Days 5 and 6

The final day of VBS has come and gone L. The last day was a big day! We had a closing ceremony that the parents were invited to come see and afterwards we had a cookout for both the children and families to enjoy. The last day was bittersweet because we all have grown so close the past week with these kids and spending time with them has been so joyful. Families that were excited to leave their kids with us the first day so that they could get a rest from their craziness were, by the third day, truly invested and interested in what goes on through the ministries in Gloversville.

There can be no doubt that you can learn a lot about a place by what comes out of the mouths of children. We were grateful for their unhindered participation one moment and shocked by their outlooks on others the next. But they put everything else aside to enjoy a good time with each other. Sean particularly enjoyed interacting with one child at VBS and saw him walking up to the church yesterday with his mom and wanted to say hey. However, Sean accidentally mixed up his name and called him Sam when his name was really Max (one of those moments when you mess up the answer because of the pressure). Naturally, he played it off and called him by his correct name later but when his mom came to join for the cookout later she said, “Hey look, Sam, it’s your friend” when Sean walked by. Sean was upset at the thought that he blanked on the name of one of his special friends but he stopped to apologize for the mixup and within moments was playing around with Max climbing all over him and goofing around. When Max’s mom said it was time for them to leave for the afternoon and say goodbye, Max said, “but mom, I finally have a friend now.” All of our hearts were broken when Sean shared this story with us because of the way it reflects on the condition of relationships that we don’t get to see. Truth is, we are very glad that we could bring something so fun that it will be missed when we leave– it’s sad to miss someone but a blessing to have someone to miss– but these kids need much more than one week of love to give them an adequate idea of how much hope there is in them and just how special they truly are.

Having the families join in the cookout was an incredible thing. You could see the curiosity and interest that the parents had when watching their children sing and dance to the songs we sang all week during the closing, and when we were out using the bounce house during the cookout. It was very different from what summer camps are like at Matthews. For instance, in Matthews, you will see huge churches on almost every street corner and you will see posters and newsletters about camps churches are having for children. In Gloversville, this doesn’t happen as often and because of this parents were extremely interested in the VBS camp. I pray that the interest that the parents were showing only continues to grow and that more opportunities like this will become a regular occurrence like they are in Matthews and other places.

After we had our goodbyes with our precious new little friends, and their parents, and headed to a park with the men from Victorian Manor House for a fun game of softball! We split up into wonderfully eclectic teams with wide ranges of skill levels on the field and had a great time. The Vic Manor guys really were a united group on the field and they opened up to us all, getting to know many of us by name. We shared encouragement for every good play, laughed off every blooper, and tended to every injury (only minor injuries, thankfully). It is really wonderful to bond over physical activity and escape into the tasks of a sport, simultaneously creating bonds with those around you on the field. Softball, however, is a terrible sport for capturing facial expressions and epic moments on camera, so enjoy these pictures as we felt like decent players but looked like complete goofs.

In the space above C1 Ministries there are huge, beautiful rooms with great space for large gatherings of people, gorgeous tall ceilings, natural light, and views of the town and surrounding hills. It has been left unkempt for quite some time and would be quite an investment but it begs to be restored. It is a place that we can see hosting hundreds of people for games, fellowship, and all kinds of programs. All of Gloversville has an inherent beauty that begs to be restored. Victorian homes that take your breath away fill the community but often have boarded up windows or darkened rooms used for dark activities. In the same town children play openly in the streets and flock curiously to the church. Good and evil meet bluntly in this place and it is clear that the beauty we see in a place like this isn’t as apparent to the people who live in it every day. Landlords don’t restore their beautiful homes and to their inhabitants, they are just a place to be. But when people open up to be together in community just as themselves, empty rooms fill up, people laugh together, cry together, play together, argue together, and anything done together makes for more growth and progress than solitude and isolation.

Today we traveled to Cyndie’s mom and dad’s lake house with a group of people from One Generation. One generation is a group of wonderful, energetic, and loving youth. We got to the lake, played all sorts of games, laughed, and enjoyed the company of one another. Today was an extra special day for two, Serena and Joe, as they were baptized! As we surrounded the waters before the baptisms we sang songs praising our Heavenly Father. Serena and Joe both shared their testimonies with the entire crowd, and then were taken into the waters. In moments like these, its hard not to feel united. The Holy Spirit is so present in these moments when people publicly declare the Lord as their Savior and are welcomed into the family of Christ. We are all brothers and sisters of Christ, and in these moments it is impossible not to feel overwhelmed with joy when you are witnessing an immersion baptism of brother and a sister in Christ. It truly was an honor to be apart of the baptisms today, and to be reminded of how great our God really is.

We finished the day with hard goodbyes to our new friends as tomorrow we will be heading back to Matthews. This week truly has been a wonderful experience and we are so blessed to have been apart of it. I hope you have been able to take something new away from these daily posts, and I thank you for keeping up with us as we have gone through the week. I can only pray that the relationships that have formed over the past week continue to grow, and that God will continue to transform lives through the people here in Gloversville. The support that you have given us in preparation for this trip as well as during the trip has been incredible, and we can’t thank you enough for what you have done. We hope that, once back home, we won’t forget the things we have experienced and learned here, but that we will be able to use them in day to day life. Please continue to pray for C1, the community of Gloversville, and Donn and Cyndie. The Lord is a great God, and He is moving here. We are already counting down until next summer’s trip, and to reunite with our brothers and sisters in Christ.