GUATEMALA VBS 2013

What a strange feeling it was to not be in Gualan for the 2013 VBS.  For 5 straight years, members of Trinity Lutheran Church - Roselle, IL.  have been blessed to assist with the VBS at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection.  This year, there were not enough people to form a team, so we were unable to go.  We'll see what next year brings.

I know that God blessed the congregation's efforts, and I am sure Pastor Jasinto and his youth and other congregation members did a great job both at the church and at their site at Los Limones.  He forwarded several pictures.  As always, it looks like there was quite a large group at Los Limones.  There is now a roof at the site which is a tremendous blessing!

This year's VBS program was Concordia's "Cool Adventures", and it was all about the gifts that God gives us - gifts of forgiveness, salvation, joy, life, and hope.  "Well done thou good and faithful servants!"

ILLINOIS OR PERU?!

Had a chance to visit Waldron Grove Alpaca Farm in Elgin over the weekend.  It seemed so strange to know that alpacas are living nearby!  I thought I was back in Peru again.  They are really a very beautiful animal with a gentle face.  The products made from baby alpaca wool are very special and SOOOOOO soft.

WENT TO A DIFFERENT COUNTRY! GUESS WHICH ONE!

Enjoyed a trip to Peru with my sister Ruthie and 4 of our Egerton family - Nancy, Brian, Dan, and Ellen.  Seemed strange to go somewhere other than Guatemala after all my trips there! Here we are eating lunch overlooking Lake Titicaca - the highest navigable lake in the world. Whew!  12,500 feet, way up there!

 

But here's the REALLY high spot - the highest we visited.  It was a whopping 15,500 feet high!  Whew!  No running around here when we got off the bus. And the snow-capped Andes in the background were beautiful!  

  Ok now let me think about this, is it a llama, a vicuna, or an alpaca!  Well, whatever it is, how cute!

The Incan ruins of Machu Picchu!  Wow!  A dream come true.  The climbing around at a high altitude was difficult for me but was worth the efforts.  It was hard to even drink it all in!  But yes, I really was there!

 

 

Below is the Machu Picchu train station.  Dan, Nancy E., and Ruthie are looking at the camera. 

 

We really enjoyed our train ride.  We were served a snack and on the return trip even had a fashion show of items made of baby alpaca wool!

 

 

 Our quick trip to the Amazon was unforgettable - just slightly toasty with 90% humidity, but very enjoyable.  Our lodge was called the Posada Amazonas.

 All rooms have one side open to the jungle.  We slept with mosquito nets over our beds at night.  Here I am taking a delightful nap in the hammock!

So many highlights on the trip it's hard to know where to start.  Definitely the trip of a lifetime!

THE WHOLE GROUP!

Here is the whole church group on Friday, Nov. 16th (the last day of our VBS).  As you can see, we had quite a crowd!  The picture includes all leaders, teachers, translators, and youth helpers.  We were around 120+.  All in all, such a fun time!

A FEW MORE PHOTOS

Here is what it looked like at Los Limones (our outdoor site) the day the kids had a chance to paint.  These are really cool things that come with a paint palette.  With wet Q-tips, the kids are able to paint their pictures.  This is the first time we ever attempted this, and it worked out pretty well.  You'll notice that the kids are kneeling on the ground and using their chairs like a desk.  Doesn't seem too comfortable to me, but they didn't complain a bit!

 

Enjoying a few minutes of quiet in my classroom at the church, after the kids have left for the day!  Hanging in the background is the unity chain that the kids made.



CONFIRMATION SUNDAY

Sunday Nov. 11th was Confirmation Sunday in Gualan.  11 youth made their confirmation, and there was quite a celebration!  Beautiful flowers decorated the church, the youth were very dressed up, and afterwards there was a luncheon attended by many people.  All in all, it was a great celebration!  Pastor Jasinto is great with the youth and really knows how to get them motivated.

 

GUATEMALA - THE LAND OF VOLCANOS

It was great fun to take these volcano pictures from my balcony of the Barcelo Hotel in Guatemala City.  It was a little surreal!  They are active volcanos, and fortunately at this time they weren't erupting.

 

MORE VBS FUN

Cheryl's "little guys" enjoyed decorating cardboard figures that represented themselves.  On the first day, we like to have the kids decorate something and put their names on it.  These came out great and were really colorful in her room.

 

Here is a 3-time VBS-er, Gary Tate, working on balloon animals to pass out to some of the kids.  We were surprised to find that our translator (Renato) had also had experience with balloon animals.  Together they made a variety of balloons to pass out at the church site and at Los Limones ( our outdoor site).

 Gary is also our puppeteer.  Here he is with one of our favorite friends, "Bluesy".  Their awesome sunglasses were compliments of the Eyeglass Team.

2012 VBS A SUCCESS!

We had a great VBS with our small team of 4 people from the U.S. Our local Guatemalan helpers went above and beyond the call of duty, and it was a great thing to see the youth of the church step up and become better and better leaders.  A Guatemalan translator in each classroom completed our powerhouse team!  Taking pictures is hard to do when things are happening so quickly and the teams are so small, but here are a few images to start!

Here are the runners that my students colored.  The sub-theme of the VBS was an Olympics theme, and the VBS was "Champions of Faith", published by Concordia Publishing.  The lessons were all very enjoyable and teachable, and it was fun to see the kids being challenged and growing in their faith.

 Everyone in my class decorated a notebook.  The kids get really into this and enjoy using all different types of markers and foamies which are things that are not readily available in Guatemala.  They were then able to use their notebooks to record the daily Bible verses and mini assignments that they had in class.  The highest number of kids in my class was 38, and it was pretty chaotic to have that many in one room at the same time!  The above picture also shows a cross that kids decorated with "jewels" and glitter glue.

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.