VBS day 1

Ok recap... We’ve had a very busy last couple of days…

Sunday night we headed to church and enjoyed a very different church service than what we are used to. The worship was all accapella and the church though small was singing very mightily. We sang two songs in English for them which they seemed to enjoy and even joined us in Spanish on Open the Eye of my Heart Lord. What a cool moment. In devotions later that night we talked about how amazing it is that we live thousands of miles from these precious people but we still serve the same mighty God by singing the same music even if it’s in a different language. After worship several church members shared verses and exhortations with the congregation. Pastor Jose gave a message Isaiah 43. He asked Joseph to come up and translate for him. That was an awesome experience (probably very nerve racking too) for Joseph. We were very proud of him. After service we played plato plato gonzo with the kids for a while, then came home to do our devotions and debrief for the next day.

Monday

Yesterday with hit the ground running with a 6:30am breakfast. Right after breakfast we headed out to pray over the ground for the chapel. We then started in on our construction project. Pick axes in hand we started digging the trenches. We completed 190 feet out of the 370 feet of trenches that are 12in and 18in wide. To say it is hard work is an understatement. Yesterday’s heat index was 120. (That is the heat and the humidity combined) Ryan and Josh committed to the long haul on one of the 40 ft. trenches. Brian, Paul, Dylan, and Joseph were beasts with the pick axe. Morgan was the queen of the axe chopping up a massive stump that sits right in the middle of one of our trench lines. Cheyenne, Lauren, Kalina, Carly, Katie and Amber faithfully rotated in behind our pick axers and shoveled out the trenches. Megan, Hiliary, and Rachel, and Hannah worked hard at taking out one of the other tree stumps with shovels and pickaxes. We worked pretty steadily in the heat (making sure to hydrate) until 1:00pm. We took a ½ hr. break in the midst of it in order to cool down and regroup for assignments and string out the new trenches. We ate lunch showered. All of us smelled really nasty! We changed clothes for VBS and then loaded up the vans to go to church. When we arrived in Bella Vista, the pastor apologized because he had forgotten to announce we would be doing VBS this week. We seized the opportunity and then split into 2 groups and headed out to do our own invitations. This gave the kids a chance to see the village and the living conditions of the people they are ministering to. I think this helped to give them a softer heart for the people around them. We had 60 kids come to VBS, which we were actually thankful for the first day at least, was not the 300 we were warned about. We did worship with the kids and then a skit on Noah and the ark. After worship and skits, our kids divided the kids up into 2 groups, older and younger, and they did games and crafts. We talked about the obedience that God calls us to have even in the midst of uncertainty. To say the heat was taxing on a few of us would be accurate. Miss Frost had to come home in the midst of VBS because of a bad case of heat exhaustion (which was why there was no blog entry last night, sorry). In Mr. C’s words, “blogging isn’t really my ministry.” Today everyone seems to have pretty recovered from anything they may have been feeling. Dinner and devotions were earlier last night to give the kids a chance to cool off and rest after the long day.

Today…

While I type this, we’re sitting in the dining room just finishing up a delicious breakfast of johnny cakes (sort of like biscuits but not as thick) with jam, eggs, and hot dog links. The kids are laughing and joking excited for the day ahead. We’re ready to conquer day 2 of VBS and the trenches!! We'll try and catch you all up on our day at the end of the day. We're trying to post pictures as well, but our internet is pretty slow and has a hard time putting up large pictures. :)