PASTOR JASINTO & FAMILY MAKE THE VBS POSSIBLE

And here is our friend and brother in Christ who makes it possible for us to experience VBS in Guatemala.  Pastor Jasinto is here with his wife Nanci and their 3 sons.  He works so hard to make the VBS successful, and we are so thankful to be able to share in this important event of his congregation.  He is a great organizer, and we have learned so much from him and Nanci.  His sons are (back row) Luis Antonio and (front row) Luis Alberto and Luis Jose.  I think when we did our first VBS in 2008, we thought this would probably be a one-time thing.  We look forward to going back every year and are excited that 2012 will be our 5th year of what we hope will be many more years to come doing VBS in Gualan. We are humbled and feel privileged that the congregation entrusts their children to us.

GUESSING GAME

VBS wouldn't be complete without our guess the number of (whatever).  This year it was guess the pieces of pasta.  Pastor Jasinto starts the week out by telling the kids that they have 4 days to look at the jar and then on Thursday write down their guess; and on the last day there will be one girl winner and one guy winner.  The kids get a kick out of it and look forward to it.  This is the picture of this year's winners.  For the little boy, I think the prize bag is bigger than him!  The prize is usually some cookies, a small craft, a book, and a few other items.

YOUTH HELPERS

What a fun thing to see that our youth helpers are kids that we were teaching when we first went to Gualan in 2007 for our first construction trip.  It's a great thing to see how they are growing in their faith, and now they are becoming leaders.  They helped out with the songs, did a skit teaching one of the lessons one day, and helped out in the classrooms.

WWW.MEMORYCROSS.COM

These coloring cards are really cool. They fold out and have 4 different scenes to color, and they make the shape of a cross. The kids like them, and we like the fact that they are printed in Spanish. They make for a very colorful project.

CLASSES, TRANSLATORS, HUGS

Carol and Karen's class.  Check out the cool sun hanging on the wall.  Each "arm" of the sun has one of the kids' names on it.  Very fun!

Sharolyn & Nancy's class.  It was quite a big group.  The kids have their Zip loc bags that have all their "treasures" that they worked on during the week.

On the last day, a couple kids stayed after class to have their picture taken with Nancy & Sharolyn.

Here is Lindy with her translator Renato (at Los Limones).

Sindy was Lindy's translator for one day.  She did a great job!

Sindy and Jenny (translator for the "little guys" group).

Sharolyn hugging some of her students and saying good bye.

Nancy hugging one of her students.

Two students as they leave with all their projects from the week.  I discovered that I didn't have a class picture of Lindy's group.  We'll do better next year. (sorry!)

SAUL IS BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

The kids were fascinated by all the cutting and clipping Sharolyn did as she taught the lesson about Saul.  They loved seeing the hearts that folded out at the very end of the story.  It was something very colorful and fun for them!

THE CROWN OF LIFE

Whether we're at the church or Los Limones, the kids all seem to enjoy wearing what we call "The Crown of Life", which is theirs through faith in Christ Jesus! By the way, someone asked me how we make these. They are made out of bulletin board decorating strips that are bought at Dollar Tree. We staple a short strip to each one so they can fit around the kids' heads. As the kids arrive at the site, we put in the final staples to fit them to the kids' heads! These are 14 strips for $1, so they're a cheaper, fun thing to do.

CRAFTS AT LOS LIMONES

Due to the huge number of kids at Los Limones, we need to keep our crafts very simple. This year they had coloring pages, a stained glass cross, and Noah's Ark sticker sheets.

VBS AT LOS LIMONES

VBS in the afternoon is held at Los Limones, a very poor area about 15 minutes from Resurrection Church in Gualan. The huge numbers of kids that come for the session make it necessary to do the lesson in one very large group session. By the last day, we believe that we had 435 kids. That was our best guess, since it's difficult to count. They seem to love the colorful Bible pictures and materials used to present the stories. Many of the moms bring their little ones to the sessions, and they enjoy hearing the Bible stories too.

BRUSH THOSE TEETH!

Here Dolores is teaching the kids the importance of brushing their teeth with Mafer doing the translating.  After hearing the hygiene talk, all of the kids at the church and Los Limones received a tooth brush and tooth paste.  They all seemed to enjoy the plastic Zip Loc bags that were colorfully decorated with "SMILE - JESUS LOVES YOU!"

TAKING CARE OF GOD'S CREATION & OUR ENVIRONMENT

Every VBS has a sub-theme, so in addition to Bible stories, this year the kids learned about taking care of God's creation. It was a great opportunity to mention putting garbage in its proper place and to talk a little bit about recycling. At our afternoon site (Los Limones) their world is so different from ours that we really needed Pastor's guidance to help us understand how to talk about these things with the kids!   The kids loved to help by holding up different animals that went along with the lesson.

CAROL & KAREN'S CLASS

Carol & Karen are definitely the "dynamic duo" when it comes to working with the little ones.  Their creativity and ability to keep the "littles" attention with their non-stop repertoire of activities is an amazing thing to see.  This was the third VBS for both of them.  Here we see some of their coloring, a Noah's Ark sticker page, a cross necklace that the kids made, and stained glass crosses that they colored.