VBS

This week is Vacation Bible School. Some years I love it, some years I hate it. It depends on the church, the leaders, and the program. This year we have a wonderful church, wonderful leaders, and a wonderful program! I am so excited. VBS is one of the times you get a chance to make an impact in a child's life, and even if they don't gain a ton of spiritual insight from it (since VBS is often geared toward those who aren't saved, the children who are sometimes don't get much from it), you have a chance to give them a week so full of fun they will never forget it.

One year I went to VBS, and I remember it very well. There was a Cold Room, an Egyptian Room - complete with desert sand, Egyptian pyramid, and hieroglyphs!, Ocean Room, Camping Room, and maybe one other I can't remember. I don't remember if I learned much, but I do remember that it was the best VBS I've ever been to in my life, and I will never forget it. The songs were wonderful, the teachers were kind and enthusiastic, the rooms filled me with awe, and the games were fun.


This year I am a crew leader. I have a crew of 4 kids, so far. It may get bigger tonight. I have one boy and three girls. My job is to get to know my kids and draw them out, pray for them, find out who's saved. I get to lead them from activity to activity during the night, help them with the activities, and keep them together during assembly time. We are Crew 12, so we get to sit almost at the very front!! I am very excited about my group of 4th graders. Samuel is 8, almost nine, and I've known him for a few years. We used to go to a different church together, and now we both go to Belmont. I am going to teach him piano once the school year starts so this will be a really cool opportunity to get to know him better before piano starts. He's pretty quiet, but very sweet, and he gets involved with the activities really well. Rachel is 9, and she's a very active/physical girl. She is always moving around, touching, grabbing, and reaching for things, but she's very intelligent and sweet. Shannon is quiet, but she is very attentive, and knows a lot of the answers. She's also very sweet. Then there's Faith who is a bit more independent. I haven't noticed anything particular about her yet, except for the fact that she seems a bit more independent than the others. Which is in no way a bad thing. Tonight they'll be making tie-dye shirts, so it will be pretty fun.
Our theme this year is The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, from Veggie Tales. Last night we learned about how God is always with us. We talked about how friends can be dependable, but many times they forsake us, and how Moses was afraid, but God was with him, and for our science experiment we learned about the power of air, and how much more powerful God is. For our game we played a variation of musical chairs. Everyone had a partner, and one was the parrot, the other was the perch. All the parrots stood in a circle, and all the perches stood in a circle around the parrots. Each "circle" walked in a different direction - one clockwise, the other counterclockwise, and when the music stopped, each perch dropped to one knee while the parrot tried to find his perch. The last parrot to perch was out. It was really fun once we got the hang of it. I got to be Samuel's partner for this game.

So, I am really looking forward to tonight, and the rest of this week!!!

-Laura