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.

SHAROLYN & NANCY'S CLASS

Writing in and decorating their journals, decorating their coloring cards, coloring a "cardboard kid" representative of themselves - yes, even the older kids had fun learning about Jesus.  The group was so large that it made for a challenging time, but Sharolyn was a real trooper and did great for her first VBS in Guatemala.  As the week went on, she seemed to develop a unique sign language (including LOTS of smiles) that worked really well with her kids.

LINDY AND RENATO'S CLASS

The kids really love making these faces that are representative of themselves.  Lindy and Renato had a VERY big group to work with.  Lindy did a great job and Renato was terrific as a translator.  This was the first time we worked with him, and we hope to see him again next year for VBS.

 The kids made these crosses that have strips of paper woven through them.  They also made friendship bracelets and worked on coloring cards.

GET READY FOR 2012!

Can it really be time to get ready for our Nov., 2012 Guatemala VBS trip?! Wait - I haven't posted pictures from last year's trip yet! And what a great team it was. Carol Jessen, Karen Pautsch, Dolores Brei, Lindy Neukukatz, Nancy Blase (all experienced mission "trippers"), and Sharolyn Sander (our "newbie" for 2011) gave it their all to provide a great week of activities and a variety of learning experiences to share the love of Jesus.  In 2011 we asked Dolores to be our official photographer and to focus on taking a lot of pictures of the kids with their projects, and here are some of those fun things! Thank you Dolores for your expert picture taking! And here is the group on its last day - exhausted, dirty, and tired but very happy.  Our translators Renato, Mafer, and Jenny are with us too.  All in all, a great week!  (Left to right - Renato, Carol, Lindy, Karen, Nancy, Mafer, Sharolyn, Jenny, and Dolores)

TIME TO BRAINSTORM!

The blog ticker just keeps on going, so it's time for some brainstorming. What a team we have this year! From left to right - Dolores Brei, Sharolyn Sander, Carol Jessen, Karen Pautsch, and Lindy Neukuckatz. I'm taking the picture (Nancy Blase). There's so much to think about and so much work to do, but what fun work it is!

While we're talking, Sharolyn is getting ready to show us how you cut paper and make a tree.

We're not sure if we really believe her - but we'll see!

Hey wait a minute! It's for real! We think the kids will get such a kick out of this. What a great opportunity to share God's love with kids who have so little. When we were told to "teach all nations", I'm sure this is what God meant!

Oh yes, and I forgot another group member. One of this year's stories is the "Wayward Woman", so we have our very own wayward woman! (Just kidding, but we did get a laugh out of her!)

Our first VBS with the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Gualan took place in 2008. I don't think we ever realized that it would become an annual thing that we do with them, but we are very happy to have this opportunity to work with them. We are so fortunate that they have invited us back every year since! Bible stories, crowns, sticker sheets, crosses, songs, crafts, skits, puppets -- such fun! May we use it all to God's glory! Amen!