Our second day of VBS was full of smiles and lots of fun! We had twelve more new kids join us today, which was fantastic! Depending on the age of the new children, some groups had doubled in size. Tomorrow will be the last day of VBS, and as a whole we are all sad to see this camp come to an end. However, tomorrow will be a very busy and exciting day as we will have a closing ceremony, joined by parents, a bounce house and lots of food!
One of the most significant parts for us as a group was seeing the children come into camp today. Yesterday, some children were too afraid to leave their parents and took a lot more encouragement to get them to join in. Today, on the other hand, was different. Children came sprinting in the doors with smiles on their faces, couldn't wait to get their name tags, and to reunite with their group! We couldn't believe the switch that some kids were showing today. The energy levels were very high and the camp overall ran smoothly. In stations today: kids served one another and washed each other's feet, made picture frames, and went nuts over some parachute games. Everyone at camp has clicked with at least one volunteer and has at least one other friend from among the kids and the sense of community has really grown.
After VBS, a group of our volunteers split off to go hand out more flyers for the VBS and next week's soccer camp and a mother of two VBS campers was driving by and stopped the car to tell us that her kids had not been able to stop talking about the fun they had and that, as a family, they all intended to go attend Free United Methodist Church and even get baptized. It is truly amazing how enjoying activities and games and being silly with children can really open doors and break down walls to unite a whole town and we get to witness it here. Our attention and devotion for these kids is just a good way for so many of us to goof around and have a great time but it is such a statement of hope in this community that we would even consider spending time here at all. Please pray that this family will continue this revival into a deep relationship with Christ.
Tonight we had the incredible opportunity to spend time with the men from the Victorian Manor House, which is a halfway house, at the C1 ministry. One of the men, Andre, has made huge steps in his faith over the past seven months (he became involved in the C1 ministry in January) and has been preparing for weeks for tonight. He shared his testimony with a room full of the men he lives with everyday, and complete strangers (us). It was a very powerful story of his journey through a young adulthood in prison and a long struggle to overcome a criminal culture and lifestyle. He sang for us a song that he heard in prison about committing to the Lord and the whole room joined in on this new song with him. It was very clear that it took a long time for Andre to build the courage to share all that he did; that he was nervous about the mixed receptions of the crowd; and that it was a big step out onto a limb to share and sing a new song with a crowd of strangers. Our comfortable group of friends was very moved by his strength and encouraged by his perseverance along his journey in life. After his testimony, we spend time hanging out with the men. Frieda had a special conversation with a young man at C1 this evening that reached such an extraordinary level of comfort that he asked to pray with her and the two of them enjoyed multi-generational communion with the Lord in a crowded room of loud people. These are the moments that make all the difference in us as the visitors and we thank God for every one of them.
Tomorrow will be a big and exciting day with the closing of camp and a softball game with the Victorian Manor House men. Please continue to pray for the community here and for our team to continue to let God work through us. Pray also for the Victorian Manor guys, as they are such an eclectic group of guys living and struggling together in very close quarters. We can't wait to have some simple fun playing games with them as a group and giving them some real time. Some of us have looked forward to this particular softball game for a whole year. Thanks for reading and praying for us. See you tomorrow!
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