Sunday morning we had to pack everything back into the van so
that the rooms were available for Sunday School classes… which meant for an
early morning after little sleep.
Thankfully before the trip I went shopping for breakfast food for the
first two mornings so it was easy to get everyone fed and ready for the day.
Terrace Lake Community Church...
Since the trip came about the last minute it was a shock to half
the congregation to be welcomed by a large group of youth. It was exciting to be able to share with them
the story on how God brought us to Ronan and they were thrilled to have the
help putting on the vacation Bible School for the kids in the area.
During Sunday school we had the opportunity to meet Levi, the
local sheriff and youth leader. He
shared with us that the church was going through a time of discouragement and
wanted to cancel the VBS program this year.
He felt God was calling them to continue to do it and expect big things
to happen so he was praying for 100 children to show up. When he first started praying he didn’t
imagine that God would send him a group of 35 to help things run smoothly. What an answer they were to our prayers of a
location and ministry… and to their prayers of support and encouragement. It is crazy how God works if we are willing
to trust Him for great things. Pastor
Aaron was even able to preach that morning and encourage them to love their
neighbors in practical ways.
Hearing Levi's testimony...
After the service we had to race to the store to buy food for
lunches since we were on our own for some of our meals. The afternoon was
turned into a time of rest where they could lay around and relax, take much
needed showers, and nap time.
Thankfully, one of the families from church provided us with hamburgers
for dinner.
After dinner we were into full swing of preparing for VBS. We had a church to decorate, plans to make,
promotion to do and so much more in just 24 hours. Cami took on the planning alongside Brandy
from Ronan. Brandy came to church stressed
over everything that still needed to be completed and went home excited about
what God was going to do.
In the midst of preparing we took a break to enjoy the beauty of
God’s creation. Sunset was absolutely
amazing every night. The location of the
church was gorgeous and we were in awe of beauty during our quiet times each
day.
The beauty of a sunset...
The next day we were up bright and early preparing for the day
and dividing up into groups. Each of the
groups was in charge of their own section.
Some of the guys were able to serve the locals by cutting down trees, others
decorated the church, others prepared music and songs for the program, others
worked on their portion of ministry for the day, some had the opportunity to go
out and invite kids to some, some had an amazing experience doing prayer walks,
and others had the opportunity to clean up the church behind the scenes.
Cami and Brandy planning ministry together..!
Tree cutting crew...
Bible Story Team
Kidvid Team
Promoting the VBS...
Decorated and all ready to go...
As far as the VBS went we worked alongside the church in every
aspect of the ministry. Brandy oversaw
the opening and closing times. The
evening was then divided into four different stations (Kidvid, Crafts, Games,
Bible Story). We were intermixed with the locals in the dividing of groups of
students and leaders as well as in both the craft and games portion. Unfortunately, the lady in charge of one of
the kidvid ended up getting sick so a group of our students took on the
session. We were also blessed to be able
to lead the Bible Story time each day.
The church ladies took on the role of preparing the mid-evening snack
each day. I loved how everyone worked
together to do their part… watching the body of Christ united even though we
had just met.
Our first night of VBS was exhilarating. We had over 60 children show up… which is
more than they had the whole week last year.
It was exciting to see the bus pull up and kids pile out… during VBS my
main role was to take pictures… and encourage the youth in any way I
could. I love being able to hop from one
group to the next and watch the ministry take place. I saw every aspect of the VBS and all of the
youth getting involved and serving in the capacity that God had created
them. I also had the opportunity on this
first night to meet Mason and his parents.
Mason was a little too young to join a group but they stayed for the
evening while his older sister participated.
I had fun chasing after Mason and loving on him.
Returning with the kids...
Yummy snack time...
Playing with Mason..
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