Hallelujah! God provided more than enough eggs today, and every child went home with a full belly. God is good, and thank you for your prayers! VBS Day 2 focused on the Kingship of Jesus, and the children were paid a little visit by Mary mother of Jesus to talk about her son. Mary, aka Rachel Meis, did a wonderful job illustrating the story of Jesus to the children. Her translator Charles performed brilliantly as well.
Today, we turned the tables a bit and served the Rwandan volunteers a homemade Memphis-style barbecue feast -- it was a huge hit! Chuck Halford, grillmaster extraordinnaire, built a makeshift grill/smoker out of cinder blocks, rebar, and other objects from the trash dump...who knew he was so resourceful?? His work was genius, and through the help of the Lord (and some very diligent Rwandans!), Chuck smoked the meat to perfection. It was like being back at home. The Grillmaster, Brian Hawkins, Liberty Bain, and Gene Douglass woke up around 5AM this morning to get a headstart on the meat. It wasn't long -- maybe 7-7:30 -- before beautiful sounds of children singing began to ring forth from the Cathedral next door to the cook station. The Rwandans had organized around one thousand children who had arrived very early to VBS and led them in song all morning long. We were brought to tears when we finally arrived to the Cathedral around 8:30 and witnessed the thousand voices praising Jesus. It was unspeakably moving and amazing. The children sang songs for about another 30minutes to an hour, and then were visited by Mary, followed by the Happy Tooth (Melinda Olinger), who taught the children about dental hygiene.
After these activities, we divided into groups just like yesterday, and we were so proud of the way the Rwandans led the classes today. Every child made a crown in order to display the Kingship of Jesus. We also did an activity to show how far we've strayed from God but that also demonstrated that God sent Jesus in order to forgive us our sins.
As mentioned earlier, God provided more than enough eggs which helped fuel the children for a crazy recreation time. For about 30 minutes after class time, utter chaos ensued. However, everyone had fun, and the children are absolutely loving their play time.
The barbecue, as discussed earlier, was meant as a thank-you to the Rwandan volunteers. We have fallen in love with these people, and their hearts for God, for Rwanda, and for the children have touched us deeply. Many of these volunteers have suffered greatly, some of whom are double-orphans as a result of the Genocide. But we have never met more joyful, hopeful, and warm people. We have so much to learn from them. Please continue to pray for our third and final day of VBS. The parents will be coming tomorrow night, and we will be showing the Jesus Film to them. Pray that the Spirit moves in great ways tomorrow night, and pray also that we arrive to the Cathedral with a renewed sense of purpose for the children tomorrow.
God's peace. Pictures to follow.
I have to stop reading theses posts on my lunch break because I come back to work in tears of joy and amazement! Keep up the amazing work that Christ is doing through you!!! We love you and are praying for your needs, both known and unknown - the expected and the unexpected. We will be waiting with big hugs when you come home in a few days!
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