VBS

What a week! We were hoping and praying for 150 kids and that is how many we had almost every day. We thought you might appreciate this scene that might not be out of place in N. Ireland but that you may not expect in one of the world's largest cities!

At the start and finish all of the kids were together. Apart from that they were separated for various activites. The theme was "Follow me!" and talked about various people who decided to follow Jesus.
This is a missions class where the kids are colouring flags from different countries.
This is the craft class. I was impressed that boys of this age were interested in doing this craft!
Food was a key part of each day. The team of helpers in the kitchen was fantastic. Aside from a lot of cooking there was a mountain of dishes to be washed. Juana was involved in the kitchen all week.
Andrew ran a music workshop where he taught the kids 5 new songs. He picked the music, invented the actions with the help of a couple of the girls from the church and wrote out all the words on huge lengths of material. It was an exhausting job dancing and singing all day but definitely worth it.

Our kids weren't able to go every day so on the days I was there I was able to do some observing when I wasn't getting involved. It was obvious that the kids were loving the songs. They were singing amazing words but the style was appropriate and attractive. I also noticed this year that there were a lot more older kids. We think it is SO important to find music that the older kids will enjoy. If they are excited and involved then the younger kids will join in too. These kids are going away with lines like, 'teach me to love You more and more' and 'Your love is great' and 'God made me the way I am and He loves me that way' among others. Some of these kids may never have known that or experienced much love at home.
Here's a short video of some of the songs. You may spot Tabitha in the first part. She's been singing away at the songs in Spanish and loves doing the actions as well. I was also so impressed to see so many kids in the large group doing the actions.

On Saturday about 50 parents and grandparents came along to see the kids and heard the gospel presented. Please pray for the follow-up of these kids and their families. We're not sure how many kids trusted Christ but lives were definitely touched and some of the kids were out this morning. The church is hoping to organise visitation and Mex-i-Kids will be starting up again when school re-commences.

A few of the kids were asking me about people who had come out on teams. If you helped at a VBS in La Loma then know that these kids are still remembering you and asking for you. Teams have such a valuable role to play here. We LOVE teams!!

Many mums took invitations to MOPS which is this Thursday. We're hoping to have some new mums along as a result. Remember to pray for me as I finish my preparation and speak this week.

We appreciate your prayers also as we prepare for giving 3 workshops at the youth camp in a couple of weeks.