Vacation Bible School and the Concierto Masivo

Buenos Dias!

I am finally having a chance to update you all after my busiest week so far. What a blessing it is to be in the internet cafe. It is the most quiet I have had in probably 12 days.

So I will begin with the rest of the VBS week. We had a blast! It was really a crazy week, but I think all the kids had fun (they kept coming back!) and they learned a lot, too. Everyday of VBS started at around 8am, when the leaders and helpers began to arrive to set up. Then the kids started arriving at 9am. At 9:30, we had an opening ceremony with songs, a skit and some kind of introduction to the day´s theme. The overall theme was "La Casa de mi Padre," or, "My Father´s House." So everyday, we discussed a different "house." For example, the first day was about creation, and we talked about "La Primera Casa," or the world. The others were The Floating House (Noah´s Ark), The Mobile House (Abram and Sarah´s tent as they walked forward in faith through the desert, not knowing where they would go next), My House is the Desert (The pueblo of God as they left slavery in Egypt and wandered in the desert), and finally, The House of Heaven.

It was a really cool experience to talk about these Bible accounts and spiritual truths with kids who had really never heard them before. They are almost all nominally Catholic, but the Catholic tradition here lacks home study of the Bible, prayer, and almost everything else we consider "Christian." One day as we began to eat our snack, I asked my group of kids if anyone wanted to pray over the food and they all looked at me like I was absolutely crazy. I explained that we could talk to God before we eat to thank Him for the food, and pray for those who don´t have any food, and pray that the food would strengthen us so that we could serve Him, etc. From their looks, I am pretty sure none of them had ever said a blessing in their life. As I mentioned in my other blog, I really believe Catholicism here is structured so differently that it lacks any real connection to God. The focus is entirely on saints and the Virgen, but they don´t know that they can speak directly to their Heavenly Father! So it made me smile to see these Catholic children saying a little blessing, really talking to God. Another little girl, Michelle, asked me one day if I was a Christian. I said that I was, and then asked her if she knew what that meant. Even though she is from a Catholic family, she responded "no." So I explained to her, in my broken Spanish, what I thought it meant to be a Christian. Things like this are really opening my eyes to the spiritual poverty here.

Back to the VBS schedule, after the opening, we would break up into our age groups (3-6, 6-8, 8-12, each group had about 20 kids) and have a Bible Story time for 30 minutes, which I finally led on the last day. These kids are a bit intimidating, and a few times they weren´t very nice about my Spanish abilities...haha. After that, we have 6 activity periods for crafts, cooking, snack, music, crafts related to the Bible story, and finally, my activity, English! I got to teach a lot of important vocabulary to the kids and at the same time have a lot of fun. I incorporated what we learned each day into a camp game of some sort. (What a resource it is to have been a camp counselor!!) They kids were eager to learn English and really seemed to enjoy the games we played. After all our activities, we have a closure time with more music and a skit, and then we would (try to) send the kids away to start cleaning up!

It has been really cool to connect with the kids; they love Karen and I simply because of the curiosity factor. They always want to talk, and we have had the opportunity to talk with several of the girls about boyfriends, etc. While we were chatting, that was the subject they kept coming back to..."Do you have a boyfriend?" and "Have you kissed a boy?" etc., like most 12 and 13 yr old girls begin to ask. So we asked them if they wanted to meet one day and learn about what the Bible says about boyfriends and relationships, and they all seemed excited about the possibility, so we are having a Bible Study of sorts on Tuesday at 7pm. You can definitely be praying for us, our Spanish and generally, for wisdom on how to advise girls this young who are already pretty experienced in this area. I think this could be really good preparation for the Casa Hogar in the Fall, so I am grateful, but a little nervous, too.

So after the VBS finished up on Friday, we had a cookout with all the leaders at the church that went pretty late. Saturday morning, I was exhausted and hadn´t slept well all week for different reasons. I had a little melt down, and called my summer "coach," Michelle, to see if we could get together before our church´s "concierto masivo" to talk, and really just to get away from the house for a little while. She said to come on, so I went into the house to tell my family that I was going out and I would meet them at the concert. However, mid-sentence, I lost it and they asked me what was wrong, so I was able to cry with them and be comforted. As I sat down on the couch, my mama´s mama told her daughter to get the baby oil and she started massaging my shoulders, head, arms, and hands with oil. She talked with me for long while and told me that what I was feeling was completely normal, and that I should try to get more time by myself to relax. She also said I could come to her house to sleep if I ever needed to get out of the church and the constant visiting. In that moment, I really felt like they were my family, like I wasn´t a guest, I was a daughter! It was such a blessing to have that experience, and the massage wasn´t too bad either. I told her that I was going to start crying more often!

Saturday night, we had the "concierto masivo," which did end up being pretty big. There were between 200 and 300 people there, including our church of 30 people and a lot of the parents of children in the VBS. Our team came and we did the same skit about Masks, and then sang a song and then I shared a testimony about fear versus faith and choosing to have faith in God´s goodness rather than worrying and being afraid.....in Spanish! I was pretty nervous, because I had written out what I wanted to say, but I wasn´t supposed to read it and I didn´t have it memorized. But the whole team prayed for Karen and I, and God really helped me! I looked down a few times, but said a lot of it without reading. God is so faithful. Karen also shared her testimony, but in English with a translator. It was very powerful! She has had a lot of hurt and suffering in her life. She was born with Clef lip and palate and Cerebal Palsy, and has had 16 surgeries to correct all of this that have left her with many physical scars and emotional wounds as well. There have been many who have made fun of her and treated her as if she just didn´t measure up. To hear her proclaim without hesitation that God has been faithful and good to her is such a testimony to the fact that external things are not how God sees us. He loves us without condition, because He is Love. After our part, the band played several songs and we had a very sweet time of renewal and refreshment in the Lord.

Sunday, we had another VBS closure incorporated into the regular Sunday service for the kids who couldn´t come to the Saturday closure, and several families came with their children, which was really awesome to see! We went with one of the ladies in our church and her family to Krsipy Kreme Donuts, too! (Who knew they had that here in MX?!?!) Sunday was long and difficult with so much Spanish and constant noise all day, but we made it through and now we only have one Sunday left!

Thank you for reading and continuing to support me by caring about what I am doing here!! Keep praying for the children in our neighborhood and for us as we finish up our work here in Mexico. I am getting excited about seeing my family and all of you very soon!

Love!