Shirley: Praise & Thanksgiving

I cannot believe it is Friday already and we are all still standing. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Praise God for a wonderful week of VBS at NBF. We are so thankful for each team member and his/her hard work all week! We do pray that seeds were planted and perhaps even taking root in the hearts of the children who came this week.

I have to share a direct quote from my husband about the VBS program. He said, and this is verbatim, "Those VBS people are just brilliant!" in the context of how the program is designed to reach children, even very young kids like our youngest daughter Amelia who is just 2 years 5 months. We saw Amelia singing the songs and doing the hand motions at home with her sisters Thursday evening after VBS. All Kohichi and I could do was stare with our mouths open. It was quite incredible; we rejoice that these songs are already in her head and heart and that she knows Jesus' name now at this young age!

As Amy said before in her blog, we finished with a grand total of 21 kids on Friday, with two new girls joining us on Friday. One was the older sister of a boy who had been with us all week! She said to her mom she was sad that she could come for only one day. Here are the stats for the week:

Mon: 20
Tue: 19
Wed: 17 (+ 4 moms for pizza party)
Thu: 18
Fri: 21

There were 26 different kids who attended VBS this past week. This is down from the 30 we had last year, but perhaps that was the Lord's plan since we had fewer VBS members to administer the program this year, too. I thought the class sizes were good; it there were too many, things get a little out of control. There is also less time to work with each child, which I think is important for a program like this. I know for a fact that each child who came felt loved and received as much one-on-one attention as each person could give. We are so thankful for every person who came.

ALL the children love the opening and closing games. They literally wait for them and will not leave until we play that last game before we dismiss for the day.

Check out this action shot of the opening song, "Choose Jesus". How's that for flying high? The kids love this song and hope we have a chance to do it again on Sunday during NBF's regular 3PM service.

This is us watching Matt and Mr. Bob's opening skit. Sometimes they forget to wait for translation, but the kids have fun watching all the action as there is always unexpected daily drama in the scenes.

The story times are much more effective than I ever thought. The kids love the felt pieces and often pick them up to look at them afterwards. We also pulled out Japanese bibles and have the children read the verses together. Even our youngest group can read, which is quite wonderful and amazing.

What can we say about craft time other than everyone loves it! The projects are always so imaginative and colorful and creative. Every child is always working hard to make something nice and it is a joy to see.

Strangely enough, recreation time did not seem to be as popular as the other events. Maybe that is because we ended the week at 35 degrees Celcius in 70% humidity! It was very hot outside and the kids drank over 24 two-liter bottles of tea, etc. The water-balloons were a huge hit, no pun intended, on the last few days, allowing them to work out their aggression and possible hormonal surges in a playful, non-destructive way. Look at them waiting to pelt the next person who dares to venture out from under the tent.

We appreciate the VBS team member's willingness to open up and share their testimonies all week. Really, we should have been doing that from day 1 on Monday and need to remember that for the next time, God willing, we can do this again. Of all people, kids can pick up fakeness faster than a game of duck-duck-goose! I think the team's transparency in Christ was praise-worthy and know the parents and children were very aware that they are "different" in a very good way. We planned an open invitation to be part of "God's family" for each group; I thought it went well even though we do not know what decisions were made on the part of each child.

Except for the few days Kohichi was able to attend and help, Yurimi Ikeda faithfully translated every day for every story time, and pretty much the whole time this week. We are so thankful for her willingness to help in our VBS ministry, especially since she comes to us "borrowed" from Oppama church! We are grateful to the moms, too, particularly Mrs. Hoki and Mrs. Onizuka, who are so graciously available to do everything and anything. We also want to thank Mr. Onoe who lead the team to the nursing home on Tuesday afternoon. He has so much to teach us at the young age of 85! still so healthy and able to serve others so selflessly.

To God be the glory, great things He has done! Amen.