Vacation Bible School!

The VBS we had yesterday was pretty cool. We started off as we always do, by playing games with the kids, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk, and trying our best to understand what they are asking us.

(A typical conversation with a child is as follows:
Kid: *speaks unintelligible garble of words, one or two of which we might catch, but not in context or with enough clues to tell us what they actually want from us*
Us: Uh... Que?
Kid: *repeats everything at the exact same speed*
Us: ... Otra vez?
Kid: *repeats it one more time*
Us: *stares blankly back*
Kid: *runs off to find a native Spanish-speaker*)

We then did a skit about the good shepherd, with Josh as the shepherd, William as a thief, and Stephanie, Emily, and Grace as sheep. Also, Al was a wolf. The kids seemed to find this pretty funny. We taught them a verse, and then had someone wrap up the lesson section of VBS before moving on to a craft.

We left feeling slightly dehydrated and tired, already missing the kids, to come back to Rio Grande Bible Institute.


Today worked pretty much the same way, and was also a great day. The kids were very comfortable around us the second day, and I made some friends with the kids, especially one little boy named Arturo. He is apparently always at the house church we did the VBS at, even when something like a women's bible study is happening.

This time the skit was based on the parable of the different types of soil in Matthew 13. Brent was a farmer, Jannah and Olivia were seeds, Marcy and Helen were birds, Mercy and Larry were thorns, and Beth was the sun. Kathy and Al were rocks.

Leaving was kind of a drawn-out affair. The kids didn't really want to see us go, and we would have been perfectly fine with staying longer. I was also pretty interested in talking to Enrique and Letty, and their kids. Enrique and Letty are the ones who went in and started this house church, and they're pretty cool. Their son is also into graphic design, which I would have loved to talk to him about. Hopefully the power of Facebook can connect us all in time.

After the VBS was over, we came back to RGBI and worked for the rest of the afternoon, doing things like cleaning out storage sheds, folding sheets, and washing Sharon's car.

Please pray for us tomorrow as we cross the border and get our visas for the week. We're trying to get to Monterrey in time for the Sunday morning service, which will mean we have to get up kind of early. Pray that the crossing would go smoothly, and that we would have no more delays.
You can also pray for those who are worried about the food, and for all of us that we won't accidentally drink the water or get sick or anything.

Pictures are still to come. (I'm still using Sharon's laptop, and I don't want to fill it up with an editing program, and pictures, etc... I will post some tomorrow.)

Dios les bendiga,
-Ian

P.S. If you have a question or if there is something you'd really like to know more about, please send an email to chathammissions@gmail.com. I will do my best to answer them all. :)