Time is Flying!

I can't believe we only have two days of VBS left!  We are having so much fun and as usual we hate to see it end but at the same time are looking forward to the end as it has been an exhausting week!

 

The first day of VBS started out full excitement as someone flushed a whole roll of paper hand towels down the toilet.   Pastor Chep spent several hours unclogging the toilet trying to figure out how a whole roll of towels can fit down the toilet and why in the world anyone would do this.  I had to laugh as five years ago in Idaho we had the exact same thing happen

during the first day of VBS there too!

 

 

The first day we had 47 kids and this morning we had over 50! 

So exciting to see so many kids so eager to come and hear about Jesus!

 

 

The Cookie Ladies are doing an awesome job keeping everyone

happy and with cookies and juice!

 

 

Of course all the races are a favorite as the boys try to out run the girls!  Every year we have ever had VBS, the girls way outnumber the boys,

 but this year almost two thirds of our kids are boys! 

 

Mr. Mason is a favorite always have a a group of kids hanging on him and following him where ever he goes!

 

We have had a great time learning about the Freiderichsen family in our missionary story.  There have been a lot of laughs and even a few tears as we have watched the Freiderichsen's learn to trust and serve God.



 

 

The witch doctor and the soldiers were a favorite with the kids!

 

All the kids are saying lots of verses as they try to earn Bible Bucks to buy the "Biggest Ice Cream Sundae!".

 

 

Mr. Nate has shown us some awesome balloon illustrations

 that show the plan of salvation.

  

And the kids are loving Mr. Nate's tricks! 

How does he get the rope to stay in the bottle???

 

We have had 26 teens each night of VBS so far!  It had been an exciting group of teens and they have loved the games and food and the preaching!

 

 



So far we have had four teens that have asked Jesus

into their hearts and lives and several teens and a couple of the kids have already asked to be picked up on the bus for church this Sunday! 

It really has been an exciting week so far and we are looking forward to seeing what God does in the hearts and lives of these children in the next couple of days and also in the future!

 

 

 

 

VBS Finale

I can not believe that the week is over already!  What an amazing week we had, and as always at the end of VBS, I am sad to see it end!  We had over 36 kids today and a total of 50 kids and 17 teens registered all week.  We had 11 kids and 1 teen saved!  Thank you Jesus!

Today was crazy turpin day and there were some crazy ones! 

My favorite was Thomas who used a Walmart bag for his turpin.

The last day of our missionary story was so exciting as we saw Daniel beaten for believing in Christ but through it all he stayed strong and never denied Christ or his faith.

Doc Vic operated on a Muslim priest who had appendicitis and was able to save him.  Later he was able to show him in the Bible

 how to be healed and saved spiritually too!

Mr. Nate finished the Bible story about Paul and the kids learned that we need not fear because God has promised to always be with us.

Instead of cookies and kool-aid and game time today, the kids were able to go to the trading post to spend all their hard earned Bible bucks. 

There were six tables stuffed full of stuff, each table a diffent price. 

I wish I would have gotten pictures of the kids running around and buying all their stuff but it was total mayhem!  The kids had a time limit and had to try and spend all their bucks before time ran out.  When time was called, all the kids paid Mr. Nate the rest of their Bible Bucks for a chance to participate in the treasure scavenger hunt.  Mr. Nate threw more stuff on the lawn and let the kids run and stuff what they could in their sacks.  All the kids had sacks that were overflowing!

Before the kids left we posed for a group picture of the all the kids and helpers.  After such a long, busy week I am always glad to be done with VBS week but I truly love each of these kids and wish I could see them everyday and teach them about Jesus! 

After we took all the kids home we fed the missionaries
 and cleaned the church in preparation for the Awards Ceremony.  It was wonderful to see all the parents come and support their kids in VBS.  I made sure that I walked around the sanctuary and talked to each parent individually and let them know how much we had enjoyed having their child at VBS.  My husband gave a wonderful salvation message based on Colossians 2:8 and pleaded with the adults to see their need to repent and be saved from their sins.

The kids said each daily memory verse and sang the scripture song
 that went with it.  The kids then recieved awards for coming to VBS and also for saying verses.  The kids that memorized the most in each class got a Bible and the child that said the most verses in K-3rd grade and 4th - 6th grade also got a trophy.  Also a prize was given to whoever brought the most visitors.

A medal was also given to the teen who helped most in VBS, both with the kids and the teens.  This year Justine won the award for being an amazing teen and helping wherever and whenever she could.



For the next month we will be busy visiting every parent that sent their child to VBS, witnessing to them, inviting them to church and giving the awards to the children who were not there tonight.

I wish I could say that tomorrow I was going to sleep in,

 not cook and just take the day easy and not do much of anything but our missionaries from the Philippines will be here for the next several days and we will be seeing to their needs.  Brother AJ will be preaching for us Sunday morning and I so excited to hear him!  

 

VBS - Day Four

To go with our missionary story, today was doctor/patient day and all the kids came dressed up as a badly injured patient or a doctor. 

The kids are so creative!

We had such fun with the missionary skit today as we learned how Doc Vic and Joan moved to Bangledesh and started their ministry there.  Doc Vic healed people physically and also witnessed to them and led them to Jesus Christ and thus helped them be healed spitirually too.

Mason is a huge help with everything and does whatever

needs to be done to help things run smoothly.  Whether it's listening to verses, doing the skit, chasing kids, finding lost items,

leading a child to Christ or even just being the garbage man,

Mason does it all!

Today was the rubber chicken race, and everyone sat so quietly on the sidelines watching and rooting the runners on.

We play games on the big lawn in front of the church.  Being that we live in Wyoming we find that there are cactus all through the lawn.  We are constantly going through the lawn and trying to uproot them but they keep coming back!  We thought we had searched the lawn well and removed all of them but it seems that we have had the kids find some.

Tonight was the end of the Teens VBS and a very special night because the teens get a huge waterfight and barbeque.  It had been so hot all day everyone was so looking forward to getting wet and cooling off but as soon as the kids got settled into the santuary for the Bible lesson, the skies clouded over and the rain came pouring down!

The lesson tonight was on obeying, respecting and listening to your parents wisdom.  Mr. Nathan pointed out that in Genesis 21:17-1, that God heard the voice of the lad Ishmael but spoke to his mother Hagar.  A very good seromn!  We had one teen saved tonight and many more pray and ask God to help them respect and obey their parents as they should.  We also had one teen get saved tonight!

The weather outside finally cleared and the teens were able to

go out and have some wet fun!

First with a few water ballon games and then a full out water fight! 

I tried to get pictures of the water fight but the kids were to fast for me and I seemed like an easy target standing in the middle of the chaos,

 so I took some after shots!

Essence didn"t want to get wet and didn't appreciate

 the hug from her brother!

While the kids were playing Valorie got cooking! 

A couple of times I looked over and the flames were shooting so high I was afraid she was going to burn off her eyebrows!  Valorie did great and the burgers and hot dogs were so yummy!

We had the West Coast Baptist singers driving through

 and needed a place to stay for the night, so they were able to help with the teens and also join in the fun.  After the water fight we asked them to sing us a couple of songs.  They were amazing and I wish they could have sang longer for us!

We also had our missionary to the Phillipines, AJ Gonzales and his friend Richard arrive in town tonight.  They will be preaching Sunday but they wanted to come and help with the last day of VBS. 

We have so many people visiting with us this week that it was

quite a task to find places for everyone to stay!  Finally after getting everyone to their night's lodging I too am ready to hit my pillow.  Tomorrow is our last morning of VBS and then tomorrow night is our program!    So excited to see what God has planned for tomorrow!

 

VBS Day Three - Happy 4th of July!

We were so excited to have 28 kids at VBS this morning and 6 of them were new visitors!  We had many, many kids who are out doing 4th of July activities but made sure Pastor Chep knows to pick them up on Thursday!  Today was crazy cast day and the kids were so creative and made casts out of duct take, paper and whatever else they could find.

Our kindergarten teacher is so awesome and is always on the ground and eye level with our little ones.

The boys did so good today and kept our point giver busy and running up front to mark more and more points down!

In our missionary story today, we learned how Doc Vic practiced his medicine on dogs and learned and gained valuable knowledge.  Some of those things he learned he used in treating patients.

We also learned how Doc Vic studied and studied and studied

 to prove the Bible and God wron but the more he studied the more he saw the truth.  He and Joan got saved and soon dedicated their lives to be overseas medical missionaries.

 

 

Our main bus driver was off work today and was able to drive the bus and help with VBS today.  The kids love him and during game time the kids wanted to play with him rather than play the games!

 

The main theme today was "Be doers of the Word and not hearers only".  The Bible story was on Saul and his conversion and how after Saul (Paul) believed in Jesus that he heard what God wanted him to do and he then did it by going on a missionary journey.  The missionary skit always coincides with the Bible story and truth the kids are learning. 

This afternoon several of our people wanted a 4th of July Potluck.

Everything was so good and we ate and laughed and laughed. 

After we ate, several adults and a couple of the kids gathered for a game of Pillo Polo.  What a fun time we had!

She-Bear could not be left out and helped goalie.  It was hilarious to watch her as she helped everyone run and chase the ball whenever it came too close to the goal! 

We only had four teens at teen night tonight but we praise God for those four!  Since all the kids that came were on the orange team,

Pastor, Chandler and Mason played for the green team. 

 It was so funny watching Pastor run the offering race! 

 And yes, the orange team won that one!

We usually have Frito pie on Wednesday Night but the couple that bought the chips thought we asked for Doritos so we had Dorito pies. (Frito's, Dorito's, Frito's.....they ryhme)  Actually the Dorito's were very good and we may never have Frito pie again!

It was a wonderful day to celebrate our country's freedom and I am so glad we were able to celebrate it in church where Jesus made the ulimate sacrifice so we could be truly free!