VBS week

VBS. Apparently, it’s a worldwide phenomenon. This week, it hit IBC.

When I first got to Hong Kong, the VBS coordinator told me she didn’t think I’d have much time to prepare for VBS with everything else I had going on, so she put me in charge of the easiest station. About 2 weeks later, she said they had some holes in staffing and asked me if I’d be willing to fill in those holes instead of doing the video station, which she had originally assigned me to run. Actually, she was going to ask me, but since I was in the Philippines, she sort of assumed I’d be fine with it and changed my assignment. This meant that I was a crew leader for 3 days and the storyteller for the last 2 days. I now had to learn 2 separate jobs and learn the 2 lessons I had to teach. Thankfully, it all went smoothly. We had about 60 kids come, we learned a lot about God’s Word, and a great time was had by all.

Similar to back home, the youth helpers all hang out in the afternoons after VBS. One thing I was impressed with was the fact that the kids intentionally tried to match some of their afternoon hang out activities with the VBS theme, which was High Seas Expedition. This meant that on Friday afternoon, they had a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon (yes, all 3 movies in a row, even though I could only be there for the 2^nd half of it), and on Saturday, they went to the beach. It was lots of fun. I missed the waves at the beach, but it was nice being able to actually swim in the water quite a ways out into the ocean and having the water be a comfortable temperature.

I am continuing to do great here and learn my way around. Today, I went to lunch with a couple ladies from the church. One of them has lived here for 25 years, and I had to tell her how to get to the restaurant we ate at. She told me (as a few other people also have) that I am learning my way around the city faster than any of the previous interns. Not to brag or anything…

And we are continuing to plan for the fall. This week Shillage (our youth group) starts for the fall. I am very excited for all that we have planned for the fall and to see God work in the lives of all of our students.