VBS 2019

game time

Moses, humble liberator, VBS 2019 has ended.  Vacation Bible School in Huejotzingo is always an intense time of hard work and constant activity.  The work begins a few months before the actual VBS dates, with choosing the theme and then deciding who the principal characters will be who tell the daily stories.  We add the verses, crafts, worksheets, and theme snacks, and Abraham writes the monologues for each day.  Once the rough draft of the week is ready, we go back over the plans to see what needs to be changed.

at work on Moses mini-book

The VBS week approaches, and we go on shopping sprees to buy the supplies - food, scissors, colored pencils, end-of-the-week gifts, and more.  The house where we will be is cleaned and many items moved to storage to leave space for the expected group of children.  We find volunteers to play the roles of Jocabed, Zipporah, Aaron, Miriam, and Moses.  Dios es Amor church loans us costumes and game supplies.  Monday is a flurry of final preparations as we print out Tuesday´s worksheets, make name tags and attach their strings, decide on last-minute changes to the snack, and write out the verses and song lyrics on posters. 

the littles make their book

When Abraham and I returned home from shopping and general preparation in Huejotzingo, we found out that Abish had been suffering from an intense headache all afternoon.  Although he had been drippy with a cold, he had not actually felt bad until then.  He slept on and off in the early evening, between doses of his homeopathic medicine, but by bedtime, his headache had not diminished and he had a fever.  We looked for paracetamol in our house to help him, because he could not sleep for the pain, but we could not find any.  Abraham stayed with Abish, cooling the fever with wet towels, and in the very early morning, Abish finally slept well, fever gone.

Not long after that, Lani left her bed and climbed into bed with me.  At about 8, Abish bounced

proud of her work

into my room, waking Lani and I to cheerfully proclaim, "I feel fine!  I can do VBS!"
However, over breakfast Lani began to wilt, complaining of a headache and refusing to eat.  She gets headaches when she´s hungry, tired, or dehydrated, so her discomfort disappeared after we obliged her to finish breakfast.

Jocabed telling about leaving baby Moses in the Nile

Aaron

Typical of most first VBS days, we were running late.  We arrived hurriedly at the house where we used to live in Huejotzingo, and everyone got out to hang the shade tarp on the patio, put up string to hold the song posters, print out the registration papers, and set out the snack.  I left the bustle of activity to drive ten minutes away to pick up two kids and their great-grandmother who would be helping with food prep and clean-up.  Once I dropped them off, I drove the opposite direction to get six other kids.  Chauffeuring is normally my dad´s job, but he was unable to visit this year due to medical issues.

On that first day, 20 children learned songs and verses and ate a snack and did crafts to reenforce the story told by Jocabed about how God takes care of his children.  Day 2 saw a slight increase in attendance, as the children participated in activities related to Zipporah´s story of how God hears.  Aaron arrived day 3 to tell 34 children about how God acts on behalf of his people.

morning review

When we returned home late afternoon on Thursday, day 3, we found out someone had tried to break into our property.  They had cut the chainlink off the front gate, pulling it back half-way.  We do not know if they didn´t enter because our dogs scared them away, or what else might have prevented further entrance.  However, for the next two days, my brother-in-law, who had been the VBS photographer, stayed at home to discourage would-be thieves.

Miriam

Moses

On Friday, Miriam was played by a young lady from church.  She told how God saves, recounting the story of the Red Sea.  Finally, Moses came on day 5, waiting to tell his story until the end of the day, when the parents came for the finale.  We had decided to rearrange the day´s activities so that the parents could see how their children had been learning throughout the week.  Seven parents attended the finale, including two new ones whose sons had joined mid-week.

the littles with their teachers and diplomas

the biggers with teachers and diplomas

Five days of Moses.  Fewer than forty kids.  Some volunteers working daily, and some just once.  Some kids staying the whole week, while others attend one day.  Is it worth it?  We pray that the time spent with the kids will change their lives and touch the lives of their families.  At least eight of the children who were with us most of the week have mothers who work as prostitutes.  Those same children, and other children in the group, come from families where drug and alcohol abuse ruin lives.

Would you pray with us that the stories and activities would help the children and their families learn of God´s longing for a relationship with them and that patterns of destruction would be broken?  Would you pray that the children will continue to attend on Sunday afternoons so that they can learn more?

they won the week´s posters by memorizing all 5 verses