Day two of VBS in Ciacova again started at 11:00. We had a good group show up right away and they played Duck, Duck Goose. They all didn't quite get the concept of the game, but it was fun to watch them anyway. As more kids showed up we got started but ushering them into the church. Alana lead the singing this morning because Tabita was working on altering a wedding dress for a girl from the church. Tabita wears many hats at the church, pray that her health will keep up with her.
After singing came the theme/memory verse, 1 John 3:18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth”. Again, Ruth had a great visual aid for memorizing the verse. Each phrase was written on a heart and four of us stood holding two hearts. The kids read through the verse. Then Ruth had one, then two, then three, then all the heart come down so that the would slowly recite the verse without the words in front of them. Next was a relay race to hang the hearts on a clothing line with a teen putting the words in order. This relay was done two times, it looked fun for the kids.
Sticking with the relay theme, it was game time next. The first relay was Dizzy Lizzie's with a pick up balloon after spinning. For those who do not know what a Dizzy Lizzy is, it is were you run down to a bat or stick, stand the bat up right put your far-head on the handle of the bat and spin around 10 times. When you do this correctly, you can not exactly run straight. The kids enjoyed it, but some of them did not go to the correct bat and things got a little confusing. They held onto the non-blown up balloon for the next relay. They were to start by blowing up their balloon, tying it off, running with the balloon between their knees to the end line then popping the balloon by sitting on it. A lot of popping and a lot of broken balloons, but again they enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, a couple of the kids keep getting other balloons and doing the procedure three or four times, they just had fun with it.
The kids then had an opportunity to say the memory verse for a ticket for prizes. We attempted to keep them in their groups from the rely races. They were to stick their prize tickets in their pockets for later.
The next rely was good and bad for three of us (Melissa, Ed and myself). There were two large buckets filled with water at the starting line. Melissa, Ed and myself were at the end line on the ground with an empty 2 liter bottle on our chest/stomach. The race was which team could fill up the bottle first by dipping a plastic drinking cup in the big bucket running down to the end and pouring it into the bottle. I am not sure about Melissa and Ed, but I got a good socking. At least the water was warm and not freezing cold. When the bottle was filled the three of us jumped up, OK if you know me I did not excitedly jump but anyway, we sprayed the water on the crowd of people (kids, moms & co-VBS workers). One of the moms picked up one of the buckets and throw the water at Ed and got him pretty good. He try to reciprocate, but the bucket handle slipped and he ended up hitting himself with the water (sorry Ed, I had to tell the story). Needless to say Ed was all wet and some others, including myself, were very wet.
As the kids were leaving, Ruth in her prize apron stood at the gate to give out prizes. The matchbox cars went the quickest, then the beany babies, then stickers. We have to now ration the matchbox cars, they are a big hit.
It was then time to break for lunch. Once again it was a feast, and the food was great. If I did not mention it before you will need to ask Ruth to see her pictures of the food, since she has documented each meal with pictures. After lunch we rested and got prepared for the next session. Getting prepared did take on a new meaning when Amy, Melissa & Michele did their renditions of Disney & pop culture songs. Marius even let them use the sound system. We hope the kids would still show up after hearing this...I'm just kidding ladies, but I did take a short video of it if you want to see & “hear” it.
The kids did come back and Tabita lead them in a few songs. Then Cheri did a wonderful monolog as 1 of the 10 Leapers that Jesus healed. She did it in the first person and after she was healed. It gave a nice spin on the story and engaged the kids. She told them what leapersy was and how they leapers had to live outside of the cities and the no one would talk or visit them. Some of these kids might be able to relate to this based on the status of their families in the town. Cheri reviewed the verse and tied it into the end of the story. I feel that the way it was done was affective.
We then went to craft time. The kids made a wrapped pen. We had long pieces of multi-colored yarn cut, the kids then taped the beginning of the yarn to the point end of the pen and wrapped it around the casing of the pen. It was then tied and glued on the other end, leaving a piece of yarn for beads. The beads were the color of the wordless book. Gold for the streets in Heaven and it's perfection, Black for our sins, Red for the blood Jesus spilled dying on the cross for our sins, White for Jesus cleansing our sins as white as snow & Green for the growth we will have in Him. The kids seem to have fun with it, even the mom's that were there got into making the pens. In fact I got to help one mother who wanted to make a second one for her sick boy who had been here yesterday and in the morning. It did give me a chance to review the colors and what then stood for. The only problem was my fingers being to big to tie the end of the yarn to hold the beads on, Cheri helped with this and made it look fancy. Let's hope this brings her back tomorrow or at least to the Ciacova church in the future.
The kids left after crafts, we cleaned up and got ready for dinner. After dinner we were originally going to have a service with the youth of Ciacova, but what we did was take all the teens, that have helped us with VBS (there were 7 of them), to the hot springs pool I mentioned the other day. We were there for several hours and I was told they really enjoyed their time there and with us. They do not get many chances to go to this pool because of distance, it is in Timisoara, and cost. I had a chance to talk with Doran, whom I stayed at his parents home on the last trip, and had a good conversation about what is going on in his life. I believe Michele, Amy and Melissa did the same with most of the teens. It was just a good time of fellowshiping and relaxation.
Well, that is about it for today. Tomorrow's schedule has changed a bit again (you know the main word on a missions trip is flexibility), so you will have to read what happened in tomorrow night's blog.
See you tomorrow,
Doug
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