Back-to-School VBS

On Sunday afternoon, we had the pleasure of hosting a Back-to-School VBS for the children that live in the slums located directly behind the church. Christina and I have worked at vacation Bible schools before, but none of us had experience when it came to planning.

We didn’t have any money in our budget for a VBS, so we decided to do a car wash in our neighborhood to raise money for the event. 

Several of the youth from the church helped us with the VBS.  One of the youth named Chris was extremely helpful.  He started the VBS off with a time of singing.  Chris has an amount of energy that I find amazing.  I felt like I was taking an extreme aerobics class just trying to keep up with him and the kids. 

The kids singing and dancing

After a time of singing, the kids broke into groups to learn about what it means to love their neighbor.  We used the story about the Good Samaritan to help them understand that we are to love and help anyone in need, regardless of any differences.

Jackie, Wallace, Chris, and the puppet helping the kids memorize their verse

We had a craft for the kids, which turned out to be what I can only describe as a time of fun chaos for my group.  At one point, I was surrounded by 25 kids all begging for me to put glue on their projects.  One of the teachers walked by and saw that a kid was dropping glue into my hair.  As they were gluing little hearts onto their projects (or my hair),  the kids kept saying, “Teacher, I need a love to put on mine!” 

The kids answering questions about the Good Samaritan story

We ended the day with a snack, a skit and more singing.  We all agreed that the time spent singing and dancing with the kids was one of our favorite parts of the day.  Jackie helped lead the worship time by showing them the dance moves, so she had a perfect view of all the laughing faces.  Christina and I were down dancing alongside the kids.  

Christina and the kids enjoying a giant giant group hug

During one song, Chris would randomly yell a number and we would have to get that many people into a giant group hug. We learned a lot by evaluating the event to see what we can do better next time, but we were all blessed...possibly more than the children.