Amy’s Garden

Boomerang Express

Whew! I think I might finally be back to normal after a hectic but fun week of Vacation Bible School (VBS).

This year’s theme was Boomerang Express. The kids learned fun facts about Austalia in addition to studying the life of the disciple Peter.

My part of VBS was missions. In the past, missions has been a class that the kids rotated to. However, this year our church had VBS in the evenings instead of during the mornings. Because of this, the whole event was 30 minuntes shorter, and something had to be cut. So, instead of the kids coming to me for missions, I led a 5-minute missions interview during the worship rally.

We chose the missions speakers based on the verse Acts 1:8. It says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

When Jesus was saying this to His disciples, Jerusalem was their hometown, so the first interview we did was with the director of Grand Oak Mission, a ministry that provides food and clothing for low-income families in our city.

Judea was the disciples’ region, similar to our state. So for the second interview, some teenagers in our church talked about a recent mission trip they took in Missouri. Samaria was a neighboring region in Jesus’ day, so the third interview was with some church members who helped build a church in Louisianna. The final “interview” was a video of a couple who used to be a part of our church who are now serving in Australia. This was the ends of the earth emphasis.

The kids also participated in a missions project. Each class was assigned a member of the US military currently serving overseas. The kids prayed for the soldier, in addition to bringing items and offering to send him/her a box of goodies. We started with 23 names, but ended up sending boxes to 29 soldiers because the kids were so excited about brining items. The boxes were filled with things like Christian magazines and devotionals, a New Testament, socks, beef jerky, Rice Krispie Treats, hard candy, powdered drink mix, soap, and sunblock.

This project was a ton of work, but I think it was one of the best projects we’ve done so far. I believe the reason is the personal connection the kids could feel with the soldier. Last year the kids brought personal hygeine items to help international college students get started in our country. There was a contest between the grade levels to see who could bring the most items. While the ministry was very grateful and blessed by our generosity, the kids themselves didn’t seem to understand who the items would help. This time, they had a name of a specific soldier, and often a picture to go with it. They knew where he or she is currently serving. They wrote letters. They prayed for the soldier. They were blessing a person, not trying to win a contest. Success!