept for a few summers.

After Annual Conference, it was time for a crash course in this year's VBS- Everywhere Fun Fair. A few days later, with the classwork all photocopied, the crafts figured out, and the songs more or less already stuck in my head, Peg helped me pack up the van.

Elliott was the first stop of the summer. I had spoken here earlier this spring to talk about VBS and was very impressed with the closeness and friendliness of the community in the church. The two churches in town went together to make this a community Bible school. The other church has had VBS in the past, but the Methodist church had not for some time- and 7 used to be a good turnout. Thanks to some great publicity on their part, including borrowing an inflatable obstacle course (Thanks, Atlantic YMCA!), we had 27 kids on the first day. 33 came the second day, and while I stopped counting after that, a volunteer said we had 39 kids who had come for at least some of the week.

The pastor (who, I have to add, rescheduled his hip replacement surgery so he could be at VBS...there's dedication) told me how thrilled he was to have so many kids here. He said it had been his dream to reach out to kids and have them hear "Jesus" without it being used as a cuss word. Wow. I had never thought about it like that, but it's so true.

I also got to teach the big kids the last two days. The 5th grade and up was always Peg's favorite age range, and I can definitely see why. We talked about so many good questions! If I don't have to be good for Jesus to love me, can't I just do whatever I want? Peter and Cornelius saw visions from God- why doesn't that happen today?

So with that good discussion echoing in my head, we did our closing program for parents and friends, and packed up the van between raindrops. Thankful God sent such fantastic volunteers this week- a puppeteer who ad libbed right along with me, a PowerPoint guy who was a natural at running the technology, pastors who donned Biblical apparel to tell stories, and more smiling teachers and cooks than I could keep straight. Soon I'll be off for another week!