Vacation Bible School

Last week we had a total blast as a family at our churches Vacation Bible School (VBS). It ran each evening (Monday-Friday) from 6.00-8.30pm and was for kids aged 4, up to those who had just completed 6th Grade. 122 children registered on the first evening and there were more new faces each evening after that.

The theme was 'Sky' and the church was decorated with clouds, balloons and kites and a huge rainbow. Mark was able to help out by getting hold of an aircraft for the kids to enjoy and climb in, through one of the other guys in the MMS hangar. (Below you can see some of the guys helping Mark put the wings on it, the day before VBS started.) The local paper, the Coshocton Tribune, came during the week to take photographs and write an article for their front page and were really interested to see the link between our VBS and MMS!

The plane was in the middle of the gym and the kids loved it. Throughout every evening there were different stations for each age group to take part in, music, story, craft, science, snack. Three of these took place in the gym so they got to see the plane a lot!

Although Abigail is not quite 4 yet, she was in the youngest group and LOVED every minute of every activity. Mark was helping out with the 1st & 2nd Graders, the biggest age group with up to 45 kids depending on the evening! Jenny was 'Head' of registration and making it up as she went along, thankfully there was a good group of regular church members who had done registration for previous VBS's. She also helped create a wall of 'God Sightings' that all the kids were able to contribute to with Mary, one of the other volunteers. Naomi and Nana joined in the excitement for three evenings too!

From what we could see all the kids had a really good week ... our Pastor's wife, Missy Diaz (the VBS director) and all the volunteers, of which there were many, did an awesome job. Although we were all exhausted by the end of the week, every minute of each night was definitely worth it! Here are just a few photos, some that we took and some from our churches Facebook page, to give you a snapshot of the craziness that went on.

On the Sunday at the end of the week, we had a final service where all the kids were able to invite their parents to show them just what they had been up to during VBS. They were all on the stage together singing their songs and doing the actions, reciting the different Bible verses they had learnt from each evening and showing different photos from everything that had been doing amongst other things.

Every day of the week and on the Sunday, there was a boys vs girls, Penny War which was really popular with the kids. We, as a family, were very surprised and touched to be the missionaries that the final Penny Wars total went to. (Yes, someone had to count all those pennies!) We also had the opportunity to share a brief update of where we will be headed in early 2013.

It was so much fun for us to be a part of as a family in our final summer here in Coshocton, in the process we have made even more friends too.