Yesterday was our first day of VBS at the dump in La Ceiba. We will be doing the VBS on Tuesday and Thursday, too while the Strawdermans are here. The VBS lasted about an hour and a half or two hours. We split into four different groups, each group with a different activity. We had a story telling group, a game group, a craft group, and a snack/coloring group. Each group started out with about 6 kids, and the kids would rotate groups every 20 or so minutes.
This was my group: story telling. Becca read the story of Adam and Eve from the spanish storybook bible, and JC, Noah Strawderman, and I acted the story out. Our first time through, the kids were very inattentive and tossed rocks into a nearby puddle the whole time. With our next three groups, we made sure to have big movements and make silly faces to keep the kids' attention. In each group there would be a couple people who didn't want to pay attention and would distract the group, but for the most part, I think they got the story. These kids just aren't used to any form of organization, and they are definitely not used to being told what to do.
After reading the story, we taught them either one or two songs, according to how much time we had left. The first song was "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart". Of course it was in spanish, too. We also taught them "Alelu- Alelu- Alelu- Aleluia". They clapped along but didn't seem too into it while we were singing. But apparently they really liked the songs, because when we rotated, they would be singing the songs to themselves in their next group. We're definitely going to be singing those songs Tuesday and Thursday!
These pictures are from the games group. All of the games were water games, which of course the kids love in the heat. They played the game where you line up and pass a wet sponge over one person, under the next, ect. They also played a game where they raced to see which team could fill up their bucket first by racing with small water cups (second picture). According to some of the leaders in this group, the games could have gone better. Like I said before, the kids are very misbehaved, and do not handle direction well. I think the games were also very foreign to them. They would really enjoy just playing a game of soccer or throwing the frisbee. We will definitely be making some adjustments for Tuesday to make things less stressful for the game leaders.
This was our craft for the day. The children would trace their hand on a piece of paper, and then glue pre-torn pieces of construction paper onto the paper, as fruits on a tree. The leaders said the kids really enjoyed the craft, and got into their artwork. Hopefully, this will help them remember what they learned. If nothing else, it gets them to come, where they'll also hear the bible teaching.
The last group was snacks and coloring. The Strawderman family made rice crispy treats to bring the kids for snacks. To keep them busy for the twenty minutes, they also got to color. For some reason, coloring is very exciting to them! They are always asking if they're going to be able to "pintar".
Overall, the VBS was very successful. It was definitely difficult because the kids are so undisciplined that they are hard to control, but we expected that. Nothing like a VBS has every been done there before. Some of the kids don't even go to school. While we were having the VBS, a truck came through with a load of trash in the back. Several kids ran and jumped into the back of the truck to dig through the trash for things they could use. This is their everyday life, scrounging off of other people's trash. It was really sad to see.
On the bright side, we got some really good ideas for how we're going to do things differently for the rest of the week. We're thinking we'll do big group story time, and then have them rotate through the rest of the groups. That will allow all the other leaders to sit with the kids and keep them from being too disruptive during the story, because that's really the most important part. During the three days, we're going through the fall of man, the cross, and then how to live. I'm really excited just to be able to show these things to the kids, probably for the first time in their lives. And it won't stop when we leave. There is a missionary here that goes to the dump to play with the kids several times a week. Pray for the Lord to work in these kids' lives.
Tonight, our group, the Strawdermans, the Pirkles, and a few other missionaries are going to a restaurant! We gave them our order a few days ago, and they went out and caught the food fresh and will have it ready when we get there. It's our group social for the week, and we're all looking forward to it! Continue to pray for our team, and that God would provide opportunities for us to share His love, and the good news of His gospel.
Photo Credits: Elizabeth Pirkle
Written by: Kelsey Gallman
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